"Working With an Angel"

Chapter Three



John finally opened his eyes after two hours of pretending he was asleep. He looked at Angel’s bed and saw that she was sound asleep. John sat up and swiftly slid out of his bed. He watched her for a minute then moved away from the bed. He walked to the door and held the knob in his hands. He listened to Angel’s breathing for a bit making sure she was still sleeping and then opened the door. He stepped out and closed the door behind him.

John looked down the long halls. They were completely abandoned. The halls looked cold and lonely. They told the story of a harsh society that they were surrounded by. It was one in the morning and John wanted to look around a bit. He certainly wasn’t considering trying to make a run for it but he wanted to take a personal tour around.

John walked down the hall and passed the doors. This led him into a small area with two couches and elevator doors. He pressed the button and waited for the elevator to come. It came after a long wait and he stepped in. He battled between which floors he would press and decided to go for the one with a star. While the elevator traveled John looked around. He paid attention to the stop button on the elevator and the emergency phone that would reach the security office. Looking up he spotted a camera. Of course, where there was a security office there would be a million little screens watching the actions of people.

Finally the doors opened and John took a step out but was forced to stop abruptly when a large man stood in his way and bounced him back a couple steps. “Can I help you?” The man said.

“Oh, I’m sorry. This must be the wrong floor.” John said looking past him out to the doors that looked like they could possibly lead to the outside world. The doors were made of glass but even from here John knew that they weren’t normal glass doors. If John had to take a guess he would say they were bullet proof glass mirrors. John could see out but nobody could see in.

“Can I see your ID sir?” The large man said. John observed the large man and noted his ID said his name was tank. Tank had an ear piece that wired into his outfit. His outfit was an all black quit. Tank was bald and his voice was deep.

John reached into his back pocket slowly and retrieved his ID. He handed it to the man who stepped to the side and swiped it in a machine. The screen on the machine popped up and John saw something flashing on the side of the screen. John couldn’t understand what was going on but suddenly Tank was smiling.

“Well Danger looks like you are on the wrong floor. I’ll help you.” Tank pushed John into the elevator and out of the way. He handed him his ID and pushed the L button on the elevator. He stepped out of the elevator and held a hand to his earpiece. He waved to John with a smile and the elevator doors closed. John felt a sort of panic hit him but he swallowed it. He wasn’t going to admit he was scared now.

So far John had swallowed everything that he had been told today with out crying. His instincts were to scream and morn the life he had just lost or the major change he had just made in his life. Instead though, he took it in calmly and embraced it. He knew sometime in his life luck had to go his way and he would find a way out.

The elevator doors opened at the floor and John stood still. Everything was quiet and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. John cautiously stepped out of the elevator and suddenly was attacked. A cloth bag was thrown over his head and he was knocked to the floor. His arms were tied behind his back and he was stunned yet again. His body shut down and he was unaware of what was happening around him.

John opened his eyes again maybe an hour later. He had gained feeling back in his body and he knew he was being carried away. The same hands that carried him were now flinging him through the air where he hit the ground with a loud thud. John’s hands were now free so he removed the sack over his head immediately to reveal he was sitting in the middle of a ring.

John stood up and looked out at the loud crowd that screamed and shouted foul words surrounding the ring. Suddenly another person was thrown into the ring. He removed the cloth that covered his head as John did and went wide eyed. It was newbie. John took a moment to stand up and shook his head. Just then a referee joined them in the ring through means of climbing onto the ring platform.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome and thank you for coming to this lovely match. Here we have a set of new members battling off against each other. The loser will receive a months worth of dish duty!” the crowd responded with and overwhelming loud “ohhhhhh”. The ref nodded his head and signaled for the two to walk over to him.

“Ok listen to me, you guys need to fight and fight good. Once you have one pinned and down for three seconds you have won. No holding onto each other and no biting. Other then that you’re free to do as you please.” He said to them.

“This is ridiculous. Can I say no to this? I never exactly agreed to do this.” John said to the man.

“You’re doing it whether you want to or not.” He said. “Now shake hands!” the ref added.

John shook his head and grabbed Newbie’s hand. He shook it and said to him “I’m very sorry about this.” He knew what he was about to do.

Three hours later John walked into his room with a sore body. He won the match and showered. He put on the clothes he had been supplied with earlier and threw his body onto the bed. His eyes closed instantly and he was off into a better world.

