sorry for the delay, it’s been a bad few days Alex, 2024-05-072024-05-07 We thought we were safe. We’re in the middle of nowhere and the only law is Matt’s step-uncle, he’s the sheriff. We were wrong. Matt and grampa had run into town for supplies, and by supplies I mean tons of food and an unhealthy amount of alc, yeah, we operate on European rules, 16 for beer, 18 for harder stuff, and it’s there but oddly enough no one’s really getting drunk we’re all just having beers and hanging out. There’s one kid who’s a runaway, okay he calls himself throwaway but I told him to stop that, name’s Aiden and he was born in Ireland, his parents broke up and his mom moved to Connecticut for a man. Nothing good ever happens in Connecticut, it’s basically the hemorrhoid of New England. It took them a week to even notice Aiden had run away, the cops took one look at the house and didn’t even want to pursue it, just opened a file and let no neighboring cops know because it was pretty clear this kid ran for a reason. He’s our ninja. You can spend time in a room with him and not even realize he’s there, he’s got a superpower of being invisible which I’m trying to get him out of because he’s super cute and super sweet, yeah, we’ve messed around and gone all the way but it’s like doing it with a nuclear bomb, he just pushes his emotions into me and it’s awesome but also just super dark, I usually cry. Never felt anything that powerful and so amazing but so sad. Matt and Dyl are getting into each other so they’re cool with it, I mean all four of us just got in the trailer the other night and things got crazy, had to re-level the trailer the next morning. Anyways, we were just minding our business after Matt and grampa left, me, Dyl, Aiden made food for the younger ones and ourselves and I get a text from Matt’s step-uncle, the sheriff, he says trouble is coming our way and he’s gonna get here as fast as he can but it’s gonna be a minute. I whisper to Dyl to get the kids to the bunker, it’s a WW2 bunker they set up on the mountain just in case with the whole military setup. We were already moving all our shit there because we’re out of space, there’s basically nothing left in the house or the trailers. His eyes get wide but he says okay. I say to take the guns out of the storage and leave some here but most back at the bunker. There used to be a fairly easy way to get there but some kids got drunk and died so it’s blocked off. There’s tunnels to get there only me, Matt, and Dyl know about, well I’m hoping, so he gathers the kids and okay Dyl’s super good with them, the kid should be a dad. They all run off and Dyl’s back but two kids won’t go, they’re both fourteen. One’s name is, okay, the only name he’s given, is Squirrel, he’s a runaway from somewhere in the midwest whose parents kicked him out two seconds after he came out to them. Good Christian folk. He’s holding a sniper rifle and I’m like wtf, but the kid’s like I can hit anything dead on from 500 yards, you need me. Look, I fucking hate guns and hate violence in general. Enough of it has been thrown at me, at all of us, our entire lives just because of something we didn’t choose and wouldn’t change. Just because we exist. Another kid, he’s fourteen, that’s Lucas, always has his camera cos that’s his thing, he’s sweet but super quiet, says he’s gonna hide in the bushes and film and okay all of us agree that’s okay but if it gets bad then we’ll go down before him and make sure he’s okay. “What the fuck is coming our way?” asks Dyl and idk but I’ve played lots of COD and us all standing right together is bad. We spread out and I’m trying not to show it but I’m fucking terrified. I read the news and this country is not safe for us, super not safe for the kids we sent to the bunker that are trans boys. And Matt’s back, takes one look, and he tells grampa to get to the bunker and look after the kids, and for once the old guy isn’t stubborn, he goes a totally different way none of us even knew about. “Do we need these guns?” asks Matt and I’m like “keep some close but I hope not” and Aiden’s like “fuck that, I’m grabbing a shotgun” and I’m like okay. Yeah, we got guns, loads of them, I don’t wanna even look at them much less touch them. We just didn’t expect things to be this bad in America. Really all of us shoulda been armed before we even heard the pickups. I look around and Aiden’s tense, but he looks okay, Matt’s starting to freak and I’m scared, too, because there’s a big fat woman, I’m not body shaming here, if you’re gonna pick something unattractive about her that would be last on the list. They got Connecticut plates and I heard about this group, they’re trying to change our town and make it theirs, and she’s waving a fucking automatic pistol. I’ve never even shot a gun but I can see the safety’s off and she’s not holding it quite right. It goes off and in one second everything goes fucking batshit, we all react, Aiden’s vanished, I thought Matt got shot but he’s just freaking out and we’re all going for guns and shooting in the air to get them to leave. The Connecticut rednecks on the first pickup are just as shocked as us. The boy on the second pickup, he’s our age, he drops his gun and dives into the woods. I noticed him right away cos he’s cute, messy black hair, looks like he wants to be anywhere else but here, wants no part of this. Fat lady tries to make it look like her gun went off intentionally and Aiden materializes right behind her with his shotgun pointed right at her head. He’s like “drop your guns bitch” and that was enough for the Connecticut rednecks, they toss their guns, hop in the truck and book. She starts to say something and Squirrel blows the window outta her truck, just based on where I think he is he deliberately missed her head by like an inch or two, I could even see it make her hair flop. That’s enough, she’s got her hands up. Aiden walks her to the truck, there’s safety glass all over the seat, and she starts it and drives off with a “this isn’t done, not by a long shot” and I motion behind my back so Squirrel doesn’t do what I think he’s about to, I can see the red dot between her eyes. She goes, and okay we’re all about to piss ourselves except Aiden. He’s super calm, and so is Squirrel who appears out of thin air and says he wanted to take the shot. Kid’s a lil scary. “Okay,” says Aiden, “this is a bit much but we got a new one.” The kid that was on the second pickup is there and he’s shaking so Dyl grabs a blanket for him. I’m guessing he’s fifteen or so and scared as fuck we’ll hurt him so I say we’re not gonna, we just wanna know what’s up and will they come back for him. “Please let me stay here, okay,” he whispers, “I’ve been running for too long and they made me do things so I had food, I was locked in a shed-“ I look at the others, and they’re all nodding okay. Squirrel hugs him and it’s an intense hug, next I know they’re making out. But I hear a truck coming so I make Squirrel get him to the bunker, and it’s the sheriff. Whoever this new kid is, we don’t want questions. Sheriff pulls up and we put threw our guns but didn’t account for the ones the rednecks threw in the bushes. Or the shell casings all over the place. “We’re good,” I say, before he can even ask. He shakes his head, looking around, kicks some shell casings. “You know they’re gonna come back.” “Back to what?!” yells Matt and I smell smoke and holy fuck he’s torched all of it. The house is going up fast but the campers are basically gone. “I guess I need to call out the volunteer fire department,” says the sheriff. “You sure you don’t want me to write up anything? Because if there’s a next time, it’s gonna be staties you’re talking to and not you.” “There won’t be a next time,” says Squirrel who’s reappeared and god he’s worse than Aiden, both me and the sheriff jump because he just came out of thin air. “Trust me, I’ll make sure of it.” Sheriff doesn’t want to ask the obvious question, and I don’t, either, but sheriff is right they will be back and idk about the others I was worried shooting in the air might hit a bird or something. Sheriff is on the radio and I whisper to Squirrel not to do anything extreme but him and Gabriel, that’s the orphan kid we just took in, have already vanished. Fire trucks are already on the way by the time sheriff walks back. “As far as you or anyone knows, we packed up and left,” I say. “It’s not on you anymore, you’ve done as much as you can which these days isn’t possibly gonna be enough to keep us safe.” “I know,” says sheriff, looking down. “I wish I could promise you better, but there’s only four of us.” Uncategorized