Read Online Contain by Saul Tanpepper - Free Book Online Page A

multitude of voices rising from Level Seven and the harsh
clatter of wood and metal that convince me to confront Jonah now
rather than later. When we reach the stairwell door, I steel myself
for the inevitable altercation before pushing through. They're so
busy at first with their 'training' that nobody notices
us.
    Check that. It's just me they don't
notice, because when I turn around, Bix isn't there. He's
apparently chickened out.
    “ Finn?”
    I spin around at the sound of Bren's
voice, and my heart nearly stops. “Whuh— what are you doing here?”
I demand.
    Jonah bullies his way through the
gathering, pushing people aside. The Rollins boys shrink away,
clearly wary of his strength. Hannah pulls them close to her, and
her presence there also startles me.
    I scan the faces. It's not just the
young ones here, nor is it all of them, as neither of the Largent
kids is present. Their parents are. Everyone's holding something in
their hands, metal rods, long pieces of wood. For some reason, it
makes me think of that scene in Frankenstein, when the townsfolk
bear their pitchforks to hunt down the monster.
    And right now I feel like the monster,
unprotected, misunderstood, alone.
    Damn Bix.
    I glare at Jonah as he draws near. I
just want to turn and run, but I have to know what's going on.
Especially now that Bren's a part of it. So I stand my ground and
wait for him to make the first move. I brace myself and—
    He brushes right past me and instead
thrusts open the stairwell door and reaches inside.
    Bix tumbles out, a tangle of lanky
arms and legs topped by an unbalanced mop of black hair. He tries
to catch himself, but then trips over his feet and lands with a
loud clatter and a painful sounding crunch on the metal
grating.
    For a moment, nobody says anything.
They're shocked at the sight of him crouching in his briefs. Bix
tries to casually pull his tee shirt down to cover himself, but his
face is beet red. I hear someone behind me utter a surprised “Oh!”
And I know without looking that it's Hannah.
    “ Nice whiteys, Blackeye,”
Jonah says. He thrusts his hand down at Bix's face. Bix flinches,
but then refuses the assistance.
    “ Suit yourself.”
    “ You want to tell me what
the hell's going on here?” I demand. I turn toward the crowd and
call for Bren. She steps forward, but she won't look straight at
me. She refuses to meet my gaze, and it's this very act that
confirms her betrayal. She knows this is wrong.
    I turn back in time to catch a glimpse
of puzzlement in Jonah's eyes. It quickly vanishes and is replaced
by his usual bored facade.
    “ I asked what you all are
doing down here.”
    “ You first,” he counters.
“Spying? Sneaking around? That's so unlike you, Bolles. Or did your
father make you do it?”
    “ Leave him alone, Jonah,”
Bren whispers. The meager gesture only makes me angrier.
    Bix finally stands up. At five-eleven,
he's taller than many in here, and his skinniness makes him look
even taller, but he's puny next to Jonah.
    “ Jesus, cover yourself up,”
Jonah says. He holds a hand out to block his view of Bix's bony
white legs and knobby knees, which practically glow in the gloom.
“You're blinding everyone.”
    But Bix is past humiliation. His face
is still flushed, though less so with embarrassment now than with
rage. “We heard what you said to Dominic. You're training people to
fight Finn and his dad.”
    Jonah frowns a moment, then chuckles.
“Fight Finn? Has that little gerbil inside your head fallen off its
squeaky wheel again?”
    The Rollins boys twitter in
amusement.”
    But Jonah's face darkens. “If I wanted
to fight Finn, I wouldn't need this.” He holds up the wooden dowel
in his hand. It looks like it might have once been the handle of a
broom. “And I sure as hell wouldn't need anyone else's help to do
it.”
    “ Do you deny you’re
training people to fight?”
    “ No.”
    “ I knew it.”
    “ To be honest,” he says,
“you two could both use a little more