all for one -chapter 5
Well here we go again. I'd love to hear some feedback from you readers on how you like the story. It's about to pick up and go off, the past chapters have been a build up for whats about to happen.
An Even Less Mundane Beginning
Early Sunday morning in September
A bad part of the city
Sall followed Richard through the unfamiliar neighborhood. His foster family was wealthy enough to be able to deny the existence of the impoverished. The night was getting colder as it turned into morning. The metal tire iron was practically frozen to Sall's paw. It had been an unusually cold September; possibly record breaking, but who gives a damn about record colds for fucking September. The year without Kriss' optimism had forged Sall's pessimism into a slightly cynical outlook on the world. No one could make him laugh like Kriss could.
Whenever they passed through a shadow, Sall would watch Richard vanish for a moment. The blood on the end of the bat had dried; somewhere that hyena lay dead and un-mourned. Hours would pass before he would be found. Sall's breaths were heavy. As he drew them in, his chest grew stiff. There was an anticipation that was nearly paralyzing.
There were no cars out tonight, not now at least.
Richard froze under a streetlight. He looked like a walking shadow. Somewhere nearby people were talking. At least three. To Richard's surprise, Sall walked right past him.
The fox strolled down about a block towards the voices: his grip on the tool tighter than ever. Sall stared blankly down and alley at three guys, all about a foot taller than him. The only thing he could think about was Kriss.
One of them, a human, took notice of Sall after a moment. "Hey," he said, "Da fuck you lookin at?"
Sall stood motionless.
The human lost all trace of joy he had on his face. "Didn't ya fuckin hear me?" He gave Sall a light shove.
Silence.
From ten feet away, Richard watched worriedly.
"What you don't speak English or something?" The human flipped open his knife and flashed it in front of Sall's hazel eyes.
Sall slowly began to back away from the mouth of the alley.
"Oh so now you think you can just walk the fuck away huh?" The human moved forwards with the same pace at which Sall retreated. There was barely enough time to react as Richard charged at him. The wolf jammed the bat into the man's ribs, breaking at least two. The pavement was fairly cold and brutally hard on the human. He started in on this horrible hacking cough sound; it drove Richard goddamn mad. The wolf braced his paw over the thug's mouth so he didn't have to listen to it; but the cough continued and dampened Richard's fur. In a fit of disgust, he snatched the knife out of the man's hand and jammed it into his chest. After a quick spasm, the thug's body went limp.
Richard stood up from the cold ground and stood at Sall's side. "What do you think we should do?"
The fox had this unshakeable habit of over thinking everything. He took forever on every test he took and managed to be late for quiet a few things. If he knew his real mother, he'd probably manage to show up thirty or so minutes to her funeral. That might've been an exaggeration, but there was a large amount of truth to the fact. "Well," he began, "I'd say that the bigger guy's probably more of a problem but there's no way of knowing what the other guy's packing so I think we should just go ahead and"
"Fuck it," Richard interrupted. He strolled towards the two with the bat resting casually behind his head. "You," he said pointing the club at the bigger of the two.
"W-what?" though he tried to hide it, the man was scared.
Richard was good at coming off as a bit affected. More often than not, he used it as a way of avoiding confrontation. It was hella good at keeping kids from giving him wedgies that's for damn sure. Though it was hella good at alienating kids. "Why are you scared? I was going to ask where you got you're shirt? But now that we're on the subject, you might want to go ahead and get ready."
The human wasn't sure what to do. He didn't have a knife or anything on him, so he just took up fisticuffs.
Richard couldn't help but laugh a bit. It was a sight. Though once he got over it, he swung like hell. The wooden bat hit the man's hand, breaking it instantly in several places.
The thug cried out in pain. "You broke my fucking hand!"
"What did you think would happen if you tried to stop a baseball bat by punching it?" Richard said laughing. "It's like trying to stop a bullet by jamming your finger in the gun barrel."
"Are you going to kill me?" The man said nursing his hand.
"Well let's see," Richard rested the bat on the man's head. "You," he said looking at the other thug.
He was standing with his back against the wall clutching his life harder than anything. "What the hell do you want?!" His voice was jittery and terrified.
"The way I see it," Richard replied, "Either you can die, and the biggun here can walk away, or I can smash this guy's head in right now, and you can go on living. Don't worry I'll make it quick either way. I'm not that sick."
Unsurprisingly enough, the man answered immediately. "Him!" he exclaimed, "Kill him!"
"Alright," Richard said faking some tone of reluctance as he drew back to the bat above his own head, "Oh wait, the catch is, you have to watch."
Before the man could even respond, Sall grabbed his head and aimed it at his friend. If he had to watch when his friend died slowly, the thug had to watch while his friend died quickly.
"Now don't you blink."
Sall held open the man's eyelids with his fingers.
"Good," Richard said. He smiled a bit, and then swung down with all his might. He was splattered a bit, but nothing a quick shower couldn't take care of. "Now," he tossed the bat into the dumpster nearby. "Down to business."
"What do you mean?" The man said, "I did what you asked me? I thought I get to walk away."
"You do," Richard said, "as long as you walk down to the police station and tell them what happened."
Suddenly, genius hit Sall like a bullet train. "No here's what you do."
Richard looked up with pleasant surprise.
"You go right to the news station and tell them what happened. You tell them who we are."
"Who are you?" the man said.
"Whenever the newspaper says something about deaths due to gang violence," Sall said, "About half the time we're doing the violence part. By the way, you don't do what exactly what I just told you to do, we will find you, and it will not be over quickly." He let go of the scrawny man, who immediately bolted off out of the alley.
Richard looked at Sall with a look of respect. "Bravo," he said plainly.
The cold was starting to get to Sall, who was poorly dressed for the elements. He shifted uncomfortably in the breeze like a scarecrow. "Do you want a ride home or are you gonna walk? Cause I'm about to freeze to death."
"It's September man." Richard said with a laugh.
"It's a pretty freezing September." Sall argued.
The wolf laughed some more. "I'm not to far away, I'll just walk."
"I guess I'll see you on Monday."
"I guess so."
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