I. Life or Death 

Ivory felt the sun blinding her face and woke up; last night hit her thoughts. Ivory remembered that Viper snitched on the gang, Roxie helped Viper, Hawks was sent by Blue to spy on Viper, and that Blue may or may not be angry with her. Ivory glanced at the alarm clock: 7:30. Ivory decided to get ready. As she finished, her door opened, and she peeked from the bathroom to see Blue.

Ivory felt nervous but didn't show it.

"You're awake," he noticed. "Come with me."

She followed him down the long hallway. It wasn't nearly as dark and cold as the base. "This place isn't as dark and cold as the base," she bit her tongue.

Blue glanced back at her. "What are you talking about?"

His deep voice scared her, mostly since he was angry.

"The base is always dark and cold," she repeated.

"No, it isn't. The heat is always on. Besides, I may have a liking for minimalist colors, but my base isn't dark. What are you on?"

"Uh," she said, intimidated.

Ivory's stomach started hurting.

"She just woke up, let her be," She saw Red walk over.

Blue sent her a glare but said nothing.

Looking around, she noticed that it was obscenely quiet. No one else but the three of them seemed to be here. She followed the two into Blue's car, and it was a silent drive to some mystery. Ivory was nervous, so nervous that she felt the need to throw up; her stomach hurt, and the thought of food made her sick. She was shivering but didn't feel cold.

Blue exited the woods and drove to the Bronx, stopping at some old, porcelain building. The three got out and entered the small building. They walked down a hallway and into a big room with three metal, oversized looking ovens. Each oven had three large windows to peek through, and a conveyor belt attached. Ivory then realized what the machines were and believed that Blue would kill her.

Blue gently pushed her in front of him. "Do you know what cremation is?"

She gulped. "Yes, I know what it is."

"Why are you nervous?"

"Are you going to put me in one of those machines?"

"Not if you give me a reason, too," was his answer.

Red placed a hand on her shoulder, "This is one of Blue's crematoriums. He has one designed for his workers, and another for the random people that he kills."

"Yes, this is one of my nicer ones," Blue added.

"And may I ask which crematory this is?"

"You'll see," Blue replied.

Ivory noted that Blue didn't remove his sunglasses and knew that her being there wouldn't take long.

The side door opened to reveal Hawks and Lucky pulling a hospital bed as a white sheet covered a thin body.

Ivory was flabbergasted when she saw that Roxie was under the sheet.

Red poked the corpse and laughed, "Oh, Roxie," he laughed.

Blue seemed unfazed while Lucky and Hawks locked eyes, seeming exasperated. Ivory noted that Red's behavior was a red flag, and felt very uncomfortable.

Two other workers that Ivory had never seen before walked in sporting white lab coats and placed Roxie on a metal slate under a conveyor belt.

Blue dragged Ivory over to the machine that held Roxie's body. "Cremate her."

Ivory turned to him, puzzled. "What?"

"I said,"

"I know, I heard you. Why do you want me to —"

"— Do as I say, or I'll put you in after her," he threatened.

Blue wasn't kidding, his right hand touched her waist, and she flinched under his grip.

"Okay, how do I do that?"

Blue pointed to a button, "Press this button, and hurry up."

Ivory turned to Hawks and Lucky, who were staring at the floor. She pressed the red button as Roxie's body slowly went up the conveyer belt and into the oven. Roxie's pale, bruising skin lay still. Ivory stared at her for so long, she envisioned that the dead body's eyes would open.

Ivory felt the heat breathe in her face, and soon after, the body began to burn. Ivory wasn't sure if she should feel bad for Roxie, feel indifferent to the circumstance, or despise her.

Ivory looked through the window to see the body burn into flames, noting that it wasn't a pretty sight. First, the pure flesh swayed away, then the body parts quivered, the bones snapped and disappeared. It was scary to watch. Quickly after, all that was left were the ashes of the only gang member who was brave enough to know Blue but turn against him. Ivory just hoped that Viper wasn't next so that she wasn't ordered to cremate her.

Ivory then noted that she shouldn't feel bad for Roxie nor despise her; she felt that Roxie was dumb to do what she had done. Ivory didn't care about being in the gang, but she was happy to be out of foster care, and she was grateful that she was alive and taken care of. Ivory believed that Roxie and Viper were similar and always ruined good things for everyone else if it meant that they could benefit from anything else. To Ivory, Roxie was ungrateful. Roxie would recruit girls and force them into prostitution, but then betrayed Blue if it meant saving herself. Roxie wasn't someone to be indifferent toward.

Blue clicked the red button again to turn the machine off, and it cooled down slowly. He turned to Hawks and Lucky, "All right, boys, I'm taking Ivory to go and do something else for me. The two of you are off for the rest of the day," he grinned.

This was the second time that Ivory had seen Blue grin. He was up to something, and she already didn't like it.

Hawks and Lucky nodded and left quietly as Blue handed the two workers a check. They thanked him, and he walked out with Ivory and Red following behind him. Ivory was much more nervous now; she physically felt sick but said nothing.

"Don't worry, kid," Red tapped her shoulder, seeing that she was nervous, "we're almost done."

Ivory nodded but said nothing.

The three were off to the next unspoken destination, and the car ride was much longer than the one previous.

Ivory then noticed that they were going back to the base.

"Why are we going back to base?"

"You'll see," Red said, not looking at her.

Ivory wondered if they had gone out last night and caught Viper, but she wasn't too sure. Was she seeing Viper one last time?