Chapter Twenty Four
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Day Twenty-Four: Asteroid (cont.)
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“Ew. I think this garbage bag is full of diapers!”
“Shh! Do you want the whole city to hear us?” We just landed in an alley a few blocks south of the Apple store. In a dumpster. “Come on. Let's get out of here.” I clamber out of the dumpster and walk out of the dark alley. A boy and girl are walking past and I stop them.
“Hi!” I exclaim, sounding annoyingly chipper. “My friend and I are trying to find the Apple store and we got a little turned around. Would you mind showing us the way?”
“Not at all!” The girl says. She looks how I sound. “It’s on our way to church. It’s just this way! My name’s Mianda, but everyone calls me Mya. And this is Kris!” We all start walking together, Mya and me in the front, the boys in the back. She is really trusting and seems interested in telling every little thing about her life, so we start playing a game I dub “What’s Your Favorite?” where you ask questions back and forth. Please enjoy this excerpt from our conversation.
“Okay, Mya, favorite chocolate?”
“White. Favorite color?”
“Blue. Favorite animal?”
“Tiger. Favorite soft drink?”
“Easy.” I grin.
“Coke!” We shout at the same time. The boys give us a strange look and we burst out laughing.
“Okay, okay,” I say, wiping the tears out of my eyes. “Favorite hamburger?”
“Oh, our church doesn’t eat processed foods. Not even impossible burgers.” Well, that explains a lot. “You get a redo.”
“Um… favorite vegetable?”
“Cucumbers.” She giggles.
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Day Twenty Four: Meteor
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“So, Kris, what kind of church do you go to?”
“Oh, it’s a Christian church.”
“Cool.”
“Coke!” The girls shout.
“What do you think they’re talking about?” Kris asks.
“Isn’t it obvious? Coke.” I say, laughing.
“LOL, right? One time, she went on my Instagram and posted pictures of Coke cans, but they were pretty cool, so I left them up.” He laughs. “Mya! You passed it!”
Indeed Mya did. The gleaming white façade of the Apple store looms large on the right, ten feet behind the girls.
“Thanks for the help, guys.”
“Hey, what’s your phone number?” Mya asks Asteroid.
“I’ll tell you once I get a phone,” she laughs. “But give me yours and I'll call you.” Mya scribbles down the number and they leave. Asteroid takes my hand and we walk into the store. It’s deserted, so we grab five phones and leave the money on the counter. She snatches one of the phones out of my hand.
“This one’s mine!” she yells. She turns it on and takes a silly photo of me. “This is my new wallpaper. Hey, what’s your number?”
“Um, hold on.” I power on my phone. I rattle off a string of numbers. “Yours?”
She states her ten digit number. “Hey! I can text you!” I start laughing hysterically.
“You’re so cute. Oh, wait a minute. I can listen to music on this? Wow!”
“Now who’s cute?” She sticks her tongue out in mock fury. I screw my face up and give her a glare that would have Dwayne Johnson shaking in his shoes and we both dissolve into a torrent of giggles.
“Your- face- was- hilarious! And guess what? I got it on camera!” She holds her phone up and I'm gone. It’s so scary, it’s dumb. My eyebrows are so low, you can’t see my eyes, and my mouth is puckered up like I just ate a lemon. I can’t stop laughing at it. “I’m too far gone!” I gasp out as I hit my knees on the concrete. “Save yourself!” She doubles over with laughter. “Okay, calm down. Aw, that felt good.”
“Yeah, I've never seen you laugh like that. You’re even hotter when you laugh.” She squeezes my hand.
“You’re crazy.”
“How so?”
“I’m always hot.” And we’re off and laughing again.
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Day Twenty Five: Asteroid
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“There it is!” The mob stands deathly still as we watch from the stand of trees in Central Park. I hear my father’s voice coming out of the lead slave.
“Search everywhere! I want no stone left unturned! If you find my daughter, bring her to me alive. If you find her man, kill him. No, that’s not nearly bad enough. I’ll torture him like I promised I would. Bring them all to me!”
The zombie crowd fans out and disappears into the steel canyons of New York City. Only the lead remains, muttering to itself.
“Wretched children! And that boy… taking my daughter… hurting her like that… making her think he loves her.”
“What is he talking about?” I whisper. “Making me think you love me? Don’t you?”
“Aster, he’s a liar and a cheat, only used to getting what he wants. And he wants you. I know the feeling well. And remember, I only- only hurt you because of him!”
I suddenly want to tear my father’s eyes out, make him pay for all the pain he’s put us through. I burst out of the shrubbery, hissing and screaming like a cat backed into a corner. The zombie turns and gasps.
“Asteroid! My daughter! Come- YOU! Get away from my daughter!”
“Galaxy!” I say calmly, my voice more terrifying than any scream. “Don’t lay a finger on him.”
“Then he better run,” he whispers, pulling a gun out of a hidden holster.
“Aster, get away from him. He’s dangerous.”
“He’s more dangerous to you! Go!” And Meteor’s off in a flash. He stumbles and I remember his convalescing feet. “Oh no.” The Galaxy zombie, seeing his opportunity, dashes off behind him. I call Michael and tell him to pick us up. I know exactly where Meteor is going and I take off on a shortcut, praying I’m not too late.65Please respect copyright.PENANAXhtTDIwukI