No one knows what the apocalypse will look like. Even when the end eventually does come, we might not know that we’re watching the last days of mankind. Yet all the same, every soul living in the city of London on this sorry day thought that the world was ending around them.

The once cloudless azure sky once only mired by landmarks and skyscrapers now hung red and black with smoke and death as fire tore this once great city to the ground. The people of London who had started this day just like any other lay scared, battered, broken or worse around the streets as they hoped to God that it was over. That it was gone.

In the last year, they had gradually come to understand that there existed those with powers, some minor and some major, and that some chose to use their gifts at the expense of the general populace. However, it was also accepted that there were those who would protect the people and in times of need, heroes would rise to save the day.

Yet on this day, the day where every soul cried out for someone to save them, no one came because even the heroes were begging for help in the face of a threat so great that even the greatest among us fell to their knees. When even heroes need saving, that is when hope has died.

The world had never seen a monster like this before. Throughout history, there are those called monsters due to their attitudes and actions yet even the most diabolical among them were not truly monsters, they were just people. Twisted and malevolent, yet still human.

The creature that appeared that day was truly a monster, a being that in no way could be called human. It towered over buildings, sent shockwaves that collapsed communities and rained hell from the sky with its roar with contempt for those that scurried around at its feet. No hesitation, no remorse, just mindless rage and devastation that left lives ruined.

A man running through the street, bloody and out of breath, as he looks for someone to save, anyone to save. A woman strains against a concrete tomb, steel and stone crushing her leg as her screams grow shorter and shorter as the smoke floods around her. An old man stands outside his house, the home in which he grew up in, as he watches it burn, wailing for the wife who he knows is trapped inside.

Yet at the centre of the city is a light. Trapped and flickering out yet still shining nonetheless. So much has already been sacrificed to place it where it is, to provide a scrap of hope in dire times. Wrapped in a familiar embrace, it lies waiting for rescue, blissfully unaware of the grief that awaits it when it surfaces from the ruins.

In too many worlds, this day leads mankind down a path that they cannot recover from. Even in the realities where the monster is stopped and the city saved, these worlds are damned if he dies. Only the worlds where the light survives is there a chance of survival. A one in a million chance for sure.

But a chance all the same.

XXX

“Ronin.”

So… my name’s Ronin Faraday. I’m your average high schooler. I go to school, hangout with friends, work a part time job, the things most teenagers do. Even my appearance is quite bland. Average height, longish, wavy black hair and somewhat underweight. Even my interests are boring. Video games and books. All in all, I’m average.

“Ronin.”

If you hadn’t guessed it already, the world around me is pretty weird. Yet in a world filled with heroes and villains, I don’t really couldn’t guess less of a shit about superpowers which I guess is one thing that sets me apart from people my age. Well, less so now but it’ll take some explaining to get to that point. So strap in because this is a story about how my life got a lot, lot worse in a very little time. Here’s a slight spoiler, someone dies at the end!

“Ronin!”

I rolled over in my bed, waking up on what seemed to be just another Monday morning. I yelled back downstairs “I’m awake. Just give me a minute.”

I sighed and grabbed my phone. The home screen showed at least five missed alarms, something that wasn’t unusual for me. I swiped them away to use the screen as a mirror before promptly face planting right back into the pillow. A voice shouted up again “Then move your sorry butt! It’s eight o’clock already!”

I rolled back into bed and sighed. Then what she said hit me. “Wait, eight o’clock?” I asked out loud.

My eyes widened, and I jumped up, proceeding to sprint around like a madman. Five minute later, I came downstairs, now out of pyjamas and into my school clothes, a white button up shirt, over the top of which I wore a grey hoodie, and black trousers. I finished running my hand through my hair, content nothing was sticking up any longer, and dashed into the kitchen.

Waiting there was my thoroughly annoyed older sister and guardian, Faith. She sat slightly slumped in her chair, her laptop and a slice of toast in front of her while her long raven black hair ran down over her shoulders. She’d turned 25 a couple of weeks ago, was average height and despite her hectic work schedule, Faith found the time to go running most mornings which gave her a lean figure. She raised an eyebrow as I entered and asked, “Have you taken a shower?”.

