CHAPTER 12

                        Katie and I each stayed in the same room that we had been doing. It was actually better than Katie and Maria's house, much warmer inside, and never empty. I hid my book between the mattresses so that it was kept safe, away from the others that came in this room every day. I actually had a drawer to unpack my clothes into this time. We ended up having to share the room with three other girls. Our room now had five twin beds stuffed in it.

                        After Katie and I had finished in the bedroom, we both headed back upstairs to join the rest of our family in the living room. Our gang house was growing large now, since Rick had sent over some of his men, and Isaac and Hunter rallied up the rest of ours in the neighborhood. We had most of the girls here, too.

                        Spencer had us all sit in the living room so he could talk about what's going on, and let us all get to know each other. There were at least seventy people all smashed into the large living room and flowing down the hallway. Some of them were sitting on the couch, and more were sitting on the floor beneath them, and some sitting on the back of the couch above them. We were all split up into our groups, the men and the women, but most of the women looked very young to me.

                        I sat down on the couch next to Katie, with Maria sitting on the floor in front of me, and several other girls lined up along the same couch. The girls got the couches, not bad. This was like an army preparing for war here, everyone looked prepared for what was coming. All the males had their red bandanas, and us girls just bared our tattoos willingly.

                        Spencer stood in the middle of the room, spinning slowly so that he could talk to everyone, "Alright people, listen up!"

                        Spencer remained silent for a minute, just tapping his right index finger to his lower lip, and then summoned Hunter, Isaac and Trevor to his side. The three of them got up and stood to the right side of Spencer, crossing their arms loosely across their chest. The three of them stayed silent for another minute before making any sound.

                        "The time is here, people," Spencer started off as he waved a fist in the air, "The Tags have crossed the line. In crossing the border and attacking these three men, they have declared war on us."

                        You could hear whispering throughout the room as everyone talked over the news. Spencer, Hunter, Isaac and Trevor remained silent for several minutes to let the reality of the situation sink in. After only a minute, you could tell that there wasn't a single person in the room that didn't believe that Spencer was serious. After all, the three of them still looked banged up.

                        Spencer raised his hand in the air slightly, signaling everyone to be quiet, "Alright, this is how it's going to work... I want all the ladies to stay here, that means no going out for any reason unless I say so. We're going to pick up the patrols now, the watches will be constant and in groups of five. Rick's house will cover the east side, and we will be covering the west side."

                        Isaac stepped forward and glanced up at Spencer, "They've crossed again. I saw three of them sneaking around only three blocks from here earlier. They don't seem to have a problem with being seen either."

                        Katie glanced at me raising an eyebrow slightly, I could tell that she was worried with them being so close to us. Not that I had any doubt that a house full of guys couldn't protect us, the idea was just a tad bit unnerving to us.

                        Spencer looked over at me, "Some of you are new here, so we will explain how this all works. Headbands are worn as a display of your family unit, bandanas are worn as when a family is prepared for a fight. So every male who goes outside of this house will be wearing a bandana. If you see anyone at all, whether with a blue headband or blue bandana, you let one of us know. This isn't fun and games here."

                        Spencer kept going on to the guys how they were supposed to work. None of us girls really paid attention to what he was saying, since it didn't really apply to us. One of the other girls pulled out some red bandanas and passed them down the couch. Katie took hers and then handed Maria and I the last two. I watched carefully as she folded it over and over, and then had Maria tie it on her upper arm, on the opposite side of her tattoo. I saw that the other girls had done the same. I then folded mine up and let Katie tie mine on as well.

                        Spencer turned and smiled at us, "Ah, it's nice to see the ladies show their support for this family as well."

                        Isaac winked at Katie, and I watched as she winked back at him. I saw Aidan on the other side of the room smile at me, and nodded at him. I was glad I had someone as well.

                        Spencer went through every single person, giving their name and rank in the family. All the ones I hadn't seen before were all introduced to me, I guess they hadn't taken anyone else in for a while, and I was something special. There were too many names for me to remember, I couldn't even remember the members we had here before. I'd figure out the names as I needed them.

