Chapter Five

Author Note: Sorry for the delay in updates. Just got back from a family vacation, during which I finally read Jumper: Griffin’s Story and Jumper as well. To say the least, I was rather disappointed in not only Hollywood, but Steven Gould as well for allowing Jumper to be so blatantly manipulated the way it was. You can ask either my parents or T.K and they’ll agree that I’ve done quite a bit of ranting over the past week while reading. To say the least, after reading the books and watching the movie, I’m declaring this as an Alternate Universe story, which of course it is anyways, but the books just proved it even more so. For those of you who have read the books, I will be making attempts to incorporate some of the facts from them. Nothing huge, just possible visits from a few characters and mentionings of others. For those of you who haven’t read the books, I suggest you do so at once.

Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing, you guys are making my day when you do so. Also helps that it irks T.K when I send him a MSN message screaming “38 REVIEWS!!” to which he answers in a not so manneristic way. But hell, makes me grin every time. Keep them coming and I’ll continue writing.

The beginning of this chapter starts out in Alys’ point of view and then goes back to the narrator’s. Points of view are always separated with double dashes. There is slightly more cussing in this chapter, simply because if any of you were in the same position as Alys, I think you’d let a few profanities slip out too. This chapter wasn’t edited by T.K, I grounded him from beta rights until he gets his ass in gear and starts writing himself.

So much power…

Hope everyone had a nice Easter and is having an awesome Spring Break.

Au revoir mon petite choux,

Finley.

Chapter Five

Since your paper heart stopped beating leaving me suddenly alone

I was perfectly happy to piss off Griffin as much as humanly possible during waiting period for the Dylan character to show up. I chomped loudly on a piece of gum I found in my pocket from lunch and made sure to pop as many of the bubbles as I possibly could. It didn’t take very long after I started drumming my fingers on an empty moving box for the Brit to become rather annoyed and with a smirk he disappeared.

As in, poof he’s gone, or what those weird warlocks did in Charmed, that blinky thing. Except, as I gaped at the chair he had recently been occupying and I could hear him back in the kitchen, I had to remind myself that this wasn’t some messed up sci-fi television show. Oh hell no, this was real life “I shall break all the laws of physics and disappear before thou own eyes!” type of crap that couldn’t possibly be real.

That stuff belonged in television shows, cheesy run of the mill movies, and beaten down comic books. Not in real life. But I was dreaming, so it didn’t really matter that I was becoming clinically insane and a random boy I’d been kind enough to show around school could not in fact.. teleport himself places.

Because this was a dream.

Nothing more than a dream concocted up by my mind from watching too many superhero movies over the weekend with Mace. People could not transport their bodies from one place to another.

A dream, that was all.

In the morning I would wake up and laugh at myself for having such an odd dream. I would get dressed, go downstairs and eat breakfast, and then catch the 7:20 bus to school. There I would meet up with everyone before going to class. And at lunch, Mace would be waiting at the table like normal and laugh at something idiotic I’d done earlier. There would be no Griffin, no crazed gray suited guy, and no stalker SUV.

Everything would be normal, in the morning.

I pinched myself half a dozen times trying to wake myself up. When it didn’t work, I pinched again, this time a bit harder. I knew what I was doing was crazy, by the book crazy. Doing the same thing over and over in hopes of a different outcome? Yeah, that was text book crazy right there for you. But I was dreaming and I wanted to wake up, and in all the movies and books you read, pinching is the only way to go.

Except that it didn’t work.

I closed my eyes and started counting backwards from three hundred. Normally it would put a person to sleep, but in this screwed up dream it could possibly bore me to awareness. Doubtful, but worth a shot. I was only on 187 when the air shifted and my eyes shot open.

Standing in the middle of the living room, a few feet away from me stood who I assumed was Dylan. He was tall, six feet at least with shaggy brown colored hair. He didn’t seem to notice me as he strode into the kitchen and promptly started in on Griffin.

“Want to explain to me why the hell we got visitors on our front porch, waiting with their all too happy shockers?”

