The Rules | ✅ Completed

Chapter 47

After an hour in the car, I was getting anxious. We were somewhere outside the city limits. The buildings were crumbling while the potholes were multiplying. The security fencing was a staple apparently to the scenery. We didn't go past a single home or business that didn't look prepared for an apocalyptic panic. Street lights attempted to stay lit while others didn't bother coming to life at all.

"Finn," I whispered as we passed a liquor store with four guys huddled out front. They looked up as we neared then followed us with a watchful glare until we were out of sight again. "How much further?"

"Are you scared?" His hand squeezed mine as we turned onto a road that led to the industrial side of town. I didn't have to say anything. It was written all over my face how uncomfortable I was with the area we were traveling through. "Would help if I told you that my cousin owns a building over here, and that is where we're going."

"A building your cousin owns?"

"Do you remember Zoey? She was at my birthday a few years ago? I think her hair was purple back then. Nose ring." He kept rattling off things about this girl that I had a vague memory of meeting.

"The one who smoked a joint in your bathroom?"

"That's the one." He was grinning ear from ear. "She got some inheritance money after her grandmother passed. My uncle wanted her to invest it and put it toward a higher education. Zoey knew that it would be a waste. The type of schooling she wanted wasn't in a classroom taught by someone who had no idea what she was looking for."

"So she went and bought a rundown building in a sketchy part of town," I asked as we pulled up to one of the apocalypse fences. He nodded and rolled down his window. There was a beep and screech from the box sticking out of the ground.

"What," a voice barked through the crackling speaker.

"Hey, Zoe. Mind opening up." The gate whined and started moving. He drove the car through the opening and I stared at the side of the building.

The smooth concrete had a mural stretching ten feet high and twenty feet wide. The bright, bold colors looked freshly sprayed. As the car got closer, I was able to see that I was wrong. There were chips and patches that showed the image's age. The way that the golds, blues and purples blended and swirled hypnotized me. It was a smooth flow of one color after another that spoke volumes against the harsh industrial surroundings and blackened sky.

"Zoey knew that it was crazy to buy the space. Her parents were pissed when she told them. There was no warning. They found out at christmas when my dad asked what was doing. She just blurted it out how she was working on the huge spray paint job. Her parents freaked and thought she was going to be arrested for vandalism. The horror quadrupled when they learned it was her own building that she was tagging."

A door along the side of the building opened and a figure held it open. The bright lights behind the figure hid her features but it could only be one person. I looked to Finn who gave my hand one more squeeze before letting it go. We got out of his car and met at the front. He opened his arms and embraced the woman.