“What?” Lucas frowned. “I’m waving my shirt as a white flag. I want to talk to them.”
“It’s not white,” Freddy pointed out.
“Yes, I can fucking see that,” Lucas growled, feeling his frustration building up. “But I don’t have anything white, and I can’t magically change the colour of my t-shirt.”
He turned away from them and poked his head out the door.
The guy lying in the middle of the road had his eye on the scope again. Lucas instinctively pulled his head back, and a second later, a bullet whizzed past and struck the wall to his left, before it ricocheted and struck the ceiling above Jenny and sent dust sprinkling down on her.
Jenny let out an appropriate scream.
Lucas took a deep, trying his hardest to stay calm.
He kicked the door open, but keeping his head back, he shouted out, “Last chance to talk! I’m going to wave my t-shirt. Don’t shoot it if you want to talk. Shoot it, and I will kill you!”
He stuck his t-shirt out, not hopeful.
If he knew anything about the gangs around Buxworth, they wouldn’t back down from what they saw as a winnable battle.
Lucas was right.
A bullet tore a hole in his t-shirt.
He pulled it back in and sighed.
“Fuck it,” he muttered.
He peeked out through the door to get a final reading. The two guys by the mouth of the road had remained in their exact position, though now both held their assault rifles pointed in the general direction of the café. Neither had the butt’s pressed against their shoulders. The guy in the middle of the road had his head up once more, eyes no longer on the scope.
Fucking amateurs.
Lucas leaped through the door, rolled on the ground and came up by the burnt car parked by the side of the road. He pulled his pistol out and pointed it at the guy in the middle of the road. He saw the panic in the guy’s face, his eyes widened in alarm. He tried to turn the rifle towards the burnt car, but the stand fell as he turned it sharply, his rifle hit the ground.
Lucas pulled the trigger. The bullet struck the guy on the head. His body slumped onto his tipped rifle. He turned his attention to the guy on the left of the road and fired two shots. As the guy fell, the third guy dropped his rifle and ran towards his car.
Lucas watched him go, watched as he climbed into his car and drove away.
He entered the café and dropped the pistol by the two Flying Eagle gang members as he passed them.
“They’re dead?” Freddy asked. “You killed them all?”
“One ran away,” Lucas said over his shoulder. He stood over Jenny and grabbing her by the arms, he pulled her to her feet. “Hey, you okay?” he asked gently.
Her eyes were red, her cheeks wet, she nodded.
“We should get out of here,” Lucas said, as he glanced out the window. The street was deserted, not a single soul walked the sunken pavements, not a car drove down the potholed road. But that could change soon. The one that had run away, high chance he would be back with reinforcements.
With his arm around Jenny’s waist, Lucas walked towards the exit. He stopped midway and leaned over the counter. Lucy was still on the floor, her head resting against the counter, she sobbed quietly.
“Lucy,” Lucas called out to her. “Are you going to be okay?”
She tilted her head to look up at him and wiped away her tears. “Probably not,” she said, sniffing. “I’m on the brink, Lucas. I’ve hardly had any customers in the past week, and the ones that are coming through are usually gang members. They don’t pay. Some make threats about-” she stopped and bit back a sob.
Lucy didn’t need to finish her sentence.
Lucas knew.
She was an attractive girl, and living alone above the café, what with law and order completely broken down in an already fucked up world, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what sort of threats were being made towards her.
“They’ve shot up my café. I can’t afford to fix it. I don’t really know what I’m going to do,” Lucy finished.
“Come with me?”
“Sorry?” Lucy asked.
“Come with me,” Lucas repeated, more sure of himself. “You can stay at my house. You’ll be safe there until this all blows over,” he added. “And when it does, I’ll help you get back on your feet. You can pay me back whenever you’re able to,” Lucas finished, adding the last part about her paying him back only because he imagined she would be too proud to accept free support.
“Really?” Lucy asked, her eyes brightened before they fell on Jenny, the insanely attractive girl in his arms. “I wouldn’t be getting in the way, would I?”
Lucas was about to say no when he realised that she hadn’t actually asked him. It was Jenny she had put the question to and it took a moment for Lucas to understand why. And then it hit him. Lucy fancied him, she had too for a long time now.
Staring at Jenny, the beautiful girl on his arm, she must have assumed it was his girlfriend, or something along those lines. She didn’t want to move into his home without knowing his girlfriend was okay with it.
But it seemed Jenny hadn’t put that together yet.
So Lucas, his hand still resting on Jenny’s waist, he gave it a squeeze and nodded at Lucy when Jenny turned to look at him.
“Oh, right,” Jenny mumbled. “Ya, sure, come stay with us.”
She said the words with about as much enthusiasm as a child would muster when they’ve been told they need to visit the dentist after having complained about a toothache.
But Lucy either didn’t notice, or she didn’t care. She jumped to her feet and dashed up past the counter and the door that led to the stairs going up.
As they waited for her, Lucas leaned against the counter, his eyes on the two guys, both still sitting on the floor, both staring at him.
“What?” Lucas asked.
“You belong to a gang?” the chubby one asked.
“No.”
“Interested in joining?”
