Cyrus Noble Chapter 18

I took a deep breath, calming myself. For a second there I thought we were surrounded by Dr. Ching's Pawns, not these ya-whos. Still, this is a situation. I brushed my hand against Jazz's leg without taking my eyes away from the window. She woke up instantly and looked around. She looked at me with a look of accusation. I ignored it and said, at the intruder, "Do you mind? We're trying to sleep here. Dog." He turned back to his friends. "Man, look at this kid! He thinks he's so big and bad! Why don't you step out of the car and prove it?" Yeah. Like I'm going to do that. This punk ain't worth my time. I looked over to Jazz and nodded. She started the car and stepped on the gas. We heard a bunch of scraping metal, followed by laughter. The others were fully awake by now. The punk outside said, "Yo man, how you supposed to go anywhere without your wheels, man?" He held up his knife in one hand and a slither of rubber in the other. I thought he looked taller than he should have been. They slashed our tires. Crap. I pulled on the door handle to open it, but Jazz grabbed on my other arm. I looked at her and she just shook her head, sending one, clear message. Don't go out there. I gave her a wink and opened the door and stepped out. I slammed it behind me. Punk and I were eye to eye. I could smell cigarettes and alcohol on him. I said, "I'm going to be honest with you. I don't know who you are, or what you want with me, but I know what you are." The gangsters were laughing and snickering behind him, as if everything I just said was hilarious to them. Punk just kept grinning. I continued, "All of you are just insecure kids who don't know how to act around anybody. Your parents might get drunk, they might try to abuse you, hell, they might forget that you're name." I don't know how, or why I was saying this, but it was working. The area became deathly quiet. Most of the other gangsters weren't meeting my eyes. I continued, "That doesn't give you the right to go around and beat up anybody in sight just to show who's the baddest there is. Nobody really cares. Save the tough guy act for people who might actually need it. I bet that if any of you tried as hard in school, or anything else, as much as your doing right now, you'd all be automatic successes." I looked around. They all stood deathly still and deathly quiet. Punk looked around too. He said, "Heh. Look at this kid huh? He thinks he's the pope over here, huh?" Everyone only looked at him, not interested in his jokes. Some of the faces showed shock, others showed pitty. Punk put his knife away and pulled out a revolver in its place. I wouldn't be surprised if he was only borrowing it from his dad's drawer. "Let's make sure his friends, new and old, fear the Chicago Cobras." He pointed the gun at me. He never had the chance to fire it. I grabbed his arm and twisted it, forcing him to drop it. It hit the ground and fired; I felt a pain go through me. I looked down at the bullet hole in my stomach. Blood silently started soaking my already screwed up clothes. I suddenly hatched an idea. I closed my eyes and let myself fall to the floor. Suddenly someone cursed and yelled. "What did you do man?! Let's get out of here!" I listened as they all piled into cars and drove off. When I couldn't here them anymore I opened my eyes. I got up off the floor and dusted myself off, wincing slightly from the pain in my stomach. I looked over to Jazz, who was frozen in terror in the front seat. I gave her a smirk, which made her get a irritated look. I said, "Could you help me with the bullet? Before the hole closes?" She rolled her eyes and got out of the car. She said, "Sit in the passenger's seat so I can work." I did so and I lifted up my shirt to expose the wound. She unzipped the side pack on her belt where she kept her medical stuff. She got a scalpel and a pair of tweezers. She cut the wound open wider to get into it. I sucked in breath at the pain. She didn't look at me, absorbed in her work, as usual. Finally, she said, "You kind of scared me, what you did back there." I looked at her in surprise. I said, "I'm sorry. I just thought I should scare him off." She didn't look at me. She only said, "Just, be a little more careful, OK?" This kind of took me by surprise too. I said, "Whatever you say." She pulled the bullet out and flicked it to the ground. She said, "You need me to wrap that up?" I shook my head. She wiped her bloody tools off her jeans and put them back in her pouch. When she zipped it back I said, "What? No lollipop?" She rolled her eyes and got back into the driver's seat. She said, "What are we going to do without a car?" I said, "Don't worry about it. Just get some sleep. That goes for all of you." I said that last sentance towards the back. Everyone went back to sleep through the remainder of the night.