To be able to bend a knife so easily, and to do that without a hint of fear, it was clear that the man who had appeared out of nowhere was far from normal. Every fiber of Gil’s being was telling him that the stranger was dangerous. His appearance had been something outside his expectation, so it had taken him a moment to understand what the other wanted from him.
‘Underdogs… shit, Bowden warned us that there was a good chance that they might come! But why would they come out just for a colour gang? And how the hell am I supposed to know who they are looking for? Hell, a good bunch of the guys in our group have green hair!’ Gil thought. The dropout started to seriously get frustrated about how this person had suddenly interrupted his fun.
Seeing the lack of a reaction on the grey colour gang member’s side, Kirk let out a big sigh.
“Yeah, I guess there are quite a few people who have green hair these days, huh? Since he’s being chased by us, he might have already dyed it to another colour. Or maybe he kept it green, thinking that we would have expected him to change it?” Kirk started to go on, clearly not phased at all at the seriousness of the situation.
For Maya who had just been saved, when Kirk mentioned a ‘green haired kid’ there was only one boy who instantly came to mind. The mother still vividly remembered the day when her teenage son had come back, insisting on hiding his head under a hoodie. However, since it had been a rare free for the middle aged woman, Maya had decided to have dinner together as a family with her children. Naturally, Gary had not been allowed to eat with his hoodie on…
That day was a day filled with tears of joy and laughter all at Gary’s expense.
‘… is he talking about Gary? No, that can’t be it. Surely it must just be a coincidence. This person is an adult, one who belongs to a gang, why would Gary have anything to do with someone like him?’ Maya thought to herself.
“The kid we’re looking for should be around your age, which is why I’m asking on the off-chance you might know him. He’s a little on the small side, hot headed, energetic. Does any of that ring a bell?” Kirk added some details, hoping that they might finally end up with a clue.
At this point, Gil decided to let go of the knife. His frustration due to not being taken seriously had started to outweigh the fear he had toward this stranger. He might be a member of the Underdogs, but weren’t they part of different gangs in the first place? Why should he answer him when there was nothing for him to gain by doing so?
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. Why the f*ck should I tell you anything?!” Gil shouted as he threw out a fist towards Kirk. The adult man didn’t lose his temper. Just like with the knife, he grabbed the teenage boy’s fist and quickly twisted it.
This wasn’t the first time he had asked this question, yet somehow all these colour gang members had the same reaction when he did, unable to comprehend that they were no longer in control. By now, the Altered was a little tired of the bravado all these teens would display, forcing him to get rough on them.
The next second, his nails started to stretch out, getting thicker, longer and sharper. Slight fur was appearing on his forearms, and his teeth started to grow as dark spots began to appear on his body.
“Answer me!” Kirk demanded, screaming at the person.
At that moment, Gil flinched and went down to the floor. It wasn’t due to Kirk’s actions, but what he looked like now had reminded him of a certain event. Something that had happened not too long ago.
“You think you can just cower like that?” Kirk shouted at the frightened dropout. “Wasn’t it you, who I’ve heard spout some bullshit about ‘being prepared to get hurt as well’? After all you did to these poor people, you nearly piss your pants when someone is able to stand up to you?!”
Regardless if Gil wanted to fight or not, Kirk had already been beyond angry with him. He hated these types of people the most, the ones that were happy to torture those weaker than them, but became meek in front of those more powerful than them.
The Altered threw out his leg, kicking Gil right in the stomach. The kick was so powerful, that it lifted the teenager half a meter off the ground. His eyes were watering, and it took him a few seconds until he could finally manage to breathe again. The first thing he could think of doing was calling for help.
“Help!” Gil whimpered, as he turned around in the direction where the other colour gang members should have been. “Help me!”
At that moment, five adult men who were wearing a similar black suit to Kirk came out. Each one of them held some unconscious colour gang members by the scruff of their clothes and were dragging them over to Kirk.
All of the members that had been busy raiding the supermarket had been dealt with. Seeing this, Gil was realising the danger that he had gotten himself into.
“Do you understand, now?” Kirk asked with a dangerous smirk. “Being in a gang is not all fun and games. You might think you’re like family, or that you are untouchable by the law because of people backing you, but this is the reality.
“All your actions still have consequences. You should remember this scene, because it will become something that you will start to see everyday.” Kirk berated him crouching down to his height, he was still transformed, and Gil wanted to look away.
Kirk’s eyes looked like that of a lion or tiger, and it was striking fear into his body. It was then that the Altered grabbed the teenager by his hair and forced him to turn his head and look at him.
“Look at me!” Kirk demanded as he stared into Gil’s eyes. “Look at what you did!” He shifted him towards the two women that were filled with tears behind him.
“Do you still think this is fun?” Kirk asked, yet there was no response.
“Answer!” The Altered shouted and he lifted his hand, slapping Gil across the face. It was a heavy slap, and not just that, but his fingernails had transformed to claws that had scratched the boy’s cheek, causing blood to fall.
——
Meanwhile, running as fast as he could, doing his best to avoid all the chaos around him, Gary had run past countless fights, unconscious and bloody bodies of colour gang members lying on the streets and other horrific scenes. Finally, the supermarket was in his view.
The high schooler had seen the destruction of the other shops and with each one, his worries about the state of his mother had increased. To top things off, his one remaining red Mark was seemingly intertwined with the green Mark of his mother.
‘Mum, please be safe!’
******
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