“Fuck no.”
“Why the fuck not?” Freddy asked. “Unless you’re a Super, it’s the best gig about man. You get free food, get shit loads of guns, plenty girls.”
“Like he needs more girls,” Jenny scoffed.
Lucas turned his head to look at her. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” Jenny muttered, now staring at the ground like a sullen child.
Lucas sighed. After this morning’s conversation with Anika, and now Jenny showing jealousy? He was taking home another girl, one that fancied him, he began to wonder if his life was going to be full of high school drama, of snide remarks and bitchy comments from the girls directed at him, directed at each other.
Fuck, he’d much rather fight another Super Mayor any day of the week.
Lucas turned his attention back onto the two guys sitting on the floor. “Firstly, food isn’t free. You better pay Lucy for whatever you and your dead friends ordered. Secondly, your friends are dead. That could have been you. Think about that and do something useful with your life. There are plenty abandoned farms about. Find one, work the field or something.”
Lucy came down a moment later, a red backpack slung across her shoulder, she wore a bright smile and it seemed make-up too. Her lips were definitely redder than they had been before she dashed up, and her skin had some stuff on it. Lucas had no idea what it was, but if he had to describe it, he would say it was shiny.
“Shall we go?” Lucy asked, flashing her straight white teeth.
“Yeah, lets,” Jenny muttered. “Before he picks up some more girls.”
Chapter 3
As they left the café, Lucas walked over to the dead guy lying in the middle of the road, his arm slumped on the rifle. He grabbed the rifle by the barrel and pulled it free. The girls stared at him curiously, but neither said anything.
“In case we need it,” Lucas muttered.
Both girls glanced up and down the street
.
It was completely empty.
“There’s going to be trouble, trust me,” he said.
“Aren’t you a Super, now?” Jenny asked.
It was a fair question, not one Lucas felt like getting into. His superpowers had been wavy at best. A bit up and down. Actually, it was mostly down. After touching the green crystal, Lucas hadn’t gained any fancy powers like the Red Head’s gang member had before him.
He only got super strength and super speed. Both amazing to have, but he was sure he was getting weaker and slower.
And then he noticed Lucy staring at him with her mouth hanging open. “You’re a Super?”
“Sort of…”
“Sort of?”
“It’s a long story,” Lucas said. “Let’s get out of here before something happens.”
The girls walked beside him as they headed towards his BMW X5. He’d parked it in his usual spot, at the end of an alleyway, the mouth of the path covered by two large metal black wheelie bins. He pushed the bins aside, and Jenny climbed into the front seat with him as they set off.
The town was eerily quiet. It had been the same on their drive in, but Lucas hadn’t noticed back then, his mind occupied with other thoughts. It struck him then that he would have noticed things like that in the past, no matter how much his mind was occupied with other thoughts.
It had been one of the reasons he’d managed to stay alive, despite arguably having the riskiest job about. Not only did he not realise how much of a ghost town Buxworth had become, he also hesitated before he killed the two guys outside the café.
Again, in the past, Lucas would have shot first, followed by no questions. It was what had kept him alive, the knowledge that hesitating even a split second could result in death.
Ahead of them, the first signs of life in the town appeared. Two cars, both four-by-fours, one silver, the other black, they drove past Lucas at speed. He glanced in the rear-view mirror as the silver car swerved at the last second, trying to avoid the enormous pothole in the ground.
It did a horrible job of it. The car titled and skidded across the ground before it slammed into the wall. Lucas hit the brakes, his eyes still on the mirror, he watched as the black car came to a halt. The doors opened and four guys jumped out, all of them carrying assault rifles.
Lucas put his foot down on the accelerator and continued on.
Those guys looked like they were heading towards a fight. Definitely not something he wanted to get caught up in.
It was a thought though. What did he want to get caught up in?
Since 2015, when the world changed forever and Supers took charge, since Mayor Carcass killed his father, there was only one thing on Lucas’s mind.
Revenge.
He wanted Mayor Carcass dead.
Never once did Lucas stop to wonder what would happen after he managed to kill the bastard. Would the town be better off or worse, it wasn’t his concern. He wasn’t doing it to be a hero. He did it because fuck that piece of shit.
He didn’t regret it. Not even in the slightest. If he could go back and do it all over again, the only thing he would do differently would be to draw out the bastard’s death and not slice his head off the way he had done.
But now he did wonder what the town would look like once there was a new Super in charge, and once a gang fighting for the Red Heads’ territory would emerge victorious. Could things get worse?
Lucas’s mind was wandering, admittedly.
But still, he did see the car to his left.
The one that was flying towards him.
A car flying towards him…
Lucas turned his head and stared at the large chunk of metal that flew through the air as if it had been thrown by some overpowered Super.
And then he spotted the Supers.
Three of them.
They seemed to be facing off against each other.
That was all Lucas saw before the car slammed into the side of his own BMW X5. His side window was struck by the wheel of the car. It shattered, sending hundreds of little bits of glass flying across, striking his face, cutting into his flesh. Lucas turned the wheel too late. As the car tilted from impact, he crashed into the brick wall.
