ALL THE RAGE (writer: T.M. Frazier)(69)

“We got more important things right now than you being pissy about something that happened when I was sixteen,” I reminded him.

“You really think this guy is capable? From the way you’ve always talked about him, he sounded like he hung the moon and shit. A real all American clean cut douche bag.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“Think you can handle business if it is Cody?” Smoke asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.

“I think you forget who you’re talking to.”

“That’s something I never forget when it comes to you.” Smoke looked around at the empty park. “You sure they’re here? Looks empty to me.” Smoke was right. Even without any lights, I could make out the overgrown grass, the crumbling picnic tables, and the un-raked pine needles carpeting the ground. The place was abandoned, a shadow of what it used to be.

I was about to tell Smoke that I wasn’t sure at all, that it was just an idea, a hunch, but he held up his hand and I stopped. The breeze picked up, gently rustling the tall grass. Smoke inhaled deeply.

“They’re here,” he whispered.

“How do you know?” I asked, peering into the dark, trying to see what he might’ve seen.

Smoke looked over to me and hesitated. He put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a squeeze. A sign of affection that had my blood running cold. My face paled. I knew what he was about say because with another sway of the breeze, I picked up on what he already had. I didn’t want to hear the words but I couldn’t stop them from coming out of his mouth. “Hate to say this, but it smells like death.”

My heart dropped.

Sadness. Hurt. Two things I hadn’t been used to until I met Nolan, crashed into me like an out of control bus. My knees buckled, but Smoke caught me before I could hit the ground. I leaned into him for support as he plucked the phone from my hands. “This is what we’re going to do.” Smoke whispered. He released me and leaned down so his lips were level with my ear. “You need to pull it f*cking together. Later on, when we’re bathing in this Cody kid’s f*cking blood you can fall apart. But not now. Right now, we got shit to do. You need to call on those inner demons I love of yours cause them bitches need to know it’s time to come out and play.”

He was right. I could fall apart later. I took a deep breath and focused on his words. “Our rescue mission might have just turned into a blood bath, but I know how much you like those,” we whispered seductively. “Do you feel it Rage? Do you feel that f*cking fire? ’Cause we need it right now. You with me?”

My vision shifted. The reality in front of me became slightly blurry and all I saw was red. “I’m with you,” I whispered.

Smoke leaned over and tipped my chin up. He looked into my eyes. “Oh yeah. It’s time, baby.”

I felt the heat more than ever in my spine as it exploded into the rest of my body like an adrenaline shot to my entire system. I was like a rabid dog who needed to feast. “Let’s go,” I said. We’d barley gotten two feet into the field when a shot rang out, echoing through the tall trees. A bullet whizzed between the few feet separating me and Smoke, landing somewhere in the wooded area behind us, across the narrow dirt road. Startled blackbirds flew from their nighttime perches, their wings batting in quick succession as they emerged into the sky, rattling the branches. Pinecones fell to the ground, landing with soft thuds on the thick bed of pine needles.

Smoke pulled his gun and ducked, but I did no such thing. I just kept walking into the dark, toward the direction where the shot had come from. Toward the murder and mayhem I was about to rain down.

Toward revenge without salvation.


“Rage, don’t be f*cking stupid,” Smoke hissed, hopping up and running to my side, gun drawn. His black hair and black clothes concealed him as we moved forward. My pink T-shirt, light blue shorts, and light hair made me stand out like a torch being carried in the night. I didn’t care about being concealed.

I cared about one thing and one thing only…spilling blood.

We reached the end of the clearing where a car was parked with its lights off. Smoke protectively shifted me behind him, but I stepped out from behind his big body and continued moving forward. The full moon shone down from the night sky like a spotlight, encasing the car, a newer model Honda, and the man sitting on top of it, in an eerie yellow glow.

“I can see you, Rage,” Cody sang, picking at something on his nails. “You know, I’m the one who gave you that name. I feel like I deserve some credit for that.” His voice was familiar, but at the same time, it was very different. Higher pitched.

Off.

He hopped down from the cab and walked around the car, trailing his fingers across the blue metallic paint. He stopped when he reached the back of the car, tapping on the trunk.

“Stay back,” I told Smoke, who grunted and shouted something at me I couldn’t hear over the blood rushing through my head. I stepped out from the shadow into the light of the moon just as Cody popped the trunk latch, revealing white fabric drenched in red, wrapped around a lifeless body. The smell hit me not a second after.

Nolan.

Even though my anger, even through the blood lust raging through me, I felt my gut twist.

A part of me hoped that when Cody saw me, he would be the same Cody I’d been friends with my entire life. He’d gone through great lengths to get me there. I didn’t think he was going to hurt me, at least not right away. All I needed him to do was hesitate, just for a second. Just to give me enough time to blow him to f*cking hell.