Tainted (Urban)

Chapter 13: The Vultures

Panic and angst, the same things that kept me stagnant before, now moved me. I surged forward, throwing the car door open as I seeped out of the seat. And seeped was the operative word. My limbs had turned to jelly as I forced myself to keep my stomach down.

I could hear Alex calling my name, but it was drowned out by my own incessant thoughts.

The bat - the blood - the blow.

"Oh, you wanna take a swing too?" Wan asked me as I stumbled towards him. The swirling in my head finally began to cease and my vision became slightly less blurred. I could see something being extended towards me.

"What the hell are you doing?" I made a sad attempt at grabbing the steel bat, only to have it swiftly removed from my reach. My hand followed the bat but not my feet, causing me to tumble onto the grass pitifully. I didn't even bother to try to stand. I was far too busy overthinking.

I did manage to hear somebody ask what my issue was though. I couldn't even begin to fathom a question like that. What my "issue" was? I had a whole assortment of "issues" right now. And the brutality that had just transpired was the first of them.

"What did you just bash his head in for?" I could barely hear my own words over the tortured crooning of the victim. I didn't care much for what this man did, but it damaged me to see anybody in such agonizing pain.

Annoyed that he couldn't hear me over JJ's wailing, Wan grabbed the bleeding man by his collar and dragged him away while shouting to Lynn, "Keep those two softies out here until they've collected themselves."

I wanted to protest, but I glanced at Lynn and noticed the absence of warmth from her eyes and the rhythmic tapping of the bat against her palm. Not that I particularly feared her, I just wasn't equipped to deal with crossing her right now. But even If I were to ignore Wan's wishes of staying out here in the blood splattered yard, would Lynn actually strike me? The thought of it bothered me. But I knew it was an all too real possibility that somebody I once called my friend could turn on me.

"You got something you want to say?" Lynn asked as I realized that I had been staring. I chose not to say anything at all.

"Allen, what the hell is going on?"

I glanced to my right and Alex was now standing there looking more confused than he normally did. His dark eyes showed a dismay similar to my own. I didn't even know what to tell him, as anything I tried to say could possibly increase his already apparent anxiety.

"It's all good. Just some business that had to be taken care of," was Lynn's dismissive reply.

"You call that business? I think of business as the engagement in commerce, not some mafioso beating." I stuffed my phone in my pocket, slowly regaining my poise. The spinning in my head had quelled, but the look on Lynn's face hinted that she wished to make my head spin herself.

"Business is also a person's regular profession. How somebody makes their living." She glanced away, her eyes were attracted to the window of the house we stood in front of. It was only briefly, for she soon turned her attention back to me. "Sorry if this was lost to you, but this is what we do. This is how we eat."

For once, she dropped the vulgarity of her speech pattern, but kept the same snarky and dismissive tone. But I had to admit that what she said wasn't a complete lie. In their line of "work," I could presume that this was considered business.

"But I mean, why? What's the story with this guy?" Alex asked.

"Didn't you hear Wan's dialogue with ol' dude?" I placed my hand on top of the Maserati to steady myself, the coolness soothing my fingers. "That guy owed them money, and so they came to collect. Right?"