They don't do it at the grocery store this time. They need heavy machinery in order to stack the cars, so instead the stunt will be taking place at one of Milo's parent's construction sites. Salem is unsure if they know about what their son is doing, but he's going to lean towards no.

It is almost the exact same setup as it was last time, except this time Salem's platform is in front of the cars. As in, he's right next to the first ramp. This is to keep last time's incident from happening again, though Salem doesn't know how he feels about there being absolutely nothing to brace him from impact if something goes wrong on the first ramp.

Salem really isn't as worried about that as he should be, though. His primary focus right now is living up to his camera work from last time. He can't disappoint, and he refuses to let Cam and Milo down.

"So Milo made sure that first ramp would hold up, but you need to duck in time. As long as you move at the right time, everything should run smoothly and there should be no injuries." Cam notifies Salem. Salem would like more of an explanation on how exactly Cam is so confident about that, since there are plenty of things that could go wrong even if he ducks correctly. Still, he just nods in agreement.

Salem walks over and takes a seat on the new platform, sitting back on his heels and going through Cam's phone as he waits for everything to start. He's not even sorry about it, he just generally likes going through phones. Specifically Cam's. It's interesting, and he's bored.

He doesn't find anything cool, though. Just some texts from Cam's mom asking when he will be home, and his camera roll is completely filled with videos for his page and pictures of people's homework. Salem exits out of everything when he hears the truck start up, and he notices that it's not Zona's. He can't help but wonder whose truck they're using this time.

As soon as the truck begins moving, Salem notices something alarming. It's not going nearly as fast as it was last time. He looks around and finds that Cam is the one filming on the outside, which means that Milo is driving. Milo doesn't even have his license.

Salem is beyond concerned, as the truck gets closer and closer. It appears to be going about sixty miles an hour, and Salem is fucking nervous. Milo is not going fast enough. There's no way he's going to clear the cars.

Salem ducks when the truck finally reaches the ramp, after several agonizing moments. He follows the same procedure as last time, pointing the camera up and everything as he lays on the platform. As expected, Milo doesn't clear the cars. He gets close, but ultimately lands right on top of them. Salem's eyes widen in shock, despite the fact that he expected this, and he makes sure to catch it on film.

That's when he notices the fire. It starts on the top car, then catches onto the truck. Salem watches Milo jump out, landing roughly and rolling a bit. Salem is frozen, though, and can only find it within himself to move when he feels a spark of pain. He scrambles underneath the ramp. Not his best decision, since the thing is made purely out of wood. It catches fire in no time, and it's seconds later that he feels his arm being grabbed.

Can yanks Salem out from under the ramp, right when it begins collapsing from the fire. Salem stumbles a bit against him, and he feels some pain in the lower part of his leg. He's unable to look away from the fire, until it crosses his mind that the pain he's feeling could be because he himself is on fire.

Salem looks down, scared for a moment. He doesn't find flames, but he made the mistake of wearing shorts today. Around his lower calf area, but not quite to his ankle, there is a burn. It doesn't look super bad on the edges, but the center is clearly at least second degree. Salem sighs. Cam starts scolding;

"Milo, you suck."

"Shut the fuck up."

"You weren't going fast enough."

"Shut the fuck up."

Salem stares down at his burn, and he's thankful that it hurts—which sounds crazy, but if it didn't hurt, that would mean his nerves were fried. That would make it a third degree burn, which would suck. He'd probably have to go to an urgent care in that case.

Salem realizes that Cam and Milo are now silent, and he looks up to find them both staring at the carnage.

"Fuck. Levi is gonna kick my ass." Cam mutters. Salem turns to look at him, because there is no fucking way.

"Wait. Is that Levi Morgan's truck?"

Cam gives him a solemn nod, and Salem and Milo look at each other. Wow, they might as well start writing Cam's eulogy now. Levi Morgan is their linebacker, and he's also a senior. Much like Atlas, he got held back when he was younger, so he's older than most of their class. He also has severe anger issues, and god knows why he even let Cam use his truck to begin with.

"You're so dead." Milo states, eyebrow raised. He seems to find this comical. Salem is genuinely scared for Cam, though. Levi's truck is currently on fire, and there is next to no chance of salvaging it. Salem has seen Levi in plenty of fights, the guy almost got suspended at one point. Cam is seriously fucked.

"CAMERON."

Cam's eyes widen, and all three turn at the voice. They see none other than Levi Morgan himself storming towards them, and Cam wastes absolutely no time. He turns on his heel and sprints. Milo is already laughing, and Levi is immediately chasing Cam. Salem is too distracted by the pain in his leg to find this funny, though, and he really wishes he had something cold to put on his wound. He's pretty sure that's not good for it, but oh well. It hurts.

Salem watches as Cam runs directly to his Camaro, opening the passenger door and sliding in. The lights blink as he locks all the doors, and Levi reaches it seconds later. He starts banging on the window and yelling death threats at Cam, and Salem actually plans on letting it slide. He's not too keen on arguing with an already livid linebacker. However, then he hears the glass crack.

Yeah, that's something he can't ignore. Salem's eyes widen, and he pushes down the hesitation. He jogs over to the commotion, limping just a bit. He's trying to ignore the pain, even as he feels the wound begin to throb.

"Hey!" Salem calls. Levi doesn't look up. "Hey! Cut that out!"

At that, Levi does actually stop. He finally glances up to meet Salem's eyes, and he looks beyond pissed off. He only makes eye contact with Salem for a second, before looking back at the window, presumably at Cam.

"Come out, or it's Salem."

Salem frowns, wondering what exactly Levi means by that, though he does have a pretty good idea. Like, Salem's paying for Cam's mistakes? Salem can't help his fear at the thought, since he's already gotten injured enough lately. He's not too keen on getting the shit beaten out of him by a football player.

