“It’s all Charter Crew at the party, so don’t worry about who you hit.” Victor cranks up the music, and I recognize the song blasting from the speakers as the delightfully upbeat rock track “Degenerates” from the band A Day to Remember. Holy shit. It almost makes the moment seem even more morbid than it already is. “Ready?” Vic calls out as Aaron slows the Escalade to a near stop, leaving us to roll by, almost like everything is moving in slow motion.
Oscar and Callum extend their arms on either side of me, their pistols clutched in two steady hands. I do the same, sandwiched between them, my breath slowing as I focus on the scene in front of me.
Billie Charter is laughing hysterically at something, dressed in what’s very likely a stolen designer party dress. It’s the same teal color as the underside of her two-toned hair. She’s standing next to her brother and holding a red Solo cup.
She’s also the first one to notice us, turning her head and locking eyes with me, even with the skeleton mask on my face.
I let go of my gun with one hand—I think it’s a Glock 19—and run a single finger from the corner of my eye down to my mouth, in the same shape that Billie cut me on Halloween night. My fingers clasp back together around the gleaming black violence that is the Glock as I wait for Vic to give the okay.
“Alright, Havoc,” Vic calls out and I swear, everything in the world comes to a complete stop for the briefest of seconds. Here we are, just the six of us, dressed in the faces of grinning skeletons, wearing black hoodies and holding black guns. “Fire at will!”
My finger squeezes the trigger of the gun as my brain flickers back to a memory of the gun range.
“You see that, Bernadette,” the Thing whispered in my ear, his breath hot and stale, his leer a blade that cut deep into my soul. “How easy it is to make someone disappear? Just one, little squeeze and a good aim, and it’s all over.”
My first shot hits Billie’s Solo cup, sending beer splashing all over the front of her dress and into her face. I see her stumble back, mouth wide, attention on her ruined dress for a second before she looks back at me.
I’m aware this entire interaction is happening over the span of a minute or two, but it feels like an eternity, like each second is stretched out and lingering. I fire again as the boys’ bullets pepper the crowd, exploding a cooler, sending white stuffing flying out of the couch. My second shot goes wide, hitting the ground and knocking bits of dirt and grass from the lawn.
Cal howls again and fires off a perfect shot into the chest of a guy who’s lifting a gun of his own to aim at us. That’s when I take my third shot, hitting Billie right in the shoulder. Her teal dress blooms crimson with blood as she stumbles back and falls to her ass. That one’s for Aaron, I think, switching my aim over to Mitch.
But then the Escalade is shooting forward like a missile and I stumble back. Callum catches me and we drop back down to the seat together. My vision is blurry and my breath is coming in rapid pants as we squeal around the corner and rocket off toward South Prescott and the garage.
“Fuck yes!” Hael chortles, tearing off his mask and grinning. “Did you see the looks on their ugly faces? Holy shit, they were not expecting that.”
I push my own mask up and into my hair, heart thundering wildly. The adrenaline rush is intense, making my hands shake as I engage the safety on the pistol and lay it in my lap.
“Pretty sure I got Daren Matis,” Cal says, and I’m happy to hear that his breathing is just as frenzied and out of control as my own. He licks his lips and swallows to reign in the adrenaline. “He graduated Prescott two years ago, so at least we don’t have another missing student to worry about.”
“Perfect,” Vic says, grinning as he glances back at me. “You alright, Bern?”
“I’m good,” I respond, trying to get my shit together. Aaron checks on me in the rearview mirror again, his gaze so intense that I shiver. He smiles once and nods, and I feel a blush take over my cheeks. Even he took shots at the Charter Crew by leaning over with one hand on his gun, the other on the wheel, and firing out of Victor’s window. Seriously fucking impressive. “I’m really good. I broke Billie’s cup, ruined her dress, and pegged her in the shoulder.”
“Oh, hell yes,” Callum purrs as he chuckles, and I glance out the rear windshield to see if there’s anyone following us. Cops, Charter Crew, or otherwise. But there’s nobody there. You know, except for Oscar. He stares back at me, his mask now in his lap, his gray eyes unburdened by the black-framed glasses he seems to prefer wearing. “Where do you think Kali was?”
“She left the school with Mack again,” Oscar explains, still looking right at me. “I thought she might be here, but she’s not. Perhaps she’s missing her lover?” He just keeps staring at me, so I turn away to look out the front window instead.
“Do you think Mitch knows about her and Neil?” I wonder aloud, but Hael just snorts.
