Somber

Chapter 45: The Beta.

Dedicated to @vaporzayn :)

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Chapter 45: The Beta. 

Liam's POV

| England, 1956 |

        "Good grief,  Mr. Payne! You are most inebriated. I think it is time for you to go home".

Liam looked up from his empty crystal glass to the man behind the bar. His eyes turned from one side to the other, unable to focus on his face. He eventually gave up and instead lifted up one finger in the air to point at the bearded man. "I am perfectly capable of drinking one more of this intoxicating substance, would you please serve it for me?" he said. Or tried to say. The words that came out of his mouth were a slurring and mumbling distorted mess of drunken talk. 

The man behind the bar looked hard at Liam, knowing awfully well that if he drank one more sip of the alcoholic beverage, he would pass out on the stool he was seating on. He'd never get rid of him. "I think you have had enough. Please pay your dues and get yourself home." 

Liam scoffed but reached down to the pockets in his pants. He struggled for a while until he finally pulled out all the money he had on him and placed it on the counter. "That's all I have... can I pay the rest in the near future?" he asked

        "You always ask the same thing, Mr. Payne. Yet you always come and drink more than you have and expect me to wait for you to come again, to drink some more and never pay everything you owe. I've had enough. Either you pay everything or never show your face in here again." The man was serious, his expression was drawn with determination and annoyance. 

Liam sat still for a fraction of a second, before he slipped out of his seat. He didn't make a move to leave though, just stared at a point behind the man's head. 

        "So what is it going to be?" the man asked. 

Through the corner of his eye, Liam could see two big figures approaching from his left side. He knew if he didn't give the money right now, he was going to receive a good beating. It had happened before. At other bars, by different men, but for the same reason. 

So he fled. He took to the right, stumbled into chairs and tables and other drunk men, but he ran into them and out of that place. He wasn't safe though, he knew they would go after him. So he kept running through the deserted streets of the clear Wolverhampton night. He kept running until his legs ached and then burned. He kept running until he couldn't feel them anymore. He was a good runner, always had been, as a result of the life he had. He was always running, whether it was from debt, women or men, he never stopped.  He learned it from his father.

Liam stopped only when he felt nauseous. When he halted, the first thing he did was double over and throw up all the alcohol in his stomach. He felt sick and dizzy and just wanted to curl up in the middle of wherever he was and sleep. But looking at his surroundings, he didn't recognize anything. He was in a part of town that he's never been to before. There wasn't many buildings or houses, come to think of it, there was only one building, behind a high steel fence. As he watched, he heard a loud bang, coming from what seemed to be the back of the building. Liam almost turned away then, but when he heard another strange noise, curiosity got the best of him.  

He studied the steel fence for a minute or two, before reaching up to climb it. That took him several minutes, because the surface was smooth and he kept sliding back down to where he started. But finally, putting up a leg at the top, he pushed himself upward and threw his whole body to the other side. He fell to the ground with a soft thud. Though he didn't make much noise, the fall did hurt, and he groaned quietly as he held his elbow with his hand.