Standing up slowly, I inched my way towards the kitchen, trying to hear Griffin’s low response. A loud “What the fu-” was cut off and I found myself suddenly face to face with a rather angry Dylan. His eyes reminded me of steel and I was all too sure that Griffin wasn’t the only one who was about to get their ass chewed.

Oh, joy.

--

Alys resisted the urge to shrink away from the heated glare of Dylan and stood her ground. Griffin stood behind him, a half troubled look planted on his face as he watched the stare down. He could see the flicker of fear in the girl’s eye, and couldn’t blame her. Griff had only known the Oregon risen, twenty seven year old for a little over a year but had been at the receiving end of his anger more than once. He was a hot headed man, much like Griffin was, but he always reigned himself in before anything became violent.

If he hadn’t, Griffin would’ve been long gone by then. He’d been through enough to have to put up with anything of the sort.

Dylan’s eyes raked over Alys, quickly noting all of her weaknesses and stowed them away for a later date. He was pissed; everyone in the room could see it and he himself knew it even better. Taking a last look at the frightened girl, he turned sharply on his heel and focused his glare onto Griffin.

“What the hell did you do?”

Griffin shrugged but explained none the less. “We came to work on a project. I had pallies on my ass, so I grabbed her and jumped.”

The look of disbelief on Dylan’s face was almost comical, and both teens had to smile slightly at him. He shook his head, clearing it, and rested his weight on his left leg and stared back at Griffin. “You were being followed, so you jumped here with your science partner. Is that what I’m hearing?”

Alys noted how stupid it sounded coming out of Dylan’s mouth, but said nothing. She also didn’t mention that they were actually history partners. Details weren’t important.

“Long story short, yes.” Griffin gave another shrug and fell into a chair that he must’ve brought in from the kitchen.

With a shallow laugh Dylan ran a hand over his face and looked at him pointedly. “You’re going to get us all killed one day, Griff.”

Griffin’s eyes narrowed but he remained silent. Alys looked between the two men and finally plucked together the remaining strands of her courage and took a step forward. Both of their gazes were instantly on her and faltered slightly.

“Can I go now? My sister’s going to think I died or something,” her voice was quiet but completely truthful. “I promise not to say anything. I feel crazy enough right now, I don’t need everyone else to confirm it,” she added in a rush, knowing what would be coming on of both their mouths.

Dylan let out a dry chuckle and his eyes turned softer. “You have no idea what the hell you got yourself into, do you?” It was meant as a statement, and everyone understood it.

Alys shrugged her shoulders. “I know that I should probably be in a mental institution right now. People can’t just teleport themselves. That only happens in the movies, right?” She let out a nervous laugh when the two men shared a look. “Right?”

The loud resounding silence screamed no.

Griffin let out a sigh and leaned forward in his seat. Dylan glanced at him quickly before looking down at the watch the encircled his wrist. “We don’t have time for this. The pallies aren’t going to wait forever down there, we gotta move.”

Alys watched in confusion as Griffin nodded in agreement and walked out of the room and down the hallway. Dylan let out another heavy sigh and turned back to Alys. “I know that you’re confused as hell right now kid, but I need you to listen very carefully to me,” he waited for Alys to nod and sat down on the couch across from her. “Griffin was an idiot to do what he did, and it’s only a matter of time before it bites him in the ass. What he did was stupid and careless, not to mention dangerous.”

Alys gave him a look of complete confusion. “What exactly did he do that’s so bad?” She had a pretty good idea, but didn’t quite get what was so bad about it. She’d already given her word not to tell anyone, and as far as Alys was concerned, if she never saw Griffin again, it would be fine by her. However, she had a sinking suspicion that it wasn’t going to be that easy. Nothing ever was.

“You just got yourself hauled into a war darling,” Dylan said, breaking through Alys’ confused thoughts.

Alys swallowed. “War?” Oh, shit.

