Last Step Outside [Book 2]

Chapter 3 Missing Friend

"-and she would always tease me. I never told her I liked Chris or the next thing I know, I'd be in the dumpster. She's literally the worst human I've ever met." Bianca and Heather were circled around Lynn, listening intently to Lynn's story.

"You always told her you didn't like Chris." Bianca thinks out loud.

"I didn't."

"But you just said-."

"Just listen to me. Renny had bullies too, Mark and someone else, I forgot his name. Every night we'd sneak out and just watch the stars. We'd only talked about leaving but after years of planning, we decided to leave on graduation day. So, we did. I was skeptical at first but, well, I'm here now."

"Uh huh." Bianca says, "Nobody knew? Not even Ivy?"

"Whose Ivy?" Lynn looks at her.

"Mrs. O'Neil. She was my trainer, I'm happy to hear she still works there."

"Whoa. She taught you? She never told that to me."

Bianca smirks, "She isn't one to talk about her past." Suddenly, a loud boom sounds outside. Lynn's eyes grow wide.

"Renny... You guys don't happen to have a pool, do you?"

"Well..."

Lynn shoots up, dashes downstairs and into the backyard. Their pool was quite big, and now all the water was drained.

"Renny!" Lynn shouts. Renny stands inside of the drained pool and smiles.

"It's like a skatepark!" Shane rolls around on the floor. Bianca and Heather come up from behind.

"You've got to be kidding me. Heather does pranks, not like this."

Heather scowls, "Remember the tiger?"

"Yes, fine, I remember the tiger. But seriously." Bianca grabs Lynn by the arm. "Get. Those. Mules. Out. Of. My. Pool." For once, Lynn didn't object. She stumbles down into the pool, grabs Renny and Shane by the ear and drags them out.

"Idiots. You damage their property and we'll have nowhere to live." Lynn mutters. The boy's faces instantly change. "Exactly, so go apologize to Bianca and don't do it ever again." The boys nod and rush towards Bianca. Heather walks up from behind Lynn.

"Strong arm lass. Good leading." She chuckles.

"Yeah, got years of training for it. Those idiots should live in the garage. Who's that?" Lynn points to a tall boy with blonde hair., walking out of the house.

"Oh, that's Finch." Heather eyes him carefully.

"What's his real name?"

"Finchwing."

"Come on, Heather."

"Fine, that's Sam Frost. Former spy for PAAIIN."

"What?" Lynn gasps.

"Relax, he was our man on the inside for years." Sam walks up.

"Hey new kid." He smirks.

"My name is Lynn." Lynn declares.

"Cute." Lynn slaps him. He shrieks in surprise.

"Don't ever say that to me." Sam's eyes were wider than frisbees, he stumbles away and back into the house, holding his hand up to his cheek.

Heather snorts, "I like having you around."

"Same, I like being around."

. . .

"Lynn, have you seen Heather?" Bianca was rushing around frantically looking for Heather, she had disappeared a while ago. It had been a few days living at the Stormheart base, it was somewhat easy living.

"No, I'm sorry Bianca." Lynn sighs. "I can't find Shane either. He's been acting far too joyful the last few nights. Too joyful." She admits. But then again, Shane was acting suspicious too.

"Well, you three keep causing problems, what is with that?" Bianca climbs up the stairs and searches through the room for the one hundred and sixty-fifth time.

"I'm telling you; she isn't in-"

"Found her!" Bianca cries, "What were you doing under the bed?" Lynn pulls herself up the stairs.

"I saw a duck."

"What?"

"Ducks. I named them, Bentley and Wind." Lynn opens the door to see Bianca and Heather both sitting on Bianca's bunk. "More like two ducks. I named them, Bentley and Wind." Heather describes, repeating it more than twice. Bianca glances at Lynn and shrugs. "You said that already." Bianca soothes.

"Okay," Lynn interrupts, "now where's Shane?" Lynn turns her head to see Renny walking by, "Renny?" He stops.

"What?"

"Have you seen Shane?"

Renny shakes his head, "Last time I saw him, he was with Heather."

"So, you've seen him."

"No."

"Renny, you confuse me." Lynn whimpers and Renny continues walking. The sun starts to fall, and there was no sign of Shane. Lynn was starting to worry.

"He probably just took a walk, now hurry, Kodi's making pasta." Bianca encourages. Lynn sits at the front window in the living room.

"I'm not moving until he come back." Lynn says, her gaze not leaving the window.

Bianca lets out a sigh of exasperation, "Kid, he'll be back before you know it."

"He could've been killed by a semi-truck. Wild dogs. Boars. Probably tripped, rolled down a hill, got hit by a bicycle, and fell on a screw and died."

Bianca struggles to hold in laughter. "Killed by a screw. That'd be a unique death." Lynn spins around and glares at her. "Alright, alright, chill. I'll get you a bowl." She huffs and slips into the kitchen. Hours start to pass; Lynn had practically inhaled the pasta. Heather had come and sit with Lynn every so often, but was pulled away to do some recon work. Renny was happily playing videogames with the other boys, but was beginning to worry. Noticing Shane is missing, Renny leaves the backroom and sits next to Lynn by the front window on the floor.

"Still not home yet?" Renny pests.

"No. I don't know where he went!" Lynn replies, helplessly.

"Maybe he went on a walk." Renny points out. Lynn stands up.

"He didn't! He would've told someone, he would've at least said 'Hey, I'm going out and won't be back for a while!'. This isn't like Shane." Lynn frets in a mocking voice.

"Hey, is that him?" Renny wonders as he points his hand out the window.

"Shane!" Lynn exclaims. She throws the door open and rushes into Shane's arms.

"Lynn? Is everything okay?" Shane asks. Lynn pulls away and punches him in the arm. "Ow!"

"Next time, tell someone you're leaving, idiot!" Lynn pleads.

"Keep your skin on, I just went on a walk." Shane promises. Lynn looks closer at Shane. His eyes were black, he holds his hand up to his shoulder and has scars all over his face and arms.

"What'd you do on your 'walk'? Fight a bear?"

"More like-." Shane starts.

"Shane!" Renny dashes up from behind and throws his arms around his friend. "Mate, what happened to you?"

"Nothing. I'm hungry, let's go in to eat."