I gave her a pleading look and said “It’s eight already! I put on deodorant, does that count?”

She stood up from her chair and stood directly in front of me. As she was roughly my height, maybe a bit taller, she stared me directly in the eye and said “We both know it doesn’t. If you move quickly, you might make the bus on time. So, move it!”

“Just tell me you didn’t use all the hot water”

She smiled an evil grin, the type that only smug older siblings were capable of. “I think we both know the answer to that question”.

I gritted my teeth and ran back upstairs, yelling “You’re the worst!”

Faith laughed and said, “Love you too.”

Roughly ten minutes later I ran back downstairs, hair still dripping wet and burst into the kitchen again. Instantly, a piece of toast hit me in the face. Confused, I caught it, dropped it and caught it again. Then instantly dropped it as a ham roll was thrown at me. I put the roll to the side before bending down for the toast of the ground which I promptly took a bite from. I glared at an amused Faith who said, “I think I hear the bus pulling up outside.”

“This is your fault you know”, I complained.

I packed away my roll into my bag for later and ran to the front door. I ran down the stairs of my apartment complex and got to the front gate to see the school bus speeding down the road. “No! Stop! Get back here you bastards!”, I shouted after it.

I tried to run after the bus, but it sped off down the road, two asshole kids waving at me from the back as it moved onto the main road and disappeared into traffic. Having followed me out of the flat, Faith handed me my bag, which I had forgotten, and said “Better get running.”

I sighed, defeated on this day and began slowly walking down the street, beginning the long track towards the school, about four miles away. Down the street, Faith shouted “Love you!”.

I waved vaguely back in her direction and replied, “Love you too!” as I turned the corner, slipping out of her sight.

XXX

Greyhall. A large city on the East Coast of England. Not the largest city in the country by any measure, but surely one of the most well-known. Not for its cuisine, history, tourist spots or even our once great steel-making industry, no it would be fair to say our town was less famous and more infamous. Greyhall was known for its immense crime rate, easily in the top ten in the world. While places in America such as Legacy City had superheroes to scare away the average criminal, Greyhall had no one to keep crime at bay. Hell, criminals probably came to this place because they saw it as easy pickings in comparison to the rest of the world.

Case in point, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a sudden scream from just behind me. Glancing back, I saw that an asian man, not too many years older than me by the looks of it, was crawling out of a nearby alley, blood trickling from a gash above his eyebrow.

Standing over him was a towering man with a pale, bald head and the tips of a tattoo poking out from the leather jacket he wore over a white vest, dark brown stains littered over it, as well as a pair of torn navy jeans. The man was a goliath, easily seven feet tall and made out of pure muscle that made me suspect it was the result of constant work at the gym and instead came from some mix of performance enhancers.

He clamped his colossal hand onto the back of the injured man’s shirt, dragging him out of sight as he muttered “Try and run again, I’ll break your legs.”

Now felt like the time to look away. This wasn’t my problem. The poor guy had probably taken out a loan that he ended up unable to pay back. A sad story, but not uncommon in Greyhall. But what could I do to help that guy? That thug would kick my ass if I tried going up there. I wasn’t putting my neck out when there was no chance of winning, let alone for some guy I didn’t even know. It was dangerous enough just living here in Greyhall, let alone without messing with the Slasher’s. So on my way I continued, making sure to keep my head down as the sounds of screams slowly got quieter in the distance.

Scenes like that was the reason I tried to take the bus at any chance I could. Not because I couldn’t handle the sight of such violence because that didn’t bother me that much. This was Greyhall after all and everyone had seen something fucked up at least once or twice. No, the bus offered me some modicum of safety in this godforsaken place.

It wasn’t all that common, but in recent months there had been whispers of students getting jumped on the walk to school, especially if they headed through Davenport. When you were on the bus, you were guaranteed to get to school with all your belongings intact and your health untouched. When you walked, you just had to put it up to chance that those who prowled the streets were either too busy to jump you or had their eyes on another prize. It’s not like you could count on a hero to save you.

