The Weirdos

81

The man walked over to Roderick and hugged him to his chest.
"Hi there, monster. Time to take a little nap."
Jasper covered his mouth as he noticed the syringe go into Roderick's neck and the albino fell limp. Where was Books? Was he hiding? Was he safe? And then Books appeared from the shadows and stood next to the man.
"Books. You're smart, right? Where are they hiding?"
"I can think of a few places. You showed up at just the right time, by the way. They had almost discovered me."
Jasper felt sick to his stomach. Books was apart of this?!
"Here. Tell them where to look."
The man handed Books a walkie talkie, then Jasper felt his arm being pulled. He looked down and saw the there was a hatch leading down to a basement. Freak was trying to get him to come. He quickly went down the stairs. They were right. They couldn't stay any longer. He closed the hatch silently, then ran to the other two where they were opening lockers and getting supplies. Narcolepse threw shoes at Jasper, then a backpack and coat. Jasper hurriedly slipped the shoes and coat on, then the backpack. The other two ran down a tunnel to where a car was parked. They piled in and buckled up, then Narcolepse began searching for keys.
"Keys. Keys. Fuck, where are the damn keys?!"
He pulled down the sun visor and a note fell out. He read it out loud.
"Narcolepse, no more joyriding. Are you fucking kidding me?!"
They got out of the vehicle and Narcolepse looked around, then at a door.
"Come on, this way."
They ran to the door and Narcolepse opened it slowly and peeked out. After a few minutes, he slammed it open and said,
"Head for the trees, quickly!"
The three sprinted across the clearing to the line of trees and kept on running once they were inside. Jasper held tight to Freak's hand and kept Narcolepse within his sight. They ran. They ran and ran as hard as their adrenaline pumped bodies would allow. It could've been minutes. It could've been hours. The trees went on forever. And just as Jasper grew tired, Narcolepse came to an abrupt stop. The other two came to a stop next to him, huffing and puffing. Once they'd caught their breath, Narcolepse pulled the two of them into a hug. Freak squeezed them both tightly.
"He hurt Roderick! He killed Skins!"
"I know. I know, Freak. We're gonna figure this out. We'll figure this out. I promise, ok?"
Narcolepse said and Freak nodded.
"We need to keep calm. We have to be smart about this."
"Smart about what?"
Jasper asked.
"Where are we even supposed to go? What do we do? We can't hide in the forest forever, we have to stop them! They have Roderick!"
"I know, Jasper! I know, ok?! I saw it, too! But we can hardly do a thing right now! We don't know anything."
Jasper felt tears well up in his eyes.
"God dammit. Dammit!"
He punched a tree and frost spread out from the sight. Narcolepse pulled him into his arms again and stroked his hair.
"Just let it out. It's ok."
"It's not ok! None of this is ok!"
Narcolepse rubbed Jasper's back.
"We'll figure it out."
Jasper shoved away from him and started walking. He couldn't do this right now. He was hurt and Narcolepse wasn't going to make it better with his kisses and hugs. He wasn't even sure if anyone's words of comfort would help him. He felt so hopeless and stupid. He could've done something! He should've done something! Instead, he ran like a fucking coward and now everything was gone! Why, Books?! Why had he betrayed them?! Roderick knew this would happen. He tried to warn them but they hadn't noticed it in time. Why did it take so long?! Jasper fell to his knees at the edge of a deep pond and tried to control his breathing. His face was wet and cold from his tears. He was shivering and his body was spent. He wanted to curl up and sleep, but it wouldn't come easy in the middle of the forest with danger looking for them. He splashed his face a few times, then heard Freak call his name. A moment later, the boy tripped and fell right into the pond. Jasper gasped and went to grab the boy. He heard a little thunk as something splashed into the water, then the whole thing began freezing over.
"What? No! No! Freak!"
The entire surface was covered in ice, with Freak still in the water. He was banging against the ice and Jasper started looking for something, anything. A big rock, a sharp tree branch.
"Narcolepse! Hurry, help! Help!"
Narcolepse came speeding over.
"What've you done?! Unfreeze it, Snow! Hurry!"
"I... I-I-"
"Do it!"
Jasper felt too pressured. He couldn't concentrate. He was panicked and scared and he couldn't remember how to get the ice back into his system!
"Snow!"
"I can't!"
Freak's banging on the ice was starting to grow fainter. And then out of the corner of his eye, Jasper saw flames. A flaming figure. The figure came running over and placed its hands on the frozen pond. Within seconds, the ice melted and they were breaking through it. Narcolepse went and pulled Freak from the water, setting him on his side so he could cough out the water he'd started inhaling. He shivered and groaned. Jasper gave him his jacket, then looked at the flaming figure as its flames went out. And then they were faced with a young woman covered head to toe in charcoal dust. Jasper looked into her eyes and gasped. The burning eyes from his dreams.