After telling Amy to wait in her seat, Gary quickly headed over to Kai. The teenager hadn’t been sure that the other would actually come through, since his only reply had been [I’ll see what I can do]. His upperclassman wasn’t a magical wish granting genie after all and with what had happened in Slough, it wouldn’t have surprised him if he might have been occupied with something else.
Seeing him come through the door, especially with someone who looked older than them, made Gary feel hopeful. As for the reason he had told Amy to stay behind, it was because he definitely didn’t want her to be involved in any of this mess that he was currently in.
“Be honest, do you get a kick out of ignoring all my warnings?” Kai asked in a slightly annoyed tone as he scratched his head. “I mean seriously, it’s not like I asked you to stay put in a cell or anything. Yet here we are, not only have you gone out but you somehow managed to end up in the hospital, even though you have a match tomorrow.”
Gary had only told Kai what he needed and that he was in the hospital, rather than explaining the whole situation. It would have been hard to go over everything via text. On top of that, if only the older teenager knew what his underclassman really had been through, perhaps he would give him some slack… or maybe an even bigger ear full.
“I’m sorry Kai. I just…” Gary stopped there. It was undeniable that he had initially gone out despite the risk of being caught by the Underdogs. It was only later that he had hurried to save his family. “It’s my mother…”
The high schooler went on to explain the details further, about how his mother got attacked in the supermarket, what condition he had found her in, how he had carried her over here and about the hospital staff needing an adult to take care of the two siblings, as well as sign off on a few documents here and there.
After telling him the full story, Gary had been half expecting Kai to make some snide remark, but instead the look on his face had changed to one filled with sympathy. Surprising him even more, Kai placed a hand on Gary’s shoulder.
“My condolences. I would have done the same if it had been my mother.” Kai spoke. “You’re the gang leader, so of course I’ll do whatever I can to help you out. Since I’m one year off from being an adult myself, I brought her here to act as your guardian.”
Kai pointed to the lady standing next to him. She was around the same height as Kai himself, which was quite tall for a woman. She wore heavy black boots and also had red lipstick on, her hair was jet black and straight, which was beautiful in a way and made her look more confident.
She didn’t seem to resemble anyone from the Underdogs that Gary knew, and he didn’t think that Kai, after everything that had happened, would bring one of their members here, so he was wondering just what the relationship between the two was. At least the others could be explained as members of the Underdogs.
However, Gary chose not to pry. As long as the woman was willing to help them out, that was enough for him. The three of them walked over to the counter where they received another form. Essentially the woman had to agree to act as a guarantor. If payment wasn’t handled in a timely fashion, it gave the hospital permission to go after her and make it so she would have to pay the bill as well.
It was something people would only do with their most trusted family members or friends. Which begged the question once again, who was she to Kai. She seemed too young to be Kai’s mother, but looks could be deceiving. Still, the two didn’t share many features on the surface, though Gary got a feeling that she seemed somewhat familiar.
There were a few more details that needed to be filled out, but the woman offered to handle it on her own, allowing Kai and Gary to move to the side. Neither one said anything for a while, yet Kai didn’t miss that Gary was constantly clenching his fist. His face would scrunch up a couple of times as well. It was clear he was thinking about something.
“I’ll help you get the money to pay for the hospital bills.” Kai offered. “If need be, we can just reach into those emergency funds for a while.”
It was then that Gary realised that Kai was trying to comfort him.
“Why me?” The high schooler asked as he looked up. “Why are you helping me so much? There’s nothing special about me. I’m not as good a fighter as Innu, nor am I as cunning as you. You could have just sold me out to the Underdogs and looked for another teenager if you wanted some puppet for your gang, yet why are you going out of your way to help me with situations like this one?”
“Does that mean you don’t want my help then?” Kai questioned. For a moment there was an awkward silence between the two, before the older high schooler let out another sigh. “Let me ask you this, what are you feeling right now? Even a blind person would be able to tell that you’re furious, so what is it you would like to do now?”
It felt out of the blue for Kai to answer his question with a question of his own, but Gary didn’t mind getting it off his chest.
“I keep imagining those guys, those scumbags who did that to her.” Gary answered. “It’s not just her though. My sister, a dead old man, injured and dying people out on the street. Why does everyone have to live in fear?”
“And the answer you came to?” Kai asked.
“Gangs.” Gary replied. “It’s because of the gangs who rule this place. They’ve gotten too big. I saw it, the best the police could do was quarantine Chavley off, probably hoping that the damage would be contained. The mayor and his government are unable to handle them. I hate them, I hate them so much. I want to get rid of them all!”
Kai looked at Gary again, and the look in his eyes and the facial expression of all of what he was feeling right now, he too had felt the same thing at one point.
“There’s your answer, Gary. The more I’m around you the more I come to realise that we aren’t too different. The sad reality is that it will be impossible to get rid of them in any legal way. The new mayor might be against them, but he will either be bought off by them, or they will just get rid of him if he doesn’t play ball.
“It’s not just Slough. Every town and city has these kinds of problems, only that some hide it better than others. At the top of all the Tier-1 cities you have the Kings. However, even they have gotten so big that it has become impossible for them to act on their own. They’re too afraid of stepping on each other’s toes, since fighting amongst themselves will just weaken them, giving others the opportunity to potentially take them out.
“Until this day, there hasn’t been a force that has been able to go to the very top, or be strong enough to get rid of them all. If you want to get rid of the gangs Gary, that’s your answer. Make your own gang, climb to the top with me, and protect the ones you care about.
“That’s the only way for guys like us to make any change in this godforsaken place. Nothing will ever change unless we can somehow get rid of them. It’s up to you what you want to do once you’re at the top, but let me warn you. You need to do this before you lose the people you care about, so that today becomes the exception and not the rule.” Kai explained, holding out his hand.
“We already made a deal once, but now that we’re both on the same wavelength. Let’s shake on this… leader.”
Just then, Gary could see that the woman at the reception was done with the paperwork, and was walking over. The high schooler somehow felt like he was suddenly under some type of time limit. Something was telling him that if he didn’t take Kai’s hand right now, the two of them would never see eye to eye again.
At the same time, shaking meant agreeing to create a gang, forcing him to create the one thing he had grown to hate. Was this really the only answer and choice he had?
In the end, Gary reached out and grabbed Kai’s hand, shaking it on the spot.
“I’ll do it. I’ll help you.”
“Help us, you mean.” Kai corrected him with a smile.
******
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