It has been about three weeks since their encounter with the woman. They were broke, hungry and lost again. Fall was getting colder and colder, the leaves were falling off the trees, the smell of pumpkin spice lingered in the air, and the colors of the leaves changed to brown and orange.

Angela hadn’t seen anything like this. Everywhere they walked to she just couldn’t help herself but observe every small detail. If she was this amazed at the fall season, then Jack had to prepare himself for winter. He had no idea how excited and curious she would be.

They walked the entire day like how they usually did. As they walked, Jack spotted a park and tried to get Angela’s attention, but it was of no use. She was distracted by the group of students entering a school bus.

“Hey brother,” Angela asked.

Jack panned his attention to what Angela was staring at. “What is it sis?”

She pointed at the kids. “Why are those kids getting inside that big yellow car?”

Jack looked at Angela and laughed. “That’s not a car silly. That’s a school bus.”

“Sch-School bus?”

“Yeah, they’re heading off to school.”

“What do you do in school, brother?”

“You learn lots of new stuff like uhh, history, math, reading and art!”

“Art?!” Angela shouted, with sparkles in her eyes.

“Yes, art and many more!”

Her eyes vibrated out of curiosity and excitement. “Can I go to school?”

Jack chuckled and patted Angela’s head. “Sure! Maybe someday when everything’s settled.”

Angela grabbed his hands and looked into his eyes. “You promise!”

Jack didn’t really want to tell her the side effects of going to school, especially when dealing with jerks. But he also didn’t want to tell her that there was no way in hell she could go to school in their current state. Even if they did have a future, he didn’t think he’d even let or allow her to go to school.

Jack sighed. “Okay, I promise.”

Angela smiled profusely while Jack, on the other hand, had his fingers crossed behind his back so Angela wouldn’t notice that he’d lied to her. She jumped around and hugged Jack out of excitement. He felt it was bad that he couldn’t act the same way as her right now.

“Would you like to enter the park?” Jack asked.

She nodded, showing she was, of course, down for it.

Both Angela and Jack were headed towards the park in the gray Michigan afternoon. As they walked towards it, Angela’s feet started to hurt and Jack noticed she was mildly limping. Jack decided to pick up the pace so she could sit down and relax.

There has to be benches inside this park. Every park has benches. Angela’s feet are dying, and to be honest, so are mine.

They arrived and caught their breath momentarily. After doing so they went inside and it was empty. There was barely anyone around. Angela and Jack sat on a bench to regain their stamina fully after walking all morning due to their feet murdering them. They watched the leaves fall off the trees, while the cold wind blew them away past their feet.

“This takes me back,” Jack randomly said.

Angela looked at him. “How so, brother?”

Jack wrapped his arm around Angela and leaned on her. “My friend Annabelle loves the fall. Out of all the friends I had, she’s the one I cared about the most.” Angela’s face became empty immediately. Jack laughed at her and rubbed her head. “Don’t tell me you’re getting jealous of someone else you haven’t met?”

Jack noticed her eerily, empty looking eyes. She leaned in closer to him, which freaked Jack out.

“This Anna person must be that special to you, huh?” Her voice sounded different and monotone. She tilted her head very strangely too.

“Of course, she’s my best friend. I’ve known her since I was a baby. I have another best friend too! Her name’s Veronica. If we do meet them, don’t tell her that I said that about Anna. Anna told me she gets jealous really easily.”

“Do you like Anna more than… just a friend?” Angela asked, with a serious tone to her voice.

“What do you mean? I mean, I like her as a friend. No more than that. Hmm? You know…”

Now that Jack thought about it… What was after liking a friend more? Did you love them like you do with your parents? If that was the case, then yes he did, but he didn’t fully understand all these different concepts of like or love that everyone else kept teasing him about.

“How about Veronica?” she asked, her tone growing fiercer. The wind grew slightly stronger and blew more leaves towards their direction.

Jack, being oblivious to his surroundings, was too focused on his current thinking about the concept of liking someone. “Hmm, she’s my best friend too, but sometimes I do feel fuzzy inside when I’m with her. Although that was the same with Anna, even then I can’t explain that feeling.”

As Angela stared off into the distance, a couple of crows landed on some naked trees and cawed softly. Her eyes were empty and her hand clinged onto Jack’s. She then spoke in a voice familiar to that within Jack’s nightmares. “Then how about Sarah?”

