Chapter 5. One After Another

Mira’s POV

(Intense whistling)

They were circling me. Their eyes looked me up and down. Their whistling matched the rhythm of their shoes tapping. Their hands moved just above my shoulder as my spine stiffened at their move.

With a sharp move, one of them grabbed my pony tail and pulled my head back.

I had my eyes closed. I couldn’t show them the fear in them.

“What is this specimen doing here, in a school uniform?”

His mouth spit drool all over my face and neck and his breath reeked of alcohol.

The others found his remarks very amusing and broke into a laugh.

I was trying to hold my breath back. My body was as rigid as possible. I was bracing myself for what was about to happen next.

There was no time for me to reach for my bag or dial that emergency number. Not that it would be of any help at the moment.

Even if I did manage to call for help, I would be a dead ant before they arrived.

The one grabbing my hair, started pulling me backwards. My steps faltered as I tried to keep it as non-violent as I could.

Then suddenly, another one grabbed my legs.

“This one’s too slow, Rykin…” And he hurdled me up in the air.

The next thing that I remembered was being tossed up in the air.

It was like going up in the swing but there was nothing to hold, no seat underneath myself.

With a loud thud, I landed on my left side. It felt like the pain originated on the hard ground and radiated up from my hand and leg, up to my hip. I could hear their laughter growing loud and louder, and it was accompanied with their wild claps.

I tried to ignore the tears and focused on helping myself up with my other hand.

But two pairs of hands grabbed me from either side and started pulling me back once again.

They dragged me over the road but I did not scream. I did not scream, till I saw the injection in one of their hands. He was looking at me with his toothless grin and his metal was shining against the sinister liquid in the syringe.

This was the point of no return.

“Noooooo… Please let me goooooooo…” I yelled my lungs out, though this was not the original plan. My fingers and toes were getting out of control. I had no idea what was happening.

I was trying my best to pull my body out of their grip, when suddenly they changed their course.

They were looking here and there in panic. Was the police patrol car approaching?

I began screaming my lungs out but that was definitely another mistake that I made.

They gagged me, tossed a dark cloth above my head and began tying up my hands.

It was at this point that I heard gunshots.

The cops.

It was definitely the cops.

Thanks heavens, I was saved.

But all my enthusiasm dropped down my pants when I heard more rogues yelling,

“How dare you hunt in my territory morons…”

“Today your mother will be wriggling in pain in her grave… You m**…”

And so on the trail of abuse exchange went till it was almost making my ears bleed in pain.

It was in fact me, who was absolutely f*cked.

I was in the middle of a gang war between two notorious criminal gangs.

Oh my luck! What did I do wrong in my past life to make you so upset?

The shots showered one after the other. I could feel the steel zip zapping all around me.

It was such a situation that I couldn’t even get up and run, though I was practically free.

I was frozen in fear, petrified. I was waiting for the next bullet to hit me and then for the next and the one after that.

Miraculously, I was still in one piece when finally the sounds subsided.

I still chose to wait for a few more minutes and then slowly opened the cloth over my head and spit out my gag.

I was thinking that probably all of them were dead. But as soon as I opened my eyes, I saw a pair of legs, standing right in front.

As I slowly looked up I saw a very familiar yet unknown face staring down at me, with one eyebrow raised.

He did not look any older than myself, but the way he dresses was distinctive to the gangs. He even had a blade engraved on his black leather jacket.

I was expecting him to extend his hand and help me up but he stood there with his hands, crossed over his chest, as if judging me. For what reason, I could have never guessed.

I looked around.

There were bodies all around me.

But, they all had that one-eyed symbol on their jacket.

Did this lad, single handedly, kill an entire gang?

I couldn’t even gulp. I was lost, wondering if I was supposed to admire his bravery or feel disgusted at his action.

“Are you going to sit there all day?” He finally talked but I was looking around me. They all definitely looked dead but neither of them had any blood.

I touched the hand of the one nearest to me.

I poked it to see if I could get any response.

It fell on the ground with a slop.

“You shot all of them down… Why don’t they have any blood?”

It was probably an effect of too much novel reading, my mind was cooking up all sorts of hypothetical situations.

Were those men vampires?

Or were they zombies?

Will they be getting up?

Will I now face a group of undeads on my way back home.

I heard the lad heave a deep, deep sigh. As if he was very disappointed in me.

He pulled out something from his pocket and I immediately backed off and raised my hands to surrender.

He raised both his eyes at me and displayed the item in his hand properly.

It was a tranquilizing dart gun.

But I was certain that what I heard were gunshots.

I opened my mouth to put forth my point when he pulled out a second gun, on the other hand.

That was real metal. A real gun. And it immediately made me stand up.

I bowed as low as I could in front of him,

“Thank you for saving my life. I will forever be indebted to you…”

With that I quickly turned, picked my bag up, which had fallen a little up ahead and began walking, which broke into a run.

Suddenly, I felt a tug on my arm.

My speed broke and I was pulled into his arm.

He was already in front of me and his grip on my wrist was tight.

“Oh! sh*t! I am in the same mess once again…” I thought to myself. I was just transferred from one gang to another one.

“Are you sure?”

“Huh?” His question took me off guard. Could this one read minds as well?

“Are you sure about forever?”

“I beg your pardon?”

At this point, I turned to face him like a man, sorry, a woman. I was really curious as to what the lad wanted.

He was giving off that same aura as forbidden items. Like those boxes of chocolates tucked above the topmost shelves, like that wine bottle that all the adults had while you sipped on your soda… ummm, a very negative but attractive invitation that was not meant to be ignored at all.

“I want to know if you are serious about owing me forever?” I tried keeping a straight face.

“It’s just a term you idiots. Human beings don’t even have forever.” That’s what I wanted to say but instead I ended up saying,

“Yeah… I guess so… If we have forever… I mean…”

“Good…” He pushed me and let go of my hand, “I just wanted to let you know that I am a very strict debt collector. Make sure to keep your return packed when we meet again, little rat.” He pushed me again, this time putting me back on the footpath.

He hopped onto his bike and rode off before I could even process what he meant by what he said.

All that was left behind was a trail of dust and smoke in the air.