Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Hacker Zi ❯ Part Eleven ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

DISCLAIMER: While Hacker Zi and its characters were created by me, some of the screen names were taken from actual people. Please DO NOT TRY TO CONTACT THEM. The story is purely fictional

It took a moment for Nick to recover from the shock. Her legs began to feel like jelly, almost as if the very bones had been removed. Grasping the chair in front of her, she collapsed onto it, not taking her eyes off of him. Perhaps a thought in her mind told her that if she were to look away, he would disappear again, and become lost in an unknown void. She didn't budge, not even when the cold soda began to soak her socks. The room itself now held an eerie silence. None of them wanted to break it, none of them wanted to move from their spot.
The sound of a car driving by caused both Brandon and David to jump. Nick however, remained with her gaze still directed at him. David was constantly glancing at Nick, then back to the floor. He couldn't look her in the eyes. He was too ashamed. When he was about to break the eternal silence, Brandon spoke. This time it was his turn to ask if Nick were alright.
“.....I better get back to the shop.... are you alright? Will you be fine with this?”
“.......yeah. Its alright. But....whats going on?”
“I'll let David explain everything. Thanks again, Nick, we really owe you for this.”
Before he left the kitchen, Brandon walked over to David and handed him his cell phone. He the gave his friend a pat on the back and headed for the front door. As he passed Nick he stopped and rested his hand on her shoulder.
“Mine and Ryan's numbers are both on that phone. If you guys need anything, or something happens let us know. We'll do the same.”
He started to walk towards the door, but stopped at the edge of the kitchen, looking back at the two of them.
“Remember David, stay out of sight.”
Nick gave a slight nod, but otherwise didn't move, not even when she felt the weight of Brandon's hand vanish from her shoulder. Her mind registered his absence only after the sound of the front door closing filtered into the kitchen. Even then, she didn't budge. Her body felt heavy, it seemed impossible for her to move even an inch. Not even the dampness of her socks could shake Nick from the numbness. When David suddenly moved across the kitchen, she jumped. He had decided to clean up the soda that surrounded the chair she resided in. As he stooped down with paper towels, he looked up at her, attempting to break the silence.
“....you're hair's longer.”
It took her a moment to register what he had said. Then another to try to find the words she wanted to say. They never came, but what did seemed silly to her.
“.....your's too.”
David forced a smile at her reply. Inside he was stricken with sadness, with grief and worry. He was concerned for his sister, and sad that he had abandoned her like that. Realizing he had done the same to Nick caused him to cringe. He wondered what she was thinking, as she stared down at him. Half a year ago he would have been able to read her eyes to see the struggles she was going through, but not anymore. They now appeared empty to him, devoid of any emotion. He slowly lowered his head, not wanting to look her in the eyes any longer.
“I'm.....I'm really sorry Nick. For everything. I've put everyone in danger – you, my sister, Brandon – I wish I would have never met Rick!”
Tears began to form in his eyes, they slowly made their way down his face, rolling off his chin and falling upon the floor. This was a side of him Nick had never seen before. Not sure of what to do, she did the first thing that came to mind. Leaving her chair, she knelt beside him and embraced him, as he laid his head on her shoulder. His sobs were somewhat muffled as he cried, the tears being absorbed by Nicks shirt. When she spoke to him, he lifted his head and looked up at her.
“We'll fix it.”
Before he could say anything, his body stiffened. A car had pulled into the driveway. They were both frozen on the floor, afraid to move. Finally Nick let go of David and rushed to the window. A second later she let out a sigh of relief. Looking back into the kitchen, she saw that David was now standing by the couch.
“Don't worry, its just my brother and his partner.”
“Partner?”
“Yeah, his names Michael. They're detectives.”
“SHIT!”
David sprinted up the stairs and ran into Nicks room, shutting the door behind him. Nick made a move to follow him, but stopped. She realized some of the soda was still on the floor. Finally becoming aware of the dampness of her socks, she quickly removed them from her feet and walked back into the kitchen. It was then that Marc and his partner entered the house. Nick looked up as they both stepped into the kitchen. Marc gave her a funny look.
