It had been several months now since Leyton Vans and several of his comrades first got together. They had lived in the horrid conditions bowing and serving those gang bastards for their entire lives. Owerneckors were just a bunch of pointless thugs that were against making people’s lives better. Eventually, they’ll get what was coming to them. They may have the largest territory of the gangs, but that didn’t mean they were invincible.

The leaders always focused on expanding their territory that they never properly realized that sooner or later, they’re going to have too much land. Fresh territory requires power, so what would happen if they became too big for their own good. Leyton could say with a hundred percent fact that they will crumble among the weight of their greed. They’d be overwhelmed and cast aside like the dirt they are. He and many others grouped together once every month in order to discuss how to overthrow the Owerneckers. The time for revolution started now.

Leyton walked over to the coffee shop that he went to every morning. He hadn’t gotten proper sleep in over a month, and the only thing that could keep him up was the caffeine the coffee gave him. Not only that, but it set up a good routine for him to follow. People within the city would do the same things day after day as not to draw in suspicion. As long as he set up a routine, he’d look like any of the other common folk, trying to go on with their daily lives. He became predictable, but being predictable is better than looking out of place and getting killed right away due to a break in repetition.

There would be a tiny break in repetition this time, however. He and two others scheduled to meet up at the coffee shop. They were needed as back-up if the time ever arose. He had his trusty gun and knife in his pocket, ready to unleash hell if necessary. If the situation even called for it, he was preparing to risk the innocent lives during the operation. This moment could decide the future of the first floor, and he wasn’t wasting it. Anyone who said or thought there was no future inside the tower was fundamentally wrong. True, there is no true future currently, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t weave their own future with an intricate web of strength and sacrifice.

All those blood and guts spilled within hundreds, if not thousands of years, will not be in vain. They were laid bare to see as a pathway leading up to this very moment. People will parade them all as heros not long from now. He would not die until the utopia that he and many others planned for the longest time came into being.

He turned at a four-way pass and the coffee shop came into view. His two other comrades sat at a table closest to the mansion. There were only two other groups there, a mother with two children, which she ignored for just another sip of coffee, and a man and woman talking back and forth as if on a date. He couldn’t help but smile and wave at the couple, who smiled and waved back. People should be able to live on without fear like those two. He envied their will to put on a smile in this hellhole.

He sat down in his chair and began whispering as low as he could muster. He didn’t think the woman had good ears cause she looked old enough to be at the age to have hearing problems, and they were too far away from the couple that they wouldn’t be able to hear what they were saying.

“So, it’s almost time.” Leyton whispered.

The other two nodded back at him. The man sitting to his right was Yevel Mafus. He lost his entire family after an Owerneckers raid years ago. They were caught up in crossfire between two rival gangs as a few hardheaded, dumb Owerneckers attacked another gang’s restaurant. Afterward, he had always despised the gang and vowed to one day overthrow them and create something new.

The man sitting next to Yevel was a burly man named Cask Oxc. Unlike Yevel, Cask was there merely because he could one day be in history books as a hero. Glory called to him like a mother calls upon her child when dinner sat on the table after a long, hungry wait. No malice filled his heart for Owerneckers; he just wanted time in the spotlight. Leyton didn’t think it was an honorable reason, but they had an extra member fighting with them, so he just had to suck it up.

“You think the one’s inside are going to subdue everyone?” Yevel asked. “There’s way too many Owerneckers in order to take them all at once.”

Leyton shook his head, disappointed at his lack of hope. They went over the plan in great detail at the last meeting and they left entirely confident in the plan panning out exactly like they wanted. There was no room for doubts. Doubts could only cloud the mind, and if the mind wasn’t ready, then the plan had no hope of succeeding. Confidence was the deciding factor into whether a person can shoot a man to save a country, or if he hesitated at the last moment, giving guards ample time to retaliate.

“There’s no time to think like that.” Leyton brushed off his worries. “It’s already in effect. Better just keep moving forward with the plan since there’s no turning back now.”

All they needed was to get their hands on the cube, and it was over. The city would be theirs and they can begin establishing order. If anyone were to go against that order, they’d need to be eliminated for the sake of the future.

“Hey, you three mind if I have a word with you?”

Leyton heard someone behind him, and both Yevel and Cask stared behind his head. Leyton didn’t need to turn around to know that he had a gun barrel pointed at him. He looked at the corner of his eyes at the other tables. The woman froze looking at the scene playing out, too afraid to move. Her children clung to her, crying and begging for them not to shoot.

