“Come on Dante, let’s take the shortcut. We wasted too much time.”

  Emma started jogging through the alleyway, her shoes echoing against the weathered concrete. Faded graffiti decorated the walls on either side.

  “We?” Dante responded with a raised brow as he jogged with her.

  “I’m sorry but we? What do you mean we? You’re the one who saw that puppy and started playing with it for a good 20 minutes while talking to its owner. Talking about we, geez, dragging me into it.” He said while he emphasized ‘we’ as much as he could.

  “Excuse me but we are a team. No blame to go around—we share blame.” Emma stopped her jog, placing her hands on her hips and straightening her back with a puffed out chest.

  “Besides, we did so much along the way,” she continued with a bright and innocent smile.

  Can I have whatever drugs she is on?

  “What drugs are you on? And can I have some?” Dante blurted out

  “That's rude Dante!” Emma pinched him.

  “Besides maybe you would like to refresh my memory? Because here is what I remember about doing along the way. I remember school, then we walked, talked about Cataclysmic Reanimation, uh then we saw a custom Fenris. Then you saw a puppy like maybe 5 minutes later, then after the puppy you noticed the time and started speed walking.” Dante held his chin inquisitively.

  “And now we are here in an alley with a group of cats staring at us.”

  Emma turned after the words “cat” had left Dante’s lips to see a group of different cats and kittens staring at her.

  “They are adorable,” Emma said.

  “Let’s go, Emma. We wasted too much time, remember?” Dante chuckled.

  And now Emma will want to waste more time.

  3

  2

  1

  “It’s ok, we can just jog some more to make up the lost time. It’s healthy for us anyway, so let’s play with the cats.” Emma turned, giving Dante a wide-eyed, pleading stare.

  Yup, called it.

  “Fine if you want to, but if your sister asks, I’m not defending you. Matter of fact...” Dante paused for a moment, his pupils glancing to the side before continuing.

  “I’ll just confess to your sister everything.”

  Before Emma got a word in, a noise from the side alerted the felines, causing them to skitter away.

  Emma looked to the side to see three men walking towards them.

  “Damn, look at this hottie.”

  “Hey, want to hang out with us? We party hard, girl.”

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  The three laughed as Emma scurried and hid behind Dante.

  “Hey guys, look, it’s not worth the trouble. We aren’t even adults, just kids really—look, uniform and all.” Dante said with his hands out passively.

  “She don’t look like a kid with that body,” one of the men whistled.

  “It’s ok, I was a kid just last year, man—not like these other two old guys,” another said.

  The three laughed as they got closer. Emma stayed behind Dante, staring at them yet unafraid, as though she was perfectly safe where she was.

  “Come on guys, I don’t have money on me to pay for injuries,” Dante pleaded.

  “No problem, my friend. Just hand her over and you won’t get hurt,” the youngest of the three said, a little closer than arm’s reach away.

  Well I did warn them, not my fault now, hmm I can use that later if any of them has a weapon.

  Before the three men had time to realize what was happening, Dante's fist connected with the closest man's chin in a perfectly placed cross. A sharp cracking noise echoed through the alley as the impact snapped the man's head back. His eyes instantly lost focus, pupils dilating in shock, and his body crumpled to the ground, unconscious from the precise strike to his vulnerable chin.

  Keeping his momentum going, Dante took two steps forward with a twist of his hips and a heavy fist. He followed through, landing a powerful left hook to the right torso, aiming for one of the standing men’s liver.

  The man immediately clutched his side, his eyes going wide as he began to gasp for air, crumpling to the ground.

  “You fucking brat!” the third man yelled as he took out a pocket knife.

  Dante grabbed the lid of a nearby trash can he had noticed and tagged for use against a weapon before. He side-stepped the incoming knife and grabbed the lid, turning around in time to stop another thrust using the lid. Dante moved the lid up as fast as he could, hitting the final man in the chin with the aluminum lid.

  Clang!

  Was the sound of contact, as if it were the bell signaling the end of the round.

  How troublesome and pointless.

  What did these people hope to accomplish honestly?

  Dante stared at the man he had just hit. The man began to groan as he collected himself.

  Ah, it seems that I hit him too gently.

  Dante's calm ocean-blue eyes suddenly became cold. It was almost as though his eyes became shades darker. As if they were sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of the ocean, drawing anyone who dared look into them down to where light couldn't penetrate and air couldn't reach.

  It has been a while since those forced tests. Perhaps I’ve grown too soft.

  “You little...”

  Wack!

  Dante’s foot kicked the man’s gut ruthlessly, causing him to gasp for air before coughing.

  Enemies won’t hold back, so if you see one, there is no reason to be merciful. When we came to this alleyway, I noticed there were no cameras around, no house cameras or from the streets

  This is a Dead Zone. It’s almost strange, really even the signal in this alley is sketchy at best. If I haven’t been using it for years now…

  No, even then, if someone was patient enough.

  Dante was brought back from his thoughts as the man began to recover. Before being able to get up, the man felt Dante’s shoe on his throat pressing slowly.

  Even if I killed him now, no one would ever know.

  “Dante!”

  Emma’s voice brought him back.

  Damn it, I forgot Emma was here... Damn it, where did my head go? I was slipping back. I decided ever since I was no longer forced to do those tests, I would live a normal life.

  Dante removed his foot and kicked the man in the gut again before grabbing Emma’s hand and pulling her through the alley.

  “Let’s get out of here in case they have friends,” he said as they moved.

  …

  …

  “Yes sir, he got rid of them quickly. No sir, I don’t think he knows anything. He seems to still be suppressing his instincts,” a voice hidden within a dark vehicle said.

  “Mmm, mmm, yes of course, sir. I understand my lord, leave it to me I shall keep watching. I’ll hang up now, goodbye sir.”

  All went quiet in the dark vehicle, yet their vigilant watch continued to stay on Dante. The observer adjusted his position slightly, the leather seat creaking beneath him as he picked up a small device and tapped a few commands, ensuring the recording was properly archived.