“What happened here?”
“Kinda missed the table when I was setting my can down.”
Her voice had a nervous quality to it. Marc gave her another look, but she chose to ignore it. Seeing she hadn't noticed, he stepped over the remaining liquid and opened the fridge. A moment later he tossed a can at his partner, who caught it. He also grabbed a sandwich bag from one of the draws, and started filling it with ice. It had been four days since the dog attacked him, and his arm was as sore as ever.
“You're arm still hurts?”
“Yeah, that dog must have bit deeper than I thought.”
“I keep telling your brother he's going to turn into a werewolf.”
Nick forced out a laugh as she finished wiping up the soda. She stood and took the soaked paper towels over to the garbage can. David seemed pretty spooked when he found out about her brother being a cop. Was he afraid of him, or maybe.....Michael?
The noise of a cell phone brought Nick back from her thoughts. Looking over, she saw that it was Michaels. He apologized, and then answered the phone.
“Yeah?....I'm at my partners right now, is it that important....your dog got out? How long ago?....Yeah, I'll look for him, alright, bye.”
“We need to go?”
“Yeah, my roommate's dog got out of the house somehow. Wants me to go search for him. I keep telling him to put the damn thing on a leash, but he never does.”
Marc and Michael said goodbye to Nick, then left the house. She waited a few minutes after the sound of the car faded away. Then she went upstairs. When she entered her room, David was no where to be seen. After calling out his name, he rolled out from under the bed.
“They gone?”
“Yeah...why'd you run upstairs? Were you afraid of Marc because he's a detective?”
“No.....its that damn Michael.”
“What do you mean? Whats so bad about him?”
“He's with Rick. He's a member of Defiance. Did he say where he was going?!?”
“No, just that his roommates dog got out.....he was talking about you wasn't he?”
Nick noticed that as she said that, David's face turned pale. She watched as he quickly pulled the cell phone Brandon had given him out of his pocket. He searched for the number to the store in the address book, then hit send. Brandon picked up on the second ring. From the way he sounded, something had happened.
“Ye-eah. Something up?”
“Michael is Nick's brothers fucking partner!”
“Are you sure?!”
The house phone rang, causing both Nick and David to jump. She left the room and hurried down stairs to answer it. On the third ring she picked up. It was Zeke. From the sound of his voice, he was really shaken up. In the background, a siren could be heard.
“Zeke, whats wrong!?!”
“Th...there's been an accident.”
“Are you alright!?!”
“I'm...fine...but....Dylan....he's in pretty bad shape. We're headed to the hospital now.”
“What happened?!!”
“We were looking for you....thought you were still at work, we weren't sure if we were in the right shop....there was an old man working there. Thats when....these guys showed up....they were asking for David...and thats when they started firing.”
Nick couldn't speak. She was too afraid to. The men who had asked about David were definitely apart of Defiance...but could Michael had made it to the store in such a short time? And who was the old man? Before she could ask, static filled the phone and the call was lost. They had probably entered a tunnel. Hanging up the phone, she ran back upstairs to ask David about Brandon. He was still on the cell phone, but when he saw her face, he asked what had happened.
“Dylan was shot....”
“Yeah....Brandon's grandfather was too. I'll put it on speaker phone....Brandon, when did this happen?”
“Ten minutes ago. Roughly. My grandfather called, asking about Nick...I guess two of your friends were looking for you....and thats when I heard the shots. I called 911, then rushed over to the other store. I'm going to kill that fucking bastard.”
“....I'm really sorry Virg....its my fau - “
“Stop blaming yourself. It wasn't you. Rick's a fucking psycho.”
“...whats going on? Why would these guys resort to violence like that? They're hackers, aren't they!?!”
“David, you haven't filled her in yet?”
“Didn't get the chance. I ran and hid like a fucking baby the moment I found out about Michael.”
“Alright, Nick. How much do you know so far?”
