Read Online Off the Wagon (Users #2) by Stacy, Jennifer Buck - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Stacy, Jennifer Buck
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door.
It was locked, which was unusual that the kid had actually remembered to lock the door behind him.
“I’m home.”
He was met with silence. The apartment appeared to be empty. There was no moody teenager vigorously battling the video games at his usual post on the couch.
“Come on out,” Carter said.
He knocked on Barber’s bedroom door.
“I wanna talk about what happened.”
Again nothing but silence. He grabbed the handle and it was unlocked. This was also outside the norm for the kid, and he pushed open the door.
“Huh,” he said when he found the room also void of human life. The room was a mess. Laundry was splayed across the bedroom floor. There were empty pop cans on the windowsill and a plate of god only knows what left half eaten on top of Barber’s dresser. Carter cringed. The kid’s room was like a high school science experiment gone wrong.
Carter slowly closed the bedroom door, thinking that Barber must have just gone to blow off some steam the same way he did after their argument. He was sure that Barber would waltz through the front door at any minute. If Carter had only taken the normal way home instead of going the long way around, he would have known better.
*****
Rain. Of course, now it would start raining. Carter had probably flown home and was resting comfortably back at the apartment with his feet up, meanwhile he was stuck walking back in the dreary rain. He wondered if Carter would even care when he arrived at the apartment drenched from head to toe. He wondered if Carter cared about anything, anything other than himself of course.
Barber snickered. He doubted Carter would even notice. Carter was barely ten years older than he was, and the guy always treated him like he was just some dumb kid. He wanted to go back to the compound. He wanted to be back with Walt, and he scolded himself for ever thinking that Carter would have been a reliable sponsor in the first place. There was something good about the guy, he was driven, and Barber liked that, but he most definitely was not a good parental figure.
Not that Barber would know any better. He had never known his parents. How would he know how one was supposed to act? He had spent the first half of his life in an orphanage and the second half in and out of the foster care system before he finally met Walt. Walt wasn’t much of a father figure either, but it was all he’d ever known. He needed to go back to the compound right away. He would tell Carter as soon as he got home and arrange to have Walt pick him up in the morning. He knew Walt would be there when he needed him.
The streets of the Sodo district were empty as usual. Less than a handful of cars had passed him by since he left Carter back at the edge of town and there had been zero foot traffic. So he was startled when he heard a women’s screams coming from behind a building on the opposite side of the street. Barber didn’t even bother to check for cars as he bolted out into the street. He reached the dilapidated sidewalk on the other side of the street in a flash, turned down an alley, and saw a woman being dragged, kicking and screaming, by three men toward the end of the building.
Barber didn’t hesitate. This was his chance to prove to Carter that he could handle himself. To prove to himself that he wasn’t just some kid. He was a User after all, and no mere human could stop a User.
“Stop!” Barber shouted. “Let her go!” But they rounded the corner of the building. Barber hightailed it down the alley and burst around the corner of the building with his spikes drawn to full length. He imagined the look on the men’s faces when he rounded the corner with his barbs fully exposed. They would probably shit themselves.
“I said stop!” he shouted to…no one.
There was only an empty parking lot. It was as if the woman and her assailants had just vanished into thin air. Suddenly the hair on the back of his neck was standing on end and the air
It was locked, which was unusual that the kid had actually remembered to lock the door behind him.
“I’m home.”
He was met with silence. The apartment appeared to be empty. There was no moody teenager vigorously battling the video games at his usual post on the couch.
“Come on out,” Carter said.
He knocked on Barber’s bedroom door.
“I wanna talk about what happened.”
Again nothing but silence. He grabbed the handle and it was unlocked. This was also outside the norm for the kid, and he pushed open the door.
“Huh,” he said when he found the room also void of human life. The room was a mess. Laundry was splayed across the bedroom floor. There were empty pop cans on the windowsill and a plate of god only knows what left half eaten on top of Barber’s dresser. Carter cringed. The kid’s room was like a high school science experiment gone wrong.
Carter slowly closed the bedroom door, thinking that Barber must have just gone to blow off some steam the same way he did after their argument. He was sure that Barber would waltz through the front door at any minute. If Carter had only taken the normal way home instead of going the long way around, he would have known better.
*****
Rain. Of course, now it would start raining. Carter had probably flown home and was resting comfortably back at the apartment with his feet up, meanwhile he was stuck walking back in the dreary rain. He wondered if Carter would even care when he arrived at the apartment drenched from head to toe. He wondered if Carter cared about anything, anything other than himself of course.
Barber snickered. He doubted Carter would even notice. Carter was barely ten years older than he was, and the guy always treated him like he was just some dumb kid. He wanted to go back to the compound. He wanted to be back with Walt, and he scolded himself for ever thinking that Carter would have been a reliable sponsor in the first place. There was something good about the guy, he was driven, and Barber liked that, but he most definitely was not a good parental figure.
Not that Barber would know any better. He had never known his parents. How would he know how one was supposed to act? He had spent the first half of his life in an orphanage and the second half in and out of the foster care system before he finally met Walt. Walt wasn’t much of a father figure either, but it was all he’d ever known. He needed to go back to the compound right away. He would tell Carter as soon as he got home and arrange to have Walt pick him up in the morning. He knew Walt would be there when he needed him.
The streets of the Sodo district were empty as usual. Less than a handful of cars had passed him by since he left Carter back at the edge of town and there had been zero foot traffic. So he was startled when he heard a women’s screams coming from behind a building on the opposite side of the street. Barber didn’t even bother to check for cars as he bolted out into the street. He reached the dilapidated sidewalk on the other side of the street in a flash, turned down an alley, and saw a woman being dragged, kicking and screaming, by three men toward the end of the building.
Barber didn’t hesitate. This was his chance to prove to Carter that he could handle himself. To prove to himself that he wasn’t just some kid. He was a User after all, and no mere human could stop a User.
“Stop!” Barber shouted. “Let her go!” But they rounded the corner of the building. Barber hightailed it down the alley and burst around the corner of the building with his spikes drawn to full length. He imagined the look on the men’s faces when he rounded the corner with his barbs fully exposed. They would probably shit themselves.
“I said stop!” he shouted to…no one.
There was only an empty parking lot. It was as if the woman and her assailants had just vanished into thin air. Suddenly the hair on the back of his neck was standing on end and the air
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