She wondered whether she’d ended up in heaven or hell. There seemed an absence of gunfire here, but the smell of blood hung in the air. Maybe that was just the after effect of death? Either way, things seemed a lot calmer now.

‘Hello? Any one alive?’ The voice she didnt’t recocnise, but it seemed to be creeping closer. She unfurled herself from the ball that had been her shape for god knew how long, and found herself still under the steps. Warily, she crawled out from underneath them and straightened, brushing the dust off her dress.

It was a miracle. Shayla was still alive, against all the odds. Someone up there must really like her this week. ‘Hello?’ she croaked. ‘I’m alive!’

There was the thunderous sound of two people running down the stairs. As they rounded the banister, Shayla saw that they were two men, both of whom stopped dead at the sight of her.

‘What?’ she asked with a weak smile. ‘Do I look that bad?’

‘Holy shit,’ the younger one gasped. ‘She’s hot.’

‘Fuck me,’ the older one gaped. ‘You’re that girl. How the hell are you still alive?’

Shayla became puzzled at both of their reactions. The first, she ignored, but the second intrigued her. ‘I’m what girl? Hey...’ Something dawned on her. ‘You’re that dude that was with Kai!’

‘Yeah,’ Jerome grinned. ‘And he is not going to be happy when he knows you stayed through all of that.’

‘Woah,’ the young one breathed. ‘Is that Kai’s girl?’

Shayla’s mouth dropped open. ‘I most certainly am not that sonofabitch’s girlfriend! Is he still here? I wasn’t done giving him a piece of my mind.’

‘Shit,’ Jerome laughed. ‘He’s not gonna be pleased. Oh well.’ He bounded back up the stairs and drew in a deep breath. ‘Kai you motherfucker! Get your ass down here now!’

‘So let me guess,’ Shayla said to the lad who had been standing with Jerome. ‘You’re another one of Kai’s crazy friends?’

‘Not exactly.’ He gave her a lopsided grin. ‘I should be his mortal enemy.’ He shuffled closer and raised his eyebrows suggestively. ‘You know, I meant what I said. You are incedibly hot.’

Shayla laughed, reached over and ruffled his hair. ‘Cute. But thanks for the compliment. However, you do know its not that polite to oggle a girl when you don’t even know her name?’

‘If you bless me with your name, I’ll be eternally greatful,’ he said smoothly, full of charm.

His suave made her grin. ‘My name is Shayla. And yours?’

‘I’m Devon. Heaven knows how they made me.’ He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. ‘Or you, for that matter.’

There was a loud puking noise behind them, and Shayla turned to see Jerome.

‘I’d put that boy down if I were you girly,’ he said. ‘You have no idea where he’s been. The man’ll be down in a second. C’mon kid, we aint done yet.’

‘Kid?’ Shayla questioned Devon. ‘How old are you?’

‘Sixteen.’ He winked at her astonished expression. ‘I know, I know, so mature for my years. It’s a miracle.’

‘Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of, such a player for your years. I can only hope time doesn’t make you worse.’

‘Better,’ he corrected with a snigger. ‘Surely that’s what you mean. My charm is great.’

‘Get your ass into gear Devon!’ Suddenly Jerome’s eyes it up. ‘You know, there is an abundace of names I could call you. Devonshire and all that. Custard, Puddin’, Corny...haha I’m going to have fun with that.’

Devon rolled his eyes. ‘Great, I’m doomed. See you around Shayla.’ With that he lolloped of in persuit of Jerome.

Left alone, Shayla looked around the club as best she could, considering she was stuck on the bottom floor. As far as she could see, there was no real damage to the club apart from a few broken items. The Dj box had been smashed to smithereens, there were cracks on the dance floor, bullet holes in the walls and the room was in total disarray. But there were no bodies, thank god.

‘Fuck-ing hell.’

Shayla whirled around. Standing at the top of the steps was Kai. She made a face at him. ‘It’s so nice to see you alive as well Kai. I’m so glad you didn’t die.’

He growled at her. ‘I told you to get the fuck out of here.’

‘Well,’ she huffed. ‘Excuse me for not moving in the blink of an eye. For your information, I did try to leave.’

Kai stalked down the stairs. He seemed extremely angry, but she had no idea why. In defence, she braced her self and folded her arms in stubborness. When he reahed the bottom, she strode the distance between them.

‘You got a problem with me or something Kai?’ Sharply, she prodded him in the chest. ‘Because you seem awfully angry at me and I don’t know why.’

‘Well then you’re not as smart as you appear. And even that isn’t a lot,’ he sneered. ‘I told you to leave, and you didn’t. That’s reason enough.’

Her mouth hung open. ‘And what kind of authority have you got over me?’

He scowled, eyes narrowing at her defiance. ‘I have every authority over you.’

