Taking a seat on the floor, away from Jones, had me taking in a deep breath. Rolling away from me, Jones just laid on her back, catching her breath.
"Dang girlie. Despite going easy on me and being out of the game for a bit, not too shabby." Jones jabbed at me.
"Not too shabby equals to sounding like an asthmatic? Good to know." I snickered at her.
"Fuck off. Anyways, now that that's out of your system... how do you feel?"
"I'm so fucking tired Jewel. I've had people infiltrate my business, stalked, crashed my car, which resulted in some pretty bad injuries, choked out, had my home broken into, and one of my closest and most innocent friends in all of this has been put into a coma. Not to mention all of this while Jimmy's gang and Ludmil hunt both me and Marg down. It's just too much, too fast."
Hearing a whine, I turned my head to see Zeus there, nudging his head into my side, offering comfort. On my other side was a purring sound, offered by Cynthia as she nuzzled my neck.
"Well, you've got those chumps loving you at least. And you've got the rest of us too. It may seem like an overabundance of events, but just know it'll be over soon, at least. Your buddies aren't perfect, but I bet within the next ten days, at the rate we're going, they be ready for battle."
"Really?" That actually did perk me up a bit.
"Yeah, Gabe's best assets are technology based and also his innocence works in his favor. So far, he's learned how to send out electromagnetic waves to confuse and disarm security systems, along with hacking into software to place homing beacons and to set off a silent S.O.S. call out to police and other armed forces. He's also very innocent, so that gives him the element of surprise to attack people, and we've been practicing that along with having his weapon be brass knuckles for an extra wallop."
"Laurence and Margaret are great, as both a duo team and solo attacks. Laurence's main power comes from noticing the smallest details, which is very useful for breaking in and out of bad situations. She also has a knack for constructing small detonation devices, though she needs to work on making them quieter. Whereas Margaret is a phenomenal honeytrap, especially since she's so flexible, so she can use that to escape precarious situations. Margaret is also very adept at sneaking, she was able to tread out my very own booby-trapped arena."
"Then there's Olive, a great aim, really. I can see her being a professional sniper. She's very agile but doesn't have much strength, so she's mainly for recon and rescue. She's also very great with tech, she's made little devices to hack into systems quickly and quietly."
"And lastly are our bozos, Aaron and Byron. Aaron is pretty quick to catch on with detonation sequences but was really slow with the tech aspect. So his main priority is pure strength, as he's gotten quite bulked up. I'm working with his to be silent to aid him as that mass can be a strength and weakness if he's not quiet enough. And lastly is Byron, who's a mix of it all. He doesn't excel in one thing more than another, but his biggest motivator is Avery. We need him to be more comfortable handling weaponry, though, but overall, not half bad."
"So yeah, that's where we are with everything. So just worry about getting up to snuff, okay beauty?" Jones finished by reaching over to ruffle my hair.
Hearing everyone's progress, their strengths and weaknesses, had me feeling a lot better about the situation honestly.
"Well said, Diamond! With that, I say next we start having you relearn how to fight with that leg, Moon. Let's get at it, shall we?" Zane's booming voice interrupted our discussion. Looking over, I saw him drinking a large coffee, viewing us from atop the kitchen island I have.
From then, that's how the next nine days went. I trained on my leg, made sure to drink, sleep, eat, and make sure I was up to date on medication. I was now able to walk on it comfortably, if a little stiff at worst. When I wasn't working on my leg, I was retraining on my aim and arm strength.
Meanwhile the others were looking pretty good. Marg no longer wore frill skirts or dresses, knowing it would only slow her down and offer the enemy and advantage. She had a bit of muscle to her now and even went toe to toe with Jenny on occasion.
Laurence was always equipped with her shotgun rifle and ate a lot of protein nowadays. She was often seen training with Jenny or chatting with Zane, rekindling an old crush from the big guy.
Gabe, though still chubby, was a bit more lean now with pretty chunky arms that even I have to dodge. We decided the two of us would be good sparring buddies and often he gets better each time.
Aaron and Byron often trained together as they know each other's limits and how to raise them. Byron's beer belly lessened and now was only a slight gut, whereas Aaron now had a bit of scruff on his face and a slight four pack from the constant exercise.
Yes, Gabe does stare. Yes, I do give him shit for it.
Lastly there is Olive, who got amazingly buff. She now has bulging biceps and calves from the constant hashing with Jones and Yvette. She can hit flying targets now and even learn to ricochet her bullets to connect with hard to see targets.
Tonight is the last day of required training, though we plan to continue to get some extra in for the last 4 days. However, tonight, we planned out a bonfire as a celebration.
Margaret was staying at home with Jones and Byron, while the rest of us went out for supplies. Laurence and Aaron went out for food like for smore's, hotdogs, some soda, etc. Olive and Gabe went out for firewood to put to use for a fire, along with lighter fluid to get it started. Then there was Yvette and Presley who went shopping at the game shop and movie store for entertainment. And lastly Zane and I, who went shopping for our artillery based needs for the upcoming battle.
Just as we bought a couple hundred shells though, it all came crashing down.
An alert pinged on my phone, prompting me to check it. And when I saw that a silent S.O.S had been sounded, I showed Zane in a hurry.
"We gotta get back. Call the others, let them know."
Laurence and Aaron were closest so I let them know first before the others. I kept calling the trio back at home but no one was picking up.
I've got a bad feeling about this...
Driving home in a hurry, probably breaking several road laws, I hopped out of Zane's truck and was shocked at what I saw in front of me.
My house was on fire.
Flames etched the roof and windows, smoke billowing from inside. Hisses and barks filled the air as animals rushed out, the dogs carrying a familiar lithe, nearly unconscious body.
"Jones! Oh my God, Jones!!" I ran to her, picking her upper body up to cradle.
"Jesus fuck... wait, Jones, where is Margaret and Byron?! What the fuck happened here?!" Zane roared.
"By, Byron... betr, trayed us. He's w, wor, working for Jimmy." She slurred her words, a laceration on the back of her head proving to be why.
What?
A ding on my phone from an email had me looking down, my face ghost white and drained of life as I read it.
From: jboyle37@email.com
To: smoon14@email.com
1 image attached:
Sorry little mouse. Game over.
If you want to give her a little kiss before takeoff though, come to the warehouse on 32nd. I'll be waiting ;)
-I think you know who
Jimmy has my niece. Oh my God, I'm gonna throw up.
How did this happen?
Why did this happen?
YOU ARE READING
Moon Stalk
Mystery / ThrillerEntering on the scene is Doctor Sierra Moon, a psychologist. Who has many patients, including her niece, Margaret, who just escaped an abusive 8 year relationship with her ex, Jimmy Boyle. However, Jimmy is not wanting to let her slip through his fi...
