Violence
The steel bar swings again, thudding against Darius's back. Darius makes a whooshing noise, that's all.
The door opened and two guys with ski masks on walked in. One walked straight to me. The other went straight to Lacey at her register. As they approached, I saw the guns come up. Lacey, Cam and I froze. The room suddenly went dead quiet except for the sound of hamburgers sizzling in the back and the buzz of the overhead fluorescent lights. I'd never even noticed the hum of the fluorescent lights before.
But before he got a word out, his eyes shifted from me to the driver's-side window. BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Something stung my cheek. It turned out to be a shard of glass.
Something splattered all over my face and my hair and the front of my coat. It turned out to be blood and brains and tiny pieces of bone.
Someone screamed. It turned out to be me.
“I became what you wanted. What everyone wanted. A fighter. Not fighting for anything. Just fighting everything.”
The girl was still there, on a swing, pumping hard, so high the chain slackened before letting her down. Then suddenly she stopped, digging her bare feet into the sand. She kicked herself in circles, tightening the chain until it wouldn't turn anymore. Then for a second she stared across the night between them, right at Zoe, until she let go, spinning into a dark fast blur.