“No idea. I mean, you’d think he’d be a little worried about his girl banging some old cop, but I guess these guys operate under a different set of morals than we do.” Hael muses on the idea for a moment, settling back into his seat as Aaron slows down to a less conspicuous speed. “So, we’re sure that Neil and Kali were fucking?”
“She was all over him at the school,” I reply, looking back on the moment in my mind’s eye. “There’s no doubt about that. But even if Mitch doesn’t know about Kali and Neil, he does, in fact, know Neil. Remember when he called us the night after we moved Danny’s body? He said the Thing had a message for us, but then Vic hung up.” I gesture loosely in his direction, but he’s too busy looking over his weapon to pay attention. That, or he’s just pretending like he’s too busy with the gun. “They clearly know each other.”
“I’ll have to do some more digging,” Oscar admits, which is as close to an admission of I don’t know as I’m sure he’ll ever get. He knows it isn’t realistic to memorize the world, right? Maye he’s just aware that his personality is so prickly that he has to give something of value to the group.
I’m going to crack the safe that is that motherfucker’s ass, and see what cash he’s hiding inside. I need to know about his past, about the Peters, about his feelings that night we made love.
I exhale sharply as Victor adjusts the song to another one from A Day to Remember. It’s called “Mindreader”, and it makes the perfect backdrop for our ride back to Havoc’s garage.
There are a couple of boys in skeleton masks waiting for us on the driveway. When we pull up, Aaron parks the Escalade, but doesn’t bother turning off the engine. Instead, he just climbs out and one of the other guys climbs in.
“Leave the guns,” Vic tells me, tossing his onto the seat as the other boy climbs in. The guy pulls out a container of wipes and starts to clean the weapon, like he’s trying to scrub away any possible evidence. We might’ve been wearing gloves, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something there that forensics couldn’t sniff out.
We all step back as the SUV takes off and disappears into the night, the red of the brake lights the last I ever see of it.
“Where are they taking it?” I ask, glancing over at Aaron. He’s watching me even more intensely than usual, and I find myself shifting with discomfort under the heat of his stare.
“They don’t tell us that, and we don’t ask,” Aaron says, shrugging his shoulders loosely and then turning his head to look up at the moon. “Anyone want to hit the drive-in? I’m starving.”
“I’ve got to get home and check on my grandma,” Callum says with a longing sigh. “Although I could really use a shake and fries.”
“There’s always tomorrow,” Hael says, clapping Cal on the shoulder and nodding once. “Good work tonight, recruit.” He winks at me, and I flip him off as he laughs. “I’ll take Cal back on my way home. My asshole dad has been hanging around a lot lately, and I don’t trust him not to kill my fucking mom.” Hael tries to smile to lighten the blow of his words, but it doesn’t work.
I decide to change the subject.
“I’m sure Oscar needs to get back to the Peters, right?” I quip, giving him a look that he returns with one that’s colored in grave-sorrows and epitaphs. His gray eyes are like fog in a cemetery, but the color shifts when he moves toward me. When the moon hits them just right, Oscar’s eyes appear silver in the night.
“You’re quite right,” he says, pausing so close that I could touch him, if I were so inclined. Without his glasses on, he looks like a different person. To be honest, the glasses humanize him a little; he looks entirely feral tonight. “I need to get home to my faux mommy and her home-cooking, my faux daddy and his boring work stories, and my new little sister, a one Miss Alyssa Hart. The Peters already have two biological children that they spoil rotten. Anything else you’d like to know, Miss Blackbird?”
“Actually, there’s a lot I’d like to know, Mr. Montauk. No secrets in Havoc, right? All I have to do is ask?” I keep my gaze on Oscar’s silver eyes as I snap back at him, hands curling into fists. “Tell me why you ran out on me after we slept together. I want to know.”
This time, he laughs at me.
I can count on one hand the number of times I have heard that motherfucker laugh.
“You piece of shit!” I call out as he backs up suddenly and turns, heading for the Camaro without bothering to answer me. “You can’t run forever, you fucking pussy!”
“Ball sack,” Hael corrects, and I punch him right in the pec. The effect is less silly and more … arousing than I expected. His muscles are like fucking rocks. “See you degenerates tomorrow then?”
Vic nods once, and then he, Aaron, and I watch as the other three members of Havoc take off in the Camaro.
“Why don’t we do the drive-in for dinner?” Vic asks, exhaling and then looking over at me. “Since it’s just us three tonight.”