Thunder and Storm

The Food Raid

SALLY.


There was a buzz of activity all around me, empty crates were being moved into a truck. I stood at the entrance of the cave watching them. Cameron and the rest of his crew were at the front of the truck. There was a map on the bonnet of the truck. He was explaining something on it to them.

I wiped my palms on my pants and took a deep breath. I was not lily-livered. I was not a coward and I would prove it. I walked up to them. It was easy. All I had to do was not use my power. Nothing would go wrong if I didn't.

They all looked up at my presence. "I want to go with you guys," I said.

Rayne’s lips curved into a smile. "Cool. Ryan tells me you can teleport, you can save us a whole journey by just zapping us there straight away."

I chuckled nervously. "That's not how it works."

"How does it work then?" Ash asked.

"I can't go to a place I've never seen before," I explained.

"Bummer!" Ryan pouted.

"But I can bring you guys back here," I said.

"That's good to know but in the meantime, come check out the store we're going to. Who knows, you might've seen it before," Cameron said.

I moved closer to them and he pointed at the map.

"The parts marked X are the places we've been before and the ones circled are places we haven't been."

There were lots of places marked X and a few places circled. The circled ones were far from our position.

"Which one are we going to?" I asked.

"This one.” He pointed to a spot on the map, "To avoid being noticed by hunters we'll need to spend fewer hours on the road so we're going to Tucson."

He folded the map and slipped it in his back pocket. He placed his fingers on his lips and whistled. A bark followed and Max came barrelling out of the cave and into his arms. He laughed and rubbed his head.

"We're going on a trip, Maxy. You excited?"

The dog barked and licked his face. He tried to move his head away but the dog was unrelenting. They looked so cute, I laughed.

Cameron dropped him on the floor and straightened. "What you laughing at?" He smiled.

"Nothing."

He moved to the driver's side and opened the door, Max jumped into the truck.

"Wanna ride in the front?" he asked.

"Sure."

"Hey, Sally." I heard someone call and I turned, it was Ryan.

"Come sit with me," he said and patted the space beside him at the back of the truck.

"Oh! Uhm, sorry. I'm riding shotgun."

He looked a bit disappointed and I felt bad. "Alright, cool.” He nodded.

I got in the front with Cameron and Max immediately sat on my lap the moment I sat my butt down. He curled on my lap and I played with his ears.

"What is this trickery?" Cameron exclaimed. "You're ditching me for a girl, Max? Where's the loyalty, dude?"

I laughed and ran my fingers through Max's fur. Cameron turned on the engine and moved the truck out of park. I looked through the rear-view mirror at the back of the truck. Ryan, Ash, Rayne, Grayson, and Petra were sitting at the back chatting amongst themselves.

"Why is she here?" I asked Cameron.

He looked back at Petra and shrugged. "She offered to come and we need all the help we can get. I wasn't kidding when I said this was dangerous. We never venture out of the cave unless it's really important."

"So all you guys do is hide in there?"

"Not hiding, staying safe.” His grip tightened on the steering wheel as he stared ahead. "A lot of us were taken by hunters and probably sold. Some were my friends."

"I didn't know you had friends," I said.

He smiled wryly. "Hiro's sister was also taken by a hunter. Ever since then we've been really careful not to get caught."

"Oh! I'm sorry about that."

He scoffed. "There's nothing to be sorry for, it's not your fault. That was why I was so mad when you left that night. Those people are dangerous, they don't care about us, all they care about is the bounty on our heads and they would go to any lengths to capture us. I hope you understand that.” He looked at me. His blue eyes darkened by concern and...worry?

I swallowed. "I understand."

We said nothing after that. Silence ensued. The only thing heard was the humming of the engine as he drove. It was comfortable to just sit and listen to the silence. I'd always loved the silence. A thought occurred to me and I frowned.

"I hope you don't think I'm weird."

"No, I don’t. Why do you ask?"

"Well... I'm not much of a talker.” I wrung my fingers together. A habit I'd not been able to get rid of. I didn’t know why it mattered to me that he didn't think badly about me or thought I was a weirdo.

"Well...You are socially inept," he said and I smiled. "But then, I'm even more socially inept.” He smirked and I grinned.

There was a tingly sensation in my tummy and I just wanted to keep staring at him, at his eyes as blue as cobalt. I had to remind myself that would be creepy.

"Where is Hiro?" I asked, looking back at the rear of the truck. I just realized he wasn't here. I had the impression Cameron never went anywhere without him and Ryan.

"He's doing something for me," he replied, vague as always.

