Rage Within Read Online Free Page B

he did,” Kurt said. “He clocked me and then pushed me off the bridge.”
    Mason stood up and started walking toward the girls. He moved along the shoreline, ankle deep in river water, sneakers squishing into wet dirt. It didn’t take him long to reach the girls. Ignoring them completely, he turned to Scotty.
    “You punched him?”
    Scotty didn’t say anything. He glared at Mason with hate-filled eyes.
    Mason brought his arms up, pushing Scotty backward and into the bush. “Answer me.”
    “Yeah, fine, I hit him,” Scotty said. “He started it. You were all fine and crap when it was me he was pushing around. How come you didn’t stop him?”
    Mason froze. “Everything happened too quickly. You know that.”
    Scotty didn’t respond.
    “You could have killed him,” Mason finally said.
    “And he could have killed me,” Scotty shot back.
    “He was joking,” Mason said. “Yeah, it was a bad joke. We get it. But what you did was worse.”
    “You’re such a hypocrite,” Scotty said. “You’d better remember that, because it’s gonna come back and bite you in the ass. Soon enough. You’ll see.”
    Scotty turned and ran straight into the bushes and was gone before Mason even had time to respond. He stood there and stared at the spot where Scotty had disappeared until Britney came up and handed over his shirt.
    “Here,” she said. “You’re all covered in goose bumps. You’re gonna freeze to death.”
    “Thanks,” he said.
    The shirt was warm against his body.
    “Do you think we should go after him?” Tom wandered over, buttoning up his shirt.
    “Nope,” Mason said. “He might be waiting at the car, but I doubt it. Let him walk. Maybe he’ll cool down.”
    “That was messed up, man,” Tom said. “Why’d Scotty do that? I didn’t realize he hated Kurt that much.”
    “Not sure,” Mason said. “It was weird. Did you see his eyes?”
    The others came over to join them; the girls had their arms around Kurt’s waist. Blood was dripping down his face, staining his shirt.
    “I want to go home,” Staci said.
    Mason nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”

ARIES
    Granville Street was packed with people, and not in a friendly way.
    Aries and Sara had agreed to meet up at Blenz to grab a coffee before heading down to Robson for a day of shopping. Neither of them had any money, but that didn’t matter. Looking in windows was free and Robson was always entertaining. But shortly after they sat down with their drinks on the patio, the crowd began to gather on the sidewalk. Within half an hour people were starting to get a little riled up. Aries could feel the electricity in the air, or maybe it was the way the crowd was buzzing with excitement.
    “Is this a protest?” Aries said.
    It was hard to tell. An older man with glasses and a bad haircut screamed at the people across the street. He was holding a sign that said something against abortion. There was a picture of a dead fetus in Technicolor detail along with a coat hanger. The image made Aries feel a little nauseated, so she pushed the remains of her drink away. The man continued to yell and brandish his sign at a group of kids passing out Gay Pride stickers. They were giving him the finger and wavingmulticolored flags. Another pack of people wore strange masks with white faces and large pointy noses. Their bodies were covered with long black capes and robes. They bounced up and down in the middle of the street, adjusting their masks while letting their robes flutter and drag along the sidewalk. From behind Aries and Sara, a girl with green hair and a nose ring dropped some pamphlets about animal rights on their table. Pictures of monkeys being tortured in laboratories stared up at Aries. She quickly turned the leaflets over, but the back sides weren’t any better. She picked them up and tossed them in the garbage.
    “It’s weird,” Sara said. “They’re all here but no one seems to be on the same side.”
    “Whoever organized