Part II

Another form emerged from the car. It was tall, blonde and shapely. She continued to whine and pout for a moment with this teen pointedly ignoring her. Eventually, she huffed and stomped off yelling something about how Cal was a liar, that he didn’t really love her.

“Arthur, come on, get in. You need a medic. I’ll find Sabrina,” the teen said motioning for Arthur to get in the car. Arthur shook his head, blood spattering everything around him. He heard Cal grimace and mutter something about his suit.

“I have to find Sabrina,” Arthur said, his words getting slurred from the blood in his mouth. Arthur wondered vaguely if he was missing some teeth.

“Fine. We’ll look now, but if my baby gets stolen, your head will roll. Even if I could buy another one anytime, it’s the thought that counts.”

Arthur nodded, blinking quickly, his eyes starting to clear. His hair had crusted to his head with dried blood. He rushed to his right and searched among the rubble littering the street. He threw tires over his back. Odd pieces of metal and other debris flew around Arthur in his hurry to find Sabrina.

“Arthur! I found her!” Cal yelled. Arthur ran over to where he had heard the voice and stopped in his tracks.
Cal was leaning over Sabrina who was covered in blood; gashes across her face and arms. Her shirt and pants were in tatters, but not enough to make her indecent, which Arthur was extremely grateful for.

“Don’t worry. I don’t think they raped her. I scared them away before they could,” Cal said, tenderly pushing a bloody strand of hair out of the girl’s face. He turned to face Arthur.

Arthur involuntarily gasped. He remembered Cal now. He could never forget a face that had haunted his every waking moment for his school years. They had gone to a prestigious boarding school, Vyren, together. Arthur had been there on a scholarship. Cal had enough money to fill a dozen Olympic-sized swimming pools, and then some, with hundred dollar bills. However, while Cal had enough money to buy Puerto Rico, he was exceptionally short. The rest of the student body had taken it upon themselves to make his life a living hell and Arthur’s too.

Cal and Arthur had soon become fast friends. They were nigh inseparable. Arthur had always known Cal as Nero Domitius Hardwick. It was Cal’s given name. His parents had thought it would make him want to live up to being a great man. Unfortunately, as expected by everyone but Mr. and Mrs. Hardwick, this only provoked the students. They gave him the nickname Caligula, thinking they were incredibly smart. It was why Arthur hadn’t recognized the name. He would never have called Cal his hateful nickname.

Over time, Cal gained more money and was able to buy his friends. He immediately dropped Arthur for more influential people and started taunting his former friend. He shortened his nickname to Cal to minimize the embarrassment of his given name and keep some semblance of the name people had known him by. His purchased friends still regularly made fun of Cal behind his back because he turned out to be noticeably short being only five feet six inches, but Cal seemed happy.

“Arthur. Arthur! Hello? We need to get Sabrina to my medic.”

Arthur walked over to Cal and easily picked up Sabrina’s body. They walked back to the Ferrari. Arthur climbed in causing Cal to grimace for the second time that night.

“Bloody people messing up my leather seats,” Arthur heard him mutter under his breath.

“I’m sorry we are bleeding all over your expensive leather. I can get out and walk to the hospital if you would rather.”

Cal seemed rather impressed by this show of bravado, but said nothing about it. “The hospital is in chaos. You would never get any help. We need to hurry to my mansion if you want to get any medical attention. My personal physician is waiting,” he replied, getting in and starting the car. It roared to life.

Sabrina gasped at the noise and jumped, slamming back into Arthur’s nose. It started to bleed again. He scowled at Cal and held Sabrina close muttering calming words in her ear.

“Where am I?” she rasped.

“With me,” Arthur lovingly replied, holding her tenderly.

She looked around slightly. “This isn’t your tin can. I’m bleeding on someone’s leather.”

“That would be mine.” Cal glanced over at her and smiled his most charming smile. “Don’t worry, pet. I can always buy more.”

Sabrina giggled and Arthur rolled his eyes. Cal smirked at him. Just because he has shaggy dark brown hair and light green eyes that sparkle when he’s in the mood doesn’t mean that he is anything to fawn over. Look at him! He’s only like five and a half feet tall! And he’s not even muscle-y! He may be lithe from being the fencing champion at school and having a personal trainer all his life, but compared to me, he’s a wimp!

“How long until we get to your medic?” asked Arthur gruffly.

“I can call and get him to meet us on the outskirts of town.” Cal swerved wildly around random people running down the streets. Sabrina swung into Cal who moved his arm from the gear shift to around her shoulders in one smooth motion.

Arthur narrowed his eyes, glaring at Cal. “Please do. With all this ridiculous driving, Sabrina is likely to get more injured.”

“I’m not in much pain anymore.” She laid her head on Cal’s shoulder.

“I’ll call anyway. It would be better if you didn’t bleed all over my priceless Persian rugs.”

Arthur resisted the urge to make a sarcastic remark. There were only so many times he could stand up to Cal. For some reason he couldn’t fathom, Arthur was always timid around the billionaire. Probably the years of verbal abuse…

Cal pulled out his cell phone, letting go of the wheel to dial. He held it steady with his knee.

“That’s very unsafe,” Sabrina remarked. Cal gave her a look that clearly stated, ‘And I care why?’

“Meet us at the edge of Saddler and bring the helicopter. It will be faster.”

The trio in the Ferrari reached the edge of the city and skidded to a halt, twisting 180 degrees to end up facing Saddler.

