Syndrome // H.S.

05. When it Creeps Up on You

Harry's POV

The morning air was cool as the sky was still mostly dark. On the horizon, I could just barely see a faint hint of orange, from the sun that still wouldn't come up for another 20-ish minutes. The bench I was sitting on became uncomfortable several hours ago and my back was starting to hurt. Maybe turning 27 in a couple days meant I was starting to get old. I know I'm not near as energetic when it comes to my job as I was when I was 19. 

Didn't mean I don't still love it. I owe my job everything, I owe it my life. It quite literally saved me at a young age. Sure I've almost died a few times but it's nothing compared to the certain death I would have experienced had I never met the gang.

That Monroe chick was right when she said we didn't look like gang members, and that's because we weren't a typical gang. There was only the five of us and the OG, which stands for Original Gangster. They're kind of like the one in charge, calling all the shots. The rest of us are just the do-boys. In a normal gang, there would be more of an hierarchy with different ranks and a lot more people. We didn't need more people though, we were perfectly fine as we were.

Liam is kind of the leader, because he can get shit done. His name carries a lot of weight in this country, and for good reason. I'm sure even I would lose a fight against him. Niall is quick with his hands, and... charming to say the least. He acts like our mom half the time but he has this way of influencing people into doing whatever he wants. Louis was fucking insane. Anytime there was something we thought he couldn't do, he would take it as a challenge. He proved us wrong a lot, but he was also very impulsive and had to be managed quite a bit. There was also the little fire problem that he had. Zayn was the one I felt the most in common with. He was silent, but we were both deadly. He enjoyed the kill just as much as I did. I know Liam likes it too, but that's just because he's angry all the time. I knew Zayn and I had different reasons from him.

For me, I love the control it gives. I singlehandedly get to decide if there's going to be one less person in the world. Or 6. Or 50. I don't know the exact number of people I've killed all at once, but I knew it was high. Of course, that was with Louis' help. That motherfucker can build a bomb like no other.

There'd been a few occasions when we were out on the road or living out of motels that one of us had caught him tinkering and making different bombs, just trying to see if he could improve his technique. That's actually how we ended up being banned for life from an Applebee's in the state of Vermont, but that's a different story.

Sometimes it felt like I was the only one in our group with half a brain. I think Zayn's smart too, he just never speaks up. That's how I ended up coming up with most of our plans and handling all of our money. Liam and I often bumped heads because he always thought I was trying to boss everyone around and take charge, but that's not true. It's not my fault I'm the only one with common sense that could pass a math class. 

Not to be cocky, but I know that I'm smart. I might have been a nerd growing up.

All in all, we were all really fucking good in our own areas of expertise. We worked closely with a lot "real" gangs out there. We would do things for them, and they would do things for us. We were valuable to a lot of them, whether they were rivals or not. I knew that if anything every happened to us, there would be gangs from all parts of the country that would come looking for answers. Plus it was nice to not have any enemies. We got our jobs done, got paid, and moved on the next.

I was brought out of my thoughts by the sound of someone moving around in the room behind me. After Monroe had passed out last night, I carried her bridal style back into the hotel. Liam had once again made a big fuss about Zayn picking someone so weak. He was wrong, though. I could tell she was strong.