R e n e g a d e s (High&Low) v3: USB

Note: At first, I will be writing Japanese dialogue like this: “(Hello)” until they stop speaking in English and then the Japanese dialogue will return to normal and any English will then be written like this: “(Hello.)”

 「We’re the forgotten generation, we want an open conversation.」

My phone buzzed on the desk and I glanced up from the manga I was reading, scanning the security monitors before sitting up so I could check my phone. It was a weather alert for a severe thunderstorm, but that’s nothing new around here. We get those alerts pretty often in the summer and it’s only right about 20% of the time. If I had to guess, I’d say it’ll storm for ten to twenty minutes before it clears up. Funny, I can accurately predict the weather better than someone that went to school for it. Maybe they should leave the studio more often and actually experience Florida weather.

I should do my rounds before it starts to storm, though. Setting my manga on the desk, I stepped up to the door of the security office. To my right was a door that led outside, restricted to staff use only though I doubt it goes unused by students. Rain was pelting the glass and the grounds were pitch black… way darker than they should have been. My brow furrowed and I ducked back into the office to check the cameras. They were still running, but several of them had gone dark. Had the outside lights gone out?

I grabbed a flashlight and my umbrella, only to pause and stare at the object. It was just a cheap, black umbrella that I had gotten from the dollar store. It’s completely dull in comparison to my old umbrella. I once again pictured the beautiful teal coloring and the adorable cartoon llamas. It’s a one of a kind umbrella and I was lucky to find one for such a cheap price. I wonder if it’s still at the store… I bet someone’s taken it by now.

‘Stay focused idiot,’ I scolded myself, shaking my head before heading outside to investigate. The flashlight beam was dull, barely able to cut through the darkness and the rain. The light on the side of the building wasn’t on and neither was the street light directly across from it. Were they knocked out because of the oncoming storm? It’s not even raining that hard right now and if the power was knocked out, wouldn’t it affect more than just two lights? I can faintly see the light peaking out from around the corner at the other end of the school.

I shined my light on the broken lamp above me. It was a good 15 or so feet high. I definitely don’t have the tools or the skills to fix that, plus I’m pretty sure that’s not in my contract. I guess I’ll just leave a note for the day security guard and let him deal with it.

I turned around to head back inside but I paused, swearing I saw a shadow figure dart through the door. I blinked dumbly, shining the light on the door but there was nothing there. I swept the light around me, looking for any sign of… well, anything. Was I just a witness to some paranormal activity? Should I be filming this right now? Those videos always get tons of views and high schools are supposed to be hotbeds for paranormal activity. I patted my pockets for my phone only to realize that I had left it on the desk.

Lightning cracked across the sky like branches of a tree and I took that as my cue to head inside. I adore storms and I’m fascinated by lightning, but I’m not so dumb as to think I’m immune to nature’s fury. As cool as lightning is, I’d rather not end up on the receiving end of a strike no matter how low the odds are. With my luck, it’s best not to tempt fate.

I stepped inside the school, locking the door behind me before heading into the security office. The first thing I noticed was the fact that all of the monitors were black as if the cameras had been turned off. The monitor light is still on, though, so it can’t be the power.

Rule one of any technical difficulties is to make sure the object is plugged in so I leaned over to glance beneath the desk. There were quite a few wires frustratingly intertwined, but they were all snuggly plugged into the surge protector. Okay then, rule two is to try turning it off and back on. I held down the power button on the computer tower until the soft humming stopped. I pressed the button on each monitor until the green light died and then I turned everything back on. The tower groaned to life and the green light flickered back on, but the camera feeds were still black.

Shit, what’s rule three? Call tech support? Guess I don’t have a choice, but I am not giving them any damn gift cards if they ask. I grabbed my phone off the desk and pulled up the number pad only to freeze when I heard a click, feeling something press against the back of my head. My shoulders tensed up, fingers curling so tight around the phone that I worried I might break it.

“Where is it?” demanded a heavily accented voice. It reminded me of the guy that had been chasing me, but the voice was different. This one is more gravelly and rough, as if he had been smoking a pack a day for the past 30 years.

“W-What?” I tried to keep myself together, scared to move an inch. “Where is what?”

He pressed what I believed to be a gun harder against my skull. “Don’t play games with me girl. Where is the USB?”