That’s another thing to address. Heroes. Ten years ago, the world had changed forever. An asteroid was on a collision course for Earth and threatened to wipe out the human race until NASA managed to destroy it before it came into the atmosphere, breaking it into hundreds of pieces that proceeded to rain down onto the Earth. They struck all across the planet and left untold destruction upon various cities, landmarks and rural areas. However, those that survived the storm emerged to find they had newfound gifts.

Scientists theorized that the asteroid was leaking some kind of radiation that changed the human biology of those who interacted with them immediately after they landed or that they carried some alien parasite that rewrote the DNA of anyone it came into contact with before the organism eventually died due to the unfamiliar environment. Whatever the reason, society found itself changed forever. Those touched by the asteroid now possessed a gene later known as the meta-gene that gave me powers beyond human and with these abilities came a whole new culture. The first days were the bleakest as many of those now gifted decided to use their powers for chaos, leading to untold wanton destruction.

However, rising up to rival them were the first heroes who defended the world from this wave of tyranny. In the months that followed, the government eventually began to employ heroes as protectors of the peace which led to the creation of the American Hero Association, or AHA for short. With the majority of the asteroid chunks having fallen on the US, they quickly scooped up the most powerful heroes and founded an organisation to train and organise them into a national power which led to legendary heroes such as Nebula, Null, Wyvern and many more.

The UK didn’t have the same privilege. While in the early days there were capes just like the rest of the world, everything changed about one year after the emergence of powers. An event that most people call ‘Day Zero’. The start of a spree of destruction that over a span of five days shook the world to its core when four major cities were knocked to the ground. London was the first, then Berlin, then Tokyo and Paris before the desolation came to an end when New York City was saved due to the intervention of the AHA.

The specifics aren’t important but the wake of the tragedy, nearly all the UK’s capes were dead. The few that did survive, most were too physically injured or mentally scarred to ever put on their masks again. Those that did try to make a comeback faced a bitter public response as those that had lost loved ones needed someone to blame and chose to focus their anger on those who had promised and failed to protect them.

This led to the UK passing the Regulation of Meta-Abilities Act, a strict law prohibiting the using of powers in public that practically outlawed superheroes. To replace these heroes was an agency known as Metahuman Enforcement Agency, shortened to MEA, who wielded new tech designed specifically to neutralise meta-humans. Within a few months, both heroes and villains had disappeared with the heroes disappearing entirely while the villains hid under the surface, continuing their crimes while concealing their powers.

Honestly, it was hard to say if we were better off without heroes than places like the US where they were practically an institution. Sure, we didn’t have to worry about meta’s totalling buildings or psycho’s going on killing sprees every other month, but at the same time, I couldn’t walk to school without looking over my shoulder. The police would bust small time crooks and every now and then take in a gang leader yet in a week he was either out or had been replaced, leading everything on a non-stop cycle.

A couple of years ago there had been some initiatives to try and pull Greyhall back from the brink, like outreach programs for at-risk teens or investing in school in the poorest areas, but they were quickly abandoned when they were spending too much without any signs of improvement. Like it or not, this city was stuck in this limbo and I’d just learned to live with it at this point. No way I could make a change about it so I just kept my head down and lived my life.

That’s just how things were in Greyhall.

XXX

Regardless of what historians might tell you, Alejandro Alverez would insist that it felt damn good to be in charge. Compared to the life he had come from, Alejandro would never dream of giving up what he had. Shit tons of money, soldiers who listened to his every command, a woman that he loved with all his heart, but best of all, for the first time in his life he was truly free.

Currently, Alejandro was flicking through the last pages of a book Jade had recommended him, reclined across their well worn sofa as some repeat of a soap played on the tv in the background. Once some dumbass, high off his tits and wasted to all hell, had questioned why one of Greyhall’s Most Wanted spent his free time reading like some kind of pussy.

Of course, Alejandro had broken the kids arm for that slight, not out of anger for what he’d said but more to maintain reputation than anything. After all, it wouldn’t be right to let anyone think they could slight the boss without repercussion.

