The kid

I step outside and the place is deserted. The bread truck is still over on the corner but I try to ignore it. I don’t know if those Nod worshippers can be trusted. Well, I know they can’t, but I don’t know if they’re scared enough to really run away. I start walking towards the car in the hopes of finding the kid. As I get closer though, my stomach gets that sinking feeling. The rear door has been left open and the kid is nowhere in sight. I look around. Nothing down the street, no sign around the car, and nothing but that text message to go on. I’d told the kid to stay out of trouble, but to check out anything strange. Damnit, how could I have been so stupid? Of course that got him in trouble. There was no way he could go toe to toe with a vampire, gun or not. He was just a kid and I’d told him to act like an adult. Maybe Malvolio and his goons had caught his eye and he took off after them. The only ones he could’ve spotted that weren’t on the front were down an alley to the right of the warehouse, so I started walking in that direction. My hands were still shaking, the adrenaline pumping from the past hour inside that warehouse. I just wasn’t used to danger, of actually being in fear of dying. Being scared for someone else wasn’t any better. The whole feeling was like being taken out of a padded room and being told anything could happen. I checked over my shoulder twice as I moved across the street. My hand found the gun in my pocket and once again I was surprised at how reassuring the grip really felt. Death didn’t seem so bad when you could order it around. But only a little. Some garbage cans are were knocked over and I can tell by the smell it happened recently. I pick up my pace and start running down the alley way. The kid needed help.