Decisions Ch. 08

"We're here to take you home, Jazz." Ricky said.

"No, I can't." Jazz said, going back to her work. "I'm not going."

"Fuck that, you're coming with us." Ricky said, lumbering over to her. "Jazz, let's go." Jazz didn't reply, paying close attention to her work, but her lips trembled. Ricky went up into her face. "Jazz! LET'S GO."

"Yes, miss." The old lady said, smiling softly. "You've done your duty. Clear on out."

"No, Debra. Besides, I'm almost done." After she finished tying off the gauze, she gave one last inspection. Satisfied of her handiwork, she let Debra out of the tent and into the cool night. We watched her leave, then turned to Jazz.

"Jazz, come on..." Ricky insisted.

"No." Jazz replied, turning away to her tray where scarce medical supplies lay. She set about organizing it with trembling, bloodied hands.

"Fuck this." He grunted, lumbering forward, his arms outstretched.

When Ricky went to grab her, she spun around and pushed him away, her eyes blazing. "I said no, Ricky! I'm staying!" She snarled.

"Bu-... but why?" He asked.

When she saw our forlorn faces, her furious expression softened.

"Ricky, all my life I've waited for the chance to get to be able to help people. To heal them, to make them feel better. Don't you see?" She asked, gesturing around. "This is my chance. This is what I was born to do. Out there, I can't make a difference because of what I am. But in here, I can. I know what to do. I've been ready for this my whole life. These people need my help and I know how to help them."

"You're crazy." Ricky said, an expression of agony on his face.

"I know. You are too for coming all this way to get me." Jazz said, tears in her eyes. "Now go. Go home, you guys. Before the police come. The last thing that Debra said was that they're getting closer. They'll probably raid the place, soon."

"I... I..." Ricky began.

"Go. Go home." Jazz said. "This is what I was born to do."

"No." Ricky said.

"What?"

"No, I'm not going. If you're staying, then I'm staying."

"Ricky," Stasi began.

"Annie, no. If she wants to stay, then I'll keep an eye on her and make sure that nothing bad happens. Don't even argue with me, I'm not budging."

"Ricky.." I argued.

"I'm staying." He affirmed. "Annie, Vik, take care of him, please. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Without me there, there's a big chance of that happening."

"You got it, Ricky... although I think the chances of something stupid happening are smaller without you there." Viktor said.

******

We managed to find our way out of the pandemonium, retracing our steps back up the street. Unfortunately, the police had begun to block out the exit when they discovered it was being abused. Our only way out was through a back alleyway. We had to climb a fence, though. As we came to the alley, I doubled over, breathing heavily. We were sprinting non-stop to beat the protestors.

"You first, Vik." I said.

"Thanks." He replied, climbing the eight foot tall fence with ease and dropping onto the other side.

"You're next, Stasi."

"N-.."

"I'm not arguing. I'm done arguing with anybody. Please just... go."

She gave me a look, before kissing me on the cheek. Without another word, she started to climb the fence and in no time at all, she dropped onto the other side with a grunt. While she was doing that, I turned around, watching the riot. It was in full fold on this street. It was surreal. All I could do was stare... until something caught my attention.

"No..." I gasped, watching three werewolves do whatever they could to smash a car windshield with a rock, the occupants screaming inside. It wasn't what they were doing that shocked me, but it was who they were. They were the three members of the Nguyen Pack. Belcourt High School students Greg Huynh, Michael Tran, and Trent Phan. I simply watched as they repeatedly smashed the rock on the glass, the straining material cracking like a spider web.

"Chris...?" Stasi asked, catching my attention through the fence. "What's wrong? It's your turn."

I looked at her, then back at the car, then back at her. She followed my line of sight, her eyes squinting to see, then widening.

"I'm sorry." I said.

Before she could say anything, I took off, sprinting down the street and weaving past rioters.

"Chris, no!" She screamed behind me as I scurried off, hellbent on stopping the three from doing something I knew they were going to regret later. Hell, this was something I probably was going to regret later!

Within seconds, I was directly behind Greg. I grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him away from the car and turning him around. I slammed his back against the car, an angry expression plastered on my face. "What the fuck are you doing here? Go home!" I demanded.

"Fuck you." He shot back. I pulled him away from the car and pushed him towards the sidewalk. He tripped over the curb, but got back to his feet in an instant.

"Go home." I repeated. "I'm not going to let you hurt anybody tonight."

"Oh yeah?" He challenged.

"Yeah. If you're going to get to them, you're going to have to go through me." I growled, balling my fists. Trent and Michael stopped what they were doing, watching me.

Greg looked left and right at the mayhem going on around him and his smile turned malicious. He licked his lips, lips dry and cracked from the heat of the flames of the burning stores. "Gladly." He snarled.

Shit. Why couldn't we just be friends?