Jack quickly took his arm off of Angela. His face changed quickly from thinking with a smile to a shocked look of white. He began to sweat and got a little nervous. “How… How do you know who Sarah is?”

Angela sat in silence with an expressionless face. Her eyes faded with emptiness and the scent of anger coming off her was evident because she was clenching her pants. Jack grabbed Angela’s shoulders and shook her to make her snap out of it. She started growing a nasty grin and it had serious vibes of déjà vu.

Jack shook her more and finally Angela returned to reality, blinking rapidly and looking around, seeming rather lost. Her eyes that were empty gems without their shine only moments ago were suddenly sparkling back with life. Not only that, but she seemed completely oblivious to her surroundings as if she didn’t understand why she was there in the first place.

She rubbed her head. “Ugh, my head hurts, brother.”

“How do you know Sarah without me mentioning her name?” Jack asked in a fierce tone.

Angela looked confused and lost. “I can’t remember what happened after we sat down on the bench. I just blacked out.”

Jack got a little irritated and upset. It wasn’t the first time she’d done this. She said all their names in her sleep and that drawing she’d shown him that also looked like them. Now she mentioned Sarah’s name in mid conversation without him mentioning her. And now she couldn’t remember their conversation they had just five minutes ago. It was frustrating Jack to no end.

Angela noticed Jack’s eyes quivering in slight anger. “Brother… are you okay? You seem upset?” Her eyes started to water. “It’s because of me huh?”

Jack noticed her leaking eyes and quickly changed his attitude, hugging her to erase her guilt. “No, of course not! I’m just mad at myself for not getting you food. That’s all.”

She wrapped her arms around him and clinched onto him. “Don’t ever leave me, brother! Please don’t!”

“I won’t Angela! Don’t ever think that, okay.”

Angela wiped her tears and smiled. Jack smiled back and he heard her stomach growl.

Damn! How am I supposed to get us food now?

Jack sat back down and began to think, but he wasn’t too sure what he needed to do, however, he did have one idea though. He really hated the idea but if they needed food, then he had no other choice. By doing what he was thinking, then it would break his code in regards to becoming a detective in the future and all the codes he’d lived by. He had no other choice but to steal food again. If he did this, he would become what he hated… a criminal.

The children both got up off of the bench and were in search of food. Heading out of the empty park and into the street, the first thing that came across their little minds was to potentially steal food off of people who were either dining outside or eating something to then be oblivious to their surroundings. Angela, of course, didn’t want to take part in any of that. She felt that doing such a heinous act would most likely endanger them. Jack couldn’t agree more to that assumption, so they both sighed and proceeded to go forward in search of something else.

They walked for another ten minutes and managed to find a gas station. Jack stood there thinking of something. A grin grew on his face. He turned to Angela and told her of the idea he’d just come up with. He made sure he’d planned everything out and hoped that Angela was a good actor. He retold Angela his plan before they headed inside. She listened and understood her role.

“You ready, Angela?”

“Yes! I’m ready!” Angela, for some odd reason, was really excited and determined.

“Okay, let’s go inside and get us some food.” Jack smiled and felt his heart pounding, even if he was excited.

They both parted ways and each of them walked inside. After all, it was all according to Jack’s plan. He pretended to look around and made it seem like he was interested in buying something. Angela walked over towards all the drinks and freezers, then continued to do her part. Jack waited for his cue to take as much stuff his bag could handle.

After two minutes, Jack heard glass shatter on the ground. The store owner quickly came out of the counter and confronted Angela.

“Hey! Are you okay?” the store clerk asked.

Angela had tears streaming down her face. “I did-didn’t me-mean to!”

The owner began to panic and tried comforting Angela. “It’s okay! Everyone makes mistakes. Wait here and as soon as I come back, I’ll give you a lollipop, okay?”

Angela nodded and the store clerk quickly went out the back to get a broom and clean up the mess. Angela sneezed and that was Jack’s cue. He quickly grabbed bags of chips, jerky, some drinks, and finally a couple of candy bars. He tried grabbing a bit more, but the owner came back and spotted him.

“Hey you little shit! Stop right there!” he shouted.

Jack quickly ran and headed towards the entrance. As he was leaving, he knocked over a shelf full of random stuff to slow the store clerk down. It worked and Jack made his way outside, running as fast as he could to the back of the building.

The store clerk eventually rushed outside and was agitated. He cursed heavily and punched the air out of anger, then walked back into the store.

