Travis.
Today had started off relatively good for me. Lacey was safe. I wasn't shot or bleeding. Ben wasn't hurt. I hadn't gotten into any sort of fight with Annabeth. Finn didn't force me to wake up. I had a roof over my head and food to eat. Cam wasn't dead.
Jay had unintentionally dropped the bomb on us about his nephew being the one the Dacostas had used as a punching bag earlier and he had to leave to check up on him. That was fine, him being around was one more person to keep track of. Right now, I only had to keep track of five people and that was good. I could use one hand to count them all. We could find Scully and leave down without his help.
The fact that it was Jay's relative that got himself in trouble when the other guys had convinced me earlier that Jay would be great at keeping Lacey safe when she first got here didn't go unnoticed though. I had thought about it the whole ride to Melkin with Cameron after Lacey left with Annabeth. The sight of her neck, bruised and purple, from one of the first altercations she had after coming back played on repeat in my head. But it was fine. She was safe now.
I spent the afternoon traveling from rooftop to rooftop, looking for signs of a scuffle or Scully. I didn't have much hope. Personally, I thought he was probably rotting away in a dumpster and as soon as Cam accepted that, the better.
It would be a lie if I said I didn't drop a few rocks down from the roof whenever I saw Cameron walking around the building below me. In my defense, I never dropped it too close to him. It was harmless fun. The punches to my arm or slaps to the back of my head he gave me each time I got down from one rooftop weren't harmless, if you asked me.
A little after Finn confirmed him and Ben were setting up everything at the Casey house, I was perched up on the top of an old motel roof and checking the surroundings. And it was on that rooftop that my day had gone from teetering on the edge of great and good down a hole into absolute shit. In the distance, cars swarmed the roads and gunshots echoed around the abandoned buildings. My heart jumped. I could hear the commotion in the distance but had no idea of how close it was to Ben and Finn or where Annabeth and Lacey were right now. And even if they were in the middle of the scuffle, there was nothing I could immediately do to help. I felt like I was at my dad's house again, watching Melkin in the distance and wishing I could help my friends.
And then the real bomb came - Lacey's voice through the earpieces. I had never hauled ass so fast down the stairs to get off the roof as I did right then, after hearing Lacey was near Scully. I barely got out the front door before Cameron was pulling in front of me with the SUV.
"Breathe," Cam said to me once we were driving and a few blocks away from everything.
I glared at him through the corner of my eyes. "I am."
Was I?
"Breathe," he repeated.
I slouched down in my seat, holding my gun close to me and tried to take some deep breaths. Cam ordered Finn and Ben to set the Casey house on fire and it was like a beacon, right in the direction we were headed. It was beautiful and part of me wanted to throw everyone who was near my girlfriend at the flaming house.
We came to a stop on the outside of fighting. I recognized some faces that I knew were supposed to be out canvasing the streets for Scully and some faces of the Dacostas but there were a handful of people I had never seen before or cared to remember.
"They're over there," I pointed in the direction of where Lacey mentioned and then clarified with the street names, "Near Riverbend and South Main Street."
It wasn't anywhere close to where we were but by now the fighting had surrounded the car. I don't remember much after I got out of the car and started fighting. All I knew was I was on a mission to get to Lacey, that was the only thing I could focus on. I didn't even know who I was fighting or what was going on half the time. I got hit in my face a few times but just kept going.
"It's the suppliers," Cam said at some point. "They're fighting the Dacostas and Caseys."
I didn't care who they were so long as they didn't touch Lacey.
"We're in a police car," Annabeth said, plummeting my day even further into the ground.
I froze in my spot and pressed the button on the earpiece. "We? We? What the fuck do you mean you're in a police car? What the fuck happened? Where's Lacey? Where-"
She cut me off, "We're fine."
"What?" Finn practically yelled and I had to wince.
"Lacey." I stressed because obviously Annabeth was fine. I hadn't heard from Lacey since she said they found Scully.
"She's fine. She lost her earpiece. Just come get us," Annabeth answered.
"Fuck me," I cursed and saw a police car in the distance but upon closer inspection, no one was inside. Everyone was going crazy around us and I wouldn't be able to see a thing. There was an old building with a fire escape on the outside of it so I took off in that direction and let Cameron know where I was going. "I'm getting higher."
I jumped up to grab the ladder and had to wiggle a bit to pull myself up it. It was old and rusted and didn't come down as easily as I hoped and all I could think was I wasn't going fast enough. Eventually, I got high enough on a fire escape balcony and looked over everything. I could see two police cars when I looked through the scope on my gun, magnifying everything. The first one had no one in it again. I thought the second had no one in it as well, until I saw feet hitting the back windshield. I took a few steadying breaths and waited a few seconds to figure out where exactly they were so I wouldn't accidentally hit either of them. And then I shot it. Their feet came smashing through the broken windshield moments later.
