Chapter 3: Ice Cream and Talks

Peter sat up, the kink in his shoulders and neck prodding him to find a more comfortable position to sleep in. As he settled down with his face up against the cold cobblestone, his mind registered where he was. He shot to a standing position and surveyed the area around him. A few people walked around, purses and briefcases tucked securely under their arms. They didn’t pay any attention to the six sleeping forms around Peter as they bustled about with their own business.

He squatted down and shook the sleeping girl next to him awake. “Sparrow?”

“What?” she asked sitting up. She flipped her hair out of her face.

“Can you wake the others up, I gotta find something to eat or we’re all going to die,” he said.

“Hold it, man,” she stood up, stopping him. “I have more experience in the food situation so why don’t you wake the others up and I’ll go do the other thing, ’kay?”

“Um, sure?” he wasn’t sure if she wanted to get out of waking the others up or if she really knew what she was doing. He shrugged it off as she crept out of the alleyway.

“Hey, wake up,” he patted one of the boys on the back, trying to wake him up gently. “Get up.”

The boy said something inaudible and rolled over the other way, away from Peter.

Peter tried many more times but to no avail. “Now I see why Sparrow wanted to get the food. It’s a lot easier than this!”

He tried one more time with one of the triplets and got her to wake up. “Oh bless God one of you is up.” he laughed, helping her stand up.

“Where’s Sparrow?” she immediately asked.

“She went to get food and I was supposed to wake you guys up, but….” he didn’t have to finish the sentence, it was obvious what was going on.

“Just kick ’em,” she advised.

“I can’t kick them!” he was taken aback by her advice. “Why would I do that?”

“Look, to wake up those three boys, you’re going to have to kick them. And Robin, well,

we all know she loves her sleep,” she shrugged. “If you won’t do it, I will.”

“I don’t want to kick a girl, so you go ahead. She’s your sister anyway,” he said begrudgingly.

He stepped over the sleeping girl to get to the far boy. He kicked him swiftly in the back, causing the boy to wake up screaming and yelling like a little girl.

“Kaywan, shut it or you’ll get everyone calling the police on us,” Raven snapped, kicking Robin in the ribs at the same time. Unlike Kaywan though, she just sat up quietly and looked around.

“Why was he screaming?” she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“Peter kicked him in the back,” Raven answered, moving on to one of the boys.

“I’m used to it by now,” she said. She continued when she saw Peter’s confused face.

“Getting kicked in the back, that is.”

“Ahh,” he nodded.

All the boys were awake now and sitting up, waiting for Sparrow to get back with something to eat. Moments later, she came sliding into the alleyway, a McDonald’s bag in hand.

“Sorry it took so long,” she apologized, out of breath. “I had to snitch some money from this business guy and then I had to get out of there really fast before he figured out who took it and then I had to go to McDonald’s and get the food and then get back here. I got to walk through the drive-thru which was really savage.”

“You can scratch that off your bucket list now,” Kaywan said sarcastically.

“Believe it or not, it was number two. Number one is getting to use a fire extinguisher. Those just look like they’d be so much fun.” she handed the bag to Peter and sat down with the rest.

Opening it, he looked inside. Ten sandwiches.

“Ten? How much money did you snitch off that guy?” he was flabbergasted.

“I can’t just take five dollars out of his wallet and nothing else without him noticing! You gotta take it all unless you’re like, really talented!” she covered for herself.

“Something tells me you’ve done this many times before now,” he shook his head. He reached inside and threw one to each person. “Enjoy. This might be our last meal.”

“Thanks, that adds such a wonderful touch of joy to the situation,” one of the boys remarked.

“Hey, dude,” Sparrow called to Peter. “As the leader, aren’t you supposed to be more, I don’t know, encouraging?”

“Okay,” he said, fed up. “Eat up me hearty mates for this may be the last McDonald’s ye eat in a while!”

“Were you trying to be a pirate or a British person?” Robin asked.

“Uh, see this is what I get when I try,” he said, looking at Sparrow.

“Whatever,” she shrugged, biting into her food. “Be a morbid person. It suits you well.”