Ohoho man! That felt exhilarating! The adrenaline going through my body was astonishing! Who knew doing stuff like this was exciting!

While waiting for Angela, Jack felt someone’s hand on his shoulder. He turned around and it was a girl. She appeared to be a little bit older than what he was, and her hair was long. Jack found her to be really pretty.

“Not bad, but I think you could have done better,” the girl said, then smiled while raising a finger with one hand on her hip.

Her eyes were light brown and her skin was just like Jack’s, but a little lighter. He had suspicions about her, so he prepared himself for anything.

“Is that so? Well, are you going to rat us out?”

“No silly!” She laughed. “You must be homeless, or just a delinquent to pull that stunt off!”

“Well, you’re right about me being homeless. Who are you?”

The girl smiled and wrapped her arms around Jack as if they were pals. “My name’s, well, we don’t know each other but people call me The Snatcher! So you can just call me Snatch.”

Jack looked at her arm that was around his neck. It was scarred and had bruises. He figured it might not be best to ask about her arms, because it was probably a personal thing.

“Okay, uhm, my name’s Jack. How old are you? And are you homeless too?”

“Woah! Slow down there, we’ve only just met and you’re asking this much from a girl.” She poked his cheek, breaking out an annoyed vein out of Jack’s forehead. “You’re quite a bold man! Well Jack! Yes I’m homeless as well and I’m thirteen. You must be my age too, especially if you’re a little taller than me.”

“Actually I’m eleven. I’ll be turning twelve in a couple months.”

Snatch’s mouth dropped out in shock. “You’re eleven!” She backed away, getting a better look at Jack. “Goodness, you’re pretty tall for an eleven year old, and you don’t even look eleven either! Wow, you amaze me Jack!”

Jack chuckled. “Thanks for the compliment I guess.”

They continued to have a fun conversation until Angela tapped his shoulder. He turned around and congratulated her on her acting. She blushed and felt proud of herself, but then she turned her attention to Snatch.

“Brother, who’s that girl?” Angela asked rudely.

“Heyyy! What’s with that cold look on your face?” Snatch wrapped an arm around Jack’s neck, bringing out what Jack thought Angela would never do, which was a twitchy eye. “What, don’t like your precious brother getting flirted on by other pretty girls?” Snatch laughed and gripped Jack’s cheeks.

Jack gently pushed her hands away. “I just met her, and her name’s Snatch.” He looked at Angela and again her eyes were empty like how they were in the park. “Snatch, this is my sister, Angela.”

"Nice to meet you Angela!” She put her hand out, but Angela left her hanging. “I don’t bite. So please, let’s be friends.”

Jack noticed Angela’s fists were clenched, so he butted in to calm her down. “Where are you staying, Snatch?”

“Well, I don’t really stay at a certain place but if I had to say…” She pointed a finger at a huge bridge. “I mostly stay around the bridge area where the other homeless are.”

From what Jack could see, it looked alright. But if he were to be honest, it looked decent from a distance so it probably looked worse when closer to it.

“I guess Angela and I can make ourselves home there.” Jack walked beside Angela and held her hand. “What do you say, Angela?”

Angela kept staring at Snatch with that cold stare of hers. Snatch started to feel uncomfortable and hid behind Jack. He snapped his fingers near Angela’s face to snap her out of it. She quickly came to her senses.

“Oh, I’m sorry. And yes brother, I’m glad!”

“You scared me Angie! Don’t look at me like that. It almost seems like you wanna kill me!” Snatch sighed with relief. “What’s your situation like?”

Angela responded to her new nickname given by Snatch in a rather cruel reply. “Don’t call me Angie, you dirty bum!”

Wow, Jack had no clue she could be that cruel let alone say such offensive words, yet he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Ouch!” Snatch slammed a hand over her chest and leaned against Jack as she laughed and they began walking together.

They made up a story so Snatch wouldn’t find out the actual reason, just in case they were still being searched by any law enforcement tied with Dr. Cato. She was convinced of their story and felt sorry. She demanded them to follow her and they obliged to her demands, acting like she was an evil king forcing their slaves to follow their master. She giggled and played along, then held their hands so they could walk together as a group. Angela quickly rejected her and clinged onto Jack’s arm instead. She sighed and giggled afterward.

