Friendly Fire

Chapter 3

I jumped to the other end of the van and aimed my gun at the back of Zeffer's head. Mary gently lowered my hand with a sincere look on her face. Reluctantly I lowered my arm.

"Luke, I had no choice," Zeffer explained. "They were blackmailing me and Rat!" He said panicked.

It made sense. Rat was careful and would never jump early, but what do you say to that?

"We were a family," I said coldly. "You never betray family."

"Unless you're protecting your brother." His words were worth a grain of salt to me. I almost raised my gun once more when Rat Sommer in the driver's seat.

"He speaks the truth, Luke." He sounded older. He was only 16 when we met, and 17 when he lost his leg. "They told us to ' take care of Luke', but never told us how. Sorry, it was so hard. We figured it would be better than death though."

"I would've preferred death." My voice was colder than I intended but I liked that. Mary winced.

We pulled off to the side of the road where I got out. "I need some air." I could hear Zeffer getting ready to join. "And I'm bringing my gun." The rustling stopped.

I stood at the riverside, trying to learn how to skip rocks again. Just like riding a bike. Another thing I'd like to learn again.

"Hey, stranger!" She slugged my arm. I reflexively tried to hit her. She dodged it with ease. "Getting slow, old man."

"Do I really look that old?" A look of pity crossed her face, answering my question. She opened her mouth to say something but shut it without a  word.

I didn't want her pity and she knew that. What I did want was a warm shower and a haircut. I wasn't about to start complaining, the sun felt nice on my skin.

~

"There's the man I knew!" Rat, with a high-tech robot leg, wrapped me in a hug. I flinched.

"Sorry about your leg." I pulled away emotionlessly. He didn't seem to care.

"I'm the tech guy! I find my way around stuff like that. Besides, it was your life or my leg. I chose my leg and let Zeffer chose his own path." His name still rang bitter to my ears.

Rat handed me a backpack full of my old stuff and a mirror. I stared through the man I once recognized as myself. I didn't recognize the freshly shaven man in the mirror.

"It's all we could save from your footlocker. Pack of cigarettes, a box of cigars, lighter, gun, sidearm, and a lot of knives and some other things." I thanked him and he left me to be alone.

I grabbed a pack of stale cigarettes and my lighter. At the bottom of the bag laid 3 bundles of money and my wallet. I took them out and looked them over. I put 200 in my wallet and the rest in my bag, hiking it onto my shoulder.

I slipped a cigarette between my lips and lit it. I coughed the first couple hits but for familiar quickly.

I came back to see everyone doing paperwork. This would be easy. I snuck out the back and hot-wired the van. I watched panic at their makeshift campsite as I took off.