I saw them scramble out and looked away from them. I was in the middle of working out the best path and clearing as many people as I could while I had a good view when Annabeth's voice came back.
"I can't find Lacey. We got separated, someone dragged her off."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" I asked and went back to the car with my scope. I couldn't see either of them.
"Where are you?" Finn asked. "I'm by the gas station with all the neon lights in the window."
"Someone started trying to fight me and I don't know which direction she went in!" Annabeth said.
"Go find Finn," Cam ordered. "It's better to not be alone."
I kept in the urge to tell him he was alone because I was too busy scanning the crowd. I half listened as Cameron ordered everyone around. Ben was in the middle of getting a car started up but he wasn't near Finn anymore so Cameron told Finn and Annabeth to do the same. Annabeth said they took care of Scully and again, it was the mention of the word "we" that had me clenching my jaw tight. We took care of Scully. We killed him.
But before I could say anything to her, I saw Lacey making her way back to the car. I tried to force anyone out of her way that I could and because my day hadn't sunk enough, she stood up on the roof of a cop car. I wasn't sure if I should continue to shoot others around her or shoot her at this point. I'd never wanted to scream at her as much as right now.
She held her hands up in the air and I noticed the handcuffs on her. I groaned.
My gut told me she knew I was watching her because there was no other explanation for her stupidity. But upon realizing what she was doing and the trust she was having in me made me almost want to faint. She wanted me to shoot off her handcuffs? My hands started to clench as I watched her turn a bit more in my direction but not enough so I could get a good angle and not shoot one of her hands off accidentally. Which was terrifying because her hands were right there. What if I missed? What if something happened and I hurt her?
I shut my eyes once in a deep blink before breathing out as much of my anxiety as I could.
I didn't have room to fuck this up. Lacey trusted me not to make a mess of her arms and it was the least I could do to try not to. I couldn't have shaking hands if I wanted to keep her fingers intact.
She turned again but I didn't have a good shot but it was nearly there. I felt my arms getting steadier and then she took another step. I took a breath in and pulled the trigger. And then I shut my eyes for a solid ten seconds, not ready to see if I fucked up.
Somehow, I kept it together enough to keep her in one piece. I saw her looking at her hands and jump down from the car, thank god. And then I took off because there was no saying if someone was going to grab her again but I prayed and prayed she stayed put. She wasn't restrained anymore and I had to trust she'd be able to defend herself if she had to. And the only thought on my trek through the bodies was get to Lacey, get to Lacey.
When I did, I almost regretted it because she was bleeding from her head and her face looked rough and I wanted to murder everyone around us but then she slumped into my arms and fell apart. It was around that time, with Lacey crying and covered in blood, that I thought the day couldn't get any worse.
And that was how I later found myself in the back of a van, kidnapped by Lucky's team, cursing under my breath at my life.
I had a black bag over my head but Lacey's finger was wrapped around mine so at least I knew she was still conscious. But that didn't make up for the timing of all this. Life could have at least spaced these things out. I was sure she needed at least a few days to even come to terms with killing someone. It wasn't something that you just snapped your fingers and got over, especially someone like Lacey but I doubted Lucky and his croonies would accept a rain check on this.
"Put that back on," someone that wasn't one of my friends said.
"Do it, I dare you," Ben's voice taunted.
I let go of Lacey's hand and pulled the cloth up from my own face to see one of the supplier's men with a gun pointed at Ben, who had a devilish look on his face.
"Hey," the guy with the gun said, looking at me. "You, too."
I focused on my friends. Cameron had the bag over his head still and he looked relaxed. I would've said Sleeping Beauty was making an appearance if it wasn't for one of his fingers tapping steadily on his thigh that told me he was awake. The seats of this van had been taken out so it was just the driver's seat and passenger seat up front, both occupied. The four of us were in the backseat with three strangers. We were outnumbered which wouldn't necessarily scare me or stop me from doing something Cameron considered stupid but Lacey was possibly on the verge of having a panic attack and Cameron had told us to play along. Contrary to his belief, I was capable of listening.
"Put your masks back on," the guy repeated to Ben and I.
I just wasn't capable of listening to this jerk off. With some struggling considering my hands were tied together, I gave him the middle finger. I wasn't going to let him point a gun at Ben and just obediently put my blinders on.
Something hard hit the back of my head and I blacked out.
