Hollow Veins

Chapter Fourty Three; Max

Prince haulted and pushed Ari all the way behind him. His quick inhale and sudden stop made the others stop too. Was it an Infected? "Prince what-" "Don't move," A new voice, sharp but a little fearful. A light flashed on, blinding him. He blinked and raised his hands. He made out the silhouette of a girl. She pointed the flashlight directly in his face. Prince could tell she had a knife in the other hand. Just a knife. "Don't move." "We're not going to hurt yo-" Aaron slammed into her. The flashlight clattered to the floor. Prince sighed, "Well we weren't. Aaron get off." Prince pulled him off. The girl crouched on the ground, pointing the knife towards them. Aaron cursed and glared at Prince. Prince muttered in his ear, "All she has is a knife. We don't have to fight." Jasper stepped forward. "Everyone calm down." He knelt in front of her. "Hey, what do you want." The dropped flashlight cast shadows up her face. She looked him up and down. "Go away, or I'll kill you." She said it like she had just announced the time or said she was hungry. "We're not gonna hurt you, or steal from you. We can help."

Mac narrowed her eyes. She didn't trust this kid. "Why?" "Because we're not psychos." "Why should I trust you?" "Because, really what other options do you have?" She studied him. "How can you help?" He looked around at the others, questioningly. They nodded. There's a place we can go. A-" "New Haven?" "You know it?" She nodded. "I helped a kid get there. He had some code and he said I could get in too. Well guess where I am now? He used me and lied. So what makes you different?" Tony. She clenched her fists. He looked at Max incredulously. "Again, do you have a better option?" She glanced around. "No..." "If you don't want to, you can go. Run off, we won't stop you." She stood and looked behind her. If she got a head start. Jasper tentatively stepped forward. "What's your name?" She looked back at him. "Max. What's yours?" "I'm Jasper." Max considered taking off. "Max, I have a gun, right here. If I wanted to shoot you, wouldn't I have pulled it already." She looked at the gun in his belt. If it was a trick, what would he gain from it? Max inhaled. She wasn't completely ready to trust this guy. But if he could help her... What did she have to lose? She stared from face to face. A pitying look from a girl with short very light brown hair. A suspicious look from the blonde guy that had knocked her down. A smile from a tan skinned guy who'd spoke to her originally. Nothing menacing. "Ok," She said slowly. She bent down and grabbed her flashlight, not taking her eyes off Jasper. Max looked back at the blonde guy. "Uh, can you stop?" He blinked, "Excuse me?" "Look. Ing. At. Me... Please." He rolled his eyes and walked off. The tan guy laughed. "Banished," He sing songed. There was a grumble about a creek. Jasper recaught her attention, "Are you thirsty? We don't have any food I'm afraid but we have water." Max considered for a second. "How long have you been out." "Since yesterday." She hesitated, then pulled her backpack off her shoulders. Max unzipped it and pulled out some cans. She held one small one out to him.

Jasper started objecting but she ignored him. "Take it or I'll stab you." He looked a little bewildered. Her voice was slightly cheerful. He tentatively took it. "Are you sure?" She shrugged. "Not exactly, I guess. I still don't fully trust you. But you're all hungry. I've got plenty." Max handed out more cans and plastic spoons. Aaron muttered, "How do we know it's not poisoned?" Ari seemed to actually consider it. Max intrupted, "I'll eat some first if you don't trust me." "Why did that sound like a challenge?" Aaron asked. Prince smirked. "I hope it is poisoned, if Aaron tests it." "Chug, chug, chug." Alice chanted. Aaron looked over at her, quickly. "Who's side are you on?" She considered. "No one's if I die." She opened her can. Max laughed a littlemnAaron narrowed his eyes at her. In the light they could see her better. Her face was round and a little pale. She had long strawberry blonde hair in a french braid. Freckles sprinkled her cheeks. She was just about his height. She wore a black t-shirt and a scuffed up jean jacket. "What?" She asked. He shrugged. "Well, you're just a little... weird..." "Wow." Ren batted his arm. "No, no. I mean...well not in a mean way. But like... you threatened us... and then fed us lunch?" "Actually, I think it's dinner time." Aaron shook his head and laughed a bit. "You don't make sense." She beamed. "Why, thank you." "Uh... ok." Max laughed. She pointed at Aaron. "Ok, so you're Aaron." He nodded. "And you're Jasper." Jasper gave her a thumbs up. "Aaand..." She looked at Alice. "Alice." "Mk." Max looked at Jaden. Jaden raised a hand in a slight wave and then nudged Ren. She smiled a little. "That's Jaden. He, uh, can't talk, but he can hear. I'm Ren." Max smiled then looked at Prince and Ari. They introduced themselves, Prince adding a mock bow. Ari rolled her eyes.

