The Regulator (Complete First Draft)

Chapter 45: Ivan - Not of Age

Ivan sat silently in the backseat of the truck. No one was talking. Nick was concentrating on driving and Andrew was just blankly staring out the window.

“So what are we doing when we get there?” Ivan asked, curiously.

“You aren’t doing anything.” Nick said, his voice flat and near emotionless, “you’re staying in the car and keeping watch for any kind of danger.”

“Huh? I thought you were bringing me along to…”

“You thought wrong.” Nick said, a little stronger this time, “You’re here to see what the world is like now. Nothing else. You are not coming inside, and you’re only to use that crossbow if it’s absolutely neccesarry.”

“I’m not a little kid, I can help if you’d just give me a chance.” Ivan said, trying to keep calm. He was getting riled up, they couldn’t actually bring him a long and expect him to just sit in the car right?

“You don’t need a chance. You’re just going to stay here.”

“But I can handle myself, Andrew know’s that. Andrew, tell him!” Ivan demanded. Andrew snapped out of his trance, and turned his head slightly so he could see Ivan out of the corner of his eye.

“Nick’s in charge of you, not me. You do what he says, and I’m not gonna argue with it.” Andrew said, calmly.

“But you’ve trained me too…” Ivan began, but Andrew cut him off.

“With Nick’s permission. He doesn’t want you going in to this house, and since I don’t know what’s going to be inside, I don’t want you going in either. You just stay in the car and act as a lookout.” Andrew said, definitively. Ivan opened his mouth to argue back, but shut it, defeated. Ivan slumped back in his chair, arms folded, and pouted the rest of the way to the house.