"That's a horrible idea," Salem hears Cam's muffled voice. Levi narrows his eyes. Salem is just thankful he's not banging on the glass anymore.

"Then fucking come out." Levi growls. Salem can only assume that Cam shook his head or something, because before he knows it Levi is turning to face him and advancing. Salem's eyes widen in fear, and he makes to run away, but he's too late. His arm is grabbed before he can make a break for it. It would've been a losing battle anyway, though, since he couldn't outrun a football player to begin with. Let alone with an injured leg.

Levi switches to grab him by his shirt, and pulls back his fist. Salem braces himself, and only has time to lift his arms up part of the way before he feels the blow land on his eye. Salem hears Cam shouting distantly, as well as a car door opening, and some footsteps coming towards them.

This doesn't stop Levi from punching him again, though, this time on the side of his face. Salem starts to feel dizzy, and Levi lets go of him. Salem is briefly thankful for this, until he realizes that he can't hold himself up. He falls to the ground, and it appears as though Levi is about to kick him or something, though Salem can hardly tell due to his injured eye and blurry vision.

Levi is thankfully stopped by several people that Salem hardly recognizes, who all begin pulling him away. Salem feels someone helping him up as well, and he can only see the person's arms but he still recognizes that it's Milo due to the darker skin tone and partially painted blue nails, which are chipping. That would be courtesy of Milo's 6 year old sister.

"I'm so sorry, Salem." Cam apologizes. "I didn't think he'd actually go after you—god, he's so stupid."

Salem just sighs, sitting up and leaning on Milo. He's not even surprised by the outcome of this, due to his horrible luck.

"Watch your fucking back, Samuels." Salem hears Levi's voice again. Cam is angry, probably at the condition Salem is now in. He looks up and glares at Levi, before flipping him off. This causes more commotion, but Salem is hardly paying attention anymore.

Salem still ends up driving himself home, though it's beyond difficult and he almost crashes several times. When he gets back home he just walks to his bedroom. He doesn't even make it to the bed, though, due to how exhausted he is. This is why he settles on just laying on the floor.

He's definitely not going to school tomorrow.

-

Salem ends up going to school.

He really doesn't want to, but he wakes up before his alarm and can't go to sleep. So, he settles on just cleaning out his wounds and taking a shower. This has him wide awake, and his leg feels somewhat better, so he settles on just going to school, for lack of a better thing to do.

Salem gets a call on the way there, and looks down to find Catrine's name flashing. He feels a ball of excitement curl in his stomach, and quickly answers. He wonders if she's going to request more of his help in the investigation.

"Salem? You there?"

"Yeah," Salem replies, and he checks his reflection in the mirror. He really looks like hell, a nasty bruise on his cheek and a black eye that he can barely open. He decides upon just wearing sunglasses all day, even though everyone will probably assume he's high. Better than them seeing his bruising face.

"Okay. I need to talk to you, but we have to make this quick."

Now Salem is really curious, as he roots around in his center console for his sunglasses. His hand briefly grabs the knife that Atlas gave him, and he feels his mood brought down a bit. He eventually does find his sunglasses, and slips them on his face when he responds. "Okay."

"Alright, so I talked about it with Jordan and your father and they both disagreed with me, so this is just gonna have to stay between us." Catrine starts, and Salem rolls his eyes. It appears as though this lady is incapable of going a week without breaking rules and jeopardizing her job. "I want you doing undercover work."

Salem raises his eyebrows, and he can't help but wonder what exactly she means by that. Is she... wanting him to talk to Atlas? That's the only investigation he's taking part in, and there's no way Jack would agree to this. Salem's not sure why Jordan is against it, though.

"How? Wait, with Atlas?"

"Yes. I want you to find a way to get close to him again. Especially now that you know who his family is, you're our best shot at getting enough evidence." Catrine explains, and Salem isn't sure how he feels about this. Obviously he likes excuses to interact with his ex, but he doesn't think he trusts himself to have Atlas back in his life altogether. Assuming he can even get it to work out, he doesn't think he could ever see Atlas as just a friend. He wasn't worried about his mental health, when joining the investigation, because there would still be distance.

Undercover work? That's cause for concern.

Salem is anything but strong, though, especially when it comes to Atlas. He's never been all that concerned about his health, anyway. "Okay. I'm in."

"Awesome!" Catrine sounds beyond excited. Salem can't help the sinking feeling in his stomach. "I'll help the process how I can on my side. Make sure not to mention this to your dad, though."

Salem wonders what she means by help the process, but he doesn't really have the energy to ask questions right now. He knows she wouldn't give him a straight answer anyway.

"Okay."

"Alright. Contact me with your ideas and questions. Let me know when you think of a plan."

Salem gulps, finally reaching the school. He parks in his parking spot, fidgeting with the strings on his sweatpants. "Sounds good."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye."

Salem puts the car in park, realizing that there are just a few minutes before first period starts. He only gets as far as opening his door before there's a presence there. He turns to find Milo, slightly out of breath.

"Salem! Come on!"

Salem frowns, wondering why Milo seems so urgent. He allows the guy to grab his arm and drag him out of the car, before hastily leading Salem across the parking lot. Salem is so confused, wondering what could have happened so early in the school day to get this kind of reaction from his friend.

"What happened?" Salem asks. It's then that he hears voices, and realizes that there is something going on near D building.

"A fight." Milo replies, and Salem is immediately alarmed. A fight? That won't end well. Salem starts to feel especially concerned once he realizes something. Half the time, if there is a fight happening, one specific person is involved. Salem feels his heart rate pick up, hesitating a bit before finally asking; "Who is it?"

Milo glances at him, then faces forward again. The noise is getting louder as they draw closer.

"Atlas and Levi."