“Not a lot....just that David faked his own death to join Defiance, I know they're hackers, and you're Virgil, I take it.”
Brandon paused on the other line. She hadn't even scratched the surface as to what was going on. Ryan must not have said anything to her either. Taking a deep breath he began to tell her everything. David helped him fill in the blanks.

“Man....she's still not answering.”
“Her phone's probably off...usually she picks up by the second ring.”
“No shit Sherlock.”
Zeke glared at Dylan. He hated it when he was being a smartass. They had decided to do another gaming party, and wanted both Nick and her friend from work to come. The only problem was that Nick wasn't online, her phone was off, and they had no idea how to contact Ryan.
As they continued on down the street, Dylan glanced at all the signs to the businesses, wondering if Nick could be in any of them. When he spotted the computer store, he stopped. Zeke looked over at him.
“What's up?”
“Maybe they work in there. Nick said it was a computer store.”
“No harm in checking it out I guess. Even if she's not there, they may have some cool stuff.”
When they entered the store, they found themselves disappointed. Neither of them could be seen, but it was possible they were in the break room or something. When Dylan glance over at the ancient-looking clerk, his hope diminished. With a sigh, he approached the counter. Then he spoke to the old man.
“.....Does Nick work here?”
“Eh? Nick? I don't recall an employee by that name....maybe my grandson knows. Excuse me.”
The old man slowly made his way to the telephone that sat next to the register. Dylan was thankful he used the speed dial on the phone....if he had punched in the number himself, it would have taken forever. He tried not to look impatient, but he knew it probably wasn't working. Looking around, he saw that Zeke had went to the back of the store, fascinated with something Dylan couldn't see.
“Hey Bran, you have a guy named Nick working over there?”
The old man waited for the guys response, nodded his head, then moved the phone to his shoulder. He then spoke to Dylan.
“Is this Nick fella you're wanting a girl?”
“Uh, yeah. We're in the wrong store aren't we?”
The man nodded, then returned to the phone. Dylan sighed, then looked back at Zeke, who was still in the back. The sound of the door ringing brought his attention back to the store. What he saw kept him quiet. There were three guys, all wearing masks. One of them had a gun. It was aimed at the old man, but there was a strong chance of the bullet ricocheting, part of him said to move away slowly, the other part told him to stay where he was. And thats what he did. Through the corner of his eye, he saw the Zeke had noticed the men, and had concealed himself behind one of the shelves. When the old man noticed the men his hands began to shake, causing the phone to slip from his grasp and hang from its cord.
“Where is he!”
“I- I don't know....who you're ta-talking about...”
The man holding the gun was obviously annoyed. He moved closer, to the point where the barrel of the gun was pressed against the old mans head. Tears began to pour down his face, which only angered the gunman even more. It was then that Dylan made the mistake of taking a step back. His movement was noticed by the gunman, who aimed the gun in his direction, and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit him in the knee, the pain alone knocking him to the ground. It felt so intense that he couldn't speak. His eyes began to roll into the back of his head, but he fought to stay conscious.
Zeke watched in horror as the gun was fired. He was frozen in his hiding place, too afraid to move. What happened next shocked him even more.
“Last chance. Where's he hiding David.”
After hearing nothing but the mans sobs, the gunman moved away, walking towards the door. A moment later he turned back towards the owner of the shop and fired a single shot into his forehead. He then turned back toward Dylan, firing another shot into his chest.
Zeke didn't move until five minutes had passed after the gunman and his followers left. There was no mistaking it, they were looking for David......so did that mean they were members of Defiance? And why would they be searching for him....had he left them? Dismissing these thoughts from his mind, he pulled out his cell phone and tried to dial 911, but his hands shook too much. By the time he dialed the number, an ambulance and squad car came to a hault outside the store. Someone must have heard the shots and called them.
As the cops entered the store, they found two boys on the floor. One had been shot twice, his breathing shallow. The other appeared to be in shock, but no wounds were visible on his body. Looking behind the counter, they found the body of an old man, cause of death was obvious – bullet wound to the forehead.