After reading the message, Gary had worrying thoughts going through his head. Why would Kai bring up Billy now of all times? Had he somehow discovered that all of those recent murders might have been his doing? Or could he have encountered a hairy creature at night and linked the whole mess back to him?

‘Hang on, if Kai has actually found some lead on Billy, then that would be a great thing! I might finally be able to track him down and stop him before he can do any more harm!’ Gary thought, pacing up and down in the woods.

He looked at the clock on the phone. It was nearly lunch time and although he was only allowed in school for club practice, which would be at around 3PM, he just couldn’t wait that long. Kai’s message sounded pretty urgent and if he reached out to him about Billy then it was vitally important to hear what his upperclassman had to share.

Gary decided to rush back to school, even running for it. While he was still worrying about his Energy bar, this clearly took precedence though he refrained from using Charging Heart, as he should still make it in time.

The high schooler managed to arrive quite quickly at school, it was quiet so the lunch bell didn’t seem to have gone off yet. Given his uniform, it was unlikely that someone would report him if they saw him. Even if someone did recognise him, they would likely just think that he had been called in by Headmistress Young.

After all, who would use the ‘free holiday’ that was exclusion, to get back to the school ground?

Rushing through the gates, Gary hurried through the hallways while trying to avoid the few teachers and students who were outside. Everyone was busy with their own thing, but it couldn’t hurt being cautious. Right now he was following Kai’s instructions and was heading to a certain storage room.

Gary had expected that Kai would call him over to the school’s roof, but with the bell ringing any moment now, there would be students who would go up to the school roof to enjoy their meal up there. Given that his upperclassman seemed to care about secrecy in the matter concerning Billy just added to Gary’s worries.

He texted Kai that he had arrived and was now pacing up and down in the small storage room. Unfortunately, he could only make four steps before having to turn around. This ‘room’ was basically an oversized supply closet, filled with cleaning supplies and piles of toilet paper. A few pacings later the school bell had rung and students had begun running through the halls, yet Kai had yet to reply.

There was a sudden knock on the door. Gary panicked, looking left and right, trying to search for a hiding spot, but there was nowhere to hide apart from a mop sticking out from a bucket. For once it didn’t seem like any of his werewolf powers were going to help. As it slowly opened, Gary moved behind the mop and turned around, stopping his breathing.

“Yeah, you might wanna try that again when you don’t have green hair. It sticks out like a sore thumb, and what was the point of turning around? ‘If you can’t see me I can't see you’, what are you five?” Kai held back his laughter as he closed the door behind him. “I knocked to let you know that it was me. I mean seriously, who else could it have been? The only ones visiting this room would be either the janitor or some horny teens looking for some quiet time. Do you think either one would have knocked?”

Realising how stupid he had been, Gary felt a little embarassed about what had just happened. Standing up, he brushed off some dust from his clothes.

“So, how come you have mentioned Billy so suddenly? Have you seen him lately? Did he look any different?” Gary asked, wanting to change the subject, hoping that Kai would soon forget his earlier actions. The upperclassman thought that it was a pretty strange question to ask off the bat, but decided to tell him the reason why he had called him in so suddenly.

“No I haven’t, otherwise I would have already reported him to the police. Anyway, just be quiet for a moment and listen to what I have to tell you. Also, try not to panic since it won’t help you and I would like you to help me figure out what to do next.” Kai answered, looking into Gary’s eyes.

The former didn’t miss that the latter was gulping just from his warning, so Kai didn’t have high hopes about Gary not panicking. However, he couldn’t exactly fault him for that. Gary had already tried to reach out to him about Billy, yet Kai had shot him down at the time, believing that his underclassman had just been looking for trouble.

“You know about all those murders that have been happening on the news lately? Well, I’m convinced that this is Billy’s doing. I mean ‘Son goes missing after his mother and father have been found dead, yet doesn't show up despite news outlets stating that police are looking for him’, doesn’t really take a genius to figure out that unless he’s dead, he would be the prime suspect. Heck, I think you figured that out when you sent me that text.”

“If you’ve watched the reports you should know that the victim of one of the recent murders in our town was a high school student like us, whereas the most recent one was a university student… and wouldn’t you know it, both had connections to our fugitive friend.”

Hearing this, Gary felt relieved. He had strongly suspected that Billy was the murderer, yet learning that his victims were people he knew meant that at least his family members were likely safe.

“What are the links, and how did you figure all of this stuff out?” Gary asked.

“To be honest, that was a bit of a coincidence. I was actually looking for a link between you and Innu. You remember the new guy that recently joined our gang?” Kai asked and Gary just nodded. He had only seen their newest gang member once though, so he wasn’t sure what exactly kind of link they could have had. Most importantly, how did Billy fit into all of this? Or the murders for that matter?

“See, turns out you weren’t the only one who received a nice little gift from a secret admirer in the middle of the night. Fortunately, Innu was just as smart as you and let me take care of that problem. As you can imagine, I have no desire to keep sending over people and taking care of such things.”

“I did a little digging into who exactly would do such a thing. Unlike you, Innu doesn’t really have any connection to the Underdogs nor does he have beef with any of the other gangs. The only thing that I could find that the two of you shared, apart from both being in the same gang now, was that both of you participated in the fighting club.”

“You know who else was participating? That’s right Billy… and so were his two latest victims. Now, here’s where things get interesting. Not only were the deceased high schooler and university student both fighters, both of them fought against Billy Buster!”

Now knowing that Billy was out for revenge, it made Gary wonder a number of things.

“So does that mean he’s after everyone he ever fought?” Gary asked. “Say, how do you know their names? I don’t recall the news mentioning them. Heck, didn’t the family of the high schooler even request for it to be scratched from the records?”

“Does that really matter now? Just be glad that I did find out and that I discovered the connection. As for your first question, it’s not as simple as Billy going after those he fought.” Kai replied. “In fact, he seems to target those he lost against!”

“I have a feeling that the body parts that the two of you received might have come from his other two victims. I need the both of you to be careful. Heck, it might be for the best if the two of you could start hanging out and look after each other.”

Having Kai figure out all of this, Gary started to wonder. Was there actually a way for Billy to track him down? Gary had never found a way, but Billy had somehow found the houses of all of those he had lost to.

That information had to come from somewhere!

Maybe, Billy hadn’t found Gary’s home due to being a werewolf but had seeked him out just due to this revenge. Otherwise how would he have found Innu’s home?

Now Gary knew that Billy was out for more blood, and it looked as if Innu had made it on the Omega’s hit list. And all of this… was his fault!

All of the people who had died so far were because he had bitten Billy. On top of that, if Billy could find out where he lived somehow, it certainly meant that the Underdogs could.

Gary hesitated a little before asking the question that was on his mind: “How many people did Billy lose to?”

“Four, including you. Two of which are already dead and you can pretty much guess who he had lost thrice against, right?”

“Fu*k”

*****

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