***********************************

Angel sat at the table with Star eating her breakfast. She watched John as he sat at another table with some of the other guys who had quickly come to adopt him. She ate slowly and said nothing. Last night she heard John sneak out of the room and this morning she woke up with him sleeping on the edge of his bed. His lip was busted and he had bags under his eyes. She considered asking him what happened when he sneaked out but she knew she’d find out through Star.

Star was a short black woman with tender hazel eyes. She loved to gossip and lived to spread rumors. Star was first to here about anything and everything. She knew every one and kept track of who knew others more then just friends. Star was perking and nice which made everyone trust her. Star was Angel’s best friend. Star ended up in the Illegals through means of following her boyfriend. Star made the mistake of falling in love with a bad boy, bad news, bad everything man. He joined the Illegals and begged her to follow him. Year’s later poor star was here on her own. Her boyfriend had been killed during an operation.

“Mmmm he looks damn fine.” Star said looking at John also. “I can see why they named him Danger because honey those looks could kill.”

Angel shrugged and said “He’s not all that great.”

Star turned to her and asked “You know him?”

“Yeah…” Angel paused and watched him laugh. “I’m stuck with him. I recruited him.”

“Ouch, good job girl.” Star said patting her back. “I heard last night he entered the ring. I heard he won big time and now all the guys are just loving him.”

Angel nodded her head at the information. “Who’d he fight?”

“Some nobody. He’s new… his name is Weasel.” Star laughed at her words and angel stared at her. “He looks like a softy.” She pointed to a corner car in the eating lounge. “I think that’s him. He’s quite beat up.”

Angel gathered her breakfast and everything together and got up. She walked to the trash can and threw it all out. Star followed her throwing her stuff away also. Angel looked at Weasel and shook her head. She began walking to him and Star grabbed a hold of her. “Where are you going?” she said. “You can’t talk to Weasel… he’s a loser. He’s got dish duty for the next month.”

“For God’s sake Star this is not high school. I can very well speak to anyone I want.” Angel told her pulling herself free from Star’s grip.

“Well, fine.” Star said to her. “I’ll go talk to Danger over there. I think he’s interested I’ve caught him looking over here a couple times. Think I got a chance?”

“Nope.” Angel said more of hoping she didn’t have a chance. Angel just couldn’t figure this guy out. He had been here about two days and already he was Mr.popular, already he was hanging with the guys and beating people up. Maybe Angel had him categorized all wrong. Angel reached Weasel’s table and sat down.

He stiffened and looked at her fear in his eyes. “I’m not here to bother you. Sorry about what happened last night. Some of these guys can be real asses.”

Weasel nodded his head frantically. “You got that right. I hate this place, its stupid. I’d rather be in prison then be here.”

“I’m glad to here that. At least some one has their sanity and isn’t over there becoming one of those guys.” Angel said rolling his eyes.

“He’s fake...” Weasel muttered.

Angel raised her eye brows. “What?”

“He’s fake.” He said louder. “After the ring he told me he’s going to get us out. He doesn’t want to be here just as much as I don’t. Only he told me I should be smarter and try to blend in and act like them. He’s fake. They think he’s one of them but he isn’t.” Angel nodded her head surprised as to what she heard.

At first glance John looked happy here but she guessed if you did focus in you sensed that he was uncomfortable. “Well, although I wish things could possibly be different… no matter what he does. He’s stuck here. I advise you do as he said and I advise you tell him not to try anything stupid.” With those words Angel got up and walked over to the crowd around John. She stood by them and watched as they each poke and laughed a cocky laugh.

John turned to her and looked at her. He got up and moved towards her. “So there’s my favorite girl in the world.” he said with a smile. He stood close to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. Angel stood hypnotized not even seeing the watching eyes that stood their mouths open shacked that he had done what he did. He looked down into her eyes and she was locked into a different world. Buck cleared his throat and Angel finally reacted. Her hand flew as she smacked him across his face. Her hands balled up into fists and she punched him in the stomach. He stumbled back and she inhaled her breath. The crowd laughed and Angel shook her head.

“Don’t do that again.” She said to him. She walked away hearing comments about her traveling through the crowd.

“That’s Angel for you.” Buck said. Angel rolled her eyes and continued on her way.