Insults like that didn’t bother Alejandro anymore. He was well aware of the expectation people had of him, the image that he was some kind of violent madman who only cared about sex and blood. To be fair, he’d worked hard to plant that image in people’s heads. It meant the sheep of the city feared him while the other wolves underestimated him and by getting the blood of both types of people on his hands, he’d made a name for himself in this city.

Most gang leaders would be found lounging in their own house or at the very least an apartment, but Alejandro was quite content with his little trailer. Sure, he could absolutely afford somewhere more lavish if we wanted but the Rusty Hinge, a junkyard converted to a trailer park, was more convenient for a number of reasons.

One, it was an easy gathering spot for the Slasher’s since many of his crew lived on site in their own trailer it was situated in the middle of Davenport meaning the rest were closeby. Two, it was practically a fortress in case anyone was dumb enough to push back against him, packed to the brim with enough manpower and weaponry to start a coup if Alejandro really wanted to.

In the early days, a lieutenant had once pointed out to him that in the case the police ever did get a warrant for his place, keeping all these resources on hand could blow up in his face should the law ever make a move against him. After all, it wasn’t like they weren’t aware of him. Still, Alejandro had just waved it off and told him not to stress it. He had it on good authority that the police would only come after him if he royally pissed off those in charge of this city and considering the services he provided, he was invaluable to these people. They loved the status quo and Alejandro ensured that no hostile power could influence Greyhall.

As Alejandro felt his attention wavering from the novel, he glanced out to see if Jade was back from the meeting yet. The couch was placed right next to the window of his trailer, giving him a perfect view of the trailer park where some of his gang were out shit talking to each other, probably about some bender they’d pulled the night before, but his other half was nowhere to be seen.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

As he scanned the grounds, it struck Alejandro how green those kids outside where. Their knuckles might be bruised and they might wear the mark of the Davenport Slasher’s, he could tell from the way they held themselves that they were fresh faces. Probably only a Slasher for a week or two and were still unaware of what the Slasher’s really did in this city.

It was clear they hadn’t been around the last time some crew had made a push into Greyhall and the Slasher’s had been called in to put down the invasion. It was what separated the boys from the men, the prey from the predators, the recruits from the soldiers.

Alejandro gave a rough estimate that when the next war rolled around, only two of the five kids out there would make it out. It was a harsh culling process for sure, but those that came out of the other end would be forged in fire, unflinching and unbreakable. They would be Slasher’s.

As he watched his recruits, Alejandro’s attention was soon caught by a familiar figure pacing her way through the lot. Wearing black leggings and a red crop top with blonde hair that ran down her back, Jade might be the only person in the world who Alejandro gave a damn about. She was tall and thin, not your traditional definition of beauty but she carried a certain air of elegance and power that drew in the attention of anyone nearby.

At first, Alejandro had just thought it was a fling. Another in a line of meaningless nights of passions, all pleasure with no strings attached. Except Alejandro found himself inexplicably drawn to her, not for her looks but out of a curiosity to find why he couldn’t resist her. For a while he’d managed to trick himself into believing that maybe he just had a type and that he’d get bored eventually, blind to the fact that he would spend hours with her, just chatting shit without a care what he said or how she perceived him.

He’d only realised that she was something more when he’d dragged himself to her apartment in the middle of the night, belly cut open from a night of brawling and when he had woken up in the morning, he was not only stitched up but she was still by his side, absently holding his hand. Before, Alejandro hadn’t put much prospect into the idea of soulmates, let alone love, but now he knew that if anything ever happened to his other half, Alejandro would burn the world to the ground.

Alejandro put his book down as Jade entered the trailer, although the look on her face made him pause. He had seen Jade happy, sad, scared and confused, but never had he seen Jade as pissed as she was right now.

“We’ve got a problem,” Jade addressed. In her hands she carried a laptop which she placed down on the table in front of Alejandro.

If anyone else had said those words, Alejandro would have waved them off. People often jumped to conclusions and labelled trivial issues as world ending problems. On the other hand, he knew Jade, knew that she’d stood by his side through hundreds of battles without blinking, so when she said there was a problem, Alejandro knew something was up.