When my senses came back to me, I was cold. Before I opened my eyes, I pressed my head against the wall I was sitting against. It felt a lot like concrete. I could hear voices.
And then there was the press of something even colder than this wall and floor against the side of my cheek.
"Wake up, asshole," someone spat maybe an inch from my face.
My eyes snapped open and I didn't move, not with a gun pressed against my skin and an angry face in front of me.
"Fuck off," Cameron said, drawing the guy's attention away from me as he stepped back and lowered his gun.
I was finally able to look around and found my best friend next to me. Beside him was Lacey and next to her was Cameron. All of our hands were still bound and there were a handful of others in the small bare room but none that I recognized so I assumed they were with the suppliers. Lacey's attention drifted between me and the others, before it stayed put on surveying the others in the room. She had blood caked over half her face and I doubted I looked much better at this point.
Cameron's hardened glare was stuck on the guy who had been in my space. Behind the man, I saw a familiar figure who I now knew was named Lucky.
"Good, we're all awake," Lucky clapped and the jewelry on his hands and wrists clanged together. "I'll make this easy. Which ones are the killers?"
"I'm sorry?" Lacey asked innocently.
"This is not the time for questions, little girl," he said pacing in front of our outstretched feet. "This is when you give me answers. It'll be so much easier for all of us involved."
"Killers of who?" Lacey asked in the same tone as before and I was sure the look in Lucky's eyes meant he wanted to slap her for it.
Her question made me wonder if they were pissed off that Scully was dead but then again, I didn't know how they'd know. Lacey said he was working with the Dacostas. But if one of the suppliers came across a dead Scully, it wouldn't be that hard to figure out he wasn't doing too great. The only thing that had me doubting that's what they meant was the fact that they were questioning us. There was no way they'd know it was one of us. Right? This was hurting my head or maybe the hit I took in the van was, I didn't know.
Lucky let out a long, exaggerated sigh before he waved his hand dismissively in the air. I worried for about half a second that was a sign to shoot her but instead, one of the guys in the room left. Lucky stared at all of us with a weird little smile on his face before walking to a stop in front of Ben. He bent down slightly on the ground.
"Ben Acker," Lucky proclaimed.
"Yes?" Ben said uneasily.
Lucky pointed a jeweled finger at my friend. "I told you I knew your name didn't I? It was familiar and I didn't remember why at first but," he tapped his own skull with that same finger, "just took a bit for me to get there."
"Because of your age?" Ben bluntly asked.
"Oh, that happened to my grandma. It was so sad," Lacey frowned and I wanted to shake them both. "Memory is such a fragile thing."
Lucky put a hand over his face and sighed. I was tempted to do the same.
"Shut up, shut up both of you," Lucky gritted out. "I remember your name because so many of my closest guys kept telling them you were the reason they left the Caseys."
My blood started to pump harder.
"Pardon?" Ben asked.
"It was Ben Acker and Travis Miller. Cameron's newest pets at the time had them all sent out of the gang they spent so long building up. All their hard work thrown out just because two little punks didn't like them," Lucky said.
I glanced at Cam, who was glaring at Lucky but looked to be thinking hard about something so I figured he didn't have a clue as to what Lucky was talking about either.
The door opened and Lucky stood back up. The guy who had left the room earlier came back with a very familiar face. I kept my mouth shut in a way that only Vik was capable of making me do.
Vik, who was a member of the Caseys back when Ben and I first joined, entered the room. Vik, who often took joy in helping Mack slip me drugs to get me to fuck off. Vik, who carried through with his threats to harm me on a regular basis despite how young I was at the time. I felt like I was twelve all over again and I hated it. I couldn't breathe. The urge to look away from him was there but I couldn't look away from him. It felt like turning your back on an angry bear.
He walked forward confidently and stood over me, staring me down. A small chuckle came from him that had me sucking in too much air and almost coughing but I held it in.
"What are you doing here, Vik?" Cameron asked.
Vik grinned and I wanted to punch his teeth in. "When you took in your strays," he motioned to Ben and I, "I felt like my services would be put to better use elsewhere."
He took his time in looking all of us over and still, I couldn't say anything.
"So?" Lucky asked Vik, "Which ones?"
"Ones what?" Lacey asked immediately.
"Stop asking me questions," Lucky answered.
Lacey reared back and scrunched up her face. "You're asking us questions. My apologies if your questions aren't clear."
I leaned forward so I could see her around Ben, "You're going to get killed. Shut up."
"They haven't killed any of us yet," she told me, eyeing Lucky almost as a dare. I worried she'd been spending too much time with Ben, who dared people to touch him left and right to suss out who was bluffing and who was an actual threat.
