Rage Within Read Online Free PDF Page B

lose Joy. I don’t want to get stuck here.”
    “Me neither,” she said.
    It took them several minutes, but eventually they reached the end of the block. They caught up with Joy and Becka waiting on the corner.
    “Let’s cross over to Howe,” Joy said. “It shouldn’t be as bad down there. I think it’s just Granville.”
    Aries nodded.
    A sudden series of sharp banging noises filled the air. Someone had set off fireworks in the middle of the intersection. Aries was shoved from behind. Turning, she immediately recognized the green-haired girl who’d given her the animal rights tracts. The girl screeched several times in her face before falling to her knees and covering her ears. Pictures of abused monkeys and anti-fur pamphlets fluttered to the cement.
    Aries glanced up to where she could barely make out the fireworks bursting above the streetlights. Too bad it wasn’t dark out; it would have been very pretty to watch. People started pushing against her, shoving and shouting, trying toget away from the explosions. No one else but her seemed to realize that the noises weren’t threatening. Sara grabbed hold of her hand, pulling her close and away from the mob.
    “It’s okay,” Aries shouted. But no one heard her.
    A voice rose from the crowd. “Cops!”
    Farther down the street, she could see the police officers in their riot gear coming through the crowd. Decked out in ballistic vests, they had their batons raised. Some of them were even swinging. They marched in a single line, dispersing the crowd, forcing everyone back toward Granville. People scrambled in all directions to try and get away.
    Nothing like a little crowd control.
    She realized that Sara was still tugging on her hand, almost pulling her shoulder out of its socket. Aries turned and allowed her friend to drag her away. Several other people were moving back onto Helmcken Street. Joy and Becka were about ten feet ahead of them, and Joy kept pointing to the right-hand side.
    Howe Street was better. People were still running about in all directions, but the crowd was thinned out. They were able to move faster. A few cars pulled out of parking spaces and drove slowly down the one-way street. The general consensus seemed to be that everyone suddenly had somewhere better to be.
    Two blocks down and they reached Joy’s car.
    All the windows were smashed. Glass littered the ground and leather seats.
    “Oh, man,” Joy said. “My dad’s gonna kill me.”
    It could have been worse, Aries thought as she did her best to brush away some of the glass before sitting down in the passenger seat. The tires could have been slashed. But she didn’t bother saying it out loud. It wouldn’t have made Joy feel better.
    At least the car started. Joy put the car in drive and they got out of there as fast as possible.
    “Well, that was fun,” Sara said as they headed onto the bridge. “What should we do tomorrow? Rob a bank? Skydiving?”
    “I’ve got a chem quiz,” Aries said. “That’s terrifying enough.”
    The bridge was fairly empty, and as they drove, Aries glanced across the bay to where the ocean stretched past Stanley Park. She could see boats out on the water and people walking along the seawall enjoying the afternoon. Seagulls soared gracefully above English Bay, oblivious to the humans below them. Everything looked so peaceful. Such an odd contrast from the scene they’d just witnessed.
    Funny how everything could change so quickly.

NOTHING
    People behaving badly. All over the world. None of these were isolated incidents. But the majority were subtle enough that no one noticed.
    Oops.
    We would sit in the darkness over the next few weeks and repeat these stories, these small cautions that no one realized were warnings until after the fact. They seemed so very important, and it was as if each of us wanted to remember the tiny details so we could add them to all the history books they might one day write about us.
    I wonder if people will remember