Ella Stolen

Alec

I know, I'm such an awful liar. I really did mean to update but my computer broke and HP is a real bitch about replacement parts. Humph but I'm not getting started on that rant. So here is my very late chapter, enjoy.

Thanks for reading!

Mo
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ALEC

Oh fuck. This is bad. This is really, really bad. Mac actually looks like he's in shock. He keeps just staring at the door, hand gripping his favorite gun. Zach is cussing his fucking head off, pacing with his hands running through his hair. Jared kicks a chair to go with the rest of the smashed table set. Mitch lights a joint from somewhere in his pocket and passes it around.

Mac got a call from one of his guys saying that a couple guys hadn't paid and ditched on a deal. The guy waited all day for them to call but never got an answer. After a couple days we knew we needed to step in and teach these guys a lesson about who they fuck with.

We headed to an apartment out by the city's slum. It smelled like shit the second we unlocked the door. Didn't take but a minute to know exactly what the smell was. The bedroom was like a scene out of a horror movie. Most of the floor was a giant pool of blood and chunks of stuff that I didn't even want to identify. The stench came from the decaying bodies. Mac holds a roll of cash in his hand. He walked in on one hell of a sight. The guy and his wife are tied to chairs. Someone shot them. A block down, another guy dead. He called Mac around ten and said he knew something about Beck. By the time we got over there, he was a bloody mess of flesh on the floor. So now we have three dead people, a roll of cash, and someone covering Beck's murder.

There was clear evidence of torture. Both corpses had gashes and bruises all over their skin. The woman even had a couple fingers missing. I had to leave the room before I threw up. This is so bad. So fucking bad.

"Mac, you said you left to get the cash, went to see the guy who called, found him dead, came here to get in their case about ditching the deal, and found them dead too. All in an hour?" Zach tries to get the facts straight. "Is this all because of the phone call?"

"He said he found something about the killer. Someone obviously didn't like that," he points to the beat up, bloody corpse. "Man this ain't right!"

"How do we find who did this? The cops are gonna find out!" I hear Jared call.

"This is why we didn't touch the door handle. We get out of here, leave no trace, and let them track the killer if they can. They won't spend much time on something like this. They put the tape up, take the body, and they give up soon after that. They don't care about people like this," he nods for us to come. We slip out of there with a weird feeling. Something bad is coming. Real bad. And fast.

Beck was four years older than me. He started off real smart. Everyone knew he was going places. He just had that feeling to him. He had all these great plans of what he wanted to do with his life. There was this charisma about him that could get anyone to follow him to the death. I can't even count how many bad ideas he dragged me into as a kid. All the trouble started when he found he could count cards. The money was enough to drive him towards the dark side. He kept making money and gaining some followers. It kept going. He had a gift for dealing with people and sales. His first real partner was Mac and together they built up their ideas.

They started making real money dealing pot. The built up from there to cocaine, crack, meth, and pretty much every drug you could think of. No one really noticed how much power he had obtained until the evening news referred to his crew as a 'rising gang'. It was as if that was the last straw. He took on arms dealing, pimping, recruiting. Everyone knew not I mess with Beck. There was lots of conflict and violence with the other gangs but even they knew they were outnumbered. The more power he got, the more enemies he made. It just built more and more.

I wish I could say Beck was a great guy till the end, but somewhere in his twisted web of control he lost himself. He was unpredictable. One second he was giving away cash to send a family friend to college, the next he was cutting. The throat of anyone who gave him a sideways glance. I wish I could say he was the best brother in the world but I can't. He's the reason so many have died. I mean look at us, we're still his little soldiers, carrying out his will even after he's gone. Shouldn't his death have been a warning? The truth is once you start, you can't stop.

There were times when he still showed some of his old self. It could be seen at the box with the group. It was like my big brother was back. But we always glorify the past. I keep overlooking when he started forgetting about momma. That's when something needed to be done. I was gonna talk to him. He always listened to me. But two days before I was gonna he was found bleeding out in an ally. Ella was twenty feet away behind a dumpster, passed out, bleeding, and... We don't talk about it. Beck had three perfect shots to the head and one stab in the heart, after he was gone to the dead. Overkill. It was awful to see.

I'm nothing like him but I sure as hell don't want to end up anywhere near him. Momma was devastated. It wasn't long till she left me too. All we know about that night is the bullets, gun in the river, crime scene, and... Ella. Another reason we can't let her go yet. The more deaths, the more I hope she gets her memories back. Zach's reasons for keeping her are all about their old-current-I-don't-know relationship. The rest of the group needs to know what happened that awful night and who we're still up against. Ella's memory of Zach gives us hope. That's all we got to cling to now.

l follow the others out the door and walk back to the SUVs. I sigh as I climb in. The tinted windows act like a barrier between me and the harsh reality. I watch the house grow smaller and smaller as we drive away.

Mac and Zach probably want to get back for their little girlfriends. It makes me with I got a girl to keep me company on days like this. Even Joel has a girl and he's so uptight! I don't even need to talk about Jared and all the girls he always hanging on him. I'm not stooping low enough to ask him for one. Yet... Few more years with nobody and I might gonna lose it.

We drive into the woods in dead silence. No one feels like talking. Everything is too crazy for words right now. The car slides into the tunnel and up into the parking deck in silence. I swing out the door and walk inside the Box. Sunlight hits me right away, soothing away some of the pain and dark thoughts plastered in my mind thanks to the shootings. I hadn't noticed how long it had been.

"We're back!" Josh calls out. He goes straight for the kitchen. That guy eats more than a herd of elephants.

"What happened? Was it about Beck? Did someone hear something?" Zee had popped out of her room and made a B line for Mac. She likes to be in the know and when she's not, she pushes till she is. That's just Zee for you. If only I was good with women. I can get a good hookup here and there but nothing that makes it longer. If I could get an Ella/Zee/Sierra I would be so damn happy. Like that could happen, humph.

Ella must hear the commotion as she comes to joins the group. She goes towards Zach and puts her arms around his shoulders. He kisses her gentle and sweet. You can see the love and protection in his eyes. We all know they weren't so soft last night. Everyone seems to forget that old walls aren't sound-proof. At all.

Zach pulls her against him and wraps his arms around her. Is that one of those backwards, upside down hug things or what do you call it? I guess so. The way they look at each other, everyone sees the spark they have. If I were a softy, which I'm not, I would call it cute. But I'm not soft so I would never say that. Or think it... Definitely not.

Mac isn't nearly as caring about all of precious eyes around here. He scoops up Zee and carries her to his room, undressing her as they go. They're like hormone crazed high schoolers.

"Be smart kids!" Jared and Mitch tease.

"Use protection!" Zach calls. The rest of us just laugh as Zee flips us off before the door slams.

"There's a reason his room is farther away. We didn't want to deal with the noises all the time, " Jared explains to Ella who laughs along with everyone. They really can be a pain in the ass with all the bed squeaking and and moaning.

I drop the car keys on the counter and head to my room. Now I have to figure out how to keep the nightmares away. It's gonna be hard considering that every time I close my eyes I see that poor dead woman's cloudy eyes. And the blood, oh all the blood. The smell still infects my nostrils, salty and metallic. I groan and head back to the kitchen for a drink. I'm gonna need one if I plan on getting any sleep tonight.