3

Tension warps around my left shoulder, forcing me into a state of lulling agony. Rough ropes have tied me to a chair, and there’s a black curtain in front of my eyes. There’ s a bag over my head. I can’t breathe properly. The ache is squeezing the left side of my neck. I need my pills. I can’t breathe. The restriction of the ropes makes me convulse with claustrophobia. A headache beyond my adrenaline caused tension is like a spiderweb of pain through my skull, the spider itself drills into my brain at the right side of my forehead where I was knocked.

A low groan escapes my mouth. I can’t breathe. It aches. I lean my head to the right, in a feeble attempt to stretch my tension coiled neck and shoulder muscles, but it’s fruitless. Too many times have I done that, back when the aches started. My muscles were too flexible to be stretched like that. It provided to relief anymore.

“Let… me… out…” I rasp through the pain.

The bag is pulled off my head, and the light of the room I’m in blinds me, flaring up the pain behind my eyes.

“Kallix. Kallix look at me.”

A man sits in front of me, on a stool. He’s dark skinned, with patterns shaved into the short cut sides of his hair. The top of his head has six inches of tall, artificially loosed curls. His eyes are pale, like as if he’s blind, yet he looks me straight in the eye. Muscular arms, painted with tattoos protrude from a black vest jacket with the sleeves torn off. He’s got a silver ring dangling from his left earlobe. He wears tight black jeans, with a belt holding all sorts of paraphernalia, all of which I don’t recognize besides a handgun.

“Where’s my… shit. Give me my stuff,” I groan, forcing my head back to try and massage my neck against the edge of the back of the chair. The rolling motion I make aggravates the pain in my forehead.

“Untie him,” the man orders. Gruff hands brush mine as the ropes are pulled from my hands and feet.

I know better than to make a move. One hand clasps my forehead, while the other cups the left side of my head over my ear so I can dig my thumb into the tight flesh of my neck. “The hell is this?” I ask.

“I’m Zorikan, the leader of the leader of the Swifters. We’re a band of-”

I cut him off. “Yeah, yeah I don’t give a shit. Get me my stuff and then we can talk,” I groan.

The man named Zorikan nods, and I’m the same gruff man who untied me, hands me my pills. Like a starved hyena, I dry swallow two of them, and let out a breath of relief as the pain begins to ebb. “I said all my shit.”

The Ray Bands are tossed into my lap, and I quickly slip them over my red rimmed eyes.

“Now are we fit to talk?” Zorikan asks.

I shake my head. “Alone.”

Zorikan nods. “Dainin, get out.”

The gruff, bald man ambles out the door and shuts it behind him,

Zorikan leans forwards. “Do you know why you’re here?”

“No. But I do know that you’re a douchebag. You could’ve just asked to talk with me instead of freaking shooting my brother.”

“You would never have come. You and I both know that.”

There’s a window to my left, ten feet away from me. Zorikan is lean, with the sculpted muscles of an athlete. I’d never be able to take him in a fight. I want to look to the window, but I’m afraid it will give away my intentions. Zorikan’s eyes are glued to mine, as if he’s reaping my soul with his creepy, storm pale eyes. “So, why’ve you brought me here?”

“You’re good, Kallix. You’ve got quite the name around here with us Swifters. You’re fast, agile, and resourceful. Exactly what we need. But also, you’re broke. I can change that. We’ve got a job that can get you, me and the whole load of us filthy rich.”

I scoff. “You think I care about your shit? I don’t give a damn! I’ve got a wedding to attend bruv. My schedule is full.” I almost laugh.

“That’s not all. I’ve got another incentive that might just-”

I lash out before he can finish his sentence, landing a sloppy yet effective kick to his chest and sending him bowling over. I pick up my chair and fling it at him, not stopping to look at the results as I slam myself into the window. Luckily, it swings open and I vault out. Unluckily, I’m six stories high. Zorikan is clearly a parkour professional, if not an artist, so he’ll know I’ll be down the building soon. But he doesn’t know that I’m Kallix Rane.

Before he gets up. I’ve planted my feet on the windowsill, and sprung upwards, hitting my kneecap on the top of the window, and grabbing the edge of the flat roof. I swing myself up, rolling away from the edge and clutching my knee in pain. I don’t have long before he figures out where I’ve gone. The pain starts to subside as I hobble across the roof, covered with water tanks and solar panels, all of which I can use as cover.

I reach the other side of the roof and gaze at the city beneath me. To my luck, once again, there’s another tall building adjacent. Problem is that it’s two stories shorter.

I take a few steps back, just as I see Dainin, the bald, bearded bodybuilder, an Asian with a purple mohawk, and Zorikan clamber up top as well. Amateurs. They took the stairs.

My overflowing adrenaline blankets the pain in my knee as I sprint forwards, then rocket off the edge of the building. Anybody would at least break a leg in this kind of jump. But anybody isn’t Kallix Rane.

