Surrender Love

One

Pete

It was an especially hot and muggy day in South Chicago. Dark gray clouds blanketed the sky, yet somehow the heat of the covered sun still caused me to sweat intensely. My leather jacket made it especially difficult to function. My sweaty skin stuck to the inside of the sleeves. The gun on the inside of my left jacket pocket and my knife on the right hit my hard stomach with every stride I took. Oh, and the blood staining my black clothes didn't help the sticky situation either.

Cops cars began to sound in the direction I was coming from. I cursed silently under my breath. I was usually so much cleaner than this. People wouldn't find the body until days after the assassination took place. You'd think that after 23 years of me doing this I'd be more aware of what I was doing. I sped my slow jog into a steady run and made my way back to our headquarters.

The headquarters, or as the leader called it "home", was an old, abandoned building in pretty much the middle of nowhere. The only thing around it were a couple of fields and ironically a jailhouse. The windows and doors in the building were all blown out and there was graffiti all over the walls. We didn't live above the ground. Mikey would never allow that. Instead he had us build an underground home, which actually didn't take as long as you'd think. It was functional, to say the least, but the lack of fresh air and bodies of sweaty men made the smell almost unbearable at some points.

Often I would go sit on the roof of the old building. The sunsets were especially pretty. I'd sit there for hours, cigarette in hand, and just stare at the sky. Wondering what life would've been without this gang of misfits and bloodthirsty souls. It was just a tiny escape from the fucked up life I lived. The beautiful sunsets, the emptiness of the desert. It was all so calm. Oh, and the prison about a mile away from here. It was such a weirdly perfect getaway. The prison looked so peaceful. The desert looked so peaceful. Everything around me was at ease, like there was no secret group of assassins living under the ground.

This night was no different. After I rid myself of the blood, I headed up to the roof. I had my half empty pack of Marlboro's and a lighter, along with my newly clean leather jacket to keep me warm. Tonight's sunset was filled with purple, pink, and orange sky. There was a cool breeze flowing through the air, causing my hair to go from its natural emo state to full on forehead showing mode.

It was moments like these that I felt at peace, when I could just be alone with my thoughts and the tranquil sunset above me. Although, it wasn't long until my thoughts decided to flash back to the assassinations that had happened earlier that day. Mikey had yet again given me a list of people to hunt down and kill with no further explanation whatsoever. I obeyed him, of course. When it comes to Mikey, you never ask questions. Ever. He's extremely dangerous. Ruthless. To this day, I'm still looking for a way to break free of these chains he has on me.

I lit a cigarette and put it to my lips, drawing it away slowly as I breathed the smoke in and out. I closed my eyes, trying as hard as I could to forget the pain that I was constantly inflicting upon people. My entire life has always been centered around the murders that I'm forced to cause, meaning I've never really known anything better. Because of this, I didn't necessarily have any sort of happy place I could go to inside my mind. The least I could hope for was to forget. I just wanted to ignore everything and think about nothing at all. That seemed like the perfect getaway at this point, to be quite honest.

"It's really nice out this evening, isn't it?" I heard a voice say behind me. I didn't have to open my eyes to know who was talking to me. It was a voice that I actually appreciated. Unlike Mikey, it belonged to someone I liked.

"Hey, Ryan," I greeted. I could tell I sounded rather unenthusiastic, but it wasn't because I wasn't happy to see him. He was one of my very few best friends here among the Youngbloods, and I loved him dearly. I was just beyond exhausted, and I'm sure he understood that. He knew me better than anybody. Well, except for maybe our other best friend, Brendon. The three of us were sort of this trio that altogether hated this assassin lifestyle and wanted out.

"I knew you'd be up here," he said, sitting down next to me. I offered him a cigarette and he gladly took one.

"Where else would I be? It's not like I can leave."

"I know," he replied. Lighting the cigarette, Ryan took a long drag and sighed, blowing the smoke out in three perfect little rings. I rolled my eyes. He was always better than everyone else, but it's not like he tried. He wasn't snooty about it, either. It was just natural for him to be at the top. "I was talking to Brendon earlier," Ry continued. "He's torn about whether he wants to leave or not."

"Really?" I breathed my cigarette in and attempted the smoke rings, but I ended up choking and coughing.

Ryan laughed and I glared but ended up laughing with him. He turned serious again. "Yeah. Beebo's scared. He wants to leave, but he's afraid that Mikey's gonna find us like he did with all of the other escapees. And, ya know, that didn't turn out well."

I shivered at the memory. Some of my closest friends, Andy and Joe, attempted to escape about a year ago. And they did, until Mikey caught up with them. He brought the two back and ordered us to beat them to death. It hurt me just as much as it hurt them. I cried the whole time.

"It won't be like last time," I promised. "We'll make it out when the time is right. Then-" I took another drag "-we'll be free."

Ryan smiled, leaning back against the wall. His eyes were closed, and he looked at peace. His cool, calm, and collective vibe radiated off of his skin. Brendon was a lucky guy.

Footsteps began to sound on the stairs. We quickly snuffed out our cigarettes just in time before Mikey could see them. His brown hair popped through the broken doorway. He smiled at me and I did all I could to not roll my eyes.

"How's my most trusted assassin?" Mikey said, directing his gaze towards Ryan. He faked a smile and replied with an I'm fine.

He then turned to me. "And my favorite person ever?"

I also faked a smile and waved. Mikey has always had a major crush on me and didn't even bother to hide it. I guess since he was the leader of the group he bought he was hot shit and could get anything he wanted, including me. But the fact that he made his gang of Youngbloods do his dirty work and kill people for a living made him even less attractive than he already was.

"We're having a meeting soon. We found a new member. Some kind of prison escapee," Mikey said, beckoning for us to follow him down the steps. There was an evil gleam in his eye. It was brighter than usual. Ryan and I exchanged glances and stood up to follow our leader.

This new guy. Maybe he won't be so bad. . .

So there you go! First chapter is complete. I hope you enjoyed it. Both Julia and I collabed on this one, so that's probably why it's pretty good. Leave a comment or vote if you liked it. We love getting feedback :)
-Paige (stxmpywxntz)