BlueK Dynasty: The 1st Seven Days (27 page)

“
Jackie,
girls, let’s go,” Kurma went on. “We have some Phantoms to hunt for
dinner.”
  

If she wanted to play this
game then so could Santino. He would take her down; as quickly as
she rose she could fall again, and Santino wanted to be in the
thick of it. If Kurma thought she could go around killing his
Phantoms, he would just have to make some more. Kurma was a nobody;
he had to keep telling himself that. These girls who followed her
around, they were nobodies too. Santino was better than this and
would do better next time. Kurma had won this round but she hadn’t
won the game.
  

“
Night
night, lover boy,” sang Rimselda. She elbowed Santino in the back
of his head as she retracted her daggers from his
wrist.
  

Santino saw bright lights
as his body hit the ground. The last thing he heard was the sound
of heels click-clacking away and the last thing he smelled was
Kurma, a thick scent of her that he couldn’t
shake.
  

The night became more
obscure, and Santino lost consciousness.
  

33.

Seven News Studio
Report
  

“
Is my
mic on?” Gill tapped the little black device on his windbreaker
twice and looked into the camera. “Testing, testing. Amanda’s apple
pie and Binky’s blueberry bottle but Candace’s constant cough
couldn’t dare Dean down.”
  

The second tech assistant,
Baron, cleared him for the sound check and ducked back into the
Seven News Studio media van. Terry, the cameraman, signaled the
countdown, and Gill cleared his throat and smoothed his hair
back.
  

“
Connie, are you clear in the Seven News
Studio
?” he asked.
  

“
Connie here
,” she said.
“
Gill, how are things out there? Can you
explain to our worried viewers what the situation is
exactly
?”
  

“
I can barely hear you, Connie. The noise level out here is
extreme. I can barely hear myself talk as my background continues
to spiral out of control
.” Gill put a
finger in one of his ears. Terry’s script flew away, and Gill
cursed loudly.
  

“
Watch
out, Terry!” he yelled.
  

Terry had almost been
sideswiped by an irate Phantom, and the camera’s line of vision
shifted. He kept on rolling, and Gill crouched low to the ground,
trying to stay out of harm’s way.
  

“
To the citizens of Alexandria: stay inside. I repeat, stay
inside
,” he yelled. “
There are men and women who are roaming the city’s streets,
and they can hurt you
!”
  

“
 
Gill, there’s been an
extraordinary increase in 911 calls, so much that the phone lines
are now being held up and service has yet to be
restored
 
,”
said Connie. “
What can you see outside
that we here in the studio can’t
?”
  

“
There are riots, and acts of violence against whomever. No
one is safe outside at this time
.” Gill
was beginning to lose his breath. He was trying to half duck walk
and crawl undercover while filming. “
I’ve
personally seen two men attacked and a woman and her child knocked
over as gangs raided stores and other businesses
.”
  

A loud scream came from
behind Gill, and he immediately dropped to the ground.
“
Connie
,” he said
as he tried to regain his composure, “
all
the police are out in the city tonight, trying to keep the peace,
and for those who don’t want peace, there’s the RAID
team
.”
  

“
So you think that by tomorrow this whole thing will blow
over
?” Connie asked.
  

Gill tapped his earpiece
and heard static. “
Connie, I didn’t catch
that. But what I will say is that by tomorrow the streets will be
clear. The Alexandria police department and RAID team will work
relentlessly until this problem is under control. Until then the
city of Alexandria will be under security level
red
.”  
  

The news van door opened,
and Baron poked his head out. “We lost the station’s
signal.”
  

Gill was confused. He had
never heard of a lost signal before, even in the hurricane seasons.
He signaled to Terry for the wrap-up.
  

“
Now let’s have an update Connie. Back to you in the Seven
News Studio
,” Gill said.
“
I pray we all have a safe and sound
night
.”
  

Running back to the van,
he almost knocked over Terry, who was trying to scramble in from
the chaos outside.
  

“
They
don’t pay me enough to cover a story like this!” Terry
screamed.
  

“
What’s
going on with the station?” asked Gill.
  

Baron looked too scared to
talk. He was turning dials on his equipment, trying to pick up any
signal from the station. “The line went dead about two minutes ago.
I haven’t been able to get contact with the executives or the
producers ever since.” He suspected the worst.
  

Gill laughed nervously.
“They’re probably getting a high volume of demands right now. You
know how it gets when juicy news comes in. Let’s just go back to
the station. I’m sure everything will be just how we left
it.”
  

Baron had left out one
important part. “There was one radio signal I heard before the line
went down.”
  

“
See?”
Gill cheered up. “Terry, take the Holland Tunnel back to the
station.”
  

“
Gill,”
Baron said. “I heard people screaming. I could hear them being
ambushed. I don’t think there’s a studio to go back
to.”
  

The van rocked suddenly as
people on the street rushed by, running amuck. Gill could have been
knocked over by a feather. What was going to happen to all of
them?
  

34.