Breathing heavy, Lucas unbuckled his seatbelt, then reached over towards Jenny. He checked her for injuries. She had worn her seatbelt and she was okay. He looked back at Lucy. She had slammed into the back of Jenny’s seat before rebounding, she now lay collapsed on the back three seats.
Lucas reached and felt for a pulse. He sighed in relief when he found one.
His front door was jammed. He kicked with his foot, his Super strength sent it flying off its hinges, across the road and towards the Supers battling it out. Lucas stepped out of the car and almost fell, his head spinning.
Fuck, it hurt.
He felt his face.
There was blood there. There was shards of glass too.
Lucas ignored it as he dragged out both Jenny and Lucy. He carried them away from the car and placed them on the pavement opposite. There was blood dripping from the corner of Lucy’s lip. Jenny, who was in better condition, tended to her as Lucas stared at his BMW X5, and the piece of crap junk of a car that had slammed into it.
Fumes rose from the engine.
Was it going to explode?
Fuck.
Not only had he lost his ride home, that car cost him a fuck ton of money.
He turned to look back down the road, where the Supers were still battling each other.
It seemed a little one-sided to him.
A girl stood with her back towards him, her hands by her side, curled into fists. Opposite her were two Supers, both male, one had a silver sword for an arm. The other Super yanked up the lamppost from the ground.
The Super with a sword for an arm tried to stab her. She moved back but got caught by the lamppost wielding Super.
It was a tremendous strike, catching her just below her breasts, it sent her flying towards Lucas. She crashed into the ground a couple of feet away from him.
Lucas didn’t like Supers much.
He thought they were arrogant entitled pieces of shit.
Watching them knock lumps into each other, his first instinct would be to grab some popcorn and find a good spot to watch the spectacle from.
But then, he met Michelle.
She was a pretty awesome girl.
She was a Super too.
And now, he was a sort of Super himself. They weren’t all bad… probably…
He glanced back at Lucy and Jenny, both girls still on the pavement. They seemed to have recovered from the accident. Neither girl had much street experience. Lucy ran a café, and Jenny spent most of her life in the new world as the property of a Super. They remained seated on the pavement, watching him instead of being useful and heading off to look for possible transport.
Lucas sighed. He was going to regret this; he was sure of it. But he couldn’t just let the two Supers pick on the Super girl.
He walked up to her and extended his hand.
She stared up at him with piercing green eyes. “Where the fuck did you come from?”
“Was driving past until my ride got hit by a car,” he pointed at his BMW X5, fumes still rising from the bonnet. “What’s going on here?”
“Those Supers want me to join their team and support Carnage for the Mayor position, since you know, some wise ass killed Carcass.”
“Teams? Isn’t the strongest Super supposed to just sort of…” he shrugged his shoulders. “Punch it out?”
“There would be a punchout if there was a clear “strongest” Super. No Super is head and shoulders above every other Super. All we have is a bunch of testosterone filled assholes.”
The Super climbed to her feet, ignoring Lucas’s stretched hand. She dusted off the dirt from her skinny black jeans. “You should get out of here before you get hurt,” she told him.
He watched as she ran towards the two Supers, her fists first turned into a bronze
colour before reddening, as if her fists of metal had just been lifted up from the burning heat of a blacksmith’s forge.
The Super holding the lamppost swung it at her. She ducked beneath the metal and came up to the Super with the sword arm. As he struck, she struck too, and in the ensuing clash, the sword shattered and the Super let out a cry as he fell back.
The girl didn’t get a chance to capitalise on her victory.
She got struck by the lamppost once more. And once more, she flew in the air before hitting the ground, she tumbled along the hard surface until she came to a halt by Lucas’s feet.
“Fuck,” she cursed, as she lay on the floor, breathing heavy, her green silky shirt had lost most of its buttons and it hung open, showing her skin beneath and the nasty purple bruising. She glared up at him. “Stupid Normie. What are you still doing here?”
“You know, you’re making it really hard to stay and help you,” Lucas muttered, this time keeping his hands by his side.
“What makes you think I want your help?”
“The fact that you’re getting your ass kicked? Unless you enjoy that sort of thing?”
“Course I don’t fucking enjoy it. These two bastards don’t just want me to join their team, they want me to be their bitch too. There’s no fucking way that’s happening.”
“So… you want my help?”
“Jesus man, you’re a Normie,” the girl said, as she climbed to her feet for the second time in as many minutes. “You’d best get out of here. Once their done with me, they’ll probably kill you and take your girls.”
Lucas decided in that moment the Super was olrite. So he stuck his hand out to shake hers. “I’m Lucas.”
“Annie,” the girl replied, before shaking his hand. “Now fuck off.”
She turned and ran towards the two Supers, her hands burning red. Lucas didn’t watch what happened. What with it being two against one, he assumed at some point, she would be knocked back down on her ass.
Instead, Lucas headed towards his smoking car. He pulled the rear door open, hoping the car wouldn’t explode anytime soon. He lifted the panel near the footrest. Beneath it was a compartment, resting within was an assault rifle and ammunition. Lucas grabbed three magazines and stuffed them in his jean’s pockets. He then reached under the seat and felt for the sword.
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