Don't Look Now Read Free

Janiqua snorted. “That doesn’t make sense.”
    “That’s what happened,” Turk snarled back, jutting his chin out as he stepped menacingly toward her. Janiqua didn’t give an inch, though—she closed the space between them while reaching into her pocket for something—
    Noa quickly intervened, stepping between them. “Enough. We’ll sort it out later. Now get moving, these guys’ll be coming around soon.”
    After another long, hard stare, the two of them separated, heading to opposite ends of the camp. Janiqua pulled a plastic cord out of her pocket as she bent over one of the guys, then used it to tie his wrists behind his back. Two other kids helped her.
    Teo’s head was spinning—this was all too surreal. There were eight kids total, and they each moved with purpose. On the concrete buttress next to where he kept his sleeping bag, a scrawny black kid was spray painting a logo in red: the letters P and A , intertwined. The rest of the group hunkered down around the two guys who’d assaulted him, securing their ankles and wrists with impressive alacrity.
    Teo suddenly saw the encampment through their eyes—small, cramped, dingy—and felt a twinge of embarrassment.
    “Sure you’re all right?” Noa asked, examining him. “You look a little shaky.”
    “I’m fine,” he said, fighting to keep the squeak from his voice.
    “What’s your name, anyway?”
    “T-Teo,” he stammered. “Teo Castillo.”
    “Nice to meet you, Teo,” Noa said distractedly, her eyes scanning the clearing. She raised her voice and announced, “We’ll take the blonde.”
    Teo realized she was talking about the guy who had first spoken to him. He watched a girl in a black pleather miniskirt and torn fishnet stockings matter-of-factly place a strip of duct tape over the blonde’s mouth. “What did you do to them, anyway?”
    “Taser,” Noa explained, holding the remote up. “We don’t like guns.”
    “Okay.” He wasn’t a big fan of guns, either. “So are these the guys who have been experimenting on kids?”
    She scrutinized him. “You heard about that?”
    Teo shrugged. “Yeah. Everyone has.”
    “Well, it’s true. Don’t go anywhere alone from here on out. They might still be after you.”
    A cold ball of fear formed in Teo’s gut. He glanced back over his shoulder, half expecting to see more huge guys huddled in the bushes. He wondered where everyone else was—had the other kids known, somehow, that these guys were lurking around? And if so, why hadn’t anyone warned him? Suddenly, he felt more alone than ever. “Where are you taking him?”
    “Better if you don’t know.” More loudly, Noa added, “Don’t forget the tarp.”
    Obediently, a few of them wrapped the first guy up like a burrito in a large blue plastic tarp. Once they had him inside, they lifted him off the ground, spreading his weight between them. Teo watched them march toward the bushes. They were like an army, he realized. Organized, following commands . . . despite their ragged appearance, he was impressed.
    A minute later, he found himself alone with Turk, Noa, and the girl in fishnets. She was cute, despite her wild shock of blue hair. She caught him looking at her and raised an eyebrow. Teo flushed and shifted his gaze, examining the ground at his feet.
    “The usual with the other one?” Turk asked.
    Noa eyed the guy in the ball cap. “Yeah.”
    “You want to mess him up first?” Turk asked solicitously, directing the question to Teo.
    “What? Uh, no. I’m good.” Teo stared at the man on the ground; Jimmy, the other guy had called him. Jimmy was coming around, his eyes darting frantically from side to side.
    “We’ll leave him for your friends, then. I’ll bet they’ll have some fun with you, huh, jerk-off?”
    The guy flinched as Turk dealt him a hard kick to the ribs.
    “Turk,” Noa warned sharply.
    Turk threw her a sneer, then seemed to catch himself. He knelt down to tighten the zip ties another notch. The