Day Zero: With a loaded gun

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

Laurie and Zach deal with some unexpected company.






Laurie pulled her jacket tighter around her as a breeze picked up and blew her hair into her face. She pushed it away and stared silently at the fires burning in the distance. Something was happening over there, although she wasn't sure what. Whether it was due to the attack, or simply the work of vandals she couldn't tell. Whoever had started it, a part of Manhattan burned and Laurie was simply grateful that they wouldn't have to travel in that direction.

"How far have we got to go, Dad?" she asked her companion.

"Just a couple of blocks from the ferry," Zach replied, hands in his pockets. All the streetlights along one side of the street were out, and walking in the darkness somehow felt safer. Halfway across the river, Roosevelt Island was dark. Zach figured it must have been evacuated as well.

"I hope you've practiced rowing out on that lake behind Xavier's," he said as he looked over his shoulder at Laurie. "We're going to...
need..." His voice trailed off as he looked behind Laurie and froze.
"We're not looking for trouble," he said.

"S'all cool, man," a deep baritone voice answered from the shadows.
The sounds of sneakers sliding across pavement seemed louder than normal in the darkness. "We all got enough trouble here."

"Ain't gonna find no boat," another higher-pitched voice offered, followed by a chorus of small chuckles. "Folks already hightailed it out yesterdays once them muties blew up the G.W. Bridge."

"How about we all just step back and think about this for a moment?"
Laurie said softly, her hands going up in a mollifying gesture. "I'm sure none of us wants this to turn ugly. You all just go on your way, and we'll go on ours and it'll all be fine."

Her fingers glittered purple, the only outward sign of powers usage that she ever made. She hoped it wouldn't be too visible in the dark.

"Naw, I don't think so, bitch," the first voice replied as its owner stepped out of the shadows. Almost a full foot taller than Laurie, and covered in various gang tattoos, he gave a predatory smile. "See, my crew and me, we gon' take what's ours here. End of the world, we gon'
carve out our piece. And I think I like this piece right here," he said with a laugh, reaching for Laurie.

"Keep your damn hands away from my daughter," Zach gruffly interjected, stepping in front of Laurie. "Look, you want to stay here and commit suicide, I could care less. We're getting out of here."

The gang leader looked at Zach, then back at his comrades. Suddenly, with a sound like a baseball being hit out of the park, he backhanded Zach across the face, sending the older man down to the pavement.
Turning around, he raised his hands to hoots and hollers from his fellow hoodlums. "Ain't no one fuckin' with us now, dawg!"

Laurie watched her father go down in shock and quickly raced to try and help him up, her eyes then fixing on the men fast surrounding them. "You shouldn't have done that." she said quietly to the men, getting ready to do something much less benign then simply trying to calm them down.

The thug turned around, suddenly holding a gun pointed at Laurie. "Or what, bitch? Or what?"

The sound of the gunshot was deafening in the quiet alley. The gang leader's expression didn't change for a moment, as he looked at Laurie, back at his comrades, then down at the red stain spreading on his chest before cocking his head at Zach - who lay flat on his back holding a snub-nosed revolver, the barrel still smoking.

"...ain't that a bitch?" the large man said before slumping to the ground. Without a word, Zach rose to his feet and kept the revolver pointed at the other group.

"We. Are getting. Out of here," he said through clenched teeth.

Laurie rose to her feet behind him, staring at the dead man for a second before jerking her eyes sideways to look at her father. There would be words about this course of action he'd taken, but that was for later, once they were safe.

"Okay, Dad. Okay." she said in a mollifying tone, and she began to walk around the body, giving the other members of his gang a wide berth.

Zach didn't lower the pistol until the rest of the crowd scattered. He narrowed his eyes at the body, then looked out towards the river. "We should see if they were telling the truth about the boats," he said nonchalantly.

"I don't think so, Dad." Laurie said, her throat barely managing to croak out the words as she stared at the body. "I think this is where we part company."

Zach stopped and turned around. "Laurie, don't be stupid. We can head further south and see if any of the bridges are clear, or if there's another way off. Come on, pull yourself together and let's go."

"No." Laurie said firmly, but her voice was thick and she sniffed as if to ward off tears. "It's the one thing. I just...X-men don't kill.
I can't go with you, Dad. Not after what you just did. I love you, but I can't, I just can't. I'm sorry."

She turned and ran in the other direction, away from the body of the dead man, away from her father and the things about him that she just couldn't accept. She would find her friends, somewhere in this city, and she would go home. She just wanted to go home.