Arthur picked Sabrina gently out of the car. Thongs, bras and other paraphernalia flew out of the trunk as Cal rummaged through it. He eventually surfaced with a fleece blanket with his face on it. He laid it on the hood.

“I can walk, Arthur. I’m not broken,” Sabrina said as Arthur hobbled over to the hood.

“We don’t know that yet.” He grimaced, laid Sabrina on the blanket and held a hand to his ribs.

Sabrina sat up, slightly alarmed. “Oh, Arthur! Are you okay?” She scooted over. “Here sit by me.”

“Oh, hey, hey! No! No! No! He would dent the hood with his huge bulky body!” Cal waved his hands frantically.

Sabrina glared at him. “Who do you think you are?”

“ Nero Domitius ‘Cal’ Hardwick, billionaire playboy and heir to the Hardwick Military Equipment empire.” He smirked and raised an eyebrow at Sabrina’s open mouth. “And right now, your benefactor. He can sit on the ground.”

Sabrina slid off the car to sit on the ground next to Arthur where he was holding his ribs. She didn’t seem surprised to learn who Cal was; after all, they had met briefly while Arthur and Cal were still in school. Arthur leaned toward Sabrina.

“Thanks,” he whispered, his breath blowing the wispy strands of hair around her ear.

“Uh, you’re welcome?” she replied hesitantly before laying her head on his shoulder. Arthur smiled. Gently, he leaned his head on top of Sabrina’s. Sabrina’s hair had retained the vanilla-berry scent. It made Arthur lightheaded. A breeze came up ruffling their clothes. Sabrina huddled closer to Arthur. A gagging sound came from the other side of the car.

“I feel like I’m being saturated in saccharine sweetness.” The gagging sound filled the air again. “It’s like drowning in powdered sugar coated, caramel filled, milk chocolate.”

“Mmm… tasty!” Sabrina yelled back at Cal. Arthur laughed silently, but stopped and grimaced, holding a hand to his ribs.

Suddenly, a whirring sound dominated the air. The helicopter had arrived. The medic ran over as soon as it touched the ground. Stopping briefly to chat with Cal, he hurried over.

“What’s wrong with the two of you?” he yelled over the sound. Cal motioned for the driver to cut the power. The blades slowed and ground to a halt.

“Good, now that you can hear me. Tell me what hurts, or rather,” he paused, surveying their blood covered forms, “what doesn’t hurt?”



The medic started gathering up his supplies having bandaged Arthur and Sabrina. They had no broken bones and Arthur’s arm was easily popped back in its socket. Arthur’s leg had been seriously sprained and had to be splinted up as best as possible. His ribs turned out to be only badly bruised. During this, Cal had retrieved a dark wool long coat from the trunk and had received a very long phone call.

The doctor turned to Cal. His voice slightly sarcastic as he said, “I assume after your adventures, you don’t have any injuries, Mr. Hardwick.”

“No, I don’t.” Cal replied giving the medic an I-pay-you-obscene-amounts-of-money-to-keep-your-mouth-shut-and-you’re-expendable look. “Tell the pilot to wait for me. I want to talk to Arthur and Sabrina. I believe I will need a ride.”

Nodding, the medic walked back to the helicopter and got in. Cal walked over to Sabrina and Arthur who were back on the ground. He squatted to look them in the eye. Arthur had the stray thought that this was probably one of the few times Cal had to bend to be in another’s eye level.

“I just received an urgent call. I’m on my way to South America for a while. Is there any place you’d like me to drop you off at? Cancun? French Rivera? Antarctica?”

“Why are you going to South America?” Arthur asked suspiciously.

“Work-related things,” Cal answered evenly.

Sabrina frowned, examining Cal. “No, you’re not. Why are you really going?”

Cal scrutinized her. “Do you really want to know?” She nodded. Cal pursed his lips. Arthur felt he could see the gears whirring in the billionaire’s head trying to see if it would be in his benefit to be honest with Sabrina.

“I tried to take over Saddler. It was my first step in world domination.”

Arthur and Sabrina stared open-mouthed before bursting into laughter. “World domination, really?”

Angry, Cal stood up. “Not in the way you’re thinking! I have a plan to sabotage the world’s computers. Once the world is at its knees, I will step in with the antidote that I so magically cooked up in my secret labs. The world will then look to me for its electronic needs. I will have enough money to monopolize the market… well, technically, I already do, but this way is more democratic.”

“And Saddler was first,” Sabrina said and scooted closer to Arthur. Arthur grinned. Finally someone was choosing him over Cal.

“Yes, I had to see if my virus could effectively wipe out the city workings. Apparently, it did.” He motioned at the great city. Arthur looked and heard Sabrina gasp.

The city’s skyscrapers were backlit with flames. A huge plume of smoke danced across the sky turning the moon a chilling red color. Arthur took a deep breath and realized the smell invading his nose was the city burning.

“You murderer,” Arthur cried venomously.

“Oh, no. It gets better. Listen.” Cal held a hand to his ear mockingly.

Arthur strained to hear. No crickets or birds could be heard. All was silent until the wind carried the screaming voices to his ears. Glancing at Cal, Arthur ground his teeth together. A large smile had crossed the billionaire’s features.

Arthur struggled to his feet intending to beat Cal to a bloody pulp before taking him to the police to let him rot in jail until he died a slow and painful death filled with malicious diseases from being the prison punk. Untreated syphilis came to mind.

“Why?”