White Space Season 1

battered.
    “Get off of him!” Katie screamed.
    As Katie ran toward them, fear coursed through Alex’s veins, terrified that Ray might turn and hurt her, or worse.
    But Ray never had a chance.
    Katie grabbed him from behind, lifted him from Alex, then threw him from where they were beside the left wall, all the way to the right one, where Ray slapped the wall and fell to the ground, screaming.
    Alex stared at Katie in disbelief.
    Did she just pick him up and throw him?
    That’s impossible!
    Katie grabbed Alex’s book and pen, dropped it in his backpack and tossed it to him.
    “Let’s go,” she said like some kind of military commando, quick, to the point, and ready for action.
    Alex stared at Jake, still motionless on the ground, then turned to Ray, who was starting to get up, in obvious agony.
    “Run!” Katie said, pulling Alex from his state.
    He ran, following her into the woods, wondering two things.
    Had he murdered Jake?
    And did Katie really do what he thought she did?

    * * * *

CHAPTER 8 — Milo Anderson

    Milo sat in Economics, his final class of the day, hating life in general and himself specifically. Normally his last class was with Alex, but Alex’s seat was empty.
    It didn’t help that Milo was bored out of his mind, which he probably wouldn’t be if he could keep his mind on anything, and everything wasn’t a constant reminder of either Jessica, Manny, or Alex.
    Milo’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He looked around the room, though he didn’t care nearly as much as he usually would whether or not he was caught or not.
    No, he wasn’t supposed to have his phone outside of his backpack, and yes, checking texts in class was grounds for detention, but Milo cared about whether or not he got a pink slip for detention approximately not at all.
    He palmed the cell from his pocket, turning his thumb on the outside so he could see the caller ID.
    The text from Jesus sent a hard lump into Milo’s soggy throat.
    “ Manny is dead. Died in his sleep 15 minutes ago. Thought you should know.”
    Milo had to chew his bottom lip to keep from crying, and but his face was seconds from springing a leak anyway.
    Milo looked around the classroom at the mostly vacant faces, then up at Mrs. Mellakar, wondering if he should make an announcement to the rest of the students.
    Would his classmates want to know that Manny was dead? Or would that only add to their misery? They would all find out eventually, so did he have to be the bearer of bad news?
    What would Manny have wanted?
    Jesus must have had something else to say, because Milo’s cell started buzzing inside his pocket a second after he slipped it inside. Or maybe Jesus just wanted to make sure Milo had seen the first message since he hadn’t responded.
    It was easy enough to check a text, texting back might be pushing his luck.
    His cell went quiet, but buzzed again a few seconds later.
    Milo pulled the phone from his pocket and looked at the new text that wasn’t from Jesus. It was from “Cody,” the weird guy he’d seen on the LiveLyfe message board. The text said: “ Need to talk. Now.”
    Milo felt a horrible chill wondering how “Cody” had his number in the first place. Somehow, Milo felt his text had something to do with Manny.
    “I have to go to the bathroom, Mrs. Mellakar,” Milo said, raising his hand with one arm while clutching his stomach with the other, not bothering to wait to get called on.
    Milo wasn’t sure if it was the arm on the stomach, the look on his face, or the fact that his best friend’s dad gave two of the most important people in his life a matching set of bullets, but Mrs. Mellakar simply nodded.
    Milo slowly rose from his seat, then walked to the door and closed it behind him. Once in the hall, he tore off toward the bathroom, locked himself inside a stall, then waited for Cody to text or call. Two minutes later, Milo felt a chill through his body as the phone buzzed in his hand.
    “Hello?”
    “It’s Cody,” the voice said. Definitely not a kid. Maybe in his 30’s, though it was hard to tell since he was obviously trying to disguise it. Milo said nothing.
    Cody said, “Manny is dead.”
    How did he know that?
    Curiosity had Milo swallowing his tongue. It took him a half minute to find it before he said, “Yeah, I heard. From his brother. How about you?”
    “I have my sources,” Cody said. Then, after a long pause: “ They got him.”
    Cody said They like a four-letter word it wasn’t.
    “Who