If there was one thing I realized, it was that Greg was fast. One moment, he was standing in front of me, the next I was under him, holding onto my cheek in pain. Greg stood over me, shaking out his fist, grinning. "You picked a wrong fight now, Williams." He snarled, picking me up by the straps of my jacket.

"Wait," I panted. "Let's talk about this!"

With a roar, Greg threw me into the car, my head cracking off the glass. Dazed, I looked up at him as he prowled towards me, balling his fists. "I've waited a long time to do that." He said. "I'm going to make sure that your little vampire bitch doesn't even recognize your body when I'm done with you." When he saw Michael edge closer, Greg snapped his head to him. "Don't take one step closer, he's mine!" He roared.

He spun back to me, his smile growing wider, revealing terrible, terribly long canine teeth. My body wasn't ready for him, but my mind was. I was ready for him. I was ready for anything. I was even ready for death.

"You call yourself the poster boy of our people, but you pick this family over us?!" He asked, pointing to the car. "You're weak. You don't have what it takes. You don't know what it's like." He grabbed me by my jacket and lifted me up, pinning me against the car.

"You pick this family over us?"

I said nothing.

"HUMANS OVER US?!" He screamed.

There was a time and place for words. Here and now was not optimal. I struggled against him, but it was no use.

"Pathetic." Greg sneered, tightening his grip. His canines descended, his maw opening outrageously wide. "Completely and utterly pathetic."

This is it.

The dream wasn't about Stasi, Lucy, Jazz, Viktor, Ricky, mom, dad, Anton, or Yulia...

That dream was about me.

These are the last moments of my life.

I was about to meet my end.

Or so my melodramatic teenage mind thought.

"Chris!" Stasi screamed. I turned my head to the right, watching her streaking towards us like a bat out of hell. Even from here, I saw her crystal blue eyes had changed completely, being replaced by a dark black.

She sprinted and ran full speed towards Greg. Before he could turn to look at her, she had already turned into a blur, diving into a tackle and slamming into him with the force of a pickup truck. I watched in awe as the two landed on the sidewalk in a heap, with Stasi on top and raining blows with her fists. "Don't you fucking touch him, you stupid mudak!" She screeched, protectively.

Without even taking the time to admire Stasi beating Greg, I was on my feet, slightly woozy from getting hit on the head. I turned around to face Michael and Trent. Trent was paralyzed by surprise at the arrival of Stasi, but Michael sprang into action. Screaming, he dove over the bonnet of the car and tackled me. Already off balance, I went to the ground, and my hands immediately went over his, which were around my neck. He squeezed as hard as he could, choking me.

"C'mere, you!" Vik snarled, grabbing him around the head and pulling him off of me with one quick yank. Like his sister, his eyes were also black and his fangs were elongated.

I gasped in relief, coughing as I massaged my neck, rolling onto my belly. While I was being attacked by Michael, it seemed that Viktor took the time to show up. A police officer wearing black riot gear was currently toe-to-toe with Trent, who had shredded and ripped his clothes as he transformed into his wolf form.

With sickening cracks, his bones knit and he stood on all fours, snarling and yipping like a wolf. With one final crunch, he completed his transformation, howling at the sky. He immediately went on the offensive, snapping at the officer, who danced out of his reach, trying not to get bitten.

I moved to help him, but I realized that I had to help Stasi first. Greg had managed to get out out from under her and had her pinned against the wall. She wailed in pain as Greg slammed his fist into her stomach, her face screwed tight as she squirmed, trying to get free. I immediately saw red.

"NO!" I roared, jumping to my feet and running towards the two. I grabbed Greg by the back of his shirt, pulling him off Stasi so hard that I heard him gasp for air. While I was taller than Greg by a few inches, he was stockier. I was more scrawny and it showed. I wrestled with him, the both of us trying to use our weight to put the other on his back. Stasi recovered from his blows and grabbed Greg around the waist, heaving him off of me with a grunt of exertion.

Suddenly finding my arms and hands free, I wiped everything out of my mind in blind fury. I cocked my arm back and sent it forward, my knuckles aimed at Greg's jaw. With a thud, it made contact, the both of us howling in pain. Blind fury wiped straight out of my mind, I staggered backwards, shaking out my throbbing hand.

"Chris, don't stop!" Stasi cried.

"I know, I know!" I gasped, holding onto my fist. You'd think that punching someone would hurt them a lot more than it hurt yourself!

"Chris!" Stasi yelled, struggling to hold onto Greg.

"Right!" I said, psyching myself up and attracting a few looks from nearby rioters. I didn't care. Fury was taking hold once more, hurt hand be damned. He had touched the love of my life and I wanted him dead. With a primal roar, I slammed my fist into his temple and he went slack. Shaking out my fist once again, I looked at Stasi.

"Nice work. Are you ok?" I asked, tentatively touching her cheek. Stasi massaged her stomach with a grimace.