My gaze flickered to the USB stick at the back of the tower. Did he mean that? Why in the hell would he want high school camera feeds, though? I slowly lifted my hand, pointing at the USB. He hesitated a moment before moving toward it, keeping the gun on me despite his attention being elsewhere. This was probably a good time to run away, but my legs didn’t get that memo.

The man roughly tugged the USB from the tower, pocketing it before turning back to me and lifting the gun to my face. His lips parted to speak just seconds before a foot made contact with the side of his face, sending him crashing against the desk and knocking over the monitors. Standing in the doorway was the talker of the leather clad stalkers.

His eyes met mine and he offered me a charming smile before reaching out to grab my wrist. “Time to go.”

“I – what?”

He pulled me from the room, his grip firm enough that I couldn’t pull free. We burst through the glass door only to stop dead in our tracks. Several men in black suits surrounded the door, most of them with guns or metal pipes. They didn’t look as if they were here to fix the lights or the cameras… The brunette finally released my wrist, slowly pushing me back behind him.

I tapped his shoulder and leaned closer, lowering my voice. “Mind telling me what the hell is going on?”

“Probably not the best time,” he chuckled.

“Maybe so, but if I’m going to die by a bunch of cheap ass men in black, I deserve to know why.”

He just sent me a smile. I think he meant it to be reassuring, but I did not feel reassured at all. There’s six of these men against one guy and a chick that doesn’t handle people well and can’t fight to save her life.

The men rushed at us and he met them halfway, kicking and punching like he’s been doing it his whole life. He made it look like art and I was so awed by it that I almost missed the man that was heading right for me. I tugged the baton from my belt and swung at him but he grabbed it, easily yanking it from my hand. Damn it, I really should have paid for those baton classes! I stumbled backward as he punched at the air where my head had been only seconds before. His eyes were wild like a damn animal and I knew if he got the chance, he was going to seriously hurt me.

“Come on, man, we can talk about this!” I cried, running away from his attacks but he was faster than me and it was only a matter of time before he caught me. What the hell am I supposed to do? I glanced at the tall man. He’s occupied fighting two different guys at the same time, the other 3 on the ground, unconscious. I scanned my brain for all of the anime and manga I’ve read featuring fighting and realized there was no way I could duplicate them.

With a wicked laugh, the man shoved hard against my back, sending me flying to the ground. I threw my hands out on instinct, hissing as they scraped against the ground. The man grabbed my shoulder, flipping me over before jumping on top of me and trying to grab my throat. I knew if he managed to get a grip, I wouldn’t make it out alive. For all of my jokes about death and dying, I’m not ready to die yet, especially not like this!

Come on, come on, come on! I’ve read so many delinquent manga, it had to teach me something. Just form a fist and hit with everything I got, right? I don’t know how accurate that is but I didn’t exactly have time to consider it. My fingers curled as tightly against my palm as I could make them and mustered up all my courage, throwing my fist at his face. It made contact, turning his face to the side as he groaned.

With him stunned, I used this opportunity to shove him off of me, scrambling to my feet. I caught the brunette’s eyes and he grinned at me, giving me a thumbs up like a proud parent that had just witnessed their child doing something amazing. One of the men was slowly rising up behind him like something out of a horror movie, metal pipe in hand.

“Look out!”

He quickly turned around but the man suddenly fell back to the floor, knocked unconscious by the shorter of the duo. The brunette pouted at him, lowering his fists. “(You’re late, Hiroto.)”

Hiroto sent an annoyed look to the man on the ground. “(I got ambushed on the way.)”

“(They’ve gotten desperate.)” He hummed, his eyes falling on me.

“Can you explain now?” I cried at him, running a hand through my hair.

Hiroto was in front of me in the blink of an eye, cocking his fist back. I couldn’t even react as his fist flew by my cheek. There was a cry behind me before a body slumped to the ground. I glanced over my shoulder, realizing that the man I had punched had returned for some revenge. Damn… I wasn’t even on the receiving end and I still felt the raw power behind that punch. Just who are these guys?

“So, uh… is that a no?”

He glared at me before turning around and walking off into the darkness.

“I’m gonna say that’s a no.”

The brunette chuckled, throwing his arm around my shoulders and pulling me into the darkness after him. “We need to get out of here before more arrive.”

I frowned, unsure of what to do. I knew I shouldn’t let these men take me to god knows where, but… I glanced over my shoulder at the unconscious men. They did stop that bastard from putting a bullet in my head so how bad can they be, really?