Hunter
Nick and Joe become our enemies again after our little party. A few days after the party, I chat with Steve. “Hey remember that party?” I ask him. He nods, color in his cheeks rising. “I saw you and May had something going on there. Wanna fill me in?” I ask eagerly. Once a stalker, always a stalker. He shrugs, a grin slowly spreading across his face. “Well, we were just standing there and we kept inching toward each other until we were just barely brushing against each other.” He explains quickly. I try to envision this in my mind. My heart pumps a beat of pain. I miss Katy. I could’ve used someone to dance with. But the best I can do is help the two lovers who still have each other. “And did she say anything?” I ask. He shakes his head. “It was more like unspoken communication.” He replies. “Right, and so now what are you gonna do?” I ask anxiously. “Uh . . . nothing?” He phrases it like a question. I smile. I think he should do a little more than that.
“Why don’t you go over and talk to her?” I suggest pointing to her. She’s sitting at another table with Jake and Drew. I realize she’s staring at Steve. They both turn away blushing. I fight a smile. “I dunno. What if it’s awkward?” He asks nervously. “It probably will be. But it still will be in a hundred years unless you talk with her now. Then it won’t feel so weird after a while.” I explain sounding as wise as I can. He shrugs and slides off his chair. “Can’t argue with that logic.” He says walking over to her table. He sits down next to her. Jake and Drew exchange glances and slowly back away. May turns scarlet and scowls at them. I need my stalking buddy. I look over to see Krys and Matt sitting together at a table of their own slowly sipping their sodas. I guess I’m on my own this time. Was it only a few months ago when Krys and I teamed up to watch Steve and May? How long ago was it that Krys abandoned me in the bathroom? It feels more like a gazillion years.
Steve and May split a plate of curly fries. I fight every urge to plop down beside them and join them. Jenny walks over to me in her bright purple Le Café uniform. “May I take your order?” she asks sarcastically. I grab her face and turn it toward Steve. “Do you see it?” I whisper. “What? You mean the love birds. Everyone has.” She replies casually. “You think they’ll kiss any time soon?” I ask her. She shakes her head sending her curly, blonde hair bouncing around. She smiles before she walks away. “Not in a million years.” She responds. I watch them a little longer. They’re both pretty red like they’ve had too much sun. They laugh a little. They look like they’re having a good time. Eventually, it gets too boring to watch.
I slip away into the kitchen where I find Krys and John piled on top of Jenny. They’re all rosy-cheeked and laughing. “Why didn’t you tell me you were gonna wrestle?” I ask annoyed. Krys shrugs and rolls out of the pile. John and Jenny gasp for air. The four of us wrestle each other. I wrap one arm around Krys’s neck and the other around Jenny’s. Krys throws me off her sending me and Jenny crashing into John who falls against the oven. A loud crash fills the air. “What was that?” B.B demands slamming the kitchen door open. We all laugh. “Nothing.” John says looking up at B.B innocently. I can still hear the metal ringing. B.B rolls his eyes. “Since you appear to have nothing better to do, who wants to go to the store and buy potatoes?” he offers. “Why would we need potatoes?” I ask dizzily, my head on Krys’s lap. “For the curly fries, genius. I thought you would’ve known that since you consume about twelve tons of them a day.” Krys teases pushing my head off her lap. “So, who volunteers?” B.B asks. John, Jenny and I bolt out of the room like lightning. Krys stands up and looks around helplessly. B.B holds out a reusable shopping bag and offers it to Krys. He smirks at her. “Have fun.”
Steve and May’s date is broken apart when May is drafted to come with Krys to the supermarket. I think about May and Steve. They’re young, cute and shy. They’re good for each other. After May leaves, Steve comes back to my table and rambles on about how amazing she is. I try to pay attention but he’s just repeating himself like a broken record. Krys and May are only gone for ten minutes before Krys bursts through the doors of Le Café. The few customers we have look up at her shocked. She’s not transformed but her arm is bleeding a lot. She sees the concerned customers and quickly lies. “It’s okay. I just fell kinda hard.” she explains to anyone listening. She herds everyone into the back room. Steve immediately realizes May still hasn’t returned and follows us. Krys closes the employee’s only door. “May’s in trouble.”