                        After the whole meeting was over, Spencer sent out four groups of five, giving them four hour shifts to cover, and then they'd trade off with other groups. Aidan, Isaac, and Trevor were all part of a group, so Katie and I decided to stay back and hang out with some of the new girls.

                        We all introduced ourselves, and got to know each other. I met Cassidy, Kim, Meghan, Tori, Amilia and Desiree, who is just called Des. I learned some of them had a story to tell like mine, and others had a whole different story to tell. Like Cassidy, she left her parents after four years of abuse. Tori's parents died when she was seven, and she ended up staying with her uncle who ended up marrying a woman who beat Tori, so she ran. And then Des, who was almost in the exact same boat as I had been.

                        As for Kim, Meghan and Amilia, they just rebelled against their parents and ran away. Meghan had been a crack addict since she was thirteen, leaving four long years of heavy drug abuse. Amilia and Kim were just young alcoholics, who were actually sisters.

                        Everyone had left the living room by now, leaving the nine of us to hang out and talk. Maria brought in some beers from the kitchen and started handing them out. I denied it, since I didn't feel like drinking at all since the last time.

                        Des opened her beer, and foam spilled over the edge, "So, Taya, how do you like this family so far."

            I watched as she sipped her way through the foam and back to the mouth of the can, "I love it. Who wouldn't?"

                        Katie hit me on the back, shaking her head at me, "This girl is awesome to have around. You name it, she can play it."

                        I wasn't sure what that meant, but I couldn't sound weak in front of them, "You'd better believe it!"

                        Kim and Amilia sat back in the corner at the end of the couch and chugged. Kim raised her can high in the air, "To playin' the game like no man can ever do!"

                        Everyone laughed at that, some of them even raised their cans to toast. Katie was trying hard not to laugh as she started sipping, trying to keep the foam from dripping off of the can. I could see that Meghan was also having problems with hers, but it looked as though she'd given up, since she just set a dirty bowl on the floor beneath her can.

                        Des stood up and walked over to me, plopping on the floor right next to me, "Girl, they want to hold on to you... You've got looks, the skills and the brains."

                        Katie raised an eyebrow at me and just shrugged, and then looked at Des, "Anyone's got more brains than you do, Des."

            Des turned and snorted at Katie and then took a gulp, she then turned to look at me again, "She's a riot, eh?"

            Katie handed me her beer and gave me her special look. I didn't really feel like drinking, but decided to take some anyway. After all, I was the life of the party here and I was the only one that wasn't drinking. I didn't like the taste of beer as much as I had the hard liquors. I took a big gulp and handed it back to Katie. Maria was over in the corner chugging away with Kim and Amilia, completely oblivious to what was going on around them.

                        Des sat up straight and tried to get serious on us, "So, what do you think is up with the Tags, anyway?"

                        "I think they're just playing right now," Katie said as she set her can on the floor next to her, "I think they're just testing to see how we'll react. They do that from time to time."

                        Meghan looked over at Kim, Amilia and Maria who were completely out of it, and then over to Katie, "No, they aren't playing. They don't beat up members when they play."

                        Des leaned back and nodded at Meghan, "Yeah, playing is playing. They're not playing anymore."

                        Katie wiped some beer off of her upper lip, "Yeah, but they're not too serious yet. They're trying to grade us right now, to see what they have to go up against. They're not going to come charging in before finding out what they're up against. They may be stupid, but they're not that stupid."

                        Des nodded her head, "Yeah, I agree with you there, they're not like that. We wouldn't go doing anything like that, so why would they."

                        Meghan opened up another can of beer and tried to catch it as it spilled over the edge of the can, she then tossed me one. Katie looked at me and gave me an evil grin, raising her eyebrow at me. I knew how much I didn't want this, but I had to. I shrugged my shoulders and then popped it open, doing just what Meghan had done. The six of us that were left still conscious laid back against he couch and relaxed.