Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Reap what you sow

After getting the Orb of Decay spell to work properly, Norman returned home to “recharge”. Which was thankfully less painful this time around, although not completely without pain.

Norman decided to recover from the ordeal in his favorite folding chair on the front porch. Although he wasn’t just lazing about. Norman was pondering the fundamentals of his magic and trying to piece together more information from what he knew, which was woefully little.

His thoughts were interrupted by the squeal of tires. Looking around for the source of the commotion, Norman spotted Toby’s van speeding down the road like a maniac.

Toby was usually a pretty aggressive driver, but this went beyond that. This looked like he was in a full-blown panic. That idea was solidified when Toby practically jumped out of his barely stopped van and raced for the house, giving Norman only a cursory glance.

Deciding that something was going on, Norman went into his house and grabbed the necklaces hanging near the door. If Toby needed help, Norman would be there to help him.

As Norman hurried across the street, he heard Anna crying and Toby yelling. This made him speed up even more as something must have happened.

When he arrived on the porch, the front door flew open, revealing a red-eyed Anna, still in her pajamas, and a troubled-looking Toby.

Norman did the only thing he could think of. “Toby, what’s going on?”

What Norman wasn’t expecting was the man to shove him out of the way and pull Anna along behind him without a word.

“Dude, what has gotten you so spooked?” The question seemed to irk Toby or maybe it was Norman following them off the porch. He wheeled on Norman and socked him hard in the gut, driving the air from his lungs. Norman fell over wheezing as he tried to catch his breath.

Anna had been crying but now she was nearly hysterical as Toby dragged her, kicking and screaming into the van.

Norman didn’t even know what was going on, why had Toby hit him? Why was he dragging Anna out of the house? Where were they going? And what were they running from?

“Stay in the damn van!” Norman watched helplessly as Toby slammed the passenger door closed on the van before he yanked open the side door. He pulled two items out and headed back towards his house, passing Norman on the way.

“Why?” Norman managed to wheeze out.

Toby ignored the question as he yanked the top off a flare and threw it into his house. Then he sprinted across the street and Norman’s eyes bulged as Toby tossed another flare into Norman’s house.

“Norman, are you ok?” Anna asked as she ran up to him.

He hadn’t even heard her leave the van. But he wasn’t surprised that she had completely ignored her brother’s orders.

“Wha- What’s gotten into your brother?”

“I… I don’t know. He won’t tell me. Come on, let's get you into the van, we can find out together.”

Anna tried her best to lift Norman, but she just wasn’t strong enough. But Norman managed to regain his feet with a bit of effort. His breathing was becoming easier as the seconds ticked by.

With Anna’s help, Norman managed to walk to the van. Before he could get in, however, Toby pulled him away from Anna, shoving him back.

“Anna, I told you to stay in the van!”

“What the fuck is your problem, Toby? First, you drag me out of the house without telling me what’s going on, then you sucker punch Norman. And why did you toss a flare into the house? I’m not getting back into the van until you explain yourself to both of us.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Toby growled, pulling a pistol from his belt and aiming it at Norman.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment. Then Norman saw Toby’s eyes flick past him. Norman heard the roar of another engine and the squeal of more tires.

“Fuck, they’re already here.”

Toby quickly put the gun away and grabbed Norman, bodily tossing him into the van. “Get in, we’re out of time.”

Anna scrambled into the passenger seat as Toby climbed over Norman to get to the driver's seat. The van lurched into motion, causing Norman to tumble painfully toward the rear of the van.

Norman was getting really sick of being beaten up and tossed around.

In his tumble his back impacted against something hard and plastic, the contents clinking together noisily. Norman knew that sound all too well. A quick look confirmed his suspicion.

“Who are those men?” Anna asked, looking back toward Norman and the black SUV chasing them.

Norman turned to look as well. “Oh…” Norman recognized the truck, he also recognized the driver behind the wheel.

“Criminals.” was all Toby said as he jerked the van down a side street.

But Norman knew they weren’t just any criminals. These were Mr. Sin’s men. And the one driving was Eugene. What the fuck! Had Toby stolen the potions from them? It was the only thing that made sense. And now he had implicated Norman along with him. But why steal potions he could have just asked Norman for some. Sure he couldn’t sell them but so what.

“What the fuck did you do!” Norman exploded. Gone was his usual passive and happy demeanor. Norman did not like being put in this situation against his will.

Norman saw Toby glance at him through the rearview mirror before responding. “It was a misunderstanding?”

“A misunderstanding? You expect me to believe Sin sent men after you for a simple misunderstanding? That you set both of our houses on fire, for what? For a FUCKING misunderstanding? I know I’m a slacker and an addict, but don’t treat me like a complete fool! I can tell when someone is trying to destroy evidence.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Toby growled, “I need to concentrate on driving. Instead of ranting and raving like a lunatic, make yourself useful.” With one hand, Toby fished the gun from his waistband. He managed to cock it and flip the safety off before holding it out for Norman, who just looked at it in confusion.

“What do you want me to do with that?”

“Gee, I don’t know, shoot at the fuckers chasing us?” Toby replied sarcastically.

“And how do you know I won’t just point it at you?”

“Well, you were just whining about not being a complete fool. But go ahead, shoot me. You would just be killing all of us then.”

Norman grabbed the gun from Toby’s hand. “You’re a real prick.”