“What kind of problem?”, he questioned. He tried to run through the possibilities in his head, but he was coming up short. There were rumours that some Gianelli’s were in town, but they had dealt with them before. He hadn’t broken any of the rules, not unless one of his boys had done something dumb while out on the town. If that was the case, then they’d have to cut them off, make an example of codebreakers to keep the boss happy. He could only come up with one problem that might have arisen.

“Did something happen with King?”, he asked. He felt his stomach settle when Jade shook her head although a new dread arose when he set eyes on the laptop. Tired of all this dancing around it, Alejandro opened the computer and found an email was waiting for him from his source in the Greyhall Gazette, detailing an article one of their journalists was pitching. A story on a meta-crime that occurred seven years ago, how a boy had killed his father when his power had emerged and the deprived actions of the father in question.

At a certain point, Alejandro couldn’t force himself to read anymore. His body felt cold, numb, as a chill stretched from his back of his neck down to the tip of his toes.

You’re no son of mine. Just a sniveling little bitch. A worm. A-

Snatching the laptop, Alejandro hurled it against the wall sending chunks of it flying across the floor. Jade didn’t even flinch as Alejandro rose to his feet, merely saying “What do you want me to do baby?”

He hated when he lost his temper around her and she saw him at his worst. He hated that in these moments he reminded himself of that bastard, that he’d inherited his anger. Taking a moment to slow his breathing, Alejandro’s rage didn’t simmer but he managed to regain his composure as he began to piece together just how he wanted to proceed.

The reporter had dragged up his past and planned on airing his dirty laundry for all the city to see. If people knew where he had come from, what he had been through, they would look at him differently and Alejandro had spent too long sculpting a reputation to let anyone shatter that. If people knew, they would look down on him, maybe even pity him. He would be weak to them. Never again.

“Find this journalist”, he demanded. “Find who they care about. Tell me when you have and I’ll settle it from there.”

Jade nodded, but paused before she left and placed a hand on his shoulder. Leaning in, she pecked him on the cheek and whispered “I love you”, before leaving him alone to his thoughts.

XXX

Being late at Chesterfield High School wasn’t abnormal. About half the student body came in late, not that most teachers really cared at this point, long gone numb to misdoings of students. Not mine unfortunately.

“Mr Faraday!”, Mr Robertson exclaimed as I tried to sneak into my homeroom, my stealth skills clearly leaving much to be desired.

I turned and muttered “Hey Mr Robertson… How are you today?”.

Raymond Robertson. The most stubborn, hard-assed teacher in all of Chesterfield. A dark skinned man in his thirties with curly black hair and a full beard as well, the man had taught for ten years now and never gone easy once. While others had long since stopped caring, this old bastard wouldn’t turn a blind eye to truancy, rule breaking, anything really. He looked me up and down and said “Mr Faraday, this is the fifth time this month you’ve turned in late. I’m afraid I’ll have to contact the principal again.”

Oh great. I went to speak, but Mr Robertson raised a hand before saying “Take your seat Mr Faraday. Or should I consider detention as further punishment for you.” I bit my lip, shook my head and took the walk of shame to my table. I caught a good couple side glances from my classmates, snickers and smirks kept hidden as I slumped into my seat, particularly from the table of Tom Sinclair and his friends on the other side of the class who I could have sworn whispered “Class clown”, as he leered at me.

Where to get started with that asshole? Well he was rich, an athlete and a top student which all in all meant he had one almighty ego that caused him to look down on the rest of us. It didn’t help that all our teachers gave him preferential treatment and thought of him as the star student. Well, except Mr Robertson but he was just an asshole to everyone.

“Real smooth Ronin. Real smooth.”

I rolled my eyes and looked to the student sitting directly to my right, my best friend Kaine O’Reilly. He was the traditionally handsome type with rugged good looks, neat brown hair and medium height. Since I had met him, the two of us had gotten along and he was pretty much my best friend. Actually, one of my only friends in general. “Well not all of us get a personal chauffeur to school every day” I responded.