They walked around for a while, and Snatch showed them more than what they could handle. Jack had no idea it was that bad in the city. Looking at all those faces full of regret and despair made him feel uneasy, especially when looking at those kids who made him feel depressed. Some of them even did drugs, the really bad drugs.

Snatch explained that a lot of the homeless children were born as addicts. Jack thought about how awful it all was. The fact that they’d never have a future made him want to cry. But he couldn’t.

Jack looked over at Angela who was observing a toy store, and wondered if eventually they would head down the same horrific path by not having a future, becoming addicts, or worse, dead.

Snatch patted Jack’s back. “Don’t worry too much, I’ve been homeless for five years and I’m still alive.”

That did make him smile a little. He thought that maybe she was right. If she was able to survive this long, then both him and Angela could survive as well and for certainty, they would both have a brighter future.

At last, they arrived at the place where the rest of the homeless lived. It was beneath a highway overpass, and the smell wasn’t pleasant at all. They looked around and found an empty area near the corner and decided to call it their new temporary home. It was further away from the rest of the homeless and didn’t smell as bad. The best thing about the spot was how it was already built.

“The person who used to live here recently died of a drug overdose,” Snatch said to Jack.

Overdose huh?

Hearing that word reminded Jack of how Dr. Cato called him a damned druggy. Well, he was wrong and Jack would prove him wrong. Angela’s face still bothered him though, she still looked upset.

Jack grabbed her hand. “Angela? What’s the matter?”

Angela didn’t hear what he had just said. Her eyes were too focused on Snatch, staring blankly at her while Snatch’s attention was on someone else. “It’s nothing Jack," she finally replied, but in a very monotone voice.

Jack? She rarely called him by his name, yet it made him raise a brow. He wondered what had gotten into her.

“Are you mad at me, Angela?” Jack asked out of worry.

Her face quickly changed and she appeared to be back to normal, yet confused. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m hungry, that’s all.”

“Oh, if that’s the case then, hold up, give me a second.” Jack reached into his bag and grabbed something for Angela. “Here. Have you ever had chocolate before?”

Angela’s eyes glistened the moment she laid her sights on the silver wrapping. “What does it taste like, brother?!”

“Try it yourself.” Jack opened it and pulled down the wrapping, exposing its shiny, brown deliciousness. “Trust me, you won’t regret it.” He placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled.

She unwrapped the candy bar halfway and took a bite. Her eyes shone with joy as she devoured the candy bar. Jack laughed because of how adorable she looked. “It was good, huh Angela.”

Angela nodded with a smothered chocolate mouth. Jack grabbed a napkin from inside his backpack and wiped her face.

She leaned on him, then thanked him for the chocolate. “Can I have another, please brother.”

Jack grabbed two of them and gave her one. “Sure, knock yourself out, sis.” She took it, proceeded to unwrap it and chowed down.

Jack kept one for himself and took a bite into it. They both ate their chocolate bars and smiled the entire time. Jack guessed that all she needed was a little bit of sugar and boom, she was all better now.

Meanwhile, night was slowly approaching. They both headed inside the makeshift shack. Jack set out the blankets and laid down, while Angela laid next to him and wrapped her arms around him. Angela quickly fell asleep.

Snatch came inside a bit afterwards. She seemed a little tired and her eyes were a tad red from Jack’s guess of being tired. She yawned, which basically answered his assumption, and sat down next to him. “Yo Jack! I have a question to ask you.”

Jack looked at her. “What is it, Snatch?”

She looked at Angela, who was sleeping deeply in his arms. “What’s up with your sister? Why does she keep eyeing me with a ‘Imma kill you’ type eyes.” She imitated Angela’s blank cold stare in an amusing manner. “Seriously, it’s creeping me out!”

Jack couldn’t help but laugh at the impression she’d just made. “I don’t know, maybe she’s still not used to me talking with other people. She’s very anti-social, and she also has extreme anxiety.”

She smiled all smug-like, hovering a hand over her mouth while raising a brow.” Or maybe she’s the jealous type and doesn’t want her big handsome brother talking to other girls.” She giggled and placed a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “It’s okay I’m joking! Say, you’re very brave.”

“How so?”

She lay back and stared at the wooden ceiling. “The fact that you’re willing to go that far just to feed your sister amazed me. It showed me there’s still good people out there, even if they do break the law just to support the ones they love.”