At the other table where the couple sat, the man had vanished, and the woman sat with a smug grin, looking at them. She reached from underneath her chair and brought out an Owernecker jacket. She put it on as she took out another gun from her pants pocket. Leyton and his team were caught. There was no escaping now. It’s do or die.

Helona was the one to come up with the plan first. When they approached the coffee shop, she noticed one man was one of their targets. She hid behind the building before they spotted her and began planning. Once the idea came to mind, all she had to do was explain it to Kauss and they could begin right away.

The first step was to take off her jacket. They’d be on full alert and if they got a whiff of an Owernecker nearby, they’d run in an instant. They needed to be as inconspicuous as possible. However, they needed to bring it along, so she balled it up and placed in under her arms while hiding the patchwork “O” that was stitched onto the chest. She couldn’t alert them, but she needed the jacket for extra intimidation once the plan came into full swing. They’d be less likely to run once caught, and it would be easy to force them to spill the location of their comrades. This wasn’t their first time doing something like this, and she had every single word planned out.

Helona gained a second gun from another Owernecker who was on his way to kill rebels himself. With it, they both had a weapon they could use to kill them from afar without needing to get within danger’s reach. Kauss was a decent shot with a pistol. He wasn’t too accurate, but he was a good enough shot to at least cripple someone. For this mission, however, he didn’t even really need to be too accurate since this was more of a way to gather information rather than killing. Once they got the information they needed, they were going to kill them anyway.

The last step was more of a waiting game than anything. Helona decided they would need to wait at least twenty minutes for any potential back-up. Once everyone was there, or the twenty minutes expired, they’d head up to them and start the interrogation at gunpoint. They just needed to act like they do on their dates until they ask questions and blast faces.

Kauss stood behind the target with his gun pointed at the back of his skull. The other two men were too afraid to do anything since if they moved, then Helona would blast them where they sat. They only really needed one person to do an interrogation anyway.

“What do you want?” Leyton asked without turning his head.

“Simple really.” Kauss said with a playful tone, as if they were nothing but toys to him. “If you tell us where your friends are, we’ll only cripple you for life.”

The men said nothing. Kauss knew this would happen. It always does. He nodded so his chin pointed at the burly man. Helona raised her gun toward the man’s shoulder. He saw what was about to happen and screamed. She pulled the trigger and the burly man fell onto the floor, clutching his arm. The other two men said and did nothing except watch as their friend wormed on the floor in agony.

The burly man went to grab his gun with his working hand. Before he could, Helona shot his other arm twice. His arms could no longer function with the bullet wounds. Having open wounds in a place as dirty as this could also lead to incredibly severe infections. The man would either have severely scarred arms, or could even die a several month long painful death.

“We only need one of you, so talk before we make another rash decision.” Kauss antagonized them. Leyton mumbled something under his mouth that Kauss could barely hear. “What was that?”

“I said fuck you.”

Kauss and Helona locked eyes with each other. Kauss shrugged and nodded his head toward the skinny guy. The man saw him give the sign and in a series of instant adrenaline and terror; the man stood and ran away. Helona aimed her gun right at the back of his head and fired. The bullet hit the mark, and he fell down, dying instantly. His body went limp and lifeless as blood seeped out of the wound on the back of his skull. The children that were at the other table cried louder than before as they saw either their first, or another dead body that wouldn’t even be close to their last.

“He didn’t have to die, you know.” Kauss mocked. He could see the beads of sweat dripping from Leyton’s bald head. “You don’t want to die, so just tell us where are your other buddies.”

Leyton still didn’t answer. Kauss was about to shoot his spine due to the lack of fucks Leyton’s been giving him. Finally, he opened his mouth and spoke in full, but it wasn’t what Kauss expected.

“Do you not want a future for this city?” Leyton asked with genuine concern in his voice. “Look at all this. Destruction and mayhem fill the streets as if that were supposed to be normal. With each body that drops, do you ever consider that one day that’ll be you dead on the ground, fulfilling nothing in life.”

Kauss had no clue what Leyton was talking about. He had always considered that he’d die just like the other people he’d killed, but he never really cared that much. In a city with no future, there was no reason to care about life and death. All he needed to do was keep his reason to live as close to him as possible and he could survive another day. If he were to die tomorrow, then he’d die with no regrets. That day wouldn’t come, however. He would make sure it would stay as far away from him as possible.

“Just shoot him.” Helona said. “We’ll just take these two targets back.”

“People seem to think that there is no future within this city, but I beg to differ. There is truly a way for this floor to shine as long as we can bring order to this disgrace. Don’t give up on the future just because you’re too blind to see it. I’m fine with dying today since I know, soon, the future we all seek will be upon us.”

