| The next morning I woke up about ten o'clock and got ready to go to Amy's. I arrived at about fifteen minutes to eleven, just in time for the guys to pull up. "Ready to go?!" Zac yelled. I was just stepping up to the porch. I banged on the front door, and Amy came running soon after. "Take your time!" Zac yelled. "Shut up, we've got plenty of time," I yelled back. "Not any more," he replied as we got to the car. Amy got in the front with Ike, and I got in the back with the other two. "The main highway's got a huge traffic jam, we have to go the back way," Taylor informed us. "Great," I mumbled. "Where'd you hear that?" Amy asked. "On the radio at ten-thirty," Isaac replied, pulling out of the driveway. "So now we're gonna be late?" Amy asked. "Not necessarily... both highways have an almost direct access, except we have to go North/East of the city, then back into it," I replied. "So in other words, we won't be early?" Zac suggested. We actually got there about half an hour later. Plus, the time it took to actually find a parking space. We were there about eleven thirty. Half an hour to go. We just decided to hang around and be early. Not ten minutes later, a stranger sidled up to us. "Um... you're the ones that went through that kidnapping thing, huh?" he asked, a little nervous. "Yeah... who's asking?" Isaac asked, as Zac jumped off the bonnet of the car and joined him. "Well ah... my name's Nathan. Ah, I'm a mate of Brad's," he replied. "A mate of Brad's is not necessarily a friend of ours," Zac replied in a sharp tone. "And I understand that! But ah, he wanted me to tell you something," Nathan explained. Amy and I had noticed Taylor giving Nathan a strange look, but we were more interested in the conversation so far. "What did he say?" Ike questioned, knowing it must have been important. "Ah..." Nathan glanced at Zac, "he said to warn you to watch your backs today." "Watch our backs? Why?" Ike asked. "Because... he said there's a number of people still watching out for you - one guy inparticular," Nathan explained. Then I also jumped off the car. "Who? We want details," Zac ordered sternly. "I, I don't really know that much! His name is Troy or something, and I just know that he's looking out for you - waiting for the right moment!" Nathan exclaimed. "Anything else?" Ike asked, obviously worried already. Taylor was staring at the ground. "Ah, he has more people with him, ex-workers for Greg and Mike," Nathan stuttered. "Is he coming here today?" Zac ordered. "N-no, but he knew you'd be here. He's not ready to do anything yet," he replied. "And we're not ready anytime," Ike took a deep breath. "What brought this on?" Zac asked. Nathan shrugged. "Brad said they had unfinished business," he said. At this point, Taylor collapsed to his knees. "Taylor?!" I exclaimed, as Amy and I rushed to him. "What?" Amy asked. "Oh man," he groaned, putting his head in his hands. "What is it?" Amy asked. "It's... 'unfinished business' is what they say when they try to kill me," he reminded us in a half whisper. "Man..." I murmured. Nathan looked kind of jumpy after watching Taylor. "I... I gotta go..." he said. "But wait!" Zac yelled, as Nathan ran off. Ike went to Taylor. Zac ran his fingers through his hair, then joined us. "We are not letting ourselves get caught this time, we're not gonna let this happen, ok?" Zac ordered, clearly worried also. No one replied. A short time later, people started arriving. We also left the car, and made our way inside. Most people in there were familiar... a few policemen, a couple of lawyers, Greg's wife, and a few others involved that we often had time to talk to. We were in court, in case you hadn't guessed. Brad was on trial for manslaughter on two accounts. The proceedings soon went on. Afterwards, we remained seated as most people left. Greg's wife, Cheryl, stopped to have a word. "Again I am so sorry for the trouble my husband has caused. I am sorry for what he did, and if there was any chance I may have known..." she began. "Don't worry. We're sorry for what he did to your son," Ike replied. She hesitated with a smile. "Thankyou. You'll keep in contact, won't you?" she asked. "Sure," Ike smiled, as she left. "It's not like we have a choice now," Zac added, under his breath. We also left soon afterwards. We were mostly quiet on the trip back. "So... now what?" Zac asked, halfway. "Well what can we do?" I asked. He hesitated. "Again, we obviously have no choice," Isaac put in. Taylor stared out the window as it began to rain. "Guess it matches your mood, huh?" I said to him. He just glanced at me for a second as if he hadn't heard what I'd said. An hour later, we'd all gone home, and were increasingly worried. We had no idea who this 'Troy' guy was - or how he was involved. Plus, we had no way of finding out further details, because we couldn't see Brad, and we had no idea who this Nathan guy was. We spent the next week or so eyeing everyone that passed us nervously, accusing silently every person that glanced at us for any length of time. But of course, over the time we spent, we became more relaxed... mostly hoping 'Nathan' was probably just playing a prank. But... he did know certain things... We had no idea of what was going on, or what would happen. Until a day about three weeks later. It seemed to be a normal Tuesday afternoon - Ike was on his way back from the graveyard, and was going to pick Amy and I up from school on the way back. Taylor had gone into the city again that morning by train and, as the station was across from the school, was going to meet us there. I came outside to see Ike and Amy standing by the car chatting, waiting. "About time you showe dup," Amy pretended to scold. Ike chuckled. "You know your class finishes way before mine. Any sign of Taylor?" I asked, chucking my stuff in the back. "None," Ike shook his head. "He's probably waiting for us at the station, cheapskate," Amy said. Then we watched as the next train came in. Then we just stood and waited. A few minutes later, he appeared from behind the trees that lined the driveway. "Let's get moving," Ike murmured, opening the car door. "What, no 'hi'?" Taylor put on a sad face. "Come on man, I wanna get home and take a shower," I grinned. He chuckled, than we al got in the car. "You know, I don't think you're supposed to park in the student carpark," Amy pointed out as Ike drove out. "Why not? You're students," he replied. "Yeah, but the driver of the car isn't," she argued. He just smiled, as we began down the road. |
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| Chapter 2 - A Warning |
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