“Yeah, I suppose, but…” Jack let out a deep sigh. “I promised someone that I’ll take care of her. Although, for some odd reason…” He gently patted Angela. She grabbed his hand as she slept. “I’m not afraid to give my life to protect hers.”

Snatch smiled and turned to her side. “Goodnight Jack.”

“Goodnight to you too, Snatch.” He yawned.

Jack was glad he’d met Snatch. She was really cool and chilled, which reminded him so much of Anna. He sighed out of sadness. He missed his friends, but at least he was making new ones that were just as cool as them.

His smile quickly went upside down and the thought of Veronica came to him. He still couldn’t forgive himself for what he did to her. Closing his eyes, he fell asleep and thought that if he’d ever see her again he could apologize for everything he’d done to hurt her.

The following day Snatch, Angela and Jack walked around the park and observed their surroundings.

“Why are we doing such a silly task?” Jack asked Snatch.

“It’s for something special or rather, waiting for that special thing,” Snatch said rather cryptically.

Both Angela and Jack were confused and had no clue what she was insisting on doing. They looked at each other and shrugged.

Snatch grabbed their attention. “You should hide behind a big tree.”

They both ran to the tree she pointed at and hid behind it. Angela seemed annoyed and bored already, but Jack tried to make the situation fun by acting like a fool. First he tried making funny faces. It worked a little, but she diverted her attention back at Snatch’s direction, eyeing her like prey. Jack had something else in mind and it was a move he liked to call ‘The praying mantis’ in which he acted like the bug itself.

Acting like a bug eyed karate readied insect definitely did the trick. It cheered her up for a moment, but as soon as she heard Snatch’s voice shouting at them, she got annoyed again.

Jack shrugged. “Oh well, at least I tried.”

He looked to the side of the tree and saw Snatch running towards them with something square in her hands. She made it behind the tree, then slowed down and caught her breath. Both Angela and Jack were left confused, but when she did catch her shortened breath, she quickly handed Angela a box.

“Quick Angela, run away with the box,” Snatch said.

Angela refused at first and was about to drop the mysterious square of cardboard until Jack noticed Snatch’s really frantic eyes. He nodded to Angela, letting her know to go ahead and dash away. She sighed and made a run for it.

Once Angela was gone, Jack closed the distance between Snatch and himself. “Uhh? Snatch, what’s in the box?” he asked nervously.

She wiped her forehead and smiled. “Phew! Oh… well, it was a box full of twinkies.”

“Where did you get such a box?” Jack leaned closer to her with a raised brow. “If I may ask, friend?”

She laughed sarcastically. “I grabbed it from that truck over there. Duh!” She pointed at the direction where the truck was located. “That’s why I was super observant checking where the truck would park.” She nodded proudly, clearly feeling full of herself.

“Ahh that makes sense, I guess? By the way Snatch, does the driver know you stole that box?” Jack crossed his arms and she brought a stop to her own self complementary.

She jumped a bit to hide more of her suspicion, then forced a smile to hide her guilt. Jack gave her a look of annoyance. “Don’t tell me… you actually stole it? I was just joking about saying that.”

She chuckled nervously, tapping her index fingers in a cute manner. “Well you see, what happened was…”

She nervously played with her fingers, but in the distance, they heard a man yelling out in anger. Snatch patted his shoulder and ran towards a group of men, picked up a rock, then threw one at them. It hit one of the guys right on the head and they all quickly turned around to yell at Snatch, demanding who threw that rock.

She pointed at the driver of the truck and they all ran towards him. She turned around and smiled all smug-like, giving Jack a thumbs up. He groaned out of relief, but it still felt like déjà vu was sneaking up on them.

Jack gave her an unmotivated thumbs up as well, but as soon as she turned around, one of the guys grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against a tree close by. He was furious. Not long after, his friends joined him as well as the truck driver. They all laughed at her and screamed in her face.

“You thought you was smart? Huh, you lil bitch?!” the man in a long white shirt said.

“Man! We wasting our time with this lil hoe. Let’s just go man,” said another.

The truck driver got in front of them. “Nuh uh, this little bitch stole a box out of my truck and Imma make sure I get that box back! Let the bitch go.”

The man let go but as soon as he did, she tried to run away. However, one of the guys kneed her stomach the moment she was about to run past one of them.

Snatch made a loud pained sound and quickly dropped to the ground, groaning as she held her stomach. Jack got furious and couldn’t help but see her get beat up by such a bunch of lowlifes. He sprinted towards her but as he sprinted he felt something stopping him. He looked around and saw no one.

