Hunters Royale

Flashback - 1

"You are striving to become Zerek... aren't you?"

William's eyes went wide for a second as the old man spoke but he did not utter a word.

"....."

"William Watts!!"

"The one possessed by MAMMON!!"

The Old Man proclaimed.

"..."

"You are trying to continue that secret legacy of our previous leader... aren't you?"

"Do you realize Will?... That you are trying to copy 'The Copy Phantom' himself??"

.....

××

"STOP!!!"

"Get Lost boy!!"

*Thwack*

A little boy, around the age of six, got thrown and slapped back to the dumpster on the alleyway.

*Drip*

The water from the rain which had just wrapped up its anger upon the humans slowly poured from the building roofs which were overgrown with thick patches of mold and other insignificant flora.

The roofs which were just 8 meters apart from each other rained their leftover and clogged water onto the predicament below them, onto the gang of people who were scuttling in the alleyway.

And between them was a boy who had just been slapped across the cheek and sent flying away, banging his head on a dumpster in the alleyway connected to a desolate road.

From the boy's forehead, which had just torn open, blood oozed like water from a gushing fountain. The gash was big enough to the extent that the oozing blood covered his entire face, slowly smearing it all over his face before dripping down to his torn shirt.

The boy, with his back against the dumpster and his eyes towards the mob before him, looked in despair and trauma as the throng of hectic and lascivious 'hyenas' tore his mom's jacket open, revealing her silky smooth skin and arms. 

She who tried her best to fend off the mob surrounding her, gave up her struggle in vain as she saw her son's bloodied face and bloodshot eyes stare at her in shock.

What ran inside her mind was projected through her thoughts... If she gave up her dignity to them, then they might leave her son alone. Just maybe, was her thought at that time.

It soon came out through her mouth.

"Please... just please let my son go... Take me... *sob*... but leave him alone!!."
She implored at the men before her. As she pleaded for mercy for her son, the vicious men halted themselves for a whole second, thinking and shooting glances to the debauched eyes of each other.

Soon.

The thinking eyes and the neutral smiles of the men grew into licentious grins as they shook their heads and laughed at the pleading woman before them.

"She ain't gonna give up that easily... we might have to do it hehe..."
A man, with crooked teeth, sneered at the men.

"Oi, Bauer... Bring something nice will ya'..."
He shouted over to a man who was trembling nervously as he looked at the stuff the other men were committing to a lady.

Bauer's trembling eyes darted from the lady to the boy who was slouched back on the dumpster, still in shock as to what he was experiencing before his innocuous and benign eyes.

Bauer, who was called by the man, slowly walked back to the throng with a metal pipe in his hands.

His quivering body and shivering eyes, for the second time, darted back from the lady to the boy who seemed to be still in shock but somehow was giving out a different aura.

An aura that sent a chill down his spine.

The man with the pipe Bauer found himself appalled as a murderous glare shot out from the boy's crimson red eyes towards his wiggling pupils.

*Slap*
"Give it to me quick you imbecile!"
The man with the crooked teeth grabbed the pipe from the frail looking Bauer as he slapped him back to the ground.

"Now this will make her shut up... for good this time"
The crooked man who had crooked teeth chuckled menacingly as he sized up the pipe and gaped at the lady while drooling on himself.

"Ple... ase... *sob*  why are you... *sob* doing this?... At least let my son go... I beg of you!!"
The lady held down by two men cried even though her face was driven into the wet alleyway path.

"Please..."
The lady cried yet again as the man before she raised the metal pipe on his hands high up to the sky.

The boy could do nothing but gape at them in shock. His mouth went wide along with his bloodshot eyes as he stared at the men before him.

"Some... one... please... help..."
The small stuttering words left his mouth as he called for help.

But...

Little did he know.

The scenes which transpired before him were nothing out of the cartoons he watched or the comics he read.

He was a big fan of heroes. Especially the ones who arrived on time before the bad guys could make their move.

He wanted to be like them.

A hero who everyone respected.

A hero who could bring smiles to the faces of everyone with just his presence.

A hero who could deliver them from the evil.

....

But...

The thing the six year old didn't know was that...

Life was not like those comics he read.

Particularly the one which guaranteed a happy ending with everyone smiling at the end.

What he was beholding before him was nothing else other than...

R - E - A - L - I - T - Y

...

"SHUT UP BITCH!!"

*Slam*

*Clank*

The steel clank echoed throughout the alleyway as silence engulfed soon after.

The lady, who was the boy's mom, spat blood in shock as she glanced at her traumatized son with her agonizing eyes.

"Oi, Dale?... Don't you think you hit her a bit too hard?"
Another man from the group raised a question to the man who swung the metal pipe.

"It doesn't matter... Let's just get over with what we were going to do...  hehe..."
The man, who the boy despised, rubbed his hands together as he bent his knees towards the bleeding lady.

The boy, who couldn't move his body, could only watch and cry at what the man was going to do.

'Why didn't anyone help us?'
The boy could only think as he glared at the other men bending their bodies towards the lady who was losing both blood and consciousness.

'Is there... even a hero?'

What the boy asked himself made his heart ache more. There wasn't a hero to save him and his mother.

Or so he thought.

It wasn't because there was no hero.

It was because he was late.

*Stomp*

........

Author Note.

Hope you are enjoying it till now. The story is progressing well I guess. I'll just implore you guys that this is story development. Yes, it is. I won't repeat the same mistake I did with the other book of mine.

Thank you for reading and stay safe. One or two comments from your side won't hurt and might probably make my day.

;)

........