Part III

About a year had passed. I was now what R.I.O.N refers to as a level 6.7, 7 being the highest level. In other words, I was a veteran. Things were not going well between my home boyfriend and I, and James and I were not exactly golden either. We had been fighting more and more frequently, leaving little time for the fun stuff we had done in the past. I remember one night, September 1st of 2003, that began so well...but ended with a trip to hell and back.

The night started well. James came and picked me up along with Scott and Dakota, and we sung Linkin Park songs and drank Diet Pepsi the entire way to Albany. James had even been decent with me...he had opened the door for me to get in, kept smiling at me on the way down to Albany. But that would change the minute that the four of us stepped foot in my apartment.

It was completely and totally trashed.

I stood in the door way, the key still clutched in my hand, and stared open-mouthed at the scene infront of me. James stopped, but still ran into me. "Come on Sara, get in the house, it's cold out here." he said. I took a step forward and stared at the destruction all around me. James, Dakota and Scott each filed into the living room, their eyes wide. I stared at the mirror on the wall infront of me, which was littered with red marker or lipstick, one of the two. As I got closer, I realized what it said. "Ice before the Avalanche, the Maytrix holds Dakota, but in the end, the Maytrix will be left with naught and Fire will prevail." I stared at it for a minute while the others walked through the house. Dakota came up next to me. "That's a pretty good play on words." he said. James elbowed him. "It's not funny. And it's not smart. Ice is dead, and this guy is saying I'm next, followed by you." he stated. Scott walked up to me with a knife in his hand, a switchblade. "Maytrix, I hate to tell you this, but I uh...I found this...in your cat." he said. I stared at him. "I'm more concerned about this message." I said almost calmly. James put his arm around me and nodded to Dakota and Scott. "We'll call a cleaning crew and have them take care of this place. Meanwhile, let's go find Fire."

They say to fight fire with fire, but this was a different Fire.

Fire was about my height, and the only one who had ever beaten James in a fair fight. He was disgustingly cute and every single girl in the world adored him...except for me. Earlier in 2003 he had asked me to date him, even sleep with him, and I had said no because I was in love with someone else. None of us knew that he would go as far as to kill for me. Unfortuneatly, we were wrong. I remember pulling up to his house that night, Dakota and Scott in the back of the truck and James and I up front. I looked nervously at the house, which was well lit and seemingly full of people. James took my hand and I looked over at him. "You stay here, just in case we need to get out of here quick." he said. I shook my head. "No...you shouldn't just go in there shooting. Maybe if I talk to him..." I started. As if on cue, all three of them said "No!" and started to get out of the truck. James leaned over the divider and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "I know you hate me right now, but this is the best thing for you. And trust me, I know what's best for you." he said. Then he climbed out of the truck and I moved over to the driver's side, ready to fly.

Ten minutes later, all hell broke loose.

Scott, Dakota and James plowed out of the house and jumped in the truck, followed by about twenty guys, all dressed completely in black. I turned on the truck and pushed it into gear, then stood on the gas. James looked behind us and we all looked then, just in time to see the men climb into their respective cars and trucks to follow us. I glanced over at James. "Would you like to explain to me why we're getting chased by so many people?" I asked. Scott coughed a little, and I looked in the rear view mirror again, only to find that his shoulder was gushing blood. "Oh my god..." I started, then looked back at the road, where a cop was making his way infront of me. James held onto the dash as I stopped, letting the cop fly past me. Then I turned into an abandoned side road which leads to the inner parts of Albany. "Is he going to be okay?" I asked. James nodded. "He just got scraped by a knife, that's all. We just need to get back to the garage, and quickly." he said.

Alright, time to explain about the garage.

The garage is a multilevel auto garage complete with just about every single tool or extra you could possibly want. A normal day includes Vipes, Vettes, Street cars to off roaders, the garage sees them all. It's also our emergency meeting spot in case something ever goes wrong. Which it commonly does.

So there we were, racing down the road at mock ten, not a hundred percent positive what was going to happen...

To be continued...