A L L E Y S | Gotham

nineteen | THE TRUTH ABOUT FRIENDS

THE BUS BROKE INTO A STOP, as the oil truck moved quickly in front of it, with it's horn going off.

Once the truck had stopped too, Jerome took Isabella's hand in his own, and a gun in the other. Dopkins excitedly hopped off as well, his shotgun at the ready.

"Whoo!" Jerome breathed out, skipping towards the bus with the girl trailing closely behind him.

He slid closer to the door, "Ah," and then tapped on it with his gun, causing screams to echo throughout the bus.

〰〰〰〰

Alvarez sprinted up to Jim, who was trying to find out where his daughter could've been taken to. Harvey was distraught, blaming himself completely. Jim knew it wasn't his fault though, if Harvey hadn't left her, he would've just been killed.

"We got a sighting of the stolen truck. Yeavely Park. Someone said that there was a little girl with the men too."

Jim jumped to his feet in an instant, running towards the door.

〰〰〰〰

Isabella watched in horror, as Jerome flaunted down the isle of the bus, with all of the cheerleader's hands shackled down.

Greenwood kept a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to stand at the front of the bus and just look on as he taunted them.

"I want you all to know, this was a very difficult decision for us," Jerome stated loudly over the sobbing. "It was between you and a senior citizen bingo party."

Aaron began to get the hose out of the oil truck, but Isabella could only stare at Jerome.

"In the end, we decided to skew a little younger," he shrugged, stepping back towards the front. "Youth won the day. Sorry."

He saw Isabella shiver as he came closer. She couldn't be scared of him, could she? Well, he'd have to teach her not to be.

He knelt down in front of her, prying her away from Greenwood and placing his own hand on her shoulder in replacement. She squeaked when he pulled his gun up, pressing it against her cheek.

The bus went silent. No one, not even Greenwood, wanted to see her die.

"J-Jerome?" She stuttered in question. Why was he doing this?

He just smiled, stroking her cheek with the gun as he whispered only to her, "I'm not gonna hurt you, doll. No matter what I do next, realise that. We both gotta stick together, remember?"

One of the male cheerleaders had had enough. He stood up (as much as he could with the shackles), shouting angrily, "She's just a kid, you sick bastard! Leave her alone!"

And just like that, Jerome's mood snapped from calm, to something much worse. He just chuckled evilly, standing up and turning around to look at the man.

"Hey, and you're just a body," he said, and before the man could question it, planted a bullet between his eyes.

Isabella screamed, but it was not heard because so did every cheerleader.