A smirk graced Dylan’s face as he nodded his head. “Don’t really have time to explain right now, we got the enemy camped out on our front step at the moment. But you need to understand that whatever life you were living this morning, is over. Starting right now, whatever we say, you do. We say run, you run for your life. We say duck, hit the floor or your head will be blown off. What we tell you is what’s going to keep you alive. Griffin might’ve dragged you into this, but I’m sure as hell not going to let another innocent kid get killed by a bunch of crazy guys with guns.”

Alys gaped at him in complete shock. What the hell was going on? “What do you mean by my life this morning is over?”

Dylan gave her a hard stare. “Whatever your name was this morning is gone. Any family you have, they no longer exist. Any friends or anyone else you might talk to, you’ll never be speaking to them again. Not if you want to save not only yourself, but their lives as well.”

“Oh my god,” Alys muttered, trying hard to keep herself standing. She felt sick. “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you? You guys are going to kidnap and murder me or keep me hostage like that Smart girl, aren’t you?”

“Jesus Christ,” Dylan swore, standing up from his seat and took a step towards the panicking girl who flinched away from him. “Did you not hear anything I just said? I’m trying to keep you alive, not kill you!”

Alys gave him a glare and sneered. “That’s what they all say! And then you see pictures of a dead girl on the News!”

Griffin reentered the living room at the same moment that Dylan let out an aggravated groan and the front door was thrown open. Three men dressed in black walked almost casually into the living where they came to a stop in front of an annoyed Dylan, surprised Griffin, and an Alys who was ready to run the first chance she was given. The only thing that kept her from running to the door busting men for help was the sight of the gray suited man walking in through the front door. The same guy who had been following her and Griffin through the streets before he did the teleporting thing.

Suddenly, things weren’t starting to look like a dream anymore.

Dylan and Griffin shared a look before Dylan took a step towards the men with a grin that everyone quickly spotted as fake. Two of the men brought up guns from inside their coat pockets and Alys took an involuntary step back. He held his hands out, palm down in a soothing fashion but didn’t take another step.

“Something we can do for you fine gentlemen?”

One of the men smirked and raised his gun higher. “Drop dead and make our job easier?”

Alys almost snorted at the third grade comeback but covered it with a cough when Dylan shot her a look and one of the other men glared at her. She caught the smirk Griffin had on his face and turned back to the unfolding scene before her.

“I’m a bit young to die actually,” Dylan said giving the men an apologetic look. “But you’ve seen younger die, now haven’t you Snyder?” The comment was directed to the man in the gray suit who simply gave him a cold look in return.

Not much of a talker, Alys noted and immediately questioned herself. She didn’t care what was happening between the two groups. Hell, she should be relived that a distraction had come into play that could possibly save her ass. However, she continued to watch the exchange in mild fascination, not noticing Griffin making his silent move across the room towards the kitchen as Dylan continued talking to the impassive men in front of him.

Why no one was attacking each other was beyond Alys. Dylan had mentioned something about a war, and every war she’d ever heard of besides the Cold War involved some sort of attacks on one another. Though, neither Dylan nor the men with guns across the living room from him were making any moves to actually shot anyone. It reminded her of the western movies and at any moment Dylan and the gray suit would pull guns and try to shot the other first.

Drama, drama, drama.

A crash sounded in the kitchen and the suited men quickly averted their gazes to the location of the noise, giving Dylan enough time to ‘jump’ behind to of them and kick the guns out of their hands before appearing behind another whom he slammed his elbow into the man’s throat. Alys watched as he fell to the ground, trying to breathe and saw Griffin appear behind another man with a golf club in hand and winced when he rammed the end of it into the man’s eye and kicked him harshly in the stomach.

The two men whom Dylan had stolen the guns away from charged towards both Dylan and Griffin, reaching out to find air where both the boys had been seconds before. Both appeared behind the men and quickly had them on the floor within seconds. Dylan pushed his hair out of his eyes with a grin and turned towards the gray suit.

“Anything else you wanted?” He gave the slightly surprised suit no time to answer as Griffin jumped away and Dylan appeared behind Alys, quickly wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and jumped.

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