Kauss didn’t shoot his gun. Leyton stayed quiet and Helona waited for him to finish the job. The plan was ruined thanks to him being one of those self-righteous types. Kauss didn’t know what was going on with him. He shook his head and went to pull the trigger.

“Hey!”

A shout at the end of the street made Kauss lose the rest of his concentration. A man stood all the way to the back of the street. He raised up a gun and pointed it straight at Kauss’ head. He dived and Helona followed his lead. The man fired, the bullet grazing Kauss’ cheek. Blood dripped from the wound, slowly hitting the corner of his mouth. He wiped the blood off, smearing it along his face. Helona knocked their table over and hid behind it for cover. Kauss followed her as another gunshot fired in the distance, that time nearly missing his ankle. If it had hit, he’d bleed to death with no hope of survival.

Leyton got up from his seat and ran away as fast as his legs could take him. Helona attempted to peak over and shoot, but every time she did, the man in the street would fire the gun. They were stuck where they were until the gunner moved on. Kauss swore that once they run off that he’d give chase as far as they could take him. There was no way that he’d let the bounties go that easily.

“What do we do now?” Helona shouted.

Kauss took a chance to peak around the cover to see if they were gone. He slowly edged his way out of safety and peeked out. Leyton and the gunner were running down the street as they sat behind cover. He quickly shot up from out of cover and Helona followed. Before they took off, Helona shot the burly man in the head, since he wasn’t dead yet, making sure they’d get at least one target. Leyton had a head start, but both Kauss and Helona had enormous amounts of speed and stamina to keep up a chase.

Kauss turned where he saw Leyton and the gunner disappear to. When he took the path, he saw them split up at the end of the road. Leyton went down the left path while the gunner went down the right. As they gave chase, he signaled to Helona that he was going to follow Leyton. She nodded and took the right path, splitting up to take on their respective targets.

As soon as Kauss went down the left road, he heard a gun fire. Kauss braced himself, but no bullet whizzed by or hit him. People that were walking in the streets screamed and ran toward the nearest safe place they could. It became total panic, making it hard to discern Leyton from everyone else. Kauss pushed past the panicking civilians as he tried to find where the rebel ran off to.

The crowd finally dispersed, and Leyton was nowhere in sight. He completely vanished from his vision. He cursed silently to himself as he speed walked down the road. With each alley he passed, he would look down them, hoping that he was nearby. Coming down to another split road, he didn’t see any sign of him near. If Leyton went to the right, all he’d need to do is keep going straight to be out of their territory. If he managed that, then there’d be no way Kauss could give chase without upsetting the gang controlling that region. He’s not a part of the Owerneckers, but he was on Owernecker business and that alone could be enough to start a war.

Two loud gunshots rang in the air. They came from the right, just the thing that Kauss worried wouldn’t happen. That made him wonder, however. Why fire the gun if he wasn’t chasing after him? Not to mention Kauss should have still been able to see him running down the street, but he’s not in the open. The only answer there could have been was that he was in an alley. It wouldn’t make sense to dive in an alley so close to safety. That left only one option in his mind. Somebody had taken advantage of the situation and ambushed him.

Kauss needed to hurry. Even though he has the target sheet, it wouldn’t matter if someone else brought him in. The reward goes to whoever brought in the body first, and it didn’t matter who was chasing after him to begin with. If it came down to it, he would need to fight whoever was going against Leyton. The only way he was giving up this body would be if the assaulter was an Owernecker. He didn’t want to start beef with them and end up dead. Even though no one’s on the streets, that doesn’t mean no one is watching.

Kauss ran down the road and scanned the alleys he passed by. The edge of the territory approached faster than he could have hoped. Cold sweat formed on his forehead from the idea that Leyton managed to get past the border then ended up dying there. The worries came to a rest as soon as he looked down the final to last alleyway. In the alley, he saw someone mindlessly kneeing Leyton in the face till his face turned into a red pulp.

Kauss ran to the alley entrance and raised his gun. He wasn’t ready to lose a free month’s worth of electricity to some person with anger issues.

“Stop right now!” Kauss yelled.

He never really got a good look at whoever was pummelling Leyton. He didn’t see any jacket, so he just assumed it was some homeless person taking out their anger on him. How they survived two gunshots was strange, but it didn’t really matter. They were still beating the shit out of Leyton. Once he got a good look, however, he lowered his gun.

