Chapter Five Page Seven, Bren and Frank, Falling Rocks

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“What do you mean?”

            “You remember how I told you about the Red Keys? They were the first of the societies to come to this area,” Bren sighed. She looked around and didn’t see anyone, “You wanna head to the last one?”

            “You’re freaking me out, Bren,” Frank said.

            “Let’s go,” Bren said. She walked away from the Brick Center, three or four paces, and turned to see that Frank was frozen. She walked back and grabbed his hand with her left hand and pulled, “Come on.”

            He followed reluctantly, “What happened to the Red Keys?”

            “I’m not sure,” Bren said, “But I’m the last one of them. Or at least, my parents were, and now that they’re dead, I’m the last Red Key.”

            “Your parents are dead?” Frank asked, “I thought you said they were just always busy and on vacations and stuff.”

            “I lied,” Bren said, “People always act like having dead parents is the worst thing that can happen to you.”

            “Oh,” Frank said, “So how do you know you’re a member of the Red Keys? Did your parents tell you before they… died?”

            “I found out,” Bren said, “Because I entered one of the three red doors.”

            “Really?”

            “Yeah,” Bren said, “Why would I be lying to you now?”

            “I don’t know,” Frank said, “Am I really going to die?”      

            “I don’t know for sure,” Bren said, “But you don’t have the protection of any of the societies. I’m the only person looking out for you, but I’m not going to pretend like I can keep you from them if they want you.”

            “Can we go see one of the houses with the big red doors, instead?” Frank asked, “I guess now that you’ve mentioned them, I’m kind of interested to see what’s inside.”

            “I guess we could,” Bren said, “But are you sure you don’t want to go to the Grey’s headquarters first? Just to see them?”

            “Their headquarters?”

            “The community center they run,” Bren said, “You know what I mean.”

            “Well, honestly, if I’m going to die, I kind of want to see one of those big red buildings. The one you went inside.”

            “I can’t let you inside of it,” Bren said, “I lost the key.”

            “Really?” Frank said.

            Not really, but Bren nodded anyway.

            “Ok, I guess… I want to see the Grey’s center next. And then we can head back to the college, if nothing else,” he said, “Maybe they’ll figure out what I was doing out here. That I was just trying to win a bet.” They started off, with Bren leading now.

            “I never bet you anything,” Bren said, “But… yeah. They might figure out it was a juvenile kind of thing. The only problem is that most people don’t know where all four of the locations are. They know that I know. I’m wondering now if they’re going to come after me too.”

            “Damn,” Frank said, “Why didn’t you think of that?”

            “I did think about it,” Bren said, “I didn’t want some punk getting lost out here and killed. I guess that’s why I came after you.”

            “Some punk?” Frank asked. They turned into an alleyway that would take them to the Gray’s center fastest. Bren had used it a few times before to get through town quickly, when she’d been growing up.

            “Yeah, just some guy from college getting lost and killed because I let slip that there were four community centers, and that it was sort of a thing that people did, to go to each one and try not to die. Like some twisted kids game where you actually get killed by goons at the end.”

            “Oh,” Frank said, “You weren’t coming here to save me. You were coming here to keep your conscience clear.”

            “That’s pretty much right, yeah.”

            “That’s almost… selfish. I guess that makes this a lot easier for me to do,” Frank said.

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