We took the rocky terrain. We wouldn't be spotted easily, Cameron had explained. My butt was frozen by the time we got to where we were going. The two-hour journey had spanned into three hours despite the shortcuts Cameron had taken. He went around the store and parked the truck at the back.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Target," Ryan announced with a flourish as we got down from the truck.

"Stop goofing around," Cameron warned. We walked to the grey-colored door to find it locked.

"Great. What do we do now?" Ryan asked as he turned the door handle again.

"Move aside, rookie. Watch a pro at work." Rayne pushed Ryan aside and grabbed the door handle. She froze it and turned it sharply. The lock gave way and the handle shattered in her hands.

"So you're like a criminal now? A pro with locks," Ryan scoffed and rolled his eyes at her.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're just jealous."

We went into the building and down the dark hallway and pushed another door open.

"This is a case of breaking and entering and for the record, Rayne broke into the store," Ryan said.

"We sure could use some of Hiro's power right now," Ash grumbled. It was pitch dark in here, with no sign of the sun. All the windows were closed.

"No sweating, Sweetheart. I got you covered," Ryan said. He lit his lighter and touched the flame. A ball of fire came out of his palm, illuminating the space a bit and he threw his arm around Ash's neck.

"Come on, Ryan. Let's go find the light switch," Cameron said and hit him on the shoulder.

He groaned and rolled his eyes. "You're killing my vibe, dude."

They walked away, leaving us in darkness once again. I slid my hands into my pockets and moved my feet from side to side. I was not a fan of the dark, creepy things always happened in the dark.

"Hey.” Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I jumped, screaming in fright.

"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down, it's me, Grayson."

"You scared me," I held my chest as I panted, "You don't sneak up on people like that."

"Well I wasn't sneaking, I was standing right beside you the whole time."

"Freak," Petra snorted.

The lights flickered on and I couldn't be happier. The store was filled with foodstuff, each aisle crammed with snacks and cans.

"Whoa!" Ash exclaimed, "This is like the holy grail."

"Alright everyone, spread out and grab as much as you can. We meet back at the truck in 10,” Cameron ordered.

"Sally, come with me," he requested and I followed.

"What are we looking for?" I asked as he grabbed a trolley lying in the middle of the room.

"Anything but mostly snacks and canned foods. Non-perishables," he replied and piled a row of tuna cans into the trolley.

I grabbed a bag of Cheetos from the opposite aisle, opened it, grabbed a fistful of it, and shoved it in my mouth. I hadn't realized I was this hungry until I'd seen the pack on the aisle. I looked beside me and saw the most perfect thing in the world. A can of Dr Pepper.

There were several of them in the refrigerator just sitting there waiting for me to pick them up. Cameron had said to grab canned stuff and non-perishables, right? Well, this was canned and non-perishable too.

I walked up to the refrigerator and dropped the bag of Cheetos, pulled it open, grabbed a can, popped the lid, and guzzled down the fizzy goodness. I moved the can away from my mouth and wiped my lips with the back of my palm. I felt like a girl dying of thirst in the desert and I just found my oasis.

I lifted the can to my lips again but paused mid-action. I heard the click of a gun and the hairs at the back of my neck stood at alert. My arms prickled with awareness. Slowly, I turned around, and right in front of me, standing a few meters away was a man dressed in black and all geared up. He had a rifle pointed at me, the little red light from the gun right between my eyeballs. The can of soda fell from my hand, the content spilling on my shoes as they hit the floor.

"Duck!" someone shouted. I ducked just as the man opened fire. A bullet managed to graze my ear as I bent. Bullets hit the refrigerator, the glass shattered around me. I looked up amidst the chaos and found Cameron bent on the floor, staring at me.

"Run, you idiot," he yelled and I did.

I crawled, I ran, I didn't know what but I moved away from there and ran towards him.

"What is going on? Who was that?" I whisper yelled as I made it to him.

"I don't know who it is but we got to get out of here," he replied as we crawled away from aisle to aisle.

Shards of glass pierced my knees as I moved and I bit down on my lower lip to keep from screaming.

"Whatever you do, do not get up," Cameron whispered. "Bullets hit a standing target faster than one on the floor."

I wasn't going to refute that fact. I crawled on both hands and knees. Suddenly, the lights went out and we were once again thrown into darkness.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," a voice sing-sang and I swallowed.

We were frozen on the spot with nowhere to go. We couldn't see anything, I couldn't even see Cameron who was right in front of me. A flashlight turned on and my heartbeat accelerated. I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. They were hot. My limbs quivered as the flash circled the area. I heard the crunching of feet on the glass and I gulped, sweat trickled down my hairline.

"Move," Cameron whispered. I followed his voice and took one step, then another and another and then, the flash turned on me. I froze, staring into the light like a deer caught in headlights.

"There you are."