Free Indigo: The Saving Bailey Trilogy #2 by Nikki Roman Page A

a gun at that boy for ten measly bucks. I end up spending it on some Molly and more chewing gum. I sit in my car alone with my hallucinations. Trees talk and birds melt from the burning sun.
    I have the distinct feeling that I’m trapped in that painting of melting clocks and a vast plain. The persistence of memory . It’s how I feel most the time, especially when I’m tripping. My memories are stronger than any drug. More persistent, more potent. They can take me higher than opium, shrooms, or acid.
    I stick a sketch of the Apocalypse emblem in-between one of the windshield wipers before deserting my car. That ought a keep the car-jackers away .
    I set out for the Apocalypse headquarters. It’s within spitting distance of the Allie store buildings; there’s an ongoing battle for territory that has sparked many wars between us. The Allie may have store buildings but we’ve got an entire neighborhood full of crumbling houses.
    I haven’t been in months, but our hangout looks just as dilapidated, if not more, than it did the last time I was here. Poc, our Ventanna—or lookout—is outside the door pushing a cigarette into the hair of a stray tabby. Pink polka dots of skin show through where Poc has burnt past the tabby’s orange hair.
    “Mia,” Poc says, putting down his cigarette and releasing the cat. “Where you been?”
    “Lying low.”
    “Yeah.” He nods his head. “You’ve been low. Too low .”
    “Papa’s been extra violent lately,” I say, careful not to give away weakness.
    “Don’t tell that to Allegiance,” Poc warns me.
    “I won’t,” I say going into the unlit house.
    “Mia! You came home!” The guys greet me all at once.
    They’re sitting in a cloud of smoke in the living room, each one a different still of drugs or alcohol. Allegiance, sitting at the center of the circle, is counting a stack of bills. “Mia, we’ve been wondering where you were,” he says, patting the stack.
    I don’t reply; sometimes it’s better to not say anything at all, lest Allegiance should feel in the mood to beat you.
    “No matter,” Poc says, coming in with the tabby cat under his arm, “you’re here now, let’s get low.”
    Poc hands me a fat blunt. He rolls them best. “We got an elbow of the real good stuff from Tan.”
    “A pound? You want the whole gang to smoke up, don’t you? Forget about all our problems.”
    “What problems? The Allie? Shit, Mia, you know they ain’t a threat to us,” Poc says.
    “They’re a threat to us if they consider themselves one. Don’t matter they’re outnumbered and weak. Just matters they think they can take us,” Allegiance sets Poc straight. “Can we get low, now?”
    “How low?” Poc bellows.
    “Lower than The Titanic,” I say.
    “Lower than bedrock,” hoots Terminado.
    “Lower than an old lady’s tits,” guffaws Poc.
    “Lower than the pits of hell,” Allegiance says, taking a puff and nodding his head.
    “Our homeland!” We howl.
    “I thought we were gonna have to beat you out, Mia,” Allegiance says, his voice thick with smoke.
    “You don’t trust your girl?”
    “I don’t trust no one,” he says, looking around the room. “I don’t trust the damn cat. Get him out of here. Might be an Allie snitch.” He kicks the poor creature. It arches its back, raises what’s left of his hair, and hisses at us. “What I tell ya? Snitch .”
    Poc grabs the cat by his loose skin and tosses him outside.
    “I ain’t no snitch,” I say. “Who do you think I am? I’m an Apocy, damnit, you don’t just quit that shit.”
    “It’s happened before,” he says, his eyes black pearls, threatening.
    “The Allie’s like preschool, compared to us,” I say. “I’m no kindergarten baby, I’ve had my fair share of beatings. You think I would leave my brothers ? Mi Familia? Not if you beat me dead.”
    “I just might,” Allegiance says, “you run off like that again.”
    I take a long draw off my blunt and try not to think about it. He