Trapezoid (The Base)

Chapter 31

Unable to stand not knowing where she was, Chris raised her head. Tears of joy almost sprang as her eyes recognized the area. She sat straight up. The apartment Levi and William lived in was to her left. The vehicle was still moving quite fast, cars all around.

She leapt off the side of the pickup anyway. Breaking her fall by rolling on the sidewalk, her head bumped into a streetlight pole.

"Whoa! Didn't see tha' coming!" said a youthful female voice.

Chris opened her eyes and stared into baby blue eyes. The girl around fourteen started giggling. Gathering her senses, Chris tucked her armed hand underneath her splayed body.

"Oh, come on! I already saw tha' thing your tryna hide."

Chris scrambled to her feet and ran her fingers through her hair and tucking the weapon away under her shirt. She paused to study the girl, she looked awfully familiar. "Do I know you?"

The girl threw her head back and laughed heartily. "I'm Sally!" she said chirpily. "I had no idea you were capable of carrying a gun!" She leaned her arm on the pole. "So did the handsome waiter guy ask you out?"

Instantly, Chris remembered her. She was the girl wiggling her eyebrows as she had been talking with Levi in the fast food restaurant when she'd run an errand for Madam Greenwood. What was she doing here? Seeing her like this? Irritation built up in her chest at the smug look on the girl's face.

"First, I meet your guy breaking and entering. Now, I find you looking like a zombie apocalypse victim holding a gun!"

Her chest tightened. She had the audacity! A zombie apocalypse victim? Why, the brat . . .

There it was, across the street. Oswald Plumbers. They'd caught up with her! How?

There was no time to figure that out. She jogged into the entrance of the apartment gate. Overwhelmed, the only thing she could think to do was making it to the third floor—if she had luck, maybe William could help her somehow. A short cut on the elevator was cancelled by the fact all the elevators were busy. The heavy footsteps behind her, the stairs called her name. She felt sick. Why was the place so empty? Where were crowds of people when you needed them? She swallowed the lump in her throat as the third floor was reached.

She knocked nervously at the door. The few moments felt like years. The distant footsteps were getting nearer. A man with a thick red beard and tank top answered the door, surprise etched all over his face. "Can I help you?"

Chris pushed past him, tucking the weapon in her back pocket.

What was this? The living room, everything was different! Frantic, she entered the bedrooms. Different. Everything was different! Even the scent of the place! But she knew without a doubt she was in the right apartment. Panic was soon followed by the feeling of desertion.

She turned and saw Red Beard behind her. She couldn't blame him for thinking she was a loon. "Lady, you've got to leave—now." She saw the defense in his eyes. He was just protecting his property.

"Yes, sir."

There she stood alone, outside, in the well-lighted hallway. What now? Apart from here, there was nowhere else she knew to go for temporary safety. Chris quieted her steps as she ascended once more, hearing the voice a floor away.

"Why are we going after her, anyway?"

"Well, because it was obvious she was snoopin' about in stuff she had no business in."

"But she ran away. She's gone!"

"No, she went with somethin'—I know i'." His voice held a deep darkness.