A Savage Life
Chapter 12

When we walked in, we were flanked by two soldiers and followed by twelve priests. We’re two unarmed men, not the walking poltergeist.

“Is there a place where we can get something to eat?” I asked.

The soldiers said nothing. And then came the paparazzi. Miles upon miles of people dripping out of their houses like a flood to come see us. Once again, I’m in a show I don’t want to be in. I do want to make friends. Don’t get me wrong, I just don’t want to become Buddy-Buddy with someone then have to leave them, watch them die, or get betrayed. This is just how it is. And this is when Sabine took this as a cue to reask, “Where is a place to eat?”

We were swarmed in a matter of seconds. The people were pointing, shouting, and threatening one another just to escort us to a diner. Yeah, I’m liking the celebrity life. I watch one woman literally push her twelve-year-old daughter into the ground and dash up to me, trying to wrap her hands in my clothes. She was quickly football tackled by a burly man.

“HOLD ON A MINUTE!” I shout. The raving people stopped in their tracks.

“What is wrong with everybody here?” I ask myself before saying, no, screaming, “IF YOU PEOPLE CAN’T ACT CIVIL LONG ENOUGH FOR ME TO FIND SOMEPLACE TO EAT, THEN DON’T BOTHER SHOWING ME AT ALL!”

I didn’t wait for anybody to answer me, I pushed through the crowd as priests went, “Bless you.”

That was a cold comfort. I haven’t felt blessed at all, but in a way, I did. At least I haven’t been killed, yet.

I pushed through the crowd, giving people stern looks to warn them until I pushed my way into a clear opening. Yes! It wasn’t what I suspected because I ran straight into an invisible wall. I cussed a little and rubbed my nose. I looked around, and it looked like I was on a futuristic looking Romeo and Juliet balcony. I tapped the force field in front of me. It pulsed purple waves at my touch. So suicide wasn’t an option here after all. I walked around the edges, running my hand through the pulsating field, watching the purple heartbeats wave their banner like ripples in a pond in amazement, and that’s when suddenly I realized something-quiet!

Ah, at last, peace and quiet for a few moments, but why now? Then I noticed Blabbermouth wasn’t near me. What happed to Sabine? Oh never mind, he probably got caught up talking to some random guy that would get us into trouble later. Then again, I should care.

I went sprinting towards the direction I came, shouting wildly, “Sabine?”

Running. Running. Shouting. Shouting. Falling. Falling. Kerplunk!

Of all the places on Earth for it to be, I fell through a hole in the metal sidewalk. Why wasn’t I watching where I was going? Stupid. No, I was stupidly running looking for my idiot friend. Ugh. I pick myself up and look around. At least I safely landed in the city’s sewer system. Yeah, I love smelling like something I can’t even say out loud for weeks.

I looked in front of me, beside me, and behind me. Murky, glowing purple water was everywhere, and it looked to get deeper as I go. Stuff, indescribable stuff, surrounded me. Plastic wraps, decomposed corpses of half-rats, half raccoons floating about. Just creepy, creepy nonsense.

I looked up into the bright sunlight filtering into my possible grave and drum roll please, there was a ladder hanging just a tantalizing few feet in the air. The only way to reach that was to either stack debris on top of each other (Which will happen when I die), or learn to jump really, really high.

Wow, maybe I should’ve taken Coach Reysield’s offer to join the basketball team because not only would I be as tall as a Globe Trotter by now, but I’ll have that inhuman jump every basketball player has. But here, my hands were tied. I had no plan. I had no escape. Then it struck me as I made a new plan to throw my pride and dignity in a box and send it down the river as I grouch for help. Usually I don’t do this, but if people were willing to rip each other apart to lead me to a diner, then this would work definitely.

“Help,” I screamed. “Help! Down here!”

Then my hopes looked up as a guy looked down at me. He stared at me for the longest time then he dumped his empty metallic tray of leftovers down my hole. Gee thanks a lot. With that now out of the question what do I do now? Maybe if I holler long enough, Idiot will show up to save the day. Odds of that were very slim. I can see it right now: he’s probably talking everybody’s head off he sees. Either that, or he went on a rampage and got shot. Ugh, if he has and I meet him in the great beyond...

For one thing, all I know is that as soon as I leave this pit, letting Sabine out of my sight will be the last thing on my list, even if that means I have to physically tie him to me to do so. But I still have that feeling that if he’s not dead, he’ll come looking for me. I mean that the guy’s nice and all, he’s just annoying sometimes. Plus I know Sabine well enough that he’d probably die for me. Let’s just hope that doesn’t come true. I’m not worth that much.

Anyways, I get bored and pace circles around the place waiting for Sabine. Nightfall drops and I am hungry, cold, wet from the water, and half asleep. I try to keep my eyes awake, but slowly succumb to a restless sleep against a wall as dead animal bodies and human trash filter through my fingers and soaking body.

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