Gerard's POV

"This is fucking insane..."I pinched the bridge of my nose to try and push away the head ache threatening to take over and distract me from the terrible situation we were in.
"You dont like it?"The tiny kid who couldnt be more than 14 looked up at me worriedly.
"Dont like it?'I asked him incredulously,"This ia fucking war! Why the fuck do we need a fucking sign?! Are we trying to advertise to fucking everybody whats going on?!"I burst out.

The boy stared at me in shock and fear as Frank stepped in front of me before I could throttle the kid,"Gerard! Calm down okay?"He looiked up at me seriously, placing a hand on my chest.
"How can I calm down? We're down by damn near 20 men. They killed ten fucking innocent people at the school. How the fuck can I calm down when we're wasting our time fucking drawing a sign?!"I shoved Frank's hand away and walked over to the window looking out onto a huge garden covered in a crisp frost.

We were in someone's house. It was a huge mansion full of useless crap to show off the amount of money the family had. Mikey hadnt told me who was letting us use the house but hey, it was massive and was apparently completely off the radar cause Mikey's friend was at his boyfriends place more often than not. The guys' parents were currently on holiday in England or something for another two months so he had offered his house as a safe house. Apparently the top floor was the guy's bedroom and thats where a whole heap of people were camping out, scared of leaving in case of what might happen.

"Gerard. He's 13. His Dad was killed a week ago helping deliver us ammo and he has no where else to go. He said the Cole got people to come after him but he got away. Mikey said some guys went looking for him and found him. Now he has nothing else to do but sit around here. He got bored and started designing that. Cut him some slack,"Frank grumbled next to me before walking out of the dining room. The table was fucking huge which was perfect according to Frank because it could seat everyone coming to the meeting tonight.

My brain hurt so bad. It was closing in on 8 o'clock and for the past 3 hours I had been introduced to about ten different people, all with difficult to remember names and different jobs, and not one of them wanted me to take over. Along with that I had been forced to read over different reports of fucking- stupid things that didnt matter to me. All I really wanted to know about were the mini bases that Frank had told me about. I was certain they would lead me to Cole.

I massaged my temples for ten seconds before taking a deep breath and turning to face the boy. He looked up at my movement and cowered slightly in fear. Jesus. I had a worse 'general mode' than Frank did.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you. I'm just having a very stressful night. Let me see the sign again?"I made an effort to actually smile at him as I sat down.

"You dont need to apologise. I know you're under a lot of stress. I dont have much to do with anything but I hear things. When everyone heard you guys were coming back, there were rumours that Frank was handing over the reins. People dont know you so they dont like you. Frank's Mum gave us weapons to defend ourselves so immediately he was in our good books because he has known what to do to keep us safe,"The boy said as he added a few lines to the weird rose/dragon .
sign.

"God. What else can you tell me?"I sighed and rested my head on the table, watching the boy's pencil move about across the page. I suddenly had a yearning to draw something. Anything. Drawing has always been an escape for me. A way to transport myself into another world created by me and only me. Frank said the same thing about books. That reading moved him into a world of pure imagination.

"I heard two guys talking. They said that because Cole has threatened Mikey and Frank, you're not going to care about anyone or anything so long as you get to kill Cole,"He said quietly. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. People were gonna have to be set straight.
"Whats your name?"I sighed and sat up properly.

"Kevin. How about that?"He smiled and pushed the paper over to me.
"Thats really cool,"I smiled back at him. It actually was. There was a rose in full bloom with a dragon completely shaded in climbing the stem. In the centre of the rose two guns were protuding, the barrel's pointing out. I looked close and could see the letters 'BDFS' engraved on the handles of the gun.

"Thanks,"Kevin put his pencil down and stretched out. I continued staring at the dragon. Its body was a little off.
"May I?"I asked, picking the pencil up.
"Go nuts,"He shrugged.

I took another hard look at where he had gone wrong with the dragon and started parts of the back, the dragon's side and one of his legs. Kevin leaned over and watched as I redrew the lines, curving it around the way I had been taught to earlier in the year.
"How'd you do that?"Kevin stared in amazement at the newly formed dragon. His back was smoother now, curving down to his tail properly and his leg fit in properly.

"My college,"I muttered.
"Thats awesome. I wish I could draw that good. What else can you do? Do you have drawings you could show me?"Keven's eyes lit up as I started nodding but stopped.
"I do have a bunch of sketchbooks but they're back in San Diego sorry. Fuck. Now I wished I had them,"I sighed. Why didnt I bring them with me?

"I wish I had a sketchbook. I just have loose pieces of paper pinned to my wall back home,"Kevin said glumly.
"I'd love to see them,"I said as I stood up.
"Cant. Not allowed to go home. The other side know where my house is. Oh well. Some of the guys here have given me their old clothes and that guy with loads of hair bought me a toothbrush so its okay,"Kevin shrugged up at me. It was then that I decided one of the first things I would do was get Kevin's drawings. And then I would buy him a sketchbook.

