Rebels

Ch. 8

Lyla threw herself out the window, as if she had done it a million times before. Jack watched with a horrified expression on his face. When she had mentioned before that she wanted to find a new place to lay low, he never would have guessed she would jump out the window from the second story of her house. Jack saw that she landed harmlessly on the next roof, brushing the dust from her shoulders after she had regained her balance.

Jack knew it was a very far jump, and that he could easily make the distance, but that didn't mean he wasn't afraid of heights. He couldn't help it. The man was born with the fear. Yet even as Arin and the half-dead Luca jumped out the window, he was determined to do the same.

He took three steps back, still having to bend over to avoid his head from getting injured by the low ceiling. This made things a little more difficult, for he had to get a running start while half-bent over, looking like a complete and total idiot. He sighed, and cracked his knuckles. Then, he ran as best as he could, and as soon as he reached the edge he jumped. He felt a gush of air fly beneath his feet, and which in the blink of an eye, he was on the next rooftop. Lyla took no hesitation to walk to the edge of this new rooftop and to jump once again gracefully to the next. To make things easier, the buildings were nearly touching each other. Jack only knew to follow her, so he did so. The next jump wasn't too bad, for it was just a slim passageway between the two structures. Lyla continued walking further into the city, skipping over obstacles like this was an everyday occupancy. She didn't turn back to see whether Jack was following or not, and he silently took offense to this.

Lyla sat down at the edge of where the line of buildings stopped. Then, she pushed herself off. Jack's jaw hung open, for he didn't know what to think of the woman before him. He jogged to the edge and looked down, finding it really wasn't that far of a jump to the ground. He was finally able to breathe again, and he felt he was getting the hang of jumping to and fro buildings. Without thinking, he stepped off the rooftop. His feet smacked the ground, and a vibrating sensation filed through his legs.

"I know a friend of mine. He's out of town, so his place is open." She explained and walked down the sidewalk, immediately blending in with the crowd.

Jack considered himself good at blending in with crowds. He hadn't had a good experience at his recent town only because he had become a very well-known thief. Now that practically no one in the entire city knew about him, he considered himself an expert. Although, he wanted people to know him for his talent in the city. This bothered him.

He jogged to catch up with Lyla, accidentally bumping into a man who was walking busily down the sidewalk. The man immediately swore under his breath, intending for Jack to hear.

Jack scoffed. Almost immediately his mood had turned, and now he didn't care as much for his fame in this foreign city he occupied.

Jack caught up to Lyla, who was waiting impatiently for him in the front of a door, with her arms crossed. "Half a mile down the street and you manage get lost?"

Jack bit his tongue, walking past her and into the new temporary space. "I wasn't lost." He mumbled. He took in his surroundings with a bit of disappointment. It was a wooden two-room place. A bed was thrown carelessly to the side, and the counter was to the right of it. In the next room was another bed with a bathroom, and a window with white curtains. Jack felt excited for the television. He had never personally owned one himself nor gone anywhere with much time to acknowledge a television. He rubbed his hands together and stepped deeper into the room, with Lyla closing the door behind him. He easily found the control to the television sitting on a table in front of the bed. He turned the television on, but he found an even more confusing idea. The television portrayed one picture, and it wasn't changing. At first he figured maybe something was wrong with the connection of the television, but he was proved wrong.

Lyla stepped forward, gazing over the television as if she had seen it everyday. "What, they don't have television over where you come from?" She looked expectantly at Jack, who didn't reply. Lyla took a deep breath. "The picture never changes." The television portrayed bright colored smoke against a gray background. Following the smoke to the bottom of the screen was a single fist. No words were shown; only the picture. "It symbolizes the rebellion."

Jack cocked his head, taking a sudden interest in what Lyla had to say. "What rebellion?"

"There is an anonymous group who fights against the government." She said it as plain as white paint.

This made Jack wonder what point the rebels were trying to make. Jack personally thought the government was pretty stable. He couldn't find any reason in his kind for someone to rebel, unless they had a personal issue against the government. "What are they trying to say?"

Lyla sighed. "Look, Jack." She turned to him, her eyes serious. "I do not know where you come from. However, wherever that may be, I'm sure you had monitors around."

Jack shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He had no idea in his mind what Lyla might have been trying to say, but he confirmed that there were no monitors scouring his every move. This was brand new news to him. "I hate to break it to you sister, but we had no monitors. This city is surely the only place on the entire Earth that has such a thing."

At this, Lyla frowned. "No monitors." She muttered to herself. She shook her head, snapping out of the topic. "That doesn't matter. There are better things to worry about." She turned and walked into the other bedroom, where Arin had managed to drag Luca in. Arin left the room, and Lyla shut the door behind her, enclosing Jack and Arin in the main room together.

Jack glanced at the bed behind him and the couch across from the bed beneath a window. He and Arin could not by any means sleep in the same and only bed. It'd be too awkward for them both. Seeming as Arin was the one who had more significant injuries, Jack headed towards the couch, defeated.