THE ART OF BURNING

XV: PERFECT FOR THE APOCALYPSE!

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MAYA
(tw: lots of death. mention of police brutality n racism. rich people and cops being assholes, the usual)

            IF ANYONE FROM MAYA'S PAST LIFE is still alive, it's going to be motherfucking Vic Daugherty. That ginger bitch had been a motherfucking apocalypse prepper. She'd kept a Wall of Beans in her basement.

Beans. Huh.

Maya's salivating at the idea of beans.

            She's trying very hard not to think about food.

            It's Ramadan, so it's not like she'd be eating anything right now, anyways. But still. She didn't eat anything last night. She hasn't had anything to eat or drink for the past two days. Her hunger's a constant ache in her stomach, a knife weaving its way through her intestines. Her throat burns like the pricks on a dry desert cactus. Cain keeps complaining about how hungry he is, and the jackass better feel lucky that it's Ramadan, or he'd be getting his ass beat right about now.

            Okay, okay. Maya knows she shouldn't be swearing, not even in her head. But it's hard, okay? She gets hangry, and Cain's really testing her patience.

            Luca navigates the van he'd hot-wired into Vic's blue-paved driveway. The house is a small two-story, the windows boarded up. It's covered from roof to ground in BEWARE OF DOG stickers, literally. Maya can't see a square inch of wall left uncovered. Luca parks the car, and the group begins to pile out. From inside the house rings the sound of two dogs baying, deep and guttural. There's a short set of stairs leading up to the front porch, but, long ago, after Maya's accident, the Daugherty's had a wheelchair ramp installed for Maya. Maya and Vic had been that close.

            She'd been ten years old when it happened, playing Peewee ice hockey. The last thing she saw before she was slammed into the ice so hard she'd never walk again was Brittany Davidson's beautiful face.

            Peewee ice hockey took no prisoners, and Brittany Davidson was kicking ass and taking names.

            She'd actually go on to play professionally for the Buffalo Beauts. Not that Maya cared or anything. It was just that she'd loved hockey and she'd loved walking and running and dancing and skating and Brittany Davidson took everything away from her and, really, that bitch did not deserve to play for the Buffalo Beauts. Not after what she'd done to poor little ten-year-old Maya Zaman.