Starting Over Anderson || ✔

Twenty-three: the Run

*** Not edited, read at own risk ***

Present time

I'm on the run, again. Only this time, with Noah, cruising along sixty miles per hour in his silver Hilux.

I'm positive we're breaking the speed limit, and I've tried to warn Noah, but he doesn't answer me. He doesn't even let me get a chance to tell the Baxters before pulling me into the car and shooting right out of the driveway, all but claiming that I'm "in danger".

It's been two hours - or is it three? - since I've been forcefully kidnapped by Mr. I-Don't-Talk. He doesn't bother telling me the purpose of our getaway and I'm starting to fear for my safety. Okay, only a little, but still. I don't want to be murdered and my body dumped somewhere in the middle of no where. Because that's where we are now - no where. I have lost all my sense of direction watching trees and trees and more trees zoom past us in a blur.

Getting bored of the only game in Noah's phone (Robbery Bob, I kick ass being Bob), I sigh and contemplate on calling Aaron. I feel like I should at least inform him of my whereabouts, you know, before he flies across America to check up on me. I glance at Noah nervously, dialing Aaron's cell. It doesn't get to the second ring before the phone is ripped from my hands.

"What do you think you're doing?" Noah wants to know. If I hadn't known better, I wouldn't have recognized the anger in his voice. But I know better, so I know he's angry. "How many times do I need to tell you that cell phones are - "

"Traceable and perilous, yeah yeah."

I sigh again as he proceeds to chuck the poor innocent device out of the car. Thinking that's the end of it, I turn in my seat, hoping to get some sleep instead of watching all these trees go by. I have just found a comfortable position when robot boy pokes my shoulder. I open an eye to peek at him. He thrust a cold black thing into my hand.

"Call your brother," is all he says without moving his lips.

I don't see why this old Nokia 3310 cell is safer in comparison but dial Aaron's number anyway, assuming he's who Noah means. Aaron picks right away.

"Hood, speaking."

"Hey, Aaron, it's me."

"Princess?" His tone softens immensely. "Where are you? Why did your friend Erin just Skyped and  told me you ran off with some guy called Noah? What is going on?"

"Honestly, I don't know," I admit, glaring at the dark haired boy beside me. If I don't end up alive, I'm haunting him for the rest of his life.

Said dark haired boy gestures at me to pass him the phone. I narrow my eyes at his out-stretched hand, thinking of a hundred ways how this is a trap, but pass him the phone nonetheless. Sure, you can shout at me all you want for getting into a car with a guy who is a part of the gang of your worst enemy, but somehow I trust Noah. Don't ask me why, I just do. 

"Hello, Hood. This is Noah," he says. "Before you jump to any conclusions, I need you to be assured that we are on the same side, and that I am, too, trying to protect your princess from a certain Kane Kingsley."

I can't hear what Aaron replies to that.

"Of course." Noah continues to recite a set of numbers to him before hanging up.

I groan in frustration, hating not being in the loop. "Please, please tell me what's going on."

"You're smart, princess, figure it out yourself."

I cross my arms defiantly. "Don't call me that."

"You mean smart?"

I know him well enough to know that it's his try at humor. "No, princess. Only Aaron gets to call me that."

His face hardens, if it's even possible. "If you love him so much, why not date him?"

I shake my head. "It's not the same kind of love, Noah. I love Aaron, the same can be said for the rest of the Hood boys, and Erin, and Isaac. I love them as family."

I wonder if Noah has a family. I mean sure, he's part of the Kings, but do they work as we do, like a family? I think back to my brief one hour in the Sim, recalling how I've seen the mustache guy talk to Kane Kingsley. It's only a simulator, yes, but it is modeled based on real life so it's as real as it gets. I have realized that it's out of fear that the respect for Kane Kingsley is born, not love, or even respect itself. They are merely bonded by an alliance, a covenant; nothing like how we're bonded by a healthy trusting relationship. Perhaps Noah has never felt this kind of love, of having someone that will stand by you twenty-four seven, no matter what happens.

Perhaps Noah doesn't even know what love is.

"Number four," he whispers so quietly that I don't hear him at first.

"What's number four?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Never love." He looks at me intently when he says that, emotions I can't make out swirling in his eyes like whirlpool even though his face is as blank as ever. I bite my lip, not knowing what to say. "They're rules I grew up with," he explains when I don't speak. "Rules set by Kane Kingsley that every one of the Kings must follow."

I pale excessively as a certain phrase jumps to my mind. It's from when I'm in the Sim, and Kane Kingsley had shouted "number three!" before I plunged to my death.

Number three, never be afraid to go for the kill.

"You cannot even begin to imagine the ruthlessness of Kane Kingsley," Noah whispers, fear leaking into his tone for once. I've never seen Noah afraid and this gets me worried. "He's a hunter, Jenna. He hunts and he doesn't stop until his prey is dead. And then he'll collect its ashes  and keep them in a small satchel like prized trophies. One for every kill."

My throat tightens as I think about Brooke and Red. At least they're with Aaron now.

"And you're his next prey, Jenna. He won't rest until your heart stops beating. You don't know how frustrated he has been, unable to locate you for so many months." Noah stares ahead, as if looking into my very uncertain future.

"Why are you helping me, Noah? Why betray Kane Kingsley?" I'm genuinely curious to this. If he's so afraid of Kane, he wouldn't want to cross him, would he?

His reply, however, is not one I'm expecting. "I don't know."

Okay, okay. Not the greatest answer in the world, but I still trust him. "Aren't you afraid of becoming the next prey?"

Surprisingly, Noah smirks at this, something I'm not expecting too. "Oh I won't," he announces a little too cheerfully. "Because if Kane Kingsley has a weakness, it's that he can't kill his son."

***

Author's note

Ho ho ho, would Jenna's decision to trust Noah lead to her ultimate demise? Especially after dropping that last bomb on her, what do you think? That's for me to know and for you find out ;b

p.s. vote and comment please?