11 years ago

  “Split up! He couldn’t have gone far!” yelled a burly man with heavy shoulders.

  Keldon sprinted around the corner, dashing through the dark narrow alleyways in a sweaty panic. In his arms he clutched a worn-down rucksack, stuffed with loaves of stale brown bread. If he could just reach the sewers, the men chasing him wouldn’t dare follow him.

  He ran as fast as his feet could carry him, taking the familiar route down the winding paths of the ruined city. It had been 2 years since the Divine had torn the city of Stringston in two, sending it swooshing into chaos. Everything was pretty nasty now. The parks were all filled with dead grass and trees, food was hard to find, and in general, everything smelt a little bit like pee. He could still remember what the city used to be like before the attack. His favorite soy-glazed chicken shop had been destroyed which was pretty depressing, every Friday evening, he’d stop by with dad on the way home from work. He missed his dad, like really missed him. But he was gone now, and Keldon was usually too busy looking for something to eat to have time to think about anything else nowadays.

  “Just gotta get past these streets!” Keldon thought, leaping over the passed out drunk guy in the middle of the alley making his way towards the light at the end of the alley.

  “Gotcha ya little shit!!” said a gruff voice stepping out from behind the alley, it was the burly man Keldon had stolen the sack of bread from earlier. To be fair though, he had yoinked it from rations tent first, so he shouldn’t complain if he had been yoinked back. At least, that was how Keldon saw it, but the two of them didn’t see eye to eye.

  He yanked Keldon by the collar, making Keldon drop the sack as he hurled Keldon into the brick wall.

  “Augh!”

  Keldon’s vision blurred as he was smacked against the wall, slamming the back of his head and filling his mouth with the taste of blood. Pain, eugh this was so painful. But not as painful as it was going to be if he couldn’t get anything to eat tonight. He reached out towards the burlap sack desperately as he struggled to get up.

  “Oh no ya don’t lil’ fucker.” Said the burly man, stomping on his hand.

  The man’s foot coming down on Keldon’s hand sent another wave of mind-numbing pain shooting up Keldon’s arm. Doubling down, the man ground his boot against the Keldon’s hand, tearing it against the pavement.

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  “Can’t! Believe! You wasted! My Time! Fucking! Brat!!” said the man, kicking Keldon in the stomach. However, the numbness that overtook his body shielded him, but he’d definitely feel it in the morning.

  If he made it to morning.

  After Keldon stopped crying out in pain, instead reduced to a beggar’s whimper, the man stopped, clicking his tongue in annoyance as he picked up the burlap sack and pulled out one of the loaves of bread. He tore one open, pulling out what looked like a dark ball of sap as he breathed a sigh of relief before shooting back a look of annoyance towards Keldon.

  “Lucky kid, I’d have done worse than beat you black and blue if you’d lost me the month’s drop.” Said the man, kicking Keldon once more for good measure. “Dumb Brat is gonna make me hafta explain myself to ‘Skinz now”

  He picked up the burlap sack slinging it over his shoulders and started to walk away. But then, out of seemingly nowhere, a small dark figure leapt from the shadows, slamming into the man’s side with a drop kick.

  “Tuff, Billy, get his hands!” Yelled the dark figure, now standing over the man pinning him. Two more figures, probably who Tuff and Billy were, ran around the corner each holding the ends of a rope, and with a practiced quickness, hogtied the man. With his legs and arms tied   behind his, the man wriggled around desperately yelling enough swear words to give Keldon time out for life if he had tried saying them.

  The dark figure ran up to Keldon with the other two following close behind. Getting a closer look, all three of them were boys who looked close to Keldon’s own age. The one who seemed to be the leader had messy salt and pepper hair, while the other two were identical twins. They both had dirty blonde hair and looked nearly the exact same.

  “What should we do with him?” asked one of the two boys.

  “Uhh… I didn’t think that far” said the boy who acted as their leader.

  “Again Luther?? Now what? Leave him to die?” said the other twin.

  “Shut up Tuff. We’ll take him to Papa Spider.” Said Luther.

  “Papa Spider??” Keldon thought, mind still dizzy from the pain and blood loss.

  Keldon’s vision began to fade, drifting in and out of consciousness as he was carried by the three boys back through the alleyways, taking an unfamiliar direction to a section of the city Keldon had never been to before. He tried to muster up the energy to get away from them, although thankful for the help, he didn’t know who these strange boys were. For all he knew, they were planning to sell him off as a slave!

  “Hey, quit your squirming or you’re gonna bleed out stupid.” Said Luther who carried him from underneath his shoulders.

  “W-who are you?” Keldon asked, barely spitting out the words from his split and swollen lips.

  “Me? I’m the next hero of Stringston” Luther said, beaming with a smile.

  “And I don’t wet the bed every other night!” said Tuff(?) rolling his eyes. Well him or billy, Keldon couldn’t tell them apart.

  “You’ll see, they’ll all see!” said Luther with a light shining in his eyes.

  The three of them bickered back and forth as consciousness finally slipped from Keldon grasp, his last thoughts floating in his mind.

  “Hero huh?” Keldon thought, “Stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”