All The Lonely People - David Owen Page 0,49

a few feet from McDonald’s there was nobody else around, and even if there were Wesley knew they probably wouldn’t help him anyway.

‘I didn’t mean anything by it,’ he said. Maybe he could flatter them, talk his way out of this. ‘It was just such a big step up that I needed to think about it.’

Luke kicked the shutter, sending metallic thunder rolling through Wesley’s bones, pain throbbing in his injured ribs. ‘Needed to think about it? This isn’t your university application, you do it because you believe it’s right.’

‘I’m not going to university,’ said Wesley. Not enough money. Not good enough grades.

Another kick of the shutter. ‘Don’t you want anything in your pathetic little life?’

‘The fight never stops,’ added Justin.

TrumourPixel’s words, coming out of his mouth. It was clear now that they believed it. Whether they always had, or whether prolonged exposure had drawn them deeper into the ideology behind the catchphrase than they knew, Wesley couldn’t tell.

‘He’s going to drive that car into a crowd of people just to get to her,’ he said.

‘You think that’s what he’s planning? Why would he need us for that?’

‘The car is so we can get her away—’ Justin was cut short by a sharp look from Luke.

‘I don’t want to hurt anybody,’ Wesley said, trying to get his back off the shutter.

Luke shoved him against it again. ‘You already did! It’s too late to act like you’re too good for us.’

‘I’m not, I—’

‘You’re a cuck,’ said Luke, as if the idea had just dawned on him. ‘You’ve been trying to hide it all this time, but you’re just like all the others.’

Again, Wesley tried to pull away, and Luke grabbed his arms, swinging him around and throwing him into the empty road. Wesley tripped and sprawled onto his front, pain jangling through his ribs. He curled himself into a protective ball, knowing he couldn’t fight, and waited for the blows to rain down.

‘Hey!’

Wesley looked up to find somebody striding towards them. It was enough to make Luke and Justin back away a step. He could hardly believe it when he saw his brother, marching across the street, a crust of dried blood on his eyebrow.

‘Get the fuck away from him,’ said Jordan, shoving Luke hard and sending him staggering backwards. At first they both looked shocked; as far as they knew Jordan had been gone for two years, and when he was angry he was like an avenging demon. Still, Wesley could see Luke weighing up their chances: two of them against Jordan, Wesley still on the ground and too pathetic to factor into the equation. They stood in the middle of the road, facing each other down.

‘He had it coming,’ said Justin.

Jordan brandished his fists. ‘Maybe you’ve got this coming.’

Somewhere close by, Wesley heard an engine roar, growing louder. It was quickly lost to the sound of scraping feet as Luke lunged and threw a punch. It missed, and Jordan caught him in a headlock. The two of them stumbled towards Justin, who stood paralysed, the reality of a fight apparently wholly less appealing.

Behind them, Wesley heard the engine again, louder than before. He sat up, but couldn’t see anything approaching from either direction.

Jordan let the headlock go and tried to throw a punch, but they ended up tangled again, turning circles in the road and spitting insults.

‘You stay away from my brother!’

‘Or you’ll what, run away again?’

The engine sounded like it was practically on top of them now. Wesley scrambled to his feet, wondering how nobody else had heard it. ‘Jordan.’

They broke apart, panting, and his brother was saying, ‘You’ll regret it, trust me on that.’

‘Jordan!’

Headlights flared suddenly, right on top of them, as if the car had appeared out of thin air. Jordan whipped around and saw it bearing down on him, too late to move. Wesley was already running. He knocked into Jordan’s back, sending them both stumbling out of the path of the car as it came tearing through, wheels screeching out of control. Luke and Justin fell into the gutter on the other side of the road.

Wesley heard the car judder onto the kerb and come to a stop further down the street, but when he had recovered enough to look there was no sign of it at all.

‘Where the hell did it go?’ he said.

Across the road, Justin cried out and held his leg. ‘Call an ambulance!’

‘It doesn’t matter.’ Jordan pulled him to his feet. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

Kat thought her body might