Pandemonium
  

Inis barged through his
apartment’s front door, scaring Fae half to death. He had been
crying the whole time he’d run home. His eyes were bloodshot and
his legs burned; he had to have run at least seven miles to get
back to south Alexandria. All around him people had been coming out
of their homes to see what all the commotion was about. Inis had
run past them. He’d dodged the hungry-looking men with their sharp
teeth and horrid skin. He’d run in the street, out of the street,
in the bike lane; he’d hopped over parked cars and jumped meters
but avoided the sidewalks where people were being attacked. He
remembered what had happened to his brother in the club—he’d been
attacked and dragged off to God knew where. Inis had had to be
smarter than the people outside. He’d wanted to be with his mom,
protecting her as he hadn’t protected Allie.
  

Now he dropped on the
couch, breathless and sweaty. His tears had dried on his face like
old riverbeds. He was distraught and didn’t know how to break the
news to his already sensitive mother.
  

Fae walked over to the
door and quickly shut it. She turned to her son and knew something
terrible had happened. “Where is Allie?”
  

Inis ignored her as if he
were deaf.
  

“
Where
have you just come from?”
  

That Inis could answer.
“From the Flora Plume Club over in east
Alexandria.”
  

Fae wasn’t even surprised.
What was wrong with all her kids? Somehow they were getting away
from her, and she didn’t know how to get them back. She lit a
cigarette and inhaled deeply. “When is Allie coming home
then?”
  

Inis couldn’t bear the
sound of his brother’s name. He had let someone take him right from
his hands. He had lost Kurma in the crowd too. He was useless; he
felt empty and hollow. He couldn’t control the dry sobs that came
from him. “He’s gone, Mami. I don’t know if I’m ever going to see
him again.”
  

Fae stubbed out her
cigarette and lit another one. She came closer to her son and
looked into his face. “Tell me what happened, and you’d better get
your story straight or so help me…” Her mouth trembled, and sweat
began to coat her upper lip.
  

“
You
haven’t been watching the news?” Inis cried. “It’s all outside.
Just open these blinds and get your damn head out of the
sand!”
  

Fae slapped Inis full in
the mouth and raised her hand again, prepared to backslap him but
couldn’t. She was so tired—of her life, of losing her kids, of
being all alone and holding everything together.
  

Inis brushed his mother
aside and turned the TV on. He flipped through a few channels until
he reached the news. He returned to the couch and made his mother
sit and watch. She felt light in his hands, her body so fragile and
weak from her misery. Inis turned the volume up and waited for the
report.
  

Fae’s eyes glossed over as
she stared at the yellow and blue screen. An emergency announcement
was on, but the newsroom appeared empty except for an Asian female
announcer. If it weren’t for the burgundy scarf around her neck
that warmed her facial features, she would have had a very serious
face. The camera zoomed in from the left and panned across, showing
the dimly lit newsroom.
  

When the announcer finally
spoke, her voice came out clear and distinct. “
This is Connie Yu from the Seven News Studio, and I have an
emergency news report for the citizens of
 
Alexandria. It has been
reported that a dangerous outbreak of maiming and deadly assaults
has occurred in the east, downtown, and particularly on the south
side of Alexandria
.”
  

Connie paused dramatically
and pulled Fae in even more.
  

“
We go now to Gill, who is on the scene and who will be able
to give us a firsthand account of exactly what is going on in our
beloved city. Gill
?”
  

“
Connie, are you there in the Seven News
Studio
?” asked Gill.
  

“
Connie here
,” she said.
“
Gill, how are things out there? Can you
explain to our worried viewers what the situation is
exactly
?”
  

“
I can barely hear you, Connie. The noise level out here is
extreme. I can barely
 
hear
 
myself talk as my background
continues to spiral out of control. Watch out,
Terry
!” Gill turned back to the camera.
“
To the citizens of Alexandria: stay
inside. I repeat, stay inside. There are men and women who are
roaming the city’s streets, and they can hurt
you
!”
  

“
 
G
i
ll, there’s been an extraordinary
increase in 911 calls, so much that the phone lines are now being
held up and service has yet to be restored
 
,” said Connie.
“
What can you see outside that we here in
the studio can’t
?”
  

“
There are riots, and acts of violence against whomever. No
one is safe outside at this time.”
 
Gill was beginning to lose his
breath
. “I personally saw two men attacked
and a woman and her child knocked over as a gang raided a store.
Connie, all the police are out in the city tonight trying to keep
the peace, and for those who don’t want peace then there’s the RAID
team
.”
  

“
So you think that by tomorrow this whole thing will blow
over
?” Connie asked.
  

The newsroom lights
flickered, and Connie frowned. “
Gill, are
you there
?”
  

Fae watched as Connie
placed her finger to her earpiece. She signaled her producers and
gave a shout that made Fae jump on the couch. Connie looked
petrified.
  

Inis moved forward on the
couch as he saw the anchorwoman’s facial expression. His heart
stopped and his blood froze. He watched Connie jump out of her seat
and hightail it from the camera’s view.