Kaine scoffed and said “I don’t think parents count as chauffeurs. It just sounds like you’re being lazy to me.” Kaine was a smartass. No way of getting around that. But, he was my smartass. He wasn’t too bad once you got to know him. You just had to gain a taste for his particular personality.

“Doesn’t the bus stop right outside your house?” I now turned my attention to the other member of our table. Ashley O’Reilly, Kaine’s twin sister. The third musketeer of our little trio with mousy brown hair that ran down past her shoulders. While Kaine was the confident twin, Ashley was the more reserved of the two although kinder than her sometimes prickly twin. She had always been shy and didn’t make many friends so she’d taken to hanging out with her brother for the most part and as a result, they were an inseparable pair. Whenever I would hang out with Kaine, Ashley would join us and so it was that our trio would be formed.

“Well, I kind of slept through my alarm again.”

Ashley sighed while Kaine just laughed. “Again?” he asked. I just shrugged, the two of them used to me showing up late. I wasn’t really known for my initiative. Kaine leaned back in his chair and continued “Well, it’s a miracle you didn’t get shanked on the way here. Especially knowing your neighbourhood.”

“That’s just because I don’t stick my nose where it doesn’t belong,” I remarked. “If you were in my place, you wouldn’t make it past the street corner.”

“Shut up, I’m excellent with people,” he joked.

Ashley raised an eyebrow and quizzed “And what about that time you got shouted at by the old lady on the bus?”.

Kaine shrugged and said “How was I supposed to know that wasn’t a dog, just a really extra handbag? I was almost tempted to actually steal her purse after that.”

The loud buzz of the bell cut our conversation short as we all began to exit the room. As we neared the exit, Mr Robertson pointed at me and stated “It’s assembly tomorrow Ronin. If you’re late again, you’ll help the janitors pack-up the chairs afterwards.”

That would be an empty threat from most teachers, but I didn’t doubt Mr Robertson meant it. I glared as he turned his back, which only caused Kaine’s smile to deepen as we started the day. Still… couldn’t get worse from here, right?

XXX

The day went by pretty quickly after that with absolutely zilch happening at school. By the time I got home, Faith was still hard at work in the kitchen, typing a storm away as I came in to dump my bag in the corner. Curious to what she was working on, I peeked over to see a half-finished article on street crime in Greyhall.

“What you working on here?”, I quizzed as Faith continued working, not even taking a glance towards me.

Over her shoulder, she replied “Just a first draft. I’ve already done all the scouting for it, I just need to send something to my editor to see if it’s ready to go.”

Well, if she was going to multitask then I might as well join in too. Walking over to the fridge, I continued “Is it any good?”

Faith had worked for the Greyhall Gazette for nearly four years now. She’d started off at the bottom of the chain as an intern and had slowly worked her way up to the position of Freelance Journalist with the company, particularly specialising on crime in Greyhall. On one hand, it meant that there were no end of cases for her to report on while at the same time, she’d fallen into a loop of writing the same story over and over again.

Despite her tenure with the organisation, Faith was still seen as something of a rookie in her division as she’d only worked on crime for a couple of months now. This, combined with the fact that she worked in a predominantly male division, meant that she was picking up the scraps that no one else wanted to write about, quite literally the bottom of the barrel which for Greyhall meant incredibly boring or depressing.

I’d expected her current case to apply to one of those categories but was surprised when she said “Actually, I might have something with this one”.

“Really?” From the way Faith talked about her job most of the time, it was hard to believe she took any joy out of it. Still, when she found something she was really passionate about, it was impossible to drag her away from her work.

“Yeah, it started off as same old same old, but I think I’ve found something. Maybe something big”, she explained.

By this point, I’d fished an apple out of the fridge, a couple days out of date but still good enough to eat by the looks of it. I sat down opposite her, slouching into the seat, before I said “So what’s it about?”

For a moment, Faith’s eyes swung up from her work to look me in the eye before they turned back to her screen, very slightly inhaling as I asked my question.

“It’s not something you want to hear”, she replied before quickly adding “So how was school?”.