Why did I stop dead in my tracks?

Once again, Jack sprinted and saw the men kicking her and the truck driver, demanding the whereabouts of his box. Jack was close but again, he stopped. He couldn’t move a muscle. It felt as if someone had wrapped him in a thick plastic wrap, forcing him to stay in place. All he could do was watch Snatch get beaten.

Then a voice Jack hadn’t heard in a while spoke to him. “Don’t you dare, Jack. You belong to me!”

“Wh-Who and what? Hold up… you’re the girl, aren’t you?” Jack frantically looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen.

She was breathing heavily out of slight rage. “You-You promised! You said you would devote yourself to me! You liar… You liar!” she shouted with a sadden but raged tone.

Jack clenched his fists and tried raising them. “Listen, I’m not letting you stop me from saving my new friend! Can you please just shut up!”

The girl moaned out of frustration. “You jerk… I’ll make sure you’ll be punished.”

Jack managed to raise his arms and felt his muscles communicate with him. “What was all that about? Whatever, I have to save Snatch!” Jack then started his heroic run towards her.

One of the guys grabbed her by her hair and pointed the edge of a knife towards her neck. She opened her eyes and looked at Jack. She tried reaching out to cry for help, but she was too badly beaten to lift an arm. She began crying, which made Jack even more enraged than before. He finally snapped.

Jack rushed into their circle and pushed the guy who had her by her hair. “Leave her alone!!” he shouted. “What’s wrong with you people?”

They all looked at each other and laughed. “Man, look at this fool!”

“What is it, lil man? Is this your hoe? Or are you trying to play the hero to get some pussy?” The man who was beating her the most waved the knife around with Snatch still in his grasp, trying to scare him.

“Man, I told ya we need to dip! We’re grabbing too much attention y’all!”

He sighed, smiled and stared at Jack, continuing to flail the knife around. “Right. We’ll leave in a bit after we beat this fool’s ass!”

The truck driver walked up behind Jack and placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Listen little man, this ain’t your business okay? She stole something from me and now she’s paying for it. So move along and forget you ever saw this whole mess.”

That man who Jack was staring at seemed familiar. But Jack wasn’t sure where he’d seen him before. Although, the clothes he wore, his voice, and wretched twisted face, it finally struck him. Jack remembered. He was the guy who bullied Jack and tried to steal his money a week ago.

Jack started to tremble. The men noticed and approached the boy slowly. Jack backed up and clenched his teeth. “I-I remember you!”

At first, the man was confused at what Jack had said. He gripped his chin and remembered who Jack was. “Ayy!! You’re that lil punk I tried punking out of his money, but your dumbass wouldn’t let me, and I almost got my ass whooped by some other guys!”

He laughed and his boys laughed along.

“You came back to get your ass whooped now, right? Shit, you think I’ll forget you lil homie?” He dropped Snatch, kicked her, and pounded his closed fist against his palm while giving Jack a sadistic look. “Time to repay your debt!”

The man walked up to Jack, but the boy was ready for his next move, or so he thought, because the man punched Jack’s stomach with everything he had. Jack gagged and slowly dropped to his knees.

“That hurts, doesn’t it!?” the man said, then continued to laugh as Jack groaned in pain.

“Hel-Help! Why are you ju-just standing there?!”

“Well shit, it’s your fault kid for getting involved in this mess, so I’m not getting myself in your hullabaloo.”

The guy punched Jack again. He fell on the ground in front of the driver. He looked up and spat at his shoes. “Asshole!” The guy behind Jack had his knife ready.

The driver said, “Alright, I think that’s enough.” But the bully walked with his chest puffed out and bumped the driver’s chest, getting in his face and called him a “Dumbass hypocrite!” for taking part of Snatch’s beating.

As they both continued arguing, his boys just stood aside and laughed at the whole stupid ordeal while Jack came up with a retaliation in his angered mind. He took the opportunity to sneak up to the guy and snatched his knife out of his hand. The man immediately got startled and tried to get the knife back from Jack. As the man approached the boy, Jack’s mind flooded with the haunted memories of his parents getting killed in front of him.

He realized that the knife in his hands was a reminiscence of his past, and yet… It felt so comfortable. The feeling of safety was roaring, and the familiar feeling of bloodlust returned to his senses. Jack’s mind was red and full of rage. He couldn’t take it any longer.