"Yep. I'm fine. I'm a bit more out of shape than I'd like to be, but I'm fine.. Are you OK, lyubov?" She asked, examining me with a critical eye for injuries, specifically my neck and hand.

"I'm fine." I reassured her. "I love you."

"I love you, too." She said, leaning in for a kiss.

"CHRIS, ANNIE," Vik panted. "PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, HELP!"

Oh right. There was still a riot and a brawl going on.

Viktor was wrestling around with Michael on the floor. Michael was a skinny little kid, but then again, so was Viktor. Stasi immediately went to help him, pulling Michael off of him. "Don't you touch him." She snarled in his face, before socking him so hard that he saw stars. As Michael tried to figure out what just happened to him, she helped Viktor to a sitting position, patting him down for injuries. "Vik, Vik, are you alright?" She asked, alarmed.

"I'm fine." Vik breathed, jittery from the adrenaline. He rubbed the back of his head. "That was fun. I felt like I was in an action movie."

"No that was most definitely not fun." Stasi bawled, holding onto him. "Oh, when did you grow up?"

"Sometime between getting Abby's number and getting in my first fight." Viktor muttered.

I was inclined to agree.

As the officer finished off Trent by smacking him on the nose with his baton, I went to check on the family. I opened the passenger door, looking inside. "Are you guys alrigh-..." My voice trailed off, as I got a good look at them. They were wearing 'Support the DTOSA' in blood-red ink. I grimaced. Maybe the three werewolves were justified... in a sense. The family did nothing wrong, but they weren't doing anything to make things any better.

"Are you guys alright?" I repeated.

They were too scared to reply, the two kids in the back clutching onto each other. I sighed, about to close the door.

"Why?" The dad asked.

"Why what?" I replied.

"Why did you help us?"

"Did you not want us to help you?"

"I thought m-monsters h-hated us." The dad whimpered.

"What?" I asked.

"I th-thought monsters hated hu-humans. That's what you guys are, n-no?" He stammered.

"How could we hate you when we don't even know you?" I asked, shutting the door. I didn't even want an answer from him. I turned to my friends, who all looked at me. It looked like the riot was spreading to the next few streets. It's fury was dying down on this street.

I sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. "Thanks, officer." I muttered.

"Go home." The officer ordered, running off to rejoin the rest of his team. He probably had more important things to do than arrest a few teenagers out rioting.

I looked at Stasi, a non-verbal question etched on my face. It said 'what about these three?'

"Leave them." Stasi said, harshly. "If they're lucky enough to not get picked up by the police, let them consider it a warning to stay home the next time this happens."

Everyone was all too happy to agree. We walked off, heading back to the store to find a way out of the Pacific Mall. While we were walking, our feet navigating around detritus, Stasi's hand found mine and we intertwined our fingers. I breathed a sigh of contentment. Perfect fit.

"I don't regret anything, you know." She said as we came to the fence. Viktor hopped on with a grunt, climbing over the top.

"Huh?" I asked, massaging my knuckles.

"This. Us. I don't regret a single thing. Do you?" She asked, a hint of vulnerability in her crystal blue eyes, the dark and deadly black all but gone.

I looked around the broken street, filled with sporadic destruction.

Stasi was asking whether or not I regretted being with her, because this is what it entailed. I could've been warm and cozy in my own bed, watching this on the news, like every other normal teenager. But I was here, fighting for the lives of me and my friends. Did I regret any of this? Was I completely over my head?

I took one look at my best friend, the one who always has my back, the one who I trusted with everything and anything, the one who I could lean on to help pick me up when I needed it.

The one I loved.

"No," I stated, firmly. "I don't regret a single thing. I love you and I always have and always will. With zero regrets."

With a cry, Stasi flung her arms around me, sealing my lips in a kiss that I felt all the way in my toes. I responded with such enthusiasm that I lifted her off her feet and swayed with her.

"Uh... guys? Is now the proper time?" Viktor said, weakly. We didn't even acknowledge him, being too caught up in our own world. "OI!" He screamed, catching our attention. Stasi jumped away from me as if burned, a pink tinge to her face. "There's a goddamn war going on! Can you... can you both just hold it in until we get home?"

To be continued.

******

Author's Notes: Whew, thanks for reading! I'm super stoked that everyone is still liking the series. (Even if it may be time for our two lovable protagonists to graduate soon!) As always, thank you to Christopher, my super wonderful editor, for going through the story and making sure it was in great shape. Not only are you a great editor, but you are a great person and friend!

I love to talk to you guys, so if you feel like it shoot me a PM! Your feedback is what drives this story, motivates me to write, and improve my writing! I want to hear any ideas you guys may have or where you want me to take this story and our lovable characters.

I'm also looking for an editor now that Christopher is hanging up his cleats/skates. If you think you have what it takes, please send me a PM!