Insanity Chapter 5

Splash!

“This is not how I saw this day going,” I said as my feet stepped on a puddle.

“Enough, complaining, and help Cal down,” said Jessica as she closed the manhole cover. “His legs are too short to reach the bottom.”

“Come here Cal,” I said as grabbed him and lifted him down to the ground. The hole in my left shoulder stung but compared to what I’ve been through so far it was nothing. What mattered most right now was getting Cal out of here.

“Thanks,” he said as he clung to his bag with the few meager objects, he was able to steal. “Don’t mention it,” I said back to him as I made sure that he was alright.

“Don’t mention it is right,” said Malik. “Let’s just get moving already. It smells worse than the slums in here,” he said while holding his nose. “Seriously what the hell do these people eat?”

“Who knows,” Jessica said to him as we began traveling down the sewer tunnel. “Maybe all that rich food they’re eating is worse for them than we thought.“ “Hah, if only,” said Malik as a smile grew across his face.

“It's definitely due to their high and mighty attitudes,” I said to them. “Since they’re rotten on the inside that must mean that whatever comes out of them must be rotten as well.” “Hah, if you’re so righteous and pure yourself,” Malik said back to me.

“You’re right, but who cares because we did it! We robbed those elitist pieces of shit!” I yelled in joy. While we may still be hunted down by the guard there was no way that they would ever enter the sewers. They wouldn’t want to stain their pretty little armor.

“Jeez, you guys make no sense at all. One second you’re at each other’s throats and the next you’re laughing like nothing happened,” said Jessica as she followed us from behind while holding Cal’s hand.

“It’s who we are Jess,” I said back to her. “We argue and fight, then when it’s over we make up. This job is basically finished so just relax already.”

“I hate to admit it right now, but he’s right,” said Malik. “Despite today’s shortcomings, we actually came out on top. With the stuff that we’re bringing in today, Xavier will finally have to realize that we’re no longer children. We’re finally going to be entrusted with higher-paying jobs.”

“We aren’t clear to start celebrating just yet,” said Jessica. “The imperial guard is still after us. They’ll hunt us down and kill us. That guard saw both your and Cal’s faces. The both of you might not be able to go to the upper levels for a while.”

“They’re ruthless people who won’t hesitate to kill. Just look at what they did to you Mal.” “This is nothing,” I said back to her. “You should have seen what Xavier did to me when he taught me how to fight.”

“I never expected that such a skinny man could hit so hard. Besides taking a bullet for Cal is nothing. I wasn’t going to let him get hurt.”

“She wasn’t trying to hurt me,” Cal said Loud enough for everyone to hear, we caused all of us to stop moving. “She was actually really kind. She-”

“Not another word Cal,” I said as I grabbed his arms. “She was trying to trick you. She was using you to find out about us. There’s no way that an imperial guard would care about someone like you.”

“But-” “No! There are no buts. She was tricking you. If I didn’t come back to get you, then you wouldn’t be here right now! They would have taken you away or worse kill you! People from the slums don’t get a free pass. They live in a different world from them. We steal from them because that’s what we have to do in order to survive!”

“Remember, they didn’t save us when our parents were killed, Xavier did! Think about that the next time you think about trusting an imperial. Think about how our parents died because they didn’t care!”

“Mal, he gets it,” Jessica said as she pushed me away form Cal. I could see tears start to form in his eyes, but I had to make sure that my point was made.

“Fine,” I said with one word as I walked back over to Malik, and we continue to move from there.

“I told you that he wasn’t ready,” said Malik. “I told you that he would mess up.” ‘I know, but what else am io supposed to do? We don’t live in the type of world where he could grow up like a normal kid.”

“I telling you this because I care about you. You should just cut Cal loose. Keeping him around for jobs won’t work out. You saw what happened today. That kid wasn’t made for this like we were.”

“I’m sure that Xavier has a place for him. You don’t have to cut your ties with him, but sending him out on another job after this won’t work out. Hell, you got shot because of him. You may be glad that he didn’t get shot but he could have. Or instead of getting shot in the shoulder you could have been shot in the heart.”

“It’s gone exactly like you said it would. I should have trusted you, but I didn’t. Cal’s too naïve for this world. He already has enough to deal with, adding this onto all of that wasn’t fair of me.”

“When we get back I’ll make sure that he understands.” “I hope you do, because there still is one thing that Cal has to answer for.”

“What do you mean?” I asked confused by what he meant. “Back there that man did nothing to stop us from leaving. Though when it came to Cal it seemed as if he wouldn’t. During that time that guard arrived. It was all timed to perfectly”

“What did Cal take from him that made him a target?” “I don’t know exactly, but there was this strange old box. After Cal took that the man just appeared out of nowhere.”

“I guess when we get back we’ll have to check what in that box. While Cal might not be suited to this life, he was sure lucky to grab what that guy valued most. There must be some pretty expensive stuff inside.”

“Hopefully. If anything it might help recover our loses for whatever I lost when I had to throw away my bag,” I said as I looked back at Cal. Jessica managed to keep him from crying, but I could see his body tremble from fear.

I should have never brought him with us. That was a mistake I’ll never make again. I promise that I’ll keep him safe.