He turned toward the back of the van, unsure of what he was going to do to deal with the pursuers. Norman had never had to kill a person before. The thought of killing someone had never even crossed his mind. The decision was taken out of his hand as the van was rammed hard from behind.

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The jolt knocked Norman off his feet, but worst of all, he dropped the gun. The pop of the gun going off inside the van was deafening. When Norman’s hearing stopped ringing, he heard Anna screaming and Toby grunting in pain.

“Norman, you shot him?”

“…What? No, I didn’t mean to. The truck hit us and the gun was knocked out of my hand.”

“I’ll be fine,” Toby hissed, “It went straight through and didn’t hit anything vital.”

“You don’t know that,” Anna replied, her words tinged with hysteria again.

“We can deal with it when we are clear, but we need to get that truck off us first.”

Norman looked around for the gun, but it must have slid out of sight. He glanced out the back window. The truck being driven by Eugene had pulled back. Likely they had heard the weapon go off and were waiting to see what was going on.

Seeing as they weren’t shooting at the van, it seemed likely they wanted them alive. Norman didn’t like the possibility of becoming a prisoner for Mr. Sin or worse, which in all likelihood would happen if they were caught.

With hands shaking from adrenaline and fear, Norman pulled the small tin from his pocket, Nearly dropping the damn thing. An Orb of Decay might work but Norman didn’t think he would be able to hit a moving vehicle, or if it would even affect it enough to stop the truck.

Taking a deep breath to try and slow his pounding heart and shaking hand, Norman jerked open the back door.

The rush of air nearly sucked him out of the van and he scrambled to get purchase. The hand holding the spell anchor for his bone wall was forgotten in his bid for self-preservation. It fell behind the van and as soon as it hit the road, it activated. The spell rapidly spread across the street like a foot-tall spike strip.

Norman watched as Eugene slammed on the brakes and tried to swerve to avoid the obstacle, but there was nowhere to go. The SUV collided with the wall and Norman heard the pinging of bone as well as the popping of tires.

The vehicle tried to continue on but slowly rolled to a stop. When it did, Norman watched a very upset-looking Eugene get out of the driver's seat, followed by the other large man that had followed Mr. Sin.

And then, Thomas Sin himself exited the rear seat of the SUV. They were quickly fading into the distance, but Norman still saw Mr. Sin kick at the bone wall, then reach down and pick up a piece. For some reason, this made Norman extremely nervous. Before he could close the door on the back of the van, A spike of bone from the wall embedded itself less than an inch from Norman’s face.

Norman knew Mr. Sin was dangerous. But the dude just threw a bone spike, nearly an eighth of a mile, through sheer strength. This was bad.

Before Norman had time to dwell on these negative thoughts, Anna interrupted him.

“Norman, do something, he’s bleeding badly.”

“I’m fine,” Toby coughed out.

He certainly didn’t sound fine to Norman.

“Here, take a health potion.” Norman pulled one of the potions out of the milk crate and held it toward Toby.

The existence of a crate of his potions in the back of Toby’s van was a mystery. But Norman figured there was a time and place to ask about it, and that time was not now.

“No, I need to concentrate on driving.”

“Just let me pour it on the wounds.”

“I said no!”

“Toby, why won’t you let Norman help you?”

“I said, I’ll be fine. Now both of you be quiet and let me concentrate. We need to get somewhere safe. Then I need to check for a tracker before they find us again.”

Norman was sick of arguing with Toby, If the man wanted to suffer with a bullet hole in his side, then let him. He shoved the bottle back in the crate and plopped down on the cold metal floor of the van.

It was only half an hour later when the van began to veer drunkenly back and forth.

“Norman, help! I think he’s passing out from blood loss.”

Norman scrambled to the front and helped Anna wrestle the van to a stop. Toby was so delirious that his eyes could barely stay open, yet he still tried to fight him off. Toby’s strength was barely able to put up a fight though and after they got the van stopped, Norman dragged him from the driver’s seat and into the back.

Toby was still mumbling about a tracker. “You gotta remove it.”

“Just tell me what it looks like,” Norman slapped Toby’s face to keep him awake just a bit longer. Or that’s what he would Tell Toby if he ever asked.

The man was going to need the potion soon or the blood loss alone would kill him.

“Lo- Look for a bla- black rectangle,” That was all that Toby got out before he fell unconscious.

“Shit!”

“Oh my god, what’s happening? Is he going to be ok?”

“He’s just unconscious at the moment. I need to check the underside of the van for this tracker. If you have something to bandage his wounds with, do that. I’ll be back shortly.”

Anna nodded, running over to her backpack and pulling clothing out of it. Meanwhile, Norman jumped out the side door and crawled around under the van.

It didn’t take long to find the device, it was tucked up under one of the wheel wells. Deciding to be thorough, Norman scoured the rest of the underside. It was a good thing he had, he found a second device wedged up between the body and the battery.

He tossed both devices on the side of the road and jumped back in the van. Anna was holding an empty bottle of potion from the crate and had wrapped Toby’s wound with some silky garment. He nodded approvingly at her. Norman didn’t know if his potions would restore blood but at least his open wounds should heal shortly.

“Good, he should sleep it off. Uh, I guess I’ll drive. Unless you want to?”

She shook her head, tears cascading away from her closed eyes. “I want to keep an eye on him.”

Norman nodded and moved to the driver's seat. It had been a long time since he had driven anything, and that had been a go-cart. He kept telling himself that this was just a big go-cart.

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