Chapter 18 ALIVE

"Climb in the car. We won't ask again."

The man placed his hand on his gun. Lei looked around. Maka was nowhere to be seen, " where is she? She was here earlier."

"Maybe it's good that she is not here because we are not sure what would have happened."

I stepped forward and stopped, thinking to myself maybe he deserved it.

Lei glanced over at me. I still haven't quite figured out who he is. He was calm as he walked over to the car, and three men walked behind him.

The dark clouds shadowed the horizon as the clouds thickened and were roaring, waiting to explode. I couldn't let it happen, I don't know who this guy is, but I will not let this guy get hurt. I walked up to the three men from the back, "where are you taking him to."

Jiang attempted to push me aside as he leaned forward. I grabbed his arm, pulling him forward as he fell to the ground.

Jiang looked into his father's face, who was sitting in the car's back seat they were forcing Lei to climb into.

His father was smoking a cigar and shook his head. Not daring to disobey his dad, he stood up and stepped aside. The three men stood in front of me. Lei was surprised and turned to look at me, not saying a word.

"Young man, turn around and go back."

"I am not going anywhere."

Jiang, his dad, screamed from the car, "who is this kid?"

"He's a nobody, dad. An orphan; if you allow me, I can get him away from here."

"No, you have caused this family enough embarrassment," it felt like a dagger to Jiang's heart, "I don't know if it's that girl 'ming you' that's intoxicating your brains."

"Young man, I won't ask again, turn around and walk away."

Maria and Jia came walking to them. Jia took my hand and nodded, "brother, we are Wiccans if to these humans if you hurt any of these people," Jia spoke to me through her thoughts.

"We can't let them take Lei. They are going to hurt him and even maybe kill him." I responded.

"What is this old lady doing here? Get out of here." Said Jiang's dad.

"Sir, I beg you, please spare the lives of these kids. They are only kids. That's what they do. They fight, and tomorrow they are friends again."

"Did you bloody see what he has done to my son's hand?"

"What is Maria doing."

I could taste anger, the heart beating faster, how badly I wanted to rip these sucker's hearts out, I felt a thirst, a hunger; I felt alive, given the time, I could kill them all in less than ten minutes.

The stones on my chains were all lighting up. I wanted this, and I don't care who sees it. I want these assholes to beg for mercy like I did when Jiang beat me up.

I will kill them, drag them to the forest and burn their clothes. The stones had a brighter glow before Jia's eyes widened. This could only mean one thing. Maria had to control this situation, or they would be exposed.

"Sir, cut my hand off and beat me to the ground, I'm an old lady, and this young man is staying with us. A man in your position is way better than leveling themselves to such bad exposure upon a great name."

Jiang's father looked around at the kids and teachers who had now stepped forward, seeing how brave this old lady was, she could disgrace his family, and people would be talking about this for years, "she is right. We can't get that exposure."

"Jiang, climb in, and you," he looked at Lei, "stay away from my family; next time, I won't let you go easily."

"But, dad, you promised to make an example of him."

"Son, the only example you need from this is that you don't lower yourself to peasants."

Jiang grinned.

Lei pushed the remote of his yellow Jaguar, which was of more value than the three Mercedes together. The yellow jaguar he is driving was a 1957 XKSS valued at $18 million.

"Someone from that class?" He mockingly said, "peasants? Have you seen the car his driving?"

The cars took off. Lei was weary of speaking to Kai, "thanks, but that was not necessary."

I looked at him, thinking of what I had seen this morning. I wanted to grab Lei by the throat. Jia squeezed my hand, reminding me we were not alone and the kill would be meaningless.

"What do you say I drop you off."

I wouldn't mind driving in that car. I mean, that's a D-class Jaguar people would do anything to drive in this car. I asked my sister to leave with Maria. She was not keen on me climbing into this car. She insisted, "ok, go home with them," I had promised her it would be just this once.

Not saying much, I walked over to the car and climbed in it as if it was my own, "so, show me what this baby can do."

"You might have to fasten your seatbelt for that."

This was going to be one hell of a ride.

Lei started the engine and listened to its rev as if it were a tiger yawning after a long nap. Driving this car can be compared to riding a raging bull during a rodeo. If your hands are not on the wheel, you can feel this car pulling away, screaming and jumping to be free.

If you can control this beast, you can make cuts in the road with the precision of a knife. This car's handling carves the road like cheese, and the tires and brakes are superior to a jaguar's claws.

The sound of the car driving is music to my ears. You can hear the exhaust notes rumbling from the engine to the back like rolling thunder during a hurricane.

Every increase in speed brings a louder sound. After getting out of this car, you almost have to peel yourself off as if you have been glued to the seats.

When suddenly, out of nowhere, a child runs out of the woods, Lei trapped brakes.

Everywhere I looked, up, down, side to side, I saw thick dark redness.

It seemed to become my world slowly. Spinning. Red. Blood. Or was it? What time was it? What had happened? All these questions swirled in my head; as a familiar copper-like taste slipped into my mouth. Was it mine?

As the blood gashed down my face, all I could focus on was my hands trembling on either side of me.

The world slowly revolved around my shaking hands and the blood covering my entire being. What was I to do? It felt like I was spinning, or the world was spinning in front of me.

My brain finally realized that I was not dead. As I realized this, my brain slowly returned to life, asking my limbs to move.

I was begging my limbs to move out of this horrid red darkness that my eyes could only see. Or so I thought. But I stood still.

The only thing moving at that moment was my trembling hands and the droplets of blood hitting the cold cement floor that lay underneath me.

Drop, drop, drop, echoing as it puddled to the floor. It was covering me, surrounding me.

I started to hear screams but very low muffled screams. They were there, but with the life of me, I could not comprehend them as much as I tried.

The spinning red world before me soon ended when I focused on it. I heard hooters and saw glasses everywhere as I crawled from under the car. It was catching flames. Lei was tied to the seatbelt, and I had to act fast.

As I crawled around the car cutting through his seatbelt, I dragged him out. People were too afraid to get close.

The car was a ticking bomb.

Every second counted, and I used all my strength. My yellow stone was getting dimmer as I lost blood, and my head was spinning.

I dragged Lei as far away from the car as I could, and within five minutes, the car exploded. I looked around for the girl.

We saw she was not there. "Lei," I patted him on the face, "wake up," that's when I saw the yellow stone around his neck.

The smoke was thick. People wouldn't come close, and his yellow stone was barely glowing. It was dying out. I can't let him; that's when I slit my wrist and dripped blood onto his lips.

He had slowly started to gain consciousness, and his stone started to brighten up solid, not anymore flickering. As I sat him, I felt weak. Every bone in my body was paining. He looked over at me, "you saved me."

I was too weak to respond. My eyes closed, and I passed out.