‘Well colour me surprised! Here I was thinking I had free will in this world.’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘What the hell is your problem?’

Kai sneered at her. ‘My problem? I have no problem at all, woman, but you seem to have it drilled into your brain that I’ve done something wrong.’

Shayla spluttered. ‘Really? Oh you think? Let’s explore that shall we?’ Poking him again she began to tick things off on her fingers. ‘Firstly, you were rude to me. Secondly, you knocked me unconscious. Thirdly you were rude to me again. Fourthly you were a pervert. Fithly-’

‘I think,’ he said through gritted teeth, ‘I get the point. We wouldn’t have this problem if you listened to me in the first place.’

For a minute there was silence, Shayla shocked into speechlessness. Then the storm broke.

‘Well, of course It’s my fault, isn’t it? Of course I’m not going to get an apology am I?’ With a huff she pushed past him. ‘Big scary gang member can’t bring himself so low can he? Jesus.’ Shayla shook her head and clomped up the stairs, the only thought in her mind being getting out of the destruction zone.

‘Shayla wait!’

Surprised more than anything at the use of her name, she turned. He came up the steps, two at time and stopped on the step underneath her.

‘Don’t go up there.’

Puzzled, she raised an eyebrow. ‘Why?’

‘Because you won’t like what you see.’

Intrigued, she half turned. ‘I’m a reporter Kai. If there’s a story in it, I’m sure I’ll like it.’

His hand shot out and grabbed her arm. ‘Goddamit! Just listen to me for once you crazy woman!’ Holding her in a vice grip his gaze seared into her own. ‘Jesus you infuriate me.’

Unwilling to admit he was both hurting and scaring her, she raised an eyebrow. ‘I thought you didn’t have a problem with me? And if you don’t mind letting go of me..?’

His eyes darkened. ‘Do not go up there.’

‘I believe I’ve said this before. I can make my own decisions, thank you very much.’

‘Christ Shayla are you so bloody eager to see a carpet of dead bodies? To stare into their wide, lifeless eyes and make a story out of their deaths? Are you such a sick woman that you’d take pleasure in something like that?’ In disgust he released her. ‘Fine, go ahead. Do your fucking job!’

Shayla practicaly felt the colour drain from her face. She swallowed at the image Kai had created and suddenly began to feel extremely faint. ‘D-dead...bodies?’ She managed. ‘As in, cold lifeless corpses?’

‘Wow, she does have a brain,’ he sneered. ‘Want a gold star?’

‘Shut up,’ she breathed. With a thump, she sat down on a stair, pressing a hand to her forehead. Taking deep breaths, something hit her. She could smell the familiar stenches of spilt booze, smoke and sweat but overlying that was a smell she didn’t recognise. It was the smell of burning flesh. It was the smell of death.

‘I can’t breathe,’ she whispered. ‘I can’t breathe.’

‘Jesus.’ Concerned, Kai dropped onto the step below tilted her head to his and surveyed her face. ‘Shayla you look like a ghost.’

‘Its everywhere,’ she choked, her eyes wild and frantic. ‘Death. I can smell it.’

‘Shayla, Christ.’ He panicked, not knowing what to do. How the hell did someone deal with a panic attack? ‘Um...’ She said she couldn’t breathe because she could smell death. Ok, that was easily fixed. He dug in his pocket for a tissue. ‘Have you got any perfume Shayla?’

She nodded. He went into her bag and retrieved it, spraying the tissue and thrusting it under her nose. ‘Here, breathe into this.’ She looked up at him with eyes filled with gratitude as she took long, deep breaths.

‘Thanks. I kind of have a fear of dead bodies. As you can see, the whole lifeless corpse thing freaks me out.’

He had to bite his tongue before he said ‘told you so.’ But she said it for him anyway. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t listen. You have the right to say ‘told you so.’’

‘I could, but I wont.’

‘The question is how to get me out of here. I can’t stay here, can I? And if I know the Feds well enough, they should be here in about, oh, five minutes?’ With a sigh she stood on shaky legs. ‘Just point me to the back door and I’ll go.’

‘There’s no back door in this club.’ Kai stood with her, watching her with wary eyes, just in case she keeled over. ‘You’re going to have to go out the front way.’

She breathed deeply into the tissue. ‘I think I’ll just wait here for the Feds.’

‘Oh no you won’t. You know their methods of torture. They’ll have my details in no time.’

‘And what am I supposed to tell them?’ she laughed. ‘Deranged? Phsychotic?’

‘I don’t know...tall dark and handsome maybe?’ Surprisingly his eyes sparkled with humour instead of glinting with disgust.

‘You wish. Anyway, how do I get out of here?’

He seemed to consider. ‘Well, there’s only one way out, and both of us have to go that way, so...’ Unnervingly he moved scarily close.

‘Hey, personal space!’