Wow, a real obvious change of subject there. I could call her on it, but if Faith wasn’t telling me something then she probably had a good reason for it. Did that mean she was getting involved in something dangerous then? My sister was smart enough to keep her nose out of trouble, but I still felt a pang of concern regardless. I mean, she was my fucking sister after all. We were the only family we had left and losing her…

I’d rather not think about it. If Faith decided to do something reckless then I couldn’t really stop her. Just had to keep my head down and hope everything turned out fine.

“School was fine. Nothing new there. What’s on the menu tonight?”

“Oh shit!”, Faith exclaimed. “Knew I was forgetting something.”

Yeah, that sounded about right to me. Whenever Faith got a case like this, it was often all she could think about for the time being. I seriously think that if I wasn’t here to remind her about food that she might forget to eat entirely.

“So I’m guessing it’s takeout then?”, I asked.

“Works for me”, she shrugged. “Chinese?”

I gave a firm nod and Faith rose to her feet, likely going to call in our order now. As she left the table, I realised that she had left her laptop open which probably meant her report was still on the screen for any potential prying eyes to snoop on if they were particularly interested.

I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t interested, but I stayed seated and bit into my apple. No reason to add any more stress to my plate than I absolutely needed to and by the way Faith had tried to dodge the subject of what she was writing, it was almost certainly a migraine waiting to happen. Better to forget about it and move on instead. It was a hell of a lot easier than getting involved after all.

XXX

For the second day in a row, I was walking to school, yet again a victim of being a deep sleeper. The volume on my alarm was already as high as it went and unless there was a way to get it louder, it was a coin flip as to whether I got up in time to meet the bus.

Sticking to the same paths as the day before, the usual stream of noise and chatter seemed quieter today as the shadows crept further from the alleys, the sun trapped behind the clouds and unable to shed light onto the dark corners of the city. The solitude might give some people peace of mind, but only deepened my paranoia.

At least when there were other people, there was a sense of safety in numbers or in the worst case scenario, I would know which direction I should run. If I didn’t know where the threat was coming from, if there was a threat, then I would be clueless to where it was safe and where it was dangerous.

I was probably just being crazy here, but nobody ever got hurt by being too careful. Better to be prepared if things went south than caught completely unaware. If any situation like that were to come about, then running like all hell would be the first and only option I had available. I mean, it’s not like I could throw a punch or anything. I’d never even been in a fight before.

The relative peace of the morning was shattered when a voice from behind me shouted “You Ronin Faraday?”

Spinning around, I found a man standing at the opposite end of the street, hands in his pockets as he stood assessing me with a soft smirk on his face. He was a Hispanic man, looked in his early to mid twenties with a shaved head and notably a scar on the bridge of his nose. He wore tracksuit bottoms and a black, baggy short sleeved shirt that one sleeve was rolled up so a tattoo on his right arm was fully displayed.

It was a machete with a snake wrapped around it and either blood or venom dripping from its fangs. It was probably some kind of gang tattoo but I wasn’t up to date on my gang culture so I couldn’t say which one but if I had to take a guess, considering the area we were in, I’d venture a guess that this guy was one of the Davenport Slasher’s.

And he also happened to know my name. Oh joy. This wasn’t worth getting into, especially when there weren’t any witnesses around. I turned away from the man to try and find the quickest way out of this side street when I saw five other guys approaching, creating a wall that blocked off my escape route.

Three of them looked about my age and somewhat familiar, possibly from somewhere at school, while the other two were older, clearly with a lot more experience at this type of thing judging from their stance and the scars on their knuckles. As they made a wall of flesh, they came to a stop and all looked to the bald man who in turn was waiting for me to reply to him.

So not an ideal situation. Still, if I gave him what he wanted then maybe this morning wouldn’t end in A&E. “Yeah, that’s me”, I told him. “Can I help you?”

“Fraid not kid”, the leader answered. “See, you’re sister’s been poking her nose into my business and I really want the bitch to back off. I was hoping you could send a message to her from me.”

Well now I knew why Faith didn’t want me knowing about her article. Although if I’d known she was pissing off the Slasher’s then maybe I would have found another path to school this morning. “And who should I tell her this message is from?”

“Alejandro. Alejandro Alverez”.

