Free Don't Look Now by Michelle Gagnon Page B

the room in a few long strides. She crouched down beside the still figure on the floor and rolled him onto his back, then cursed. Looking up, her eyes narrowed as she asked, “What happened?”
    “It was the kid,” Turk said.
    Teo realized with horror that Turk was pointing at him. “What? Wait, no, I never—”
    “Bullshit,” Noa snapped, straightening up and backing Turk against the wall. Even though he outweighed her by at least fifty pounds, he cowered. “What the hell did you do, Turk?”
    “What’s going on?” Zeke appeared in the doorway.
    “Turk killed the guy,” Noa said, without taking her eyes off Turk.
    “Oh, crap,” Zeke said. His eyes flicked to the still form on the floor. “You’re sure?”
    “Yeah. And he’s high.”
    “Great.” Zeke scowled. “What the hell, Turk?”
    Turk’s eyes darted back and forth between them. “Sorry, man. I just . . . The guy wouldn’t shut up, you know? He was saying all this crap about my sister, and I just . . .” His head dropped down.
    “I told you to wake me if you couldn’t handle it,” Zeke said pointedly.
    “We couldn’t have let him go anyway.” Turk was still staring at the floor, but there was a set to his jaw now. “He would’ve told them everything about us.”
    Noa and Zeke exchanged a glance. Teo sensed some sort of silent communication taking place between them. Zeke crossed the room in a few strides until he was right in front of Turk. Getting in his face, he snarled, “Where’d you score?”
    “What?” Turk seemed puzzled by the question.
    “Where. Did. You. Score?” Zeke repeated slowly.
    Turk shrugged. “I dunno, man. Just . . . when we were out following him . . .”
    “You know the rules,” Noa said, a thick undercurrent of rage beneath her voice. It was hard to say how much was because Turk had murdered a guy, and how much was due to the fact that he’d gotten high. “No drugs.”
    “It was just a taste,” Turk said sullenly.
    “What now?” Zeke asked, directing the question to Noa.
    She regarded the body on the floor, brow furrowed. “We find a place to dump him on the way.”
    “All right. I’ll get everyone up.” Zeke stifled a yawn with his hand. “We should get on the road soon.”
    “What about me?” Turk interjected.
    Zeke raised an eyebrow at Noa. She regarded Turk coolly. “You’re not coming.”
    “What?” he protested. “But—”
    “I said, you’re done. Get out.”
    Turk turned a pleading face toward Zeke, but he just shrugged. “You heard her.”
    “This is some freakin’ bullshit!” Turk spat. He stalked out of the room; a second later, the front door slammed.
    They all stood in silence for a minute.
    “He might call the cops on us, if he’s pissed enough,” Zeke noted. Teo couldn’t believe how calm they both were. He, on the other hand, felt like puking, passing out, or both. He tried to avoid looking at the body on the floor— the body —but no matter where he focused, he couldn’t stop seeing it.
    “He won’t.” Noa squared her shoulders. “Turk’ll score again, then sleep it off.”
    “Still, we should get out of here.”
    “Yeah.” As if noticing him for the first time, Noa turned to Teo. “You all right?”
    “I, um . . .” Teo swallowed hard, feeling like he had no saliva in his mouth. His mind was reeling, trying to process everything that had happened in the past five minutes.
    “Teo.” Noa stepped forward and laid a hand on his arm. “This never should have happened. But it’ll be okay. I promise.”
    “All right,” he said, fighting the urge to tug his arm free. “I’m good.”
    “You sure?”
    “Yeah, I’m sure. I just gotta . . . I’ll be right back.”
    Spinning on his heel, Teo raced to the bathroom, making it inside just in time. He heaved for a few minutes until there was nothing left, then sat back. He’d seen some crazy stuff the past few years, but a dead guy in the living room . . .
    Teo ran his hands