𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨
﹥━━━━━━━━━━﹤

"You son of a bitch," Tate threatens us. "I'm gonna fucking kill you!"

SLAM! We exit the building, no longer able to hear his screaming.

I feel a sense of relief. We made it out of there at least.

Lydia's classic car zooms before us.

Andy yells, "Get in," and do without hesitation.

Morgan, Lydia, Jabari, and I file in, not wasting time with seatbelts. That is, until Andy's driving makes me.

I turn around in the passenger seat to get a good look at everyone since they were so quiet.

"You okay?" I ask Morgan, albeit impatiently.

She nods her head. I can relax a little.

"Is this a Roll's Royce?" She randomly asks.

We all laugh, not even because it was so funny but because it broke the tense silence in the car.

The laughter increasingly becomes more unhinged. Hysterical, even. I'm just glad we can find humor in all of this.

I settle back into the front seat and let Andy steer us to safety.

To soothe myself, and just because I miss her touch, I reach back for Morgan and caress her anywhere I can.

It's over, I say to myself in my head as I rest it against the window.

Staring up at the sky, I watch the full moon follow us home.

Andy clears his throat. "Well that was easy," he says over the low music playing.

"Pfft," I scoff, agreeing.

"J, you good?" I hear Morgan ask Jabari.

Their conversation grabs my attention. I turn around to watch their interaction and make sure he's alright, too.
I know he's probably feeling hopeless about the Jasmine situation; it wasn't easy to leave her behind like that but she's too far gone. There's no saving her.

He grunts, trying to find a comfortable position to sit in with all of his injuries.

"It doesn't make sense," he opens up. "I couldn't save her. Did I really push her to that?"

Lydia gently pats Jabari's knee, expressing her empathy.

"It's not your fault, Jabari." Morgan coos. I agree.

"I don't even want her back, I just feel like I let her down. It's not fair." His voice cracks.

I gulp, feeling bad that he's about to cry. I hate seeing him like this.

He sniffles, repeating, "It's not fair..."

The car suddenly swerves, interrupting the tender moment.

"Yo, can you drive?" I give Andy a hard time.

He looks in the rear view mirror with furrowed eyebrows.

"It's not my fault, it's the asshole behind me." Andy grits.

He honks the horn angrily. "Get off my ass, the fuck?!"

I look in the side view mirror to my right and see the vehicle behind us shine their bright lights.

Andy and I squint.

"The fuck is this guy's problem?" Andy sucks his teeth, speeding up.

"Brake check 'em." Jabari suggests, getting impatient.

"We have to get you to the hospital, the last thing we need is a car accident," Morgan talks calmly.

"Tonight's been long enough." She mumbles.

Andy smacks his lips and punches the gas, speeding up.

I sit back in my seat once he creates more distance between us and the tailgater. 

Andy hits his vape and then offers it around the car.

I shake my head no, Morgan passes too.

"I'm good." Says Jabari, his eyes closed.

"Oh, what the hell?" Lydia flails her arms.

Andy chuckles as he passes her his pen and she hits it.

Suddenly, the bright lights appear behind the car again.

"Douchebag!" Andy hisses, shaking his head.

They pull on the side of us as if they're going to pass.

"Yo, D, put the window down and give them the finger." Jabari encourages Andy.

Andy puts the window down, but before he can even fix his lips to cuss out the chaotic driver, they ram into the side of our car.

"Oh hell nah!" Jabari barks, sitting up in the backseat.

"Morgan, put your seatbelt on." I raise my voice so she can hear me over Lydia's panicked screaming.

"It is!" She insists, worried.

"Slow down, Andy, let them go." I hope that works.

Andy pulls back and the car passes us.

Phew.

"Ho-ly shit," Jabari cracks a laugh prematurely.

"Andy, look out!" Morgan warns our getaway driver but it's too late.

They slammed on their brakes and we hit them.

The black SUV starts driving, though.

They drift into the other lane at a moderate speed.

"Try passing them!" Lydia suggests.

"No, they might hit us again!" Andy argues, stopping in the middle of the winding road.

"Well are you just gonna sit here?!" She exclaims.

"I don't know what to do! What do they want?" Andy freaks out.

"They slowed down again..." Jabari eerily points out.

We all watch as the black SUV also stops in the road.

"Maybe they want to talk, you did run into them?" Of course Morgan responds optimistically.

Andy sneers, "Ya, after they hit us!"

"They're getting out." Lydia comments, her voice trembling.

Carefully, I reach for the gun on my hip.

"What are they doing?" Asks Lydia in a frightened whisper.

Quietly, I tell them to get down.

"Chris, you get down," Morgan scolds me.

"Andy, drive." She bosses.

"It's Tate." Andy says before swallowing hard enough for me to hear.

The headlights of our car shine on Tate as he walks towards us.

"What does he want?" Lydia murmurs.

"Andy, drive. Now!" Morgan frets.

Andy doesn't move. Instead, he looks at me for an answer. Except, I don't have one.

I figure if Tate chased us down, there's unfinished business. I'm going to finish it.

I unfasten my seatbelt and reach for the handle with caution as Tate gains on us.

Just as I open the door, Tate pulls out a gun and shoots.