"That sucks. I'm sorry man. I- I wish there was something I could do. Maybe there is. But right now I need to go adn interrogate a bitch that poisoned me,"I sighed. Kevin waved sadly at me as I walked out. As soon as we had gotten off of our flight I had made Chloe call Cole and tell him I had gotten drunk and had slept with her. He had bought it like the idiot he is and had told her to stay with me all day and to try and pull information out of me. He wanted her to call him back in half an hour with intel.

"Frank? Where are we keeping Chloe?"I asked as I walked into the lounge. He was lying down on a couch about ten times the size of him watching Spongebob. He was completely sucked in. His eyes had taken on a glazed look. I was about to climb over the couch and sit on top of him when I realised that he actually had tears in his eyes.

"Frank? Pumpkin whats wrong?"I rushed around to sit in front of him.
His hand flew up to wipe his eyes as he said,"Nothing I'm fine I just worry about Claire."
"Oh sweetie,"I sighed and pulled him close to me. He grabbed at my t-shirt and took in a deep shaky breath.

"Frank you know you're gonna see her in a week right? And it'll be your birthday and it'll all be fine,
I whispered.
"I know I know. I'm sorry. Come on. Chloe's in the basement,"Frank wiped his eyes again and stood up with my help.

He lead me over to the staircase upstairs but instead of going up like I expected, he moved round behind them and opened a trap door.
"Huh. This house is full of surprises,"I smiled.
Frank made a non commital grunt in reply. He hated basements. I hated them too. All they ever did was remind both of us of Dean and that horrible night. Basements were evil to us.

"Will you fucking let me go?"Chloe growled as we came into view. She was tied to a chair in the back corner. Her hair was plastered to her face with sweat showing she had been struggling to break free.
"Not likely,"I said and sat down at a chair against the wall closest to the door. Unlike every other basement I'd been into, this one only had one exit. The way we came in.

"What do you want with me? I'm useless. I dont know anything about where Cole is or how you might even begin to find him. I've been in San Diego. You guys know that,"She grumbled.
"We may not be able to find Cole through you but you can feed him false information to help keep us safe,"I smiled sweetly at her and pulled her phone out of my back pocket.

"This time I want you to tell him that I'm desperately upset and have started drinking again because Frank called me today telling me he still loves me but he still wants some time away from me to give him a break. Tell him I'm filled with guilt for screwing a dirty slut like you and I just want to die,"I gushed as I dialled Cole's number.

Frank was leaning against the wall next to me grinning maliciously. I put the phone on speaker and immediately the dialling tone sounded out.
Chloe took a deep breath when Cole answered, demanding to know everything.
"Hey Cole. Gerard has totally cracked. He started drinking again at about 2 in the afternoon and hasnt stopped. He said he wants to die cause he so guilty for sleeping with me. It was made even worse when Frank called like an hour ago to say that he loved Gerard still and they would sort it out but Frank still wants this week or whatever away from him,"Chloe gushed, injecting happiness into her voice.

"Ha! Those fucking idiots. I knew it wold be easy to break Gerard. Soon he'll want to forget his last year of school and come back here for his stupid brother,"Cole cackled. I stiffened at the mention of Mikey and fought the urge to shout at him.

"What do you want me to do next?"She asked, a int of worry in her voice.
"Uh keep up the good work? I'll call you when- am I echoing? Where are you?"Cole changed course.
Chloe looked at us and shrugged her shoulders. Frank mimicked brushing his teeth and she nodded.

"Chloe?"Cole repeated. God I hated him.
"Sorry. I'm in Gerard's bathroom. I thought her heard me talking. Even though he's too drunk to even see straight,"Chloe giggled.
"Oh right. Well anyway, I'll call you,"Cole sighed as someone started shouting in the background.

"Hey wait,"Chloe shouted right before I hung up.
"What?"Cole snapped.
"Have- have you heard from Malcolm?"Chloe glared back at Frank.
"No I havent actually. I told him I'd call him. Why? Did he do something?"Cole was suddenly more interested.

I snapped the phone shut before Chloe could tell him to call Malcolm. If he called Malcolm then Malcolm would tell him that we have Chloe and our cover would be blown.
"You're cutting it pretty close bitch,"I glared and dropped her phone on my seat.
"He's gonna call back in about 3-2-1,"Chloe said smugly as her phone started ringing on one.

I ignored the call and started typing out a text to Cole instead.
"He thinks I knocked on the door now. And that Malcolm is doing nothing but what he was told to,"I smiled.
"Fuck you. Fuck you both you revolting pieces of shit,"She spat at me.

"Yeah yeah whatever. Wanna tell me where I can find an antidote to the poison you put in my body?"I walked towards her, feeling the anger build up as she started giggling.
"You're never getting it. That was one thing Cole was adamant about. That you dont get better,"She grinned. I couldnt stop myself from slapping her across the face. My hand stung from the impact and already I could see a red hand print showing in the dim lighting of the basement.

"Gerard come on. We've got a meeting to get to,"Frank was suddenly tugging on my hand.
"I'll get you for this you bitch!"I shouted as Frank pulled me up the stairs. Once we were back onto ground level I became aware of just how nervous I was about confronting the group of people causing the sound of loud chatter in the dining room. I mentally and physically steeled myself, took a deep breath and followed Frank into the dining room.