"I don't mean by them," I threatened her, causing her eyes to cut to me.
"Which ones are the dogs?" Lucky clarified, looking at Vik, "Cameron's killers?"
We all remained silent but it was Vik pointing directly at me that had my gut running away.
"Think he's one. Spent too much time training around Cam and he's decent with a gun."
Lucky looked at me with eager eyes. "Are you the one that put a hole in one of my favorite hats? Cameron's little sharp shooter? Travis Miller?"
When I didn't say anything again, he stood up and dusted off his hands off. He pointed at me and then at Lacey. "Take these two. Pretty sure she's one, too."
"What?" I finally addressed them, as panic filled me at the thought of them thinking they thought Lacey was the dog. "It's just me!"
I didn't know why they wanted to know but I didn't want to lump Lacey in with whatever they wanted. She got away with killing Scully for the moment and I wanted to keep her safe.
Lucky's eyes narrowed. "I was there at the meeting the other day, in case you forgot. I'm well aware of what she does. It's actually very smart, Cammie," Lucky said turning to him. "Have a second pair of hands for up close, much like Scully was, and another who can protect you from afar. You're learning from your dad's mistakes. Now, is it only these two or do you have more?"
"It's just me," I repeated.
Cameron took a moment to answer, studying Lucky. "He's right, he's the only one."
"Now boy," Lucky said and Cam's eyes got even angrier. "I've seen her defend you. She was in the car with you when we captured you. Do you really expect me to believe it's just a coincidence you were in the car escaping with two people who are quite possibly your dogs? Who else would you be safe to travel with?"
"What about that guy?" someone asked, pointing at Ben.
"He just follows along with Miller," Vik kindly provided.
"It's just him," Cameron nodded in my direction.
Lucky played with the bracelets he had on one arm for so long in silence that it made me uncomfortable. "Fine. Take him. Make him talk. Find out if there's other dogs."
"There's nothing to tell," I said.
Vik's hands were on me, pulling me up. "We've got ways to make you talk, you remember them? How's your tolerance level these days?"
I stumbled forward as he tugged, distracted by what he said and implied. I wasn't a teen anymore. I knew how to fight but my anxiety kept building each additional second I was in the same room as Vik. I wanted to punch him now more than ever but they still had numbers over us. We had no weapons and Cameron said to wait until we had a plan. And right now, I wasn't sure if I could even form a fist to hit Vik and that caused even more fear to bubble in my chest.
"Vik." Cameron ordered and I saw stand up but he had two guns pointed at him in an instant from other men in the room. I had the familiar feeling of Vik's gun against my back.
"He doesn't answer to you anymore, Cammie," Lucky said and started walking in front of us towards the door.
"You're a piece of shit, did you know that?" I whispered behind me to Vik.
He chuckled, "Please say another word so I can finally shut you up for good." The barrel on my back pressed further into my skin.
"Take care of the others," Lucky said, waiving his hand before strolling out. "See if you can get any information out of them."
Was this included in just going along with it according to Cameron? Was I just supposed to hide my fears and my anger and let them take me out of the room? As if he could read my mind, Cameron's eyes found mine and he said nothing but the look on his face had me following with Vik. That, and the gun still against my back.
Cameron looked away from me to face the guys. He fist as much as he could with his hands still tied in front of him,waiting for the goons in front of him, and I swallowed my dread. There was no way this was going to end well. But I trusted Cameron and he continuously told Lucky it was just me and not Lacey, which was true. But everything in me wanted Lacey to come with me so that I could see if she was okay or not. But I didn't know what they were going to do to me and I didn't trust Vik and I didn't even know why Lucky wanted me. I didn't even know where we were. So I told myself that Lacey was better with Ben and Cameron than she would be with me right now.
The last images I saw before Vik and another guy forced me out of the room was one of them clocking Cameron right in the face with his fist and Lacey's wide eyes glued to me as Ben tried to pull her up to stand. In the hall, multiple men pushed past us to get into the room we just came out of, making my friends scarily outnumbered. The door closed behind them but not before I heard a pained yell from Lacey and the sound of flesh punching flesh.
I hope you liked it! This is the last chapter of Trained One. The story will continue in Killer One, which I will mention in a note right after this with the picture and everything so you can find it on my main page.
HAVE A GREAT REST OF YOUR DAY. STAY HEALTHY. I LOVE ALL OF YOU. <3333 I know things are crazy right now with everything going on in the world and if anyone needs extra distractions, I will be happy to recommend books (most of them are off of wattpad) for you to read, as that always helps me when I need to zone out.