‘Get over it,’ he snickered. Without any warning he took out her knees and effortlessly lifted her up. She let out a high screech and flung her arms around his neck.

‘Excuse me!’ She gasped. ‘Let me down!’

‘No such luck, princess. Would you rather step over the bodies?’ Vehemently, she shook her head. Her eyes met his and held. ‘Ok. You now have two choices. One, you don’t look away from my eyes. Two, you close your eyes and don’t open them until I tell you to. What’s it to be?’

Shayla kept looking at his eyes. She didn’t want to put her trust in him enough to close her own, but it was impossible to lock her gaze to his. It was too sharp, too direct to be comfortable.

Suddenly his mouth cocked up in a smile. ‘Lost in my eyes, princess?’

‘Wha-pft! Yeah whatever.’ Begrudgingly, she allowed her eyelids to close and held them tightly shut. ‘Just go. The sooner we get out, the better.’

Kai began to move. She knew when he stepped over a body because she dipped slightly down as he lengthened his stride. Scared, trying not to think about it, she unknowingly pressed her face into his neck and clung on for dear life.

‘How you hanging in there?’ he asked.

‘Just don’t you dare drop me!’ Shayla threatened. ‘I feel sick enough as it is without landing on a corpse.’

‘Just keep breathing into the tissue and you’ll be ok. We’re almost at the door now.’ He stepped slowly and carefully over the last obstacle, a particularly splayed body, and then practically jogged to the door. ‘We made it.’

‘Finally.’ She struggled out of his hold and he fought not to let her drop unceremoniously to the floor. He held his urges in check and was more or less the gentleman, helping her to right herself with dignity.

‘Happy now?’

‘Yeah, thanks,’ she smiled. ‘Even though you’re a dick.’

‘Charmed,’ he drawled. ‘I was expecting something more along the lines of ‘thank you for helping me Kai, I’ll be eternally greatfull.’’

‘Well, you can dream.’ She pushed her hair off her shoulders and adjusted her dress. ‘Well, I’m off home. Hope I don’t see you around. Good luck with the Feds.’

She made to walk off but he stopped her. ‘You can’t just walk home. It’s the middle of the night. Don’t you have a car?’

‘No, my friend was driving.’ She motioned to the parked cars on the road. ‘And her car is gone, so I’m assuming she escaped and has left. I have no money for a cab either. Hence, walking.’

Kai rolled his eyes. ‘I’m starting to feel like a baby sitter. Come on, follow me.’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m not going anywhere with you.’ She placed her hand on her hip in defence. ‘Not unless you stop dictating at me.’

He gritted his teeth. Insticts told him to just leave her on the street, let her walk and probably get killed. But his conscience wouldn’t allow it, no matter how far she pushed him. ‘Alright.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Would you come with me...please?’

‘That’s better.’ Her smile was radient. ‘Ok, lead the way.’

Grumbling to himself he took her to his car and let her in. Once he had gunned the engine, he took to the sky. ‘Where am I going?’ he asked once they reached main stream traffic.

‘224 Madison. It’s Block A.’ She glanced sidelong at him. ‘I’m assuming you know how to get there.’

‘I have this entire city as a map in my head. I know how to get everywhere by every means.’

Shayla didn’t reply. For a while there was an uncomfortable silence. She had never felt more awkward in her life than sitting with this complete stranger in his car. For god sake, he was a gang member, a criminal. If she were in her right mind she would be phoning the police right this second and turning him in.

Obviously she was insane.

‘So,’ she said, breaking the silence. ‘Nice car you have here. Is it an Audi?’

‘No. It’s a Hisaka.’

‘Oh.’ She didn’t have a clue what one of those was. ‘European?’

‘Japanese.’

‘Oh.’ Shayla clasped her hands in her lap. ‘Well. It’s a nice car anyway.’

She couldn’t see him smirking, thank god. Kai had to surpress a chuckle as she struggled to make conversation.

‘Do you earn much then? Doing...doing what you do?’

‘I don’t earn anything.’

‘Oh-kay.’ Giving up she stared out the window. She suddenly noticed something out of the ordinary. ‘Um, Kai? You’re going the wrong way.’

‘I know.’

Panic descended on her. Was she being kidnapped? ‘And, um, why may I ask?’

‘We’re being followed.’

‘Followed? So, what, you’re trying to shake them off?’ Shayla turned in her seat to try and peer out the back windshield. Kai yanked her back round.

‘Don’t turn around,’ he hissed. ‘They can’t tell that we know they’re following us.’

‘Riiiight. So, where are we going?’

‘I’m taking you to the Alpha compound.’

‘No you are not,’ she protested. ‘I don’t want to go there! I want to go home, damn it.’

‘The Primeras on out tail now know who you are. It’s not safe for me to lead them straight to your house, now is it?’ He grinned. ‘Although I could just leave them to you. I’m sure you’d chew them up good.’

