Taylor slowed to a walk, heading towards the general vicinity of the parking lot, but not directly at the parked car.

After entering the parking lot and getting closer, one of the two men around the car calls out to Taylor. “Hey, kid. Come here,” The man says, gesturing for Taylor to come over.

Taylor points to himself and says, “Me? Why? What’s up?” He asks, feigning ignorance.

“Just come here. We want to ask you a few things,” The man says while gesturing.

Taylor observes the man before moving his gaze to the other man who was moving behind the car.

Taylor resolves himself and walks over. “What’s up?” He asks after coming closer.

“Do you know that Daryl kid?” The man asks with a smile as if he was talking about a mutual acquaintance.

“Yeah; why?” Taylor responds while taking a few more steps closer.

“Call him over. We saw him enter this park earlier and we want to catch up,” The man says, his tone becoming vaguely threatening.

“Man, I actually got to go, but he should still be around and I can give you his number if you want,” Taylor says before taking out his phone and walking even closer.

The man who moved behind the car immediately acts and raises his hand to reveal a handgun, “Don’t step any fucking closer kid,” The man demands while aiming his gun at Taylor. “Back the fuck up,” he demands once again.

Taylor raises his hands and steps back, while a bitter smile escapes his lips. So much for guns being illegal, he thought to himself.

The first man walks closer to Taylor and puts his hand out. “Give me the phone,” he says casually.

“Alright, man. I don’t want any trouble. I’m going to slowly hand you the phone,” Taylor says before slowly moving his hand towards the other man.

“Let’s go, kid. I don’t have all day,” The man says before reaching out to grab Taylor’s phone. The man unlocks the phone and finds Daryl’s number before giving him a call. The phone rang for a moment before it was answered. “Oy, kid. Come to the parking lot. If you don’t want your buddy to get hurt, be here in 5 minutes. And don’t fuck around; I know you’re in the park,” The man says before hanging up and giving Taylor’s phone back with a smile.

A few moments later, Daryl’s figure could be seen in the distance. After a minute of running, he was in the vicinity of the parking lot.

“Who are you? What the fuck do you want?” Daryl asks, refusing to get any closer.

“We’re the Demon Heart gang. And you, kid, have been dealing in our territory. It seems no one told you the rules here; this area has an opiate ban, bud is free to distribute, and all coke dealers have to go through the Demon Heart gang. You owe us reparations,” The man says before gesturing the other man to come over with his gun. “If you don’t want to pay your debt, you could just help us send a message; but of course, we’ll have to kill you,” The man says with a smile.

“Fuck; alright,” Daryl says, giving in. “I want out of the game anyway. How much do I owe you?” Daryl says, somewhat feeling relieved.

“Since you’re just a kid and it’s your first offense. We’ll say 20K. Just enough to make an impact and get the message across,” The man says, thinking that this was already quite fair.

“Fuck, that’s all I got,” Daryl says bitterly, before forcing himself to let go of his grievances. “Alright. The money’s at my apartment,” Daryl says bitterly.