g**g Wars

Chapter 2

Grant stared at Andrew, his eyes pleading silently.

"I'll take care of this," Andrew sighed, leaving out the door.

"Thank you," Grant sighs in relief before turning to Jackson, "And you, you plan on staying here or what?"

Jackson shook his head, standing up, "I'd rather not, I have a feeling someone might try to chop off my head."

"Just," Grant throws a key to Jackson, "take one of the rooms, it's better not to get yourself killed on the way home at three in the morning."

"Aww, worried about me, Grant?"

"Worried that another death will be blamed on us, yeah."

Jackson rolled his eyes, "Gonna tell me which room this belongs to?"

Jackson smirked, "Figure it out," He walked out the door and towards his room.

Exasperated, Jackson turned to Michael, who sighed and said, " Please follow me."

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The hall was more awake than it was when Andrew had arrived. The ones who were drunk had sobered up, and those asleep were now awake, witnessing the commotion in the center of the hall.

The boy was struggling in the hands of the two patrollers, desperately tugging at their hands, trying to get free.

Andrew stared. The boy was tiny, compared to his large frame. His dirty blond hair stuck to his forehead with the sweat that had formed from the struggle. The brown shirt and pant stuck to his body, almost like a skin fit. He was bony. Barely any muscles.

"Let me go, you asshats!"

But he's definitely got a big mouth.

For a second, Andrew was glad Grant was not here, the Head was never one to handle cursing well.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Andrew asked, crossing his arm.

"Tell these fucktards to let me go and I'll answer." That mouth would soon get him into trouble. Andrew wasn't sure he wanted to wait around for that to happen.

The comment earned the boy a kick on the head from one of the patrollers. Andrew sighed. He looked up at the clock that hung on top of the door, on the wall. Three in the morning. Much too early for this.

"Let him go," He ordered.

The patrollers looked perplexed, "But Sir, he might be dangerous."

One of the members witnessing the even laughed, stroking his beard, "Look at him. He's all bones. I doubt he'd be able to do more harm than a flimsy mosquito."

Andrew sent him a glare, successfully shutting him up, "Let him go," He repeated. The patrollers did as told.

"Thank you," the boy muttered, stroking his wrists that had turned red from being held.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Andrew asked again.

The boy didn't reply. Instead, he looked at Andrew, up and down, analyzing him. A vein throbbed on Andrew's forehead.

"I asked a question."

The boy looked Andrew straight in the face, "Right. The name's Ethan. I came to join the gang."

Silence spread in the hall for a short while before laughter took its place. Andrew sighed, rubbing his forehead, "How old are you?"

"Twenty-two."

"Bullshit."

"What?" His head shot up, "Why is that bullshit?"

Andrew paused. It was no his turn to analyze the boy, "There's no way you're more than eighteen."

Ethan crossed his arms across his chest, "And what makes you think that?"

"The way you act," Andrew pointed, "And the way you look."

Ethan scoffed, "That proves nothing."

"See, kid, first, you need to be an adult to join this g**g, or any other g**g for that matter, which clearly, you're not."

"I turn eighteen in a few weeks."

Andrew ignored the boy and continued, "Second, if you're trying to join a g**g, then I suggest not snooping around their base and third-"

He halted, realizing something. Andrew turned to the patrollers, "Where did you find this kid?"

The taller man replied, "He was walking in the shadows of the second sector, but he was careless and stepped on a twig which alerted his presence to us."

"Second sector? How did you evade the snipers?"

White Rose was famous for their sniper team. An excellent group of snipers who let nothing lose from their site. They are one of the reasons why the White Rose base hasn't been completely ambushed yet.

Ethan shrugged, trying to hide the smirk that painted his face, "I dunno, I just stayed in the shadows."

"They have night vision."

"What the f**k? Are they some kind of superhumans?"

Andrew wanted to throw something at his face.

"No, artificial vision. Goggles. How in hell did you- Michael! Get here now!"

Michael ran into the hall, huffing, "Yes?"

"Get Vera."

Michael nodded his head before running out of the room in search of Vera. Andrew turned back to Ethan, "You're coming with me."

"Great. Can I at least write a will? Not that I own anything, but I'd still like to write it?"

"You're not going to die."

"I don't believe you."

Andrew didn't reply. He walked out of the hall and into a corridor lined with doors on both sides. The corridor was long and seemingly endless. Ethan followed behind silently until he stopped where Andrew did.

A door labeled 234 stood in front of him. Andrew fished out a key from his pocket and opened the door before turning to Ethan and motioning him to go inside with a flick of his head.

"You'll stay in here."

"Till when?"

"Till I say so."

Ethan went in silently and sat on the bed, moving up and down to test the bounciness. Feeling comfortable, he lied down.

Andrew closed the door, locking it, but not before saying, "You're not going to be locked here forever, so don't try to get out. Just sit here or sleep."

He didn't wait for a reply and walked back to the hall where a girl stood, her long black hair in a tight pony, a g*n strapped to her hip. "You called, Sir?"

"Yes, Vera, you want to explain to me how a five foot eight kid sneaked past your security team and into our base?"

"Ah s**t, that's what the commotion was about, wasn't it."

Andrew nodded.

