Partners in Crime

Zoe's cat-like emerald eyes skidded across the empty jewelry store parking lot. The only thing she could hear was the sound of her breathing. Well, that's what you would hear if you were there. No one could actually hear anything, because Zoe was the only one there.

Don't get to comfortable to the silence, Zoe reminded herself. That's what Alison had always told her. "Never get to comfortable with the peacefulness crap, 'cause if you do, you're going to be disappointed when you hear them coming."

When she said "them" she was referring to the Sirens. They got the Sirens after World War Four, when what was originally the United States, but is know known as the US-4, won the war. Sirens are a group of skilled young adults, ages fourteen to twenty, who get into action when there's a robbery. And the robberies are done by people like Zoe.

Well, technically they were mostly done by Alison. This was Zoe's first time doing it on her own.

Checking to make sure no one was around on more time, Zoe sprinted to the glass doors at the entrance of the jewelry store. Taking about 10 seconds in all, she took a screw driver out of her pocket, and jiggled the lock until she was in the store. It was night time, so no one was around to stop her.

As she crept quietly into the store, she remembered another piece of advice Alison had given her. "Don't get sidetracked with all the other stuff just because it's pretty. Get what you need, and get out."

The diamond necklace. That's what Zoe needed.

Really, she didn't need to do much searching, because the biggest necklace, with the largest diamond, was in the center of the room, inside a glass case. Classic, Zoe thought.

Springing into action, Zoe got the screw driver she had used to pick the lock to shatter the glass. All she had to do was bring the screw driver down hard enough to break the case. It was quite simple, actually. Alison had taught her to do it quickly and easily. Really, Alison had taught Zoe everything she knew. Alison was a good teacher, too. Alison knew almost everything about the art of stealing.

Grabbing the necklace by the chain, she ran out of the small shop. She knew she had two minutes at most to get away.

The Sirens would be here soon.

Zoe knew that Alison was going to meet her by a green sign about half a block away from the store. She had made a list of directions on a piece of paper that she gave to Zoe, but even without looking at the paper, Zoe could remember the directions perfectly.

1: Head straight when you get to the sidewalk near the parking lot.

2: Run until you get to the yellow marker I left.

3: Turn to the right of the marker, then go straight. You'll see a sign soon enough and I'll be there waiting.

And just when she heard the Sirens, she ran.

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Zoe was out of breath when she reached Alison. But that didn't matter, the cramp in her side didn't matter, the fact that she really need a drink if water didn't matter. She was with Alison now.

Zoe grinned. Alison could do that, make bad things seem unimportant, when you were around her. She could also make you scared as hell, and make you want to run away, to just get out of her sight. But she'd never made Zoe feel like that.

Alison draped her arm around Zoe's shoulders and squished Zoe into a hug. She asked, "How did it feel?"

"How did stealing something feel?" Zoe asked.

"How did stealing something back feel?" Alison was always talking about this. That you didn't steal something from Society, you were just making it even. Society had already taken everything they had, their family, their hope, so this was just taking things back from them. It made Zoe feel not as guilty about taking things.

So Zoe smirked and said, "Amazing."

"Really now? You think it's that amazing?"

The voice didn't come from Alison. They froze. Zoe knew, of course. Only certain people have voices like that, where you could practically hear the arrogance and just see the venom dripping of their tongues. Only the Sirens talked like that.

Zoe and Alison had been caught. And suddenly, she didn't feel that amazing.

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It was amazing how calm Alison could be, even when riding in the back seat of a car that was taking her to prison. Zoe knew she could never be like Alison. Never be so laid back, never be able to speak so smoothly when she got caught without stuttering and biting her nails.

"You know, I would've thought that these cars would have been a little nicer. Maybe a little bit cleaner," said Alison. She wasn't wrong, really. The back seats were filthy, and smelled of sweat and something rotting.

"Well, I wouldn't expect it to be pleasant back there. All that we ever put back there is dirty little rats like you two," the Siren retorted.

Alison snorted. "Please. We all know that your little group of arrogant teenagers couldn't catch any of us. The only reason you got us today is we weren't actually being careful. You just got lucky this time." You could practically hear the Siren rolling his eyes.

Suddenly, Zoe knew what Alison was doing. Stalling. She smirked. Alison had a plan.

"Also," Alison added. "I would have thought that you would at least put us in hand cuffs."

Suddenly, Alison pulled out a gun. If she'd had it the whole time, Zoe didn't know. All that she knew was that Alison was about to thrown down. But not the whole oh-girl-hold-my-earrings throw down. It was Alison's type of throw down.

"Stop the car," Alison demanded, with the gun pressed against the Siren's head. "Or I'll blow you brains out." The Siren didn't say anything, he kept driving. He probably thought she was bluffing. But Alison didn't bluff. "I said," she whispered in the icy-cold voice that could scare the devil, "stop the car." But the Siren just kept going. So Alison did exactly what she said she would do.

She blew his brains out.

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"Did you have that gun with you the whole time?!" Zoe shrieked, but at the same time she was laughing. Laughing at herself, mostly, because she'd thought that they actually would have been in prison. But she should've knew better. Alison always had a plan.

"Of course I did! I wouldn't have gone through that unprepared," she said while rolling her eyes. Zoe laughed again.

They were in a cabin that they'd been living in for the past four years. It was basically their home. They had enough in it to survive, beds, cabinets full of food, the things they'd stolen in the past. But the best part about the small cabin was that it was deep in the woods, where no one would ever look.

"That Siren must've been new. He didn't even bother to hand cuff us. Seriously, I even would have thought of that." Alison said it while shaking her head in mock disappointment. "It was just too easy. Not fun at all." She pouted, and Zoe just had to laugh again, because, seriously. She was pouting about not having fun about a burglary and murder not being enough fun.

"But hey, we got the necklace, didn't we?" Zoe grinned, holding the thing by it's silver chain.

"Technically, you got the necklace. I just saved our asses from going to jail."

"True."

Then Zoe said "you know, Alison? We make a good team."

"Yeah," Alison smirked. "We do. We're like partners in crime."

"We're not 'like' partners in crime," Zoe giggled. "We are partners in crime."

And they were. And they both liked the sound of that. They would always be a team, always work together against the Sirens, against Society.

Partners in crime.