Chapter 1
The only thing that could hold her back was right around the corner. Jayden breathed in deeply. She couldn’t turn back now she was so close! She peered around the corner into the blackness. Glowing purple slime oozed from the ceiling and dripped onto the floor. This will be easy, she told herself, I can see where it is. She took a deep breath and stepped into the blackness.
Jayden looked around the cave in wonder and astonishment. She could only see the slime spilling from the roof in the pitch-black dark cave. As she looked around she forgot to be aware of the goo, getting closer, and closer, until it landed on her arm. She didn’t have time to let out a scream before her eyes rolled back into her head. The slime created a feeling of numbness that slowly spread throughout her body, until she could no longer stand. She flopped to the floor helplessly, and became lifeless, as the soft slime wrapped around her, and piece by piece she was consumed.
3 YEARS LATER ...
Amara ran down the street, cops at her heels. She moved as fast as she could. She was young, and the cops ... weren’t. Soon they began to slow. She bolted around the corner as they stopped, gasping for air. Amara slowed to a jog and entered the ally. She opened the door on the side of the abandoned warehouse and walked in. Amara pulled the diamond from her black jacket and carefully placed it onto the table. She put her hands on her waist and panted from her chase.
Alex looked her up and down, noticing her exhaustion. He took his feet off the table and picked up the diamond to examine it. “That’s the third time this week!” He complained.
Amara replied, “Well what do you expect! We steal for a living and I’m only 16!”
Alex scoffed, “Whatever, bring it to Maverick.” He ran his hand through his short brown hair and said something else in Spanish she didn’t understand. Amara delicately lifted up the jewel and rolled her eyes. Why did she have to run all the errands? They would be much safer if Maverick did them. He was smart, fast, and could he come up with some awesome lies if he needed to. But, he couldn’t. He was the brains of the group and was always working on things to improve their gear.
When she walked in, Maverick was in the midst of sword fighting his pocket monkey with a toothpick. Amara handed the jewel to him. “Here,” she said.
“Thank you,” Maverick smiled at her, his gray eyes shining. Marmi climbed up his arm, and back into his shirt pocket. He set the diamond onto a dented metal table. Then, to her surprise, grabbed a gigantic mallet and slammed it into the gem. Amara tried to dodge pieces of flying glass-like bits of it as it flew everywhere, no doubt collecting in her coarse brown hair. She clenched her teeth looking at the jewel she had tried so hard to keep intact.
“Relax,” Maverick said smoothly, “It’s better like this. You can do more with it.” Marmi jumped out of his pocket and scampered onto Amara’s head.
“Why do you even need to make things for us?” Amara asked, reaching her finger up for the small monkey to hang onto. “What are they for?” Marmi nibbled on her finger curiously.
“Because,” Maverick continued, “We don’t need a repeat of Jayden.” Amara remained silent. She had forgotten about the tragedy of Jayden because it seemed like it was so long ago. She was 13 and Jayden was 16. Jayden was always like a sister to Amara. She was nice and protected her. She had the most beautiful long blonde hair. Amara loved to braid it. Jayden was Alex’s girlfriend. Alex used to be way nicer, not so bossy, and… well, happier. But he won’t ever get over Jayden, and Amara is sure his personality wouldn’t go back to the way it was.
Maverick sighed and smashed the diamond one more time before putting it with the others, ready to be made into protective clothes. Amara handed Maverick his fuzzy brown monkey and left to her room to think about Jayden.
Amara then realized that the next time they had all their stuff together, it would probably be her turn to go into the cave, since she knew Alex wasn’t going, and she was the newest person in the group. I’m gonna die! She thought. I’m gonna go inside that cave and DIE! She drummed her fingers against her leg.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of sirens. Police sirens. Maverick came barging into her room.
“We need to hide, now,” he instructed. Hurriedly, they sneaked around the stairway and dashed to the laundry room. Maverick helped Amara climb into a laundry bucket, just like they had practiced many times before. He then threw some clothes on top of Amara, before hiding in one himself.
Downstairs, they heard shouting. A gunshot rang out followed by a loud thud. A body?
Amara did all she could not to scream. She desperately wanted to run downstairs, to make sure it wasn’t Alex. She hoped with all her heart, it was the police.
“Search the place,” a deep unfamiliar voice called out.
She laid still, cramped in the bucket, hoping, and praying. I hope he’s ok… he’s bossy sometimes but, it’s not really his fault… he’s like a brother to me… She sat still for what seemed like hours. It was silent with the occasional voice of a cop.
The clothes were suddenly ripped from the top of the bucket. Instinctively, she bolted upright and swung her fist at the intruder. Maverick was knocked to the ground. He sat up groaning.
“Owwwww…” He rubbed the side of his face which now held a red mark where she had punched him.
“Oops…sorry...,” Amara said.
“It’s ok, but that’s not very important right now,” he replied, gesturing to the stairs. They went down the stairs cautiously, unprepared for what they might find. Alex was on the ground, with blood that soaked through the side of his t-shirt, and was seeping into the cracks in the floor. Marmi made a high pitched cry as he saw him.
“They’re… coming……. back…………. run….” he choked out. Amara stood there, staring at him, stunned.
“No!” Maverick exclaimed, “We aren’t leaving you here….”
“You’ll…...be...faster….” Alex started, but Maverick was already attempting to pick him up. He was only able to hold him for a second before he practically dropped him on the floor. He winced in pain as he fell. Maverick ran into the storage room. He returned a second later pushing a dolly. He ran over to Alex and lifted him up under the arms to drag him over to it.
“Amara, go get the emergency supplies,” he said as he heaved Alex onto the dolly. The emergency supplies was a codename for a box, it had all the stuff they needed in case they needed to abandon their “house” ASAP. Amara ran upstairs and grabbed the box. She rushed back downstairs just as Maverick finished strapping Alex onto the dolly.
Amara rushed over to the emergency exit, also known as the sewer tunnels. She pulled up the circular disk cover and moved it to the side. She then helped Maverick lower Alex down. She went down next, and Maverick tossed her the box. She set it down and unclipped Alex. He was becoming paler by the minute, and his head was laying limp from his neck. She sent Maverick a thumbs up, and the pulley tumbled into the sewers. Amara scooped it up and put it into the box.
“Alright, I’ve got it!” Amara called, “come down.”
He climbed down the ladder in a hurry. “Let’s go, I can’t close it from the inside so once they see it open, they’ll come after us,” Maverick said as he took the handles of Alex’s dolly and Amara picked up the box. They ran down the sewers to get as much distance between them and their place as possible. They could already hear voices coming from the house as they left. They came to a fork in the sewers and had a decision to make. If they went left, the sewer would dump them into a river in the forest. If they took the right tunnel, it would take them into town.
Maverick thought about this. If they went to the forest, they would probably be found super quickly since literally everyone hides there and that’s the place that would probably be checked first. Although, the river had clean water that they could wash Alex in. “Let’s go left.” Maverick decided, “but we have to move quickly so they don’t catch us.”
Then they heard voices coming down the tunnel. Right at them.
