Free Paranoia (The Night Walkers) by J. R. Johansson

as images of my friends and my mom spun through my head like one of those picture carousels. “I’m really starting to hate Takers.”
    The muscle along his jaw tightened and he raised his face and stared hard at me. “That’s a good instinct. Hold on to that.”

seven
    The air around us seemed to have dropped twenty degrees in the fifteen minutes we’d been outside. I shivered as much from the chilling conversation as the temperature. Jack’s voice dripped with pain, with truth. I was glad I’d never run into a Taker before last night.
    Then his eyes met mine before I could think to look away. I flinched, but he didn’t react at all.
    I grasped for another question, anything to change the subject. It made me feel powerless just thinking about the Takers. Darkness was bad enough, but at least I’d been able to fight him off most of the time—and hopefully would again once Mia came back and I got a little more sleep. These Takers … they were new monsters in my world and already seemed more terrible than anything I’d ever witnessed in a nightmare. Monsters that I’d never even known existed until today.
    “Okay, here’s a question for you,” I finally said. “What did you mean when you said you couldn’t get ahold of my dad if you tried?”
    When Jack lurched back and immediately looked away, I realized I’d been asking the wrong questions all day. I’d assumed it wasn’t that weird for Jack not to be able to get in touch with Dad. After all, I’d spent the last four years in that position. But from his reaction now, it was clear his situation was not the same.
    “That doesn’t matter right now,” he said.
    “Jack … ” I leaned toward him across the bench. Darkness disappeared from where he’d been standing and my voice came out in a fierce snarl. “Where is my dad?”
    Jack stood up and stretched, but he didn’t give any further response. Jumping to my feet, I grabbed the front of his leather jacket and nearly jerked him off the ground.
    He let out a surprised grunt and pushed against my chest, hard enough to break my grip. He stared at me like he was seeing me for the first time, and a low growl escaped his lips. “I am not your enemy.”
    “Uh … you guys want any dessert?” Mom’s voice broke the heavy silence so unexpectedly we both spun to face her. Even from here, I could see she’d caught at least some of Jack’s words. Even if she hadn’t, our postures looked more like we were waiting for someone to ding a bell so we could attack each other than two new friends hanging out.
    I stood up straight, knowing if I tried to play it off she’d be even more suspicious. “Yeah, we’re just having a little disagreement. Give us a minute?”
    Her expression looked torn between the desire to defend me and the knowledge that she should trust me to handle my friendships on my own. After a few seconds she nodded and put on a fake smile. “Hurry. I’ll dish it up.”
    When she went inside and closed the door, Jack’s shoulders relaxed, but he didn’t look any less wary.
    “I don’t need to know where he is,” I said. “I need to know if Dad is in trouble. Tell me that much and I promise I’ll leave the rest alone—for now.”
    Today had been too much, and the fatigue was abruptly closing in on me from every angle. Dad had been gone for years, but it was already obvious I didn’t know the whole story. No matter his reason, I wasn’t sure I could ever forgive him. Yet setting all that aside, he was still my dad. If he was in danger, I wanted to know about it.
    “You’ll only keep that promise if he isn’t in trouble.” Jack watched my feet as I backed slowly toward the house. “If he is, you’ll immediately try to find him.”
    I froze mid-step and almost fell over. “He’s in danger, then?”
    Sighing, Jack closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand. When he opened them again, he looked resigned. “Yes. You could definitely say that.”
    My legs