“What?” Steve demands. “Shh!” Rose hisses. “I was going to the store with her right? And then Nick and Joe attacked us and it was different this time. They shot my arm and then they used some kind of bomb that made a little explosion and a lot of smoke. I lost May in the smoke.” Krys explains breathlessly. “So they used a smoke bomb?” John asks. “I dunno. I think it was supposed to make a bigger explosion but it didn’t work.” She replies. “We need to find her!” Steve cries. “We can find her on B.B’s map.” Mute suggests. Krys nods and turns towards B.B’s huge computer. “Where’d B.B go?” I ask. We all look around. “I think he’s in the kitchen.” Jenny says her head peeping out the door. We find the map on B.B’s computer and try to figure out where May is. “It’s color coded so the six of us are the same color as our gem and Nick, Joe and Matt are red, orange and yellow.” John figures out. “But what color is everyone else? And are they even on this map?” I ask. B.B enters the office. He shoves us aside and sits in his office chair. “Who are you trying to find?” he asks.
“May.” Steve replies quickly and firmly. B.B clicks on random stuff and the next thing we know he has an address. He turns around in his chair and informs us of her location. “She’s at the warehouse.” He tells us. We all scurry away to the kitchen. Krys opens the door that leads behind the building. “Wait!” Steve yells his voice cracking. “I need to come!” he cries. “No way!” John insists. “Yeah. You’re gonna get killed.” Krys adds. “Why don’t we let Hunter decide? He’s the one who told him about Super Six so it should be his decision.” Mute reasons. “And Steve’s his best friend.” Rose adds. Steve turns to me and mouths a bunch of words I can’t understand. But I see his big, brown pleading eyes. “Sure. He can come.” I agree. “Yes!” he cheers. “We’ll be like Super Seven or something.” He adds. Krys raises an eyebrow. “I think only six of us will return alive.”
We all transform and run to the warehouse. Krys and Mute glide over our heads going twice as fast. “Hurry up!” Krys yells down at us. “You’re too fast!” Jenny cries. “You guys are all just unfit.” Mute replies. Steve flips him off and sprints ahead of us. We all burst in the warehouse door at about the same time though. We see May slumped against a wall shaking while Nick and Joe stand over her. “STOP!” Steve screeches. Nick and Joe whirl around. “So you came to help your pathetic friend?” Nick asks looking down at May. May who is crying and shaking like crazy. When she sees Steve her face lights up. Steve throws himself at Nick and Joe slamming them against the wall. May quickly darts out of the way. Joe yanks Steve up and slams his face against the wall. Why are we standing here watching? I leap over to Joe and shove him onto the floor. Nick hits the top of my head. I turn around and punch his stomach. My fists just bounce off him. He flies behind Steve and pulls out a dagger. He holds his knife against Steve’s neck.
I take a step toward him and he pushes his knife harder against Steve. Just enough for a thin line of blood to form. Little beads of blood creep out of his skin. May shrieks. Steve stays frozen, his brown eyes too big for his face. “Don’t move.” Nick growls. I turn and look at the rest of Super Six. They all stare at Nick and Steve. Out of nowhere, Nick cries out in pain and drops Steve. I look to see May with Joe’s gun staring wide-eyed at Nick. I see a tiny bit a smoke coming from the tip of the gun. I look back to Nick to see his leg bleeding heavily through his pants. May takes a sigh of relief. He’ll be fine. And so will Steve who jumps up and runs over to May. I start heading towards the door. “Let’s go.” I say opening the door. Nick and Joe don’t try to stop us. We all quickly file out of the warehouse. Steve and May hang behind us as we head back to Le Café. They’re both blushing beyond belief.
At Le Café Steve and May stand talking in a narrow hallway that leads from the kitchen the bathrooms. Not the greatest smelling place but they can be alone. We gave Steve the healing medicine for his neck and he’s fine. I peer out the door of the kitchen. It’s open just enough so you can see a little sliver of light and if you look close enough, you can see Steve and May talking. I can’t hear what they’re saying but they’re both blushing and shifting from one leg to the other. I do the right thing and close the door. I know they’re meant for each other. They’ll go out. Eventually.