The assaulter stopped beating on Leyton after hearing Kauss’ voice. Blood sprinkled the assaulter’s fists and face, and it was drenched on his pants and shirt. He didn’t leave a single trace left that Leyton was even human. The man wasn’t burly or tall in the slightest. He was as skinny as could be without showing signs of malnutrition. His hair dripped onto his face, hiding his eyes from the light and spray of blood.

The man was Killian Neckers, the current leader of Owerneckers. His wrath was one of legendary proportions, as he would rip and tear anyone to shreds with his bare hands. Weapons weren’t his method of killing, but he’d use them to cripple people then beat them to death without a shred of mercy or sympathy. He wasn’t someone to mess with, to where if someone came out of an encounter alive, they’d lose at least a finger or toe in the process. He wouldn’t rip them off, instead preferring to break them into dust, leaving them to die of infection.

Killian let go of Leyton’s head and let him lay against the wall. He heard a faint groan escape him. Somehow, he was still alive after such a brutal beating. Death knocked on his door, however, and there wasn’t much time left to answer. Killian walked forward toward him, shoving his hands in his pockets. He was calm and orderly for someone who was beating a man to death not even seconds prior.

Kauss was at a lost for words. He couldn’t shoot Killian for two main reasons. The first one being he was the leader of the Owerneckers. Forget shooting a grunt. If he shot the boss and someone saw it, or even worse, he miraculously survived, there was nowhere he could hide to escape their wrath.

Killian stopped right in front of Kauss. He looked up at Kauss and they made eye contact. Despite being a few inches shorter than him, Killian was one of the most intimidating people to meet. He held out his bloody soaked hand and Kauss could see a slight smile on his face.

“Want to hide a body?”

The second reason Kauss couldn’t shoot was because they’re friends. Kauss sighed and lowered the gun completely. There was nothing to worry about now.

“I was expecting you to still be in your murder mode.” Kauss breathed a sigh of relief. He firmly grasped onto Killian’s hand and squeezed for a few seconds. He was used to shaking hands with murderers seconds after they kill, so the blood on his hands didn’t bother him.

“When I saw you, I calmed down. I saw what happened at the shop, so I kept track of baldy. Once you lost him, I intervened at the alley and just to catch him.”

Killian’s voice was soft, and he spoke with such a passive tone it was hard to imagine him as a gang boss. They had first met when they were ten years old. His grandmamma had died a few months ago, and the lights would not come on without pay or work. He went down to the mansion and met Killian, who was only a few months younger than him. Killian’s father was still alive, and he had yet to be the boss of Owerneckers.

The boss gave Kauss a task to rob a rodent butchery. Since meat was such a rare delicacy, even though it was just rodents, people would pay a ton of money in order to have fresh meat. The boss also sent Killian with him to gauge how his son could fare in a robbery attempt. If they went in to the store as Owerneckers and attempted to take the money, then it’d be no problem, so they ordered them to hide the reason they were there as well.

The heist went without a hitch since there was only one young man working who Killian had shot in the foot as soon as they entered. It took some time due to the injury, but they got the money and went on their way. As a first timer reward, Kauss was given three months of electricity. He thought that was the last time he had to deal with Killian until he randomly knocked on his house door one morning.

They played together and would sometimes even go on assignments as friends. Although he had a grudge against Owerneckers and especially Killian’s father, he didn’t feel the same way toward the boss’ son. To him, Killian was just a normal person that just so happened to be born as heir to the Owernecker gang. When he became the leader a year ago after his father’s unfortunate death to rabies, he gained the title as the youngest leader of the Owerneckers gang to date. Despite Kauss’ best friend being the leader, he didn’t give any special treatment to him.

“Why’d you cut out my lights anyway? I didn’t need to do a job until a week from now.”

“I went out to kill some rebels.” Killian pointed behind him. A body was laying in the alleyway that Kauss hadn’t spotted. It looked like a woman, but if he were to go off of facial features, there would be no way to tell who that was supposed to be. “I’ll let you keep him, but I’ll claim her as mine. As for why I cut your lights, I just wanted your help.”

“And you couldn’t just ask me.”

“We both know you wouldn’t agree to it. You still want to see Owerneckers disbanded, so I needed to blackmail you.”

“Wow, what a friend.”

“No problem.”

Kauss sighed and went into the alleyway to carry back his victim. He’d need to go to a washer soon anyway, so it didn’t bother him to get blood on his clothes. Kauss looked down at Leyton’s body. His face was unrecognizable, and he was dead by now. It was hard to believe this was the same man preaching how there could be a future for the city. He picked the corpse and flung him over his shoulders. His lights were more important than this man’s false idealism.