The Lowly Gate's Guard

Ch. 21: Grace Period (5)

Two days later, at a Book Store in the back of Waterloo Station. The store had been long abandoned since the world went to ruin. Some of the books had fallen onto the ground leaving messy piles of ruined novels, the pages bent and warped from damp. White sat on a table at the back of the store, White had his feet leaned on a chair that was standing on two legs as he kept moving it back and forth. His eyes were glued to his phone. Some sort of loud obnoxious music came blasting through his headphones, disrupting the silence of the store. It was 1:15pm, Dean was late, and the kid was getting impatient with worry. He started to wonder if he would even turn up. He bit the edge of his thumb. His eyebrows furrowed. Then the bell from the door chimed signalling somebody's entrance, it let out a gentle ring through the bookstore. Though music was screaming into White's ears and he didn't hear the bell, he could sense someone had arrived. Maybe it was a change in the wind, or maybe he could feel people around him, but he knew someone had walked in. He stood up onto the chair and tipped it forward, he rode it down with grace and he took his headphones off. He turned off the music with a flick of a switch.

"It's about time."

Dean's appearance was pitiful, he was covered in dirt, sweat and had trouble breathing. He was hunched over trying to collect himself.

"What happened to you?"

"Training." Dean gasped.

"Oh." To White, Dean looked like he had been playing in the dirt instead of training. White continued, ignoring his appearance. "Take a seat." He gestured to the chair near the table, Dean agreed and sat down giving his weak legs some rest.

As Dean sat, White called out for the others that were sat in the back. Sam, Avery, Mary and Tabby came out. They had chosen to stay in the back in case someone saw him with them, they didn't want to complicate things with Fox's men. Mary and Avery were happy to see Dean again, both of them smiled as they sat down. Tabby was in Mary's arms, purring with content. It was good to see the two together. However, Sam was cold and gave Dean side eye, barely acknowledging his presence. Dean grumbled; he wasn't happy to see him again either.

"You could at least say hi to the guy you left for dead."

Sam crossed his arms and put his feet on the table, "Should have thrown the cat." Tabby hissed a response, she was smart for a cat and knew what Sam had said. Mary glared at Sam, but it didn't affect him in the slightest. Survival was more important to him than a pet.

"Did you know Tabby could become a Tiger?" Dean said.

"What?" Sam and Mary both looked just as confused as each other, they had never seen the cat turn before. Avery laughed, hoping to still see this large blue tiger. Sam didn't know the cat could turn into a tiger, he only thought to throw the cat so they could at least gain some time to run. He knew Mary would be sad for awhile because of it, but as long as they both survived, one dead cat wouldn't matter. White got between Sam and Dean before things could get flared up, "We have more important things to talk about here." he said. The kid pressed something on his phone and placed it on the table, a projection came from the screen showing a 3D holographic video. It was a video of Fox talking with his men.

"Fox." Sam said, his arms still crossed. The projection showed Fox grabbing one of his men by the arm, a blue glow pulsated back up into his own. Sam raised an eyebrow, recognising the scene as how people could exchange points, as long as both parties were willing to. You could take and give as many points as you wanted. The blue glow shined so bright that it meant Fox must have been taking a significantly large amount of points from the man.

"God, how many points is he collecting? With the amount he seems to be taking, no one would be able to touch him." Sam's face was strained. The amount of points he was receiving was insane. The rest of them shuddered at the thought. Everyone knew of Fox and the rumours behind him. If he were to keep collecting points at this rate, he'd get to a level where no one would stand a chance against him. White noticed the mood of the room and cleared his throat, stopping everyone before panic set in, "Don't worry, he isn't going to spend them on himself."