The Rebel League

Chapter 1- What next?

I gazed out into the distance, leaning against the barriers of a bridge. The bright yellow sunrise reflected off my strawberry blonde hair making it glow like a beacon. What the hell have I gotten myself into? I thought. It had been three days since my best friend Joel and I had left The Crime Lords and I had enough things to worry about other than the fact that Joel kept nagging me that he was hungry. I couldn't blame him, both of us had walked from the bush in Woongarrah to a street in Wyong opposite a train station. My stomach grumbled loudly as well.

I wondered how my sister, Kira, was doing. She had decided to stay behind when Joel and I left so that she could figure out Wills' plan for The Crime Lords. The whole reason my best friend and I had left was that plan. Wills, our former boss, had come up with an elaborate plan to launch an invasion on Woongarrah. We were all for it until he mentioned that our families probably wouldn't survive. That was enough for me to call it quits and now, one night later, I was tired, hungry and clueless. The only idea I had so far was that Estella, the newest recruit in the team, had previously left the group to find her cousins. If what she told me was right, she would be somewhere in or near Wyong. Once we found her, we could decided what to do next.

Joel walked up to me wearing a black hoodie and green pants. "Come on Harley, let's go to McDonalds or something, please?"

I sighed loudly. "Don't you want to find a place to stay first?"

He looked down at his belly and shook his head sadly. I had spotted a motel on my way to the bridge, we could stay there and eat at the restaurant. It would give me some time to think about our next move.

"Ok, follow me" I said, walking past him.

Cars zoomed past every now and then, distracting me from my deep thinking session. Ok, we'll stay at this motel for a week or two while we decide what to do next. Joel called out to me to slow down and I remembered that he was crippled and couldn't walk that well at the moment. Of course, he was walking fine yesterday but last night drained him of his energy so I stopped to let him catch up and made myself a mental note to ask how his leg's doing once we get inside. I needed to see if it had fully healed. His bow had shattered in our battle with an arch enemy group and a shard of wood had stuck itself in his thigh. Kira had tended to the wound with a few different powders and cream but it didn't heal completely.

After another minute or two of walking/limping, we stopped opposite the motel. Yellow paint was pealing off it in various spots and I predicted it was about twenty years old. We waited for a car to pass us and we jogged/limped as quickly as we could over the road.

I pushed open the glass doors and immediately smelt smoke and alcohol. "You go wait in the lounge area while I check us in."

I pointed to a comfortable looking room with dark blue walls and red velvet lounges. Joel nodded and hobbled away.

I walked up to the front desk and rung the little bell on the counter. A young looking man with a bald head and two eyebrow piercings approached me.

"How can I help you?" He asked, his voice lower than expected.

"Uh, I'd like to book a room for two people." I said nervously. I'd never had to book a room before, let alone by myself.

He nodded and handed me a clipboard with a pen attached. "Just fill in the information on the sheet and let me know when you're done."

He flashed a grin before taking a seat and staring at a computer screen. I stood there for a moment not knowing what to do before a voice in my head told me to get writing because I looked like an idiot. I filled in the first few questions and realised that it wasn't so hard after all.

Number of people staying: 2

Obvious.

Duration of booking: 1 week

It was a little risky but we could always just book in again, right?

Names of people staying: Harley Stone, Joel Greenwood

Hey, I wasn't gonna write my real last name in case the police came looking for us, and that name just happened to be the first one to pop into my head. With criminal records like ours, it wasn't easy travelling anywhere without being searched for.

Bar or gambling usage: none

Done! I rang the bell and the bald guy came back again and took the clipboard. He read through it with a serious expression and after a moment or two, he nodded and gave me a little key.

"Enjoy your stay." He said.

I went to the lounge area and found Joel sitting by himself. He looked drowsy but we had to get to our room before someone spotted and recognised us. 

"Let's go." I told him and helped him up.

He took the key and read the room number out loud. "Floor five, room seven."

We climbed the steep, white stairs to the fifth floor and after much puffing and stopping Joel from falling over, we made our way to the seventh door. Joel unlocked it and we stepped into our new home for the next week.

The quality of the apartment was quite extraordinary. The walls were painted a creamy white colour and the floor was lined with navy blue carpet. There were two main rooms: a lounge and kitchen room and the bedroom. We decide to look at the lounge/kitchen area first and walked straight ahead.

There were two matching blue lounges, a timber coffee table, a twenty inch plasma T.V and a dinner table. The kitchen was spotless and contained a sink, a stove, a microwave, a dishwasher and a few cabinets. I dumped my backpack on one of the lounges and went to explore the rest of the apartment.

The bathroom was opposite the bedroom and wasn't entirely outstanding: a shower/bath, a sink and a few cabinets. The bedroom had two white beds so, out of temptation I threw myself onto the closest one. It was extremely comfortable; like sleeping on a cloud.

Joel's face appeared around the corner. "So...what next?"

I wondered if he was still hungry. "We could go down to the restauraunt, and eat, if you're still hungry."

He chuckled a little and rubbed his tummy. "Yeah, I'm still hungry, but I meant what next, as in, after we eat."

I looked at him blankly. The question that had been running through my mind unanswered since we left the bush in the first place.

"We'll decide while we eat." I said. "Besides, I'm starving too."