"My snipers are a bit," She paused, resting her hand on her hip, "Sleepy."

Andrews eyebrows furrowed, "Did they not sleep yesterday?"

Vera shook her head, "No, they were on the lookout yesterday too. The team that was supposed to lookout tonight are still in Illinois."

"That makes sense." Andrew said.

"Why," Vera smirked, "Did you think that kid would be able to sneak past our sniper if they were in good health?"

"No."

"Good. We're better than that."

"Tell me that on a day a seventeen year didn't sneak into our house."

Vera shrugged, "Even half asleep, our team is still difficult to get past. Kid must have been at least a bit good at sneaking."

Andrew sighed, "Get me the clips of all the sectors of the past hour."

"Got it, Sir."

"And?"

"Never again, Sir."

Andrew nodded, "Good."

Vera walked away from the hall, leaving Andrew alone in the hall. The others had moved to their own rooms for sleep.

He walked back into the office to find no one. Grant and Jackson were not there. Maybe they'd gone to sleep. Turning around, he walked towards Grant's room.

Knocking lightly, he got a reply soon enough, "Come in."

He opened the door to find Grant sitting on his bed, a book in hand.

"So, who sneaked in?"

"A kid. Says his name is Ethan. Managed to sneak in without alerting our snipers, although, they were sleep deprived."

Grant raised his eyebrows, "Not bad. So what's your theory."

"He might have been sent by a rival g**g. He seems trained in sneaking in and says he wants to join the gang."

"Well, what's stopping you from letting him join?"

"He's seventeen."

"Oh, what a shame." Grant smiled, "A kid sneaking into a g**g and asking to join. Sound familiar?"

Andrew gritted his teeth. "Yes. But not everyone who does it can be trusted."

Grant laughed, "Well if my father had thought that way, you'd be dead by now. Aren't you glad he didn't?"

"Very."

"Give the boy a chance. Most gangs don't send in spies younger than eighteen. There's no point, they won't be accepted in. I highly doubt he's one."

Andrew hesitated before giving in, "If you say so, brother."

Grant showed no reaction to being called brother, but Andrew knew he was probably smiling inside. He left the room and walked to where Ethan was kept. He knocked on the door.

"That sourpuss has locked me inside, so if you want your go at trying to kill me, I suggest you steal the key from him."

"I don't think I'm a fan of being called a sourpuss."

There was silence before Ethan spoke out, "Well then get used to it."

"I don't think I will."

Ethan paused, "Why bother knocking when you have the key?"

"What's your surname?"

"Don't have one."

"Orphan?"

"I guess you could say that."

"Orphanage?"

"Your nearest dumpster."

Andrew chuckled, "I'm afraid there's no orphanage by that name."

"Too bad."

Ethan waited but received no reply. Had Andrew left?

"When was the last time you ate?" Andrew surprised himself, asking that.

"Why do you care?"

"Because we have a strict policy against killing children."

"I'm almost eighteen."

"Almost."

Ethan groaned, "I'm not hungry if that's what you're asking."

"It's not. When was the last time you ate?"

"Yesterday."

Andrew left the corridor, walking towards the kitchen. At night, there wasn't a lot of fresh food. The vegetables and fruits reach early in the morning, and it's mostly all eaten by the time night hits. Opening the fridge, he found leftover pasta and a few apples.

Taking it out, he got to Ethan's room. Opening it, he saw Ethan sitting on the floor, his back to the wall. He set the food down.

"I said I wasn't hungry." Ethan eyed

the food.

"I didn't ask. Eat up."

Ethan wanted to fight but realized it would be fruitless. He picked up the pasta and ate quietly, trying to ignore Andrew who was staring at him intently.

"You're leaving tomorrow."

Ethan laughed, "And go where? I don't have a home."

"You can't exactly stay here."

"Why not?"

"You're not an adult yet."

"I'm almost-"

"You're almost eighteen, yes, I'm aware, but you're not yet it. With your physique, you'll be targetted first by other gangs. An easy pray. It's not safe. And we have rules that we need to follow." Andrew sat down beside Ethan.

"So what? You're gonna follow your rules and then leave me to die?"

"You're not going to die."

Ethan put down the pasta, and turned to Andrew, "It doesn't matter if I'm here or out there. I'll die either way. Staying out of a g**g isn't going to protect me. If those people are what you say they are, nothing will stop them from killing innocent people. At least this g**g is the only one that doesn't have a record of illegal activities."

Andrew raised an eyebrow, "You've checked the other gangs?"

Ethan nodded, "I sneaked into a bunch of them. None of them found me, of course, but they didn't seem very welcoming so I left."

"And we seem welcoming?"

"Because I'm sitting here, having a convo with the second in command of a g**g while eating pasta, I'd say I'm not wrong."

Andrew shrugged.

"Can't I just stay here till I turn eighteen? Then I can be properly initiated."

"You could be a spy."

"Do you really believe that?"

"No."

"Then?"

Andrew sighed, "I'll talk to Grant about it tomorrow. Go to sleep."

"How caring."

Andrew left the room to enter his own. The boy reminded him a great deal of himself. But if he was anything like him, then Andrew knew for a fact that the kid is lying about being an orphan. And he was determined to find the true identity of this kid.