Naomi was standing behind the counter with her hand covering her mouth. She was in disbelief at what had happened right in front of her. She hadn’t been running the bakery for a long time, but to be honest, these people that would ask for protection money every once in a while were getting to her.
The woman was aware that having to pay protection money was simply a necessary evil if one wanted to work in any town, but the frequency with which those gang members were harassing her about it, was simply getting out of hand. At times she had wanted to slap these members herself, but Naomi knew that it wouldn’t end with that. The Howlers weren’t just any gang in Slough, but the biggest one, so doing any such thing would only make it worse in the end.
The woman had merely resisted today because she was out of options, never expecting for someone to intervene on her behalf, much less to witness one of the gang members slump over on her floor with blood dripping out from his mouth.
“You fu*ker!” Another gang member shouted at the teenage boy whose back was facing towards her.
‘The boss told us something like this would happen since it’s a new area, and since the gang haven’t quite made their name around everywhere, there would be those that would test us. Regardless he was only able to take Joe down because he caught him by surprise!’ The man thought to himself.
“Don’t mess with the Howlers!” The man shouted, as his fist flew towards the teenage boy’s head… only to hit nothing but air. Gary had calmy moved his head to the side, and now grabbed onto the attacker’s forearm. It was a deadly grip that caused the gang member to scream out in pain. He felt that his bones were on the verge of breaking.
“I just told you that you should keep that name out of your filthy mouth!” Gary threw a punch cleany in the man’s face and let go of his forearm at the same time sending him flying back. A loud crash was heard as he bumped into the door of the shop causing the glass to crack but not to break.
“Dillan! Are you okay? Wake up, man, wake up!” The last member in the bakery shop came to the other’s aid, but Dillan had been knocked out completely. Realising this, the man stood up, his legs shaking slightly.
“You! You will pay for this!” The man threatened as he pulled out his phone and ran back out through the entrance of the shop.
“That damned coward he left his friends here lying on the ground as well.” Gary mumbled to himself, either way it didn’t look like they would be getting up any time soon.
“Do you— Do you realise what you’ve just done?” A female voice asked him from behind.
Taking a glance around the room, Gary saw that some of the shelves that were holding bread had been knocked off, the counter top was now slightly broken and had a chip mark in it, as well as the broken glass on the front entrance. The place was now in a mess that was for sure.
“I’m sorry about all of this.” Gary said scratching the back of his head. “I promise you won’t have to worry, I’ll make sure that everything will be fixed up for you in no time.”
Folding her arms, Naomi let out a big sigh. She knew that it wouldn’t be right to be angry at him. After all, he had gotten involved to help her, seemingly unaware of the consequences his own actions had.
‘Who is this kid? How can someone say those words so easily? He doesn’t look like he has any idea how much these repairs will cost. Not like a teenager in Slough even has that type of money in the first place.’
“I wasn’t talking about the shop.” The shop owner clarified. “You can forget about that. What I’m concerned about is you. Look you might be some strong student who likes fighting but you just messed with one of the Howlers gang members. You need to get out of here and hide. Those guys aren’t the type who are quick to forgive, and I don’t want you here when they come back.”
Naomi moved from behind the counter, and started to push Gary out of the shop. He was resistant, and pulled an awkward face, as he had certain thoughts in his head.
‘This woman is really nice, I can tell she is concerned for me, but how do I convince her she has nothing to worry about. It’s not like she will believe me if I tell her that I’m the head of the gang that was harassing her.’
“Will you stop being so stubborn, come on, just get out of the shop quickly before more of them-” Naomi’s voice trailed off as she looked at the street in front of them.
Now, there were around ten men in black and gold coloured uniforms who were coming towards them. The group of people didn’t exactly look the friendliest, and stood in the centre of them all, was a bald headed man with a wooden sword carried over his shoulder and a scar over his face.
“That’s him Park, that’s the one that’s causing trouble!” The man who belonged to the trio from earlier said as he pointed at Gary.
Park shook his head, as he tapped the wooden sword on his shoulder.
“I can’t believe that there is someone dumb enough to try and cause trouble in this area when everyone knows this is Howlers territory. Unfortunately for you, boy, the Great Park has been assigned to this area, and the boss said we need to do everything we can to protect this place.”
Taking the sword off his shoulder, Park pointed it right toward Gary.
“Get him!!!”
*****
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