The way he said it, it felt like I should recognise the name but I still had no clue who he was. Maybe some lieutenant or even a captain in the gang since he seemed to be the only one of this group doing any talking.

He continued “See Ronin, when people come prying into my business, it makes me feel like they don’t take me seriously, you know? That they somehow think they can just get away with shit like this? Why is that, Ronin? Do they think they’re untouchable? That I won’t retaliate?”.

“I- I mean, maybe? Look, I don’t really know who you are but-.”

“And that’s the issue!”, he exclaimed. “Despite everything, people don’t know who I am. What I’m about. But you’re gonna help me fix that Ronin. Hold his arms.”

See, I’d been waiting for him to say something like that. The thugs were a couple steps behind me so I only had a couple seconds to react and find some way out of this shit show. If I went back then I was running into five guys so that was a no go which meant I had one other option which was right through the boss. If I got past him then maybe I could get away or at least to a busy street or something.

While the thugs lunged for me, I’d been ready to run for a minute now and dashed out of their reach before any of them could even lay a finger on me. Going straight on, the boss began to move to intercept me, hands out in front of him and ready to grab him. Odds were if I tried to run past him, he’d take me to the ground or at the very least slow me down which would be just as bad.

So, I had one choice. Go through him.

Winding back my arm, I swung forward with as much force as I could muster to knock Alejandro on his ass and out of my way. However, if it was not clear already, I was a terrible fighter and as it turned out, Alejandro was a very good one.

With ease, he side stepped my punch and caught my wrist, holding me in place as I tried to pull myself away from him. Despite my struggle, I didn’t even budge his vice grip as he squeezed down on my arm, causing the tips of my fingers to go numb already. Not ideal but now he was far more open for another punch I hoped.

However, it was then that something strange happened. A veins on the back of Alejandro’s hand began to shine with a purple glow as his grip seemed to get tighter and tighter as he did. As this happened, my vision began to blur as the world seemed to spin, my legs becoming harder and harder to stand upright on as they grew heavier and heavier.

Before I could even comprehend what was happening, Alejandro let go of my hand and I collapsed to my knees, dazed on the ground as my limbs suddenly felt like sandbags as even the smallest act like bracing myself on the ground made my stomach churn. I tried to get back up, but my legs refused to comply and I ended up falling face first onto the ground as I stumbled forward.

“Wh-what dd-did you d-do?”, I stammered.

“That was real fucking dumb kid”, was the only response I got from the man before I felt a firm impact into my shoulder. To be honest, my body was so unresponsive that I almost didn’t notice the pain at first as one of the Slasher’s kicked me in the shoulder. Then again in the small of my back, the pain much sharper again.

Then two more kicks, both simultaneously from two of the younger ones, both stomping onto my chest. Soon, a flurry of kicks were raining down from all angles as it suddenly became easier to track which parts of my body didn’t hurt. I couldn’t even shield myself as blow after blow just kept coming until I felt my head pounding and I had to fight to just stop myself from passing out.

Eventually a reprieve came and they backed off, leaving only Alejandro lording over me. It took all the fight I had left just to hold one eye open, the other already swelling over while something wet was flooding down my forehead and covering one half of my face.

I was vaguely aware that Alejandro was saying something, but it was impossible to make out the specific words right now. “…. done here…. one…. coup de grace.”

In an instant, he crouched down and a new pain, greater and sharper than any of the previous kicks had been. I glanced down to see that sticking out of my stomach was a knife, blood already starting to drench my shirt. The pain exploded once more as he tore the blade out of me and more blood began pouring out, my body going cold despite my stomach feeling like it was on fire.

Alejandro leaned into my face and hissed “Still think I’m weak”, before spitting on my good eye and walking away.

I just lay there, paralysed despite the fact I could still feel every ache and bruise all over my body. Especially my stomach, an unrelenting pain that was forcing my brain to shut down. I tried to fight it, knowing that if I shut my eyes that it was unlikely I’d ever open them again, but the pain was too much to handle.

As my eyes fell shut, I had time for just one more thought before I blacked out.

Just my luck.