Shayla snorted, unsure as to whether he had given her a compliment or an insult. ‘Whatever. But aren’t you just going to lead them to your compound if you take me there?’

‘We prevent that,’ he said, as if talking to a small child, ‘by distracting them.’ With a sharp jerk of the wheel he turned them down a street and into a darkened alley way. Before Shayla could srcream, he drove straight through a wall. The car passed through it as if it was incorporeal.

‘What the hell was that for?’ she gasped. ‘You nearly gave me a heart attack!’

They joined another road full of traffic. ‘The car has the ability to pass through solids. It’s one of a kind, you see.’

‘Fantastic. I just didn’t see the purpose of it!’

‘Those Primeras now think the entrance to the Alpha compound is through that wall. They’ll spend the whole night trying to find a way through.’

Shayla thought that over. ‘You know,’ she grinned, ‘that’s pretty good.’

‘Why, thank you. Now, homeward bound.’ He revved the engine. Giving her a sidelong glance, he smirked. ‘If I were you, I’d hold on tight.’ He shoved the throttle into high before she could protest, and the car rocketed skyward, out of the main stream traffic.

Shayla was thrown into her seat and immobilised by the sheer force pressing on her. ‘Kai!’ she screamed. ‘Slow down!’

‘Can’t do princess. Just hold on!’ To her horror, he sped up even more. The car titled to a vertical angle and just kept speeding upwards. It began making a screaming sound, like screeching metal, or nails on a chalk board. She clapped her hands over her ears and whimpered as the car began to shudder.

‘You’re about to find out why I brought this car!’ Kai yelled. As if on cue, there was a burst of bright light. Shayla let out a piercing scream that deafened even the noise of the car, convinced she was about to die.

But then everything stopped. The speed dropped, the car levelled out, and the only sound was Kai’s chuckling.

Forcing her eyelids open she turned on him. ‘Bastard!’ she shreiked, thumping him hard in the stomach. ‘What the fuck were you trying to do to me?! I thought I was going to die!’ For good measure, she hit him again. His breath wooshed out in an ‘oomph’ sound and he coughed, trying to regain his breath.

‘Well,’ he gasped. ‘You’re not dead, so stop hitting me! Sheesh.’ He rubbed his stomach tenderly. ‘And welcome to Alpha terra.’ He broke off into incoherent muttering, still navigating his way.

‘You mean this is the alpha compound? This whole...thing?’ in shock Shayla gazed around her. The place was exremely large. She didn’t really want to ask how he had afforded all of this. Atmospheric terrain was extremely difficult to possess...unless you had infinite amounts of money.

‘This whole thing. See now why it’s so difficult to find?’

‘I’d say it was impossible to find, unless you had a car like this.’

Kai laughed. ‘No, there are other ways in, not that I’m about to tell you them.’ He downshifted and turned the car ninety degrees right. ‘I can’t believe I was coerced into bringing you here anyway.’

‘Coerced? I did no coercing,’ she protested. ‘I wanted to go home, don’t you forget. It wasn’t my choice to get followed by those Primera goons.’

‘I did my own coercing princess. I persuaded myself not to let you die on a street corner.’ At her open mouthed stare, he grinned. ‘So be greatful. I could still do it you know.’

With a ‘humph’ she fell silent. There was no retort she could think of to a statement like that. And she certainly was not bringing herself so low as to thank him again. He may have helped her, but he was still one hundered percent dickhead.

‘Greatful or not,’ she growled. ‘I still think you’re a dick.’

He raised a brow and grinned. ‘I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now, give me a minute and we’ll be inside.’ Kai swerved the car to a stop and wound down the window. There was a crackling of static and a view screen appeared at the side of the car.

‘Kai! Hey man, didn’t think you were coming home!’ A face partially covered by long brown hair appeared on the screen. ‘Jerry’s due back any second, but no one knew where you were.’

Kai grinned. ‘Well, you know me. Let me in, Isiah. I’m knackered after what’s gone down.’

‘I heard. But, hey...’ The man on screen, Isiah, peered around Kai and looked directly at Shayla. Foolishly, she smiled and waved. Isiah’s eyes boggled. ‘Hoo-ee! Kai, my man, she is fine. Where did you pick her up?’

‘He did not ‘pick me up’ as you so charmingly put it! I’ll have you know that-’ Shayla was cut off from her protest as Kai slapped a hand over her mouth.

‘Fiesty thing, isn’t she?’ he laughed. ‘Nah, met her in a bar and some Primeras were hassling her. Is it ok if I bring her in?’

‘Sure, go ahead. Sheesh it’s been way too long since you’ve had a female Kai. You need the distraction.’

He snorted. ‘Yeah, she’s certainly that.’

Shayla scowed as the car moved forward.