Prince folded his arms and leaned back. "So you thought Jasper and I were going to use you all to get in the City?" Ari looked down. Once they'd settled down for bed, they'd slipped off a little ways from the others. Ari needed to get something off her chest. "I didn't... I don't know... I thought that day when we uh... I mean, at first, I just didn't want you to get hurt, but... afterwards, you acted like nothing ever happened. So I thought you were faking it and -" "Hey." He put both hands on her shoulders. "Calm down a second. I think I get what you're saying. When you pushed me away that morning... I was upset and kinda masked it. But assumed I had been pretending to like you so that you wouldn't suspect Jasper and I, right?" Ari didn't meet his eyes as she nodded. Prince inhaled. His fists were clenched. "Ari, thing is... you didn't know me very well and the people you did know... did use you like that, correct?" She nodded again. "So it's not your fault that you've grown up believing that any affection shown is purely for gain." Ari finally looked up at him. "But I still... suspected you..." "And what made you stop?" Ari fidgeted. "When you... protected me... from the Infected. I mean, if you were putting your life above ours, you know, using us as payment to save yourself, why would you risk getting killed for me? It didn't make sense." He nodded. "Exactly. You got over the way you've been taught to trust someone." Tears welled up in Ari's eyes. "But I-" "Didn't do anything wrong." Prince lifted her chin. "Look at me. You. Did. Not. Do. Anything. Wrong." "I hurt you and thought you were -" "I would want to be hurt and thought the worst of a million times if it meant I could have what I do now." Ari felt tears running down her face and tried to blink them away. "I'm not mad, Ari." "You...you aren't?" He shook his head. "But you look... mad." "Not at you. The people who messed up your trust, that's who I'm mad at." "Oh." "It was your parents?" She nodded. He looked at her a moment, then pulled her into a tight embrace. Ari cried a little more, but it was more out of relief. She'd been scared Prince might freak out or cut her off or something. She wouldn't have been able to take that.

Max looked around at the others. Aaron was keeping watch, but she still didn't trust these people enough to sleep. Aaron glanced at her in the dim light. "You're not gonna sleep?" "Nope." "Hm." She stared into the dark passage. "You know the way to New Haven?" He asked suddenly. "Yeah, roughly. We could be there tomorrow." She thought of her useless journey last year and wondered if it would be just as useless this time. Max looked at him. They'd turned on the flashlight on a low level. She had enough batteries to last a while. "You're really going there?" "I hope so." He glanced at Jasper and sighed. Alice had her fingers laced through his. Max looked at Aaron's sad expression and felt a surge of pity. "He says we are... I guess I should trust him." She studied his face. "You've had it pretty hard." He glanced up. "How do you know that?" "You... you're sad, but you mask it with anger. What happened?" He looked away. "A lot." Max rested her head on her knees. "You don't have to tell me." There was a pause. Then, "Let's just say my parents weren't the kindest people." She looked down at her arms. They were flitted with scars. Max looked back up at him. He had some on his face. "Believe it or not, I get that." "You do, don't you." She leaned back and shut her eyes. "Yeah." "You can sleep. I'm not gonna shoot you the moment you fall asleep, you know." Max laughed, "Yeah, you have to wait until I'm fast asleep, so there's no chance of me fighting back." He laughed and shook his head. "You are officially the strangest person I've ever met." She started to lay down and pulled a blanket around herself. "I'm honored." He watched her as she started to fall asleep. She felt somehow able to sleep now.