Peter shook his head and sat down to eat. “Thanks, Sparrow, for the food.”

“Yup,” she answered, mouth full. “Anytime.”

Zion led Eve down another hallway which looked exactly like the one they’d just come from. Up ahead was a pair of swinging doors. The guards on either side opened them at Zion’s signal.

They stopped once they were inside the door. It was a cafeteria of sorts, grey walls, grey tables and chairs, grey everything.

These people sure love their grey. Eve thought to herself.

“There he is,” Zion pointed over to the other side of the cafeteria where a boy was sitting all by himself. It was the same boy that Eve had run into earlier only now he didn’t look so mad. His face was buried in his hands, the tray of food pushed off to the side.

“He looks sad,” she noted.

“Probably just upset he’s second in command and not first. Go talk to him.” Zion gave her a nudge on the back with the butt of his gun.

“Hey, watch it!” she warned him.

She wove her way through the aisles of tables and chairs and was soon standing across from the boy. At the sound of the chair being pulled out, he looked up at her, recognition flashing on his face.

“Hey,” he said softly. He had a mid-fade buzz cut on the sides, long on the top, and falling into his face -- along with dark eyes with specks of green and blue in them. His hair was a sort of brown with blonde highlights.

“Hey,” she sat down and leaned back in the chair. “Brodie, right?”

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“Well, you’re certainly a man of few words,” she remarked.

“Just wait till I get used to having you around. I’m always being told I talk too much,” he gave a little laugh. “And you are….?”

“Eve.” she extended her hand and he shook it. “Nice to meet you.”

"Same.”

They sat in silence, not sure what to do.

How long has it been since I’ve actually had to introduce myself to someone? Normally, I just go up to them and tell them who I am and what I need to be done, but this is different. I can’t really rush into it. She thought to herself. Just be straight forward! Why am I getting nervous about this?

“Okay, so this is awkward so I’m just—gonna, go over there,” she pushed her seat back and went to stand up, but Brodie grabbed her arm.

“What all do you know?” he asked. He motioned for her to sit down. “About this assignment.”

“Um, nothing. I was hoping you’d know some stuff,” she answered.

“Well, I don’t. My mom dragged me into this whole thing. I didn’t want to do this, but she said it was important,” he dropped his head again.

“Your mom?” she asked tentatively.

“Yeah,” he looked at her like she had just asked a stupid question. “I’m Brodie Pritchett, Aswynn Pritchett’s son.”

“Nope. No. I’m sorry, but I can’t. No.” she stood up again, yanking away from him when he tried to pull her back down. “You’re the son of the psychopath who has single-handedly killed almost every single one of my friends. Why should you be any different?”

“Who said I was like her?” he asked.

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” she glared at him.

“Eve. Please. If we don’t make this work, it’ll be bad for us all,” he looked at her, waiting for her response.

She thought for a moment and then leaned down until she was only a few inches away from his face. “I don’t care about the threats your mom makes, I only care about the safety of my friends.”

“So you’ll talk to me?” he asked.

“Maybe,” she looked around. “Just a quick question. This is a cafeteria, right? So do they have those little ice cream cups? It’s been forever since I’ve had ice cream.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little off topic?” he asked.

“Just answer me,” she growled.

If he’s gonna be second in command, he needs to get used to taking orders and such from me. She tried to justify her actions. Okay, so maybe I just like to boss people around.

“Yeah, they do,” he answered.

“Good, I’ll be right back,” she walked away.

Shucks, Brodie thought. This is going to be way harder than Mom said.

“Want some?” Eve asked when she sat down. She had five of the little cups of ice cream.

Three chocolate and two vanilla.

“Can I have a chocolate?” he asked, reaching forward.

“No sir, you cannot!” she smacked his hand away. “You can have a vanilla. And a tip for

you, never take a girl’s chocolate.”

His eyes widened as he quickly grabbed a vanilla. Why did I sign up for this?

Word of advice for all those guys out there. NEVER, and I mean NEVER, take a girl’s chocolate. It can get nasty.