Jack held the knife with both hands, readying himself for the scum. If he wanted to protect the people he loved, then he had to fend off any obstacles that got in his way, like these pieces of shit before him.

He tightened his grip on the knife’s handle even more. The feeling of being a helpless boy flooded through him once again. He didn’t want to let this feeling overtake him like it did when his parents were killed. If he had to throw away everything he believed in, then so be it. He had to use lethal force no matter what.

One of the man’s boys put his hand around Jack’s neck and tried grabbing the knife, but as soon as he reached for it, Jack yelled, “You’re nothing but trash!”

Jack then sliced the arm around his neck. The man let go, screaming. The bully tried going for Jack head on, but Jack spat at his incoming face. The scum stopped, then used one hand to wipe the spit off, which dropped his guard and gave Jack the opportunity for an opening. He took that opportunity and drove the knife into the man’s chest.

Blood shot out between the blade and his flesh. The man gagged out blood and fell backwards. All his boys, especially the one who was hurt too, immediately bounced and left the scene. The truck driver pulled out his phone and dialled 911.

Jack then continued driving the knife into the man’s chest as he screamed in agony. He didn’t realize the corrupted smile that slowly grew across his face. The man noticed and the image of his detested smile made him realize true fear.

After a minute or two, Jack finally stopped himself and let go of the knife, leaving it impaled in the man’s chest. He saw Snatch laying on the ground still in pain. He rushed to her side, checking if she was still breathing.

“You better stay where you are, you lil psycho!” the driver yelled.

Hearing him call Jack a psycho triggered him. Jack flipped him off angrily. “Screw you, you piece of crap!” He grabbed a nearby rock and threw it at him, then ran off towards Snatch.

He quickly picked her up and carried her piggyback style. He was pissed and continued yelling, while running as fast as he could. However, he found that having Snatch on his back was really tiring.

Jack could hear the man he stabbed moaning in pain from a distance. He could also hear him yelling about wanting blood, Jack’s blood!

Somehow, he sounded so enraged yet afraid. But Jack couldn’t care less about what the scummy bully felt about him. He needed to keep running to get Snatch out of there.

“Don’t look back Jack, you’ve got no choice! It was either get beaten to a pulp, or worse!” Jack said in a worried tone to himself.

He felt all this adrenaline go through his body. For Jack, it felt… amazing again. He was enjoying this… or did he actually like stabbing that guy?

Snatch felt her body become weightless, and thought she was dead until she opened her eyes. She was coming back from unconsciousness. “J-Jack?” Snatched whispered painfully.

“What’s the matter? Are you okay?” Jack stopped for a second, placing Snatch on a bench close by to lay her down. “Do you need a doctor?”

Snatch grabbed Jack’s hand and squeezed it tightly. “Yo-You saved me?”

Her eyes were puffed, her face absolutely bruised and beaten, with blood dripping out of her nose and mouth. She looked up and was about to cry.

“Why would you save someone like me? We’ve only known each other for two days? Yet… you risked your life to save mine? Why?” She then began to whimper slightly.

“I don’t know? I guess it’s just instinct.” Jack smiled and held her against his chest, letting her hear his beating heart. “It’s what friends do, right? They look out for one another. Besides, I already consider you a friend.”

Snatch looked up into his eyes and smiled. “So we’re friends?”

“Yes, we’re friends! Let’s do our best to survive together as a group. It’ll take time for Angela to get used to you, but I’m sure you’ll get along in no time.” Jack took out a rag and wiped her face stained with blood and tears.

“Tha-Thank you, Jack.” She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight.

“Yeah! Let’s do our best to survive. Together, as friends!” Jack tightened his hold on her, returning her kind gesture. They both smiled and laughed.

He picked her up, then carried her back to where Angela was awaiting them at the place where they were supposed to originally meet up. Angela immediately came up to Jack and hugged him, relieved to see that nothing had happened to him. But then she noticed he was carrying Snatch on his back and she gave Snatch that awful look again.

Snatch wasn’t bothered by it any longer since Jack had mentioned they were a group and should get along. Jack explained to Angela that they should start heading back to their new home before it got dark. She listened and headed back to the underpass.

After they got back, Jack needed a long nap because carrying Snatch was a hell of a workout for him. From that day forward, he swore he’d protect Snatch and Angela. No matter how ruthless he had to be, he had to throw away everything he believed in.