How to Kill a Man in Thirty Seconds

Chapter 9: The Encounter

Dusk fell as I leaned against one of the small stock buildings that faced the school parking lot. I was still salty, but luckily, Oliver had called not long before. Sensing I was in a grim mood, he had rattled on about a humiliating experience he had had during one of his many chaotic relationships; it had left me in peals of laughter. He had then figured I was stranded and offered a ride home.

Although I denied this to his face, Oliver was a true friend; he always knew what I needed.

It was as I was waiting patiently for my friend in the gathering darkness, that I heard the sound of footsteps.

It cut through the dead silence without warning, loud against the gravel. I stood stock still, the hairs on my body rising as the air rushed out of me. I squinted harder and made out some figures standing in the distance, a few meters away from me, barely discernible amidst the blackness that surrounded me.

They didn't seem to have noticed me and were chattering amongst themselves.

"Do you reckon we got here too late?" one of them whispered in a hushed tone and I immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Rory Lee, the most notorious boy in school.

"No. Trust me, the sucker will get here any second now," was the reply.

It was Samuel Carson, Rory's equally infamous friend. From what it sounded like, there seemed to be about five boys in the parking lot, not one with whom I wanted to cross paths with today or any day of the week. I knew Rory had just returned home from juvey, where he had spent the last year for physically attacking someone. The others too had winded themselves up at the police station on countless occasions.

They were the sort of kids even the jocks feared.

But who were they waiting for?

I heard shuffling in the distance then and under the glow of the streetlight, spotted Adrian entering the parking lot some distance away. His hands were chucked into his pockets and his gaze lingered on the floor as he walked towards the school gate.

That was when I realized what was happening.

The boys wanted revenge for what had happened to Lucas.

Crap.

Adrian seemed to be deep in thought, completely oblivious as he trudged right towards the awaiting gang in the darkness. On instinct, my mouth opened, ready to shout out in warning to himbut I caught myself.

Are you going to go crying off to your daddy about it? He can't really do anything about it now, can he?

His voice, laced with mockery, rang in my mind, becoming louder and louder until it was the only coherent thought that filled my mind. My head throbbed. My heart pounded. I squeezed my eyes shut, clamping my hands over my ears in an attempt to drown out the voice as memories, nightmarish memories long buried rushed through my mind.

When my eyes flickered open and my gaze landed on Adrian again, I felt nothing. He treated people coldly, harshly. He took pleasure in making them suffer. Didn't he deserve the same treatment? Who knew, maybe a few punches would knock some sense into him.

Grabbing my backpack off the tarmac, I headed for the exit.

"Oh, there you are, Hunt. You have no idea how glad we are to see you," Rory's honeyed voice cutting through the silence froze me in my tracks. I swung around.

Adrian was looking up now and he was stock still. His bewildered gaze flickered between the five boys that had suddenly appeared from the darkness, "Do I know you guys?"

"No," Samuel chuckled coldly, "but you know our friend Lucas."

Adrian's green eyes widened just slightly.