Riley Gage's Arc

Chapter 2 of 6

Riley runs. Marcus is already three blocks ahead, weaving through the Level 13 crowds like he still remembers the routes from when they were kids. Riley's lungs burn but he doesn't slow down. If Marcus reaches their older brothers first, if he tells them about the workshop and the detonators and the Alley Rats, then everything Riley built means nothing. Marcus cuts left past a chain link fence plastered with posters and wire ties. Riley loses sight of him for three seconds, then spots him again near the auto-shop with the bright pink neon sign. The word FAMILY glows above the garage door. Their brothers run the place now, fixed it up after Dad sold it off. Marcus is twenty feet from the entrance. Riley's chest feels like it's splitting open but he pushes harder, closes the gap to ten feet, then five. He grabs Marcus's shoulder just as Marcus reaches for the door. Marcus spins around and shoves him back against the fence. The metal rattles. A poster tears loose and flutters to the ground between them. "Don't," Riley says. He's gasping, can barely get the word out. "Don't tell them. Please." Marcus stares at him like he's looking at a stranger. "You think I want to?" Marcus says. His voice is flat. "You think I want to walk in there and tell them their little brother builds bombs for gangbangers?" Riley opens his mouth but nothing comes out. Marcus isn't angry. That's what breaks something in Riley's chest. Marcus just looks tired and sad and done. "I have to tell them," Marcus says. "Because if I don't, and something happens, and they find out I knew?" He shakes his head. "I can't cover for you, Riley. Not this." He pulls open the door and the pink light spills across the concrete. Riley watches his brother walk inside and the door swings shut behind him. Riley stands alone against the fence, still breathing hard, and realizes he just lost the only brother who might have kept his secret. Inside that shop, Marcus is telling them right now. Riley can picture their faces. The disgust. The shame. The final proof that their weird little brother never grew into anything worth respecting. He slides down the fence until he's sitting on the ground, and for the first time since he started building, the noise in his head goes completely silent.