The concrete roof of the building flies towards me as instinct overtakes me, and I let myself fall into the roll I’ve done so many times that it’s more muscle memory than skill. I roll four times before I come to a halt, with ragged breaths and a heart beating faster than a six year old’s on cocaine, and snatch up my shades. I look up with a crooked smile so I can see the looks of amazement on their faces, but to my bewilderment, I see Zorikan and the purple haired Asian launch themselves after me.

“Shit,” I curse, clambering to my feet. As I do it, the protruding bone of my right shoulder screams in pain. It always get’s the brunt of the role. I reroute, barreling across the barren roof, and stealing a glance over my shoulder to see the two of them land with near perfect form, and take off after me. I’m not running away from dumb ass policemen anymore.

They’re gaining on me as I make the leap from this roof to another, and start weaving between storage containers. I emerge from the other side and dive onto a slanted, shingled roof, letting my feet find leverage in the gutter. I glance back again, and see Zorikan and purple dude running on top of the storage containers, each step clearing the gap, arms out and eyes down with concentration.

By the time I start scrabbling up the slippery slope, they’re right behind me, almost within grabbing distance. I try to send shingles flying down towards them, but they hold strong. I reach the top of the roof, stand up and start running, balancing precariously on the triangular meeting of the two sides. Zorikan and his accomplice are right behind me now within lunging distance. I hope to trick them by pretending to slip when I could’ve leaped to the next buildings, and sliding down the shingles, but they follow me without missing a beat.

Zorikan and purple dude, being heavier than me, slide faster, now parallel to me. I think quickly, and just as we’re about to sail off the edge onto the road, I twist and grab the gutter, still two stories above ground. They sail off the edge, landing with perfect rolls, and are facing me from below in an instant. I haul myself back up, and stand on the precarious gutter, grinning from ear to ear. “You couldn’t catch me, you don’t deserve my service, twunts,” I call.

“Kallix wait. I have…” I lose his voice as the gutter breaks from the roof beneath me. I lung for the shingles, but there’s nothing to hold. I scrabble, but my hands grab at nothing. Then I get my foot makes contact with an open, doorlike window beneath me, keeping me from falling. It’s being held in place by something, otherwise it would’ve swung and I would’ve plummeted. I reach into the open window, letting myself slip on a leap of faith. I grab hold of the side of an open cupboard as my midsection thumps against the metal framing of the window, making me grunt. I haul myself inside the house, and tumble onto a carpeted floor. My hand wraps around my side. I didn’t hear a crack, but it feels like I’ve broken a rib.

My eyes wildly take in my surroundings. Pink carpet, pink cupboard, pink wallpaper, pink bed, a little girl in a pink nightgown holding a pink teddy bear and staring at me in shock. The amount of pink makes me gag.

“Hey little twerp,” I say, forcing myself to my feet. I pick up the Ray Bands and shove them into my pocket. Can’t afford to lose them.

The girl’s lip quiver’s as she’s about to scream. I cover her mouth with my dirty hand.

“Hey. Hey shhhh,” I shush desperately. “I… I’m the tooth fairy! Isn’t that exciting.”

“B… but the Toof Fairy already came,” she protests. “And you’re too ugly.”

“Ok you got me. I’m her assistant. But I think she didn’t give you enough,” I hand the girl one of the crumpled bills in my pocket. “Keep this and go right to bed ok?”

“But it’s seven in the morning! I need to go to school.”

“No. Not if the Tooth Fairy says you don’t,” I assure, pulling the blanket aside to let her slide in.

“Yay! No school!”

I nod and smile, then stagger back to the window. Zorikan will expect me to go out the front door, or at least another window. Not this one.

I wave the girl goodbye and clamber out the window. I position myself, then spring to the gutter, that’s handing at an awkward angle, grab it, and swing like some sort of city grunge Tarzan into a heap of garbage. I tumble out of the garbage, as a plus sized couple see me and bustle away with pitiful speed.

I turn to get as far away from the Swifters as possible, when I see purple dude barely ten feet away and looking straight at me.

“You’re fast,” he tells me. “The name’s Deqar, best lock picker in the group.”

“Probably. Zorikan let you go on runs? Even one of them dumb ass policemen would see you from a mile away with that peacock on your head.”

Deqar shrugs, taking a nonchalant step towards me. “But you didn’t. Say, how did you learn to do parkour?”

He’s stalling to wait for Zorikan to get here. I won’t give him the pleasure. Out of the corner of my eye, I see railcar halt at the midsection, and a couple of passengers get on. I need to time this.

“Needed to run to survive. You?”

“Used to be a petty thief actually. It was like-”

I cut him off when I see the stop light counting down. “Hey you want to see my dick?” I ask.

“The hell?” he asks, confused.

I book it, sprinting like hell as the railcar doors close. I fling myself onto the back, grabbing onto the conductor’s handle as it speeds away.

I see Deqar behind me, looking exasperated with both middle fingers pointed towards me.

I let out a laugh of triumph.