My Stepbrother - Zarry

Kobayashi - 37

The fire we had lit up was the only thing illuminating the cloudy night sky. Me, Liam, Louis, and a couple other seniors in the gang gathered around the two corpses.

"They're from the Vipers, look at his arm." I said, pointing to the V letter tattooed with a snake, on his forearm. A signature tattoo all Vipers had.

Almost every gang had a certain symbol they identified with. Most had it tattooed on either their arms or on the back of their necks.

My gang, famously known as Kobayashi, named after our former leader, proudly wears the symbol of a red wolf, symbolizing a viscous predator with its guardianship, ritual, loyalty, and spirit. Instead of getting our symbol tattooed on more visible areas like our arms and necks, we got it tattooed in the middle of our chests.

"It wasn't a good idea to drag them across the ground. Now we've got their blood on the grass." Liam huffed. "We have to get rid of the bodies soon."

There was a strong gush of wind, which blew away the piece of fabric that had been covering the faces of the corpses. I grimaced as I looked at their lifeless faces. They were long dead and their suffering was over, but their faces somehow still displayed the pain they had been in, because of me.

I had been involved in this way of life since I was 19. Watching people kill and be killed. But today, for the first time in years, it crossed my mind for just a second, that the men I killed without thought might have people waiting for them to come back home, people who cared for them, people that would mourn them.

I was happy that I had such people in my life too. Harry, Dad, Doniya, and Anne. People that I wouldn't be able to stand seeing suffer. I had left without informing them of my whereabouts, and they were probably worried sick, but I was an adult, there's not much they could do to bring me back. The fact that I had taken my personal belongings with me must be enough for them to know that I had left intentionally, and Harry knew I was leaving before anyone else did.

"Oi, you okay?" Louis tapped my shoulder. "You space out a lot these days. It's kinda creepy."

"Oh, yeah." I spoke, paying attention to the conversation again.

"What I don't understand is why they sent only two of them. We checked if there were more of them around, but turns out there really were only two." Liam addressed the rest of the members.

"Maybe they were here to spy on us? Gather information?" 

"Hmm. That could be true." Liam nodded.

"But Zayn mentioned earlier that they said something about taking him alive, right Zayn?" Louis said.

"Yeah. I suppose they were trying to hold me hostage to use it against us."

"That's what makes the most sense. They've been trying to take power for over a year, and now they're finally making progress. I have a feeling they're planning to trap us somehow, like they're desperately trying to find something to threaten us with. And now, they discovered our hideout." Liam suggested.

"Something to threaten us with? Shit, I wonder what their next move is."

"Anyway, it doesn't matter that our hideout was revealed. Because we secured the building in Bradford." Louis announced, and everyone cheered at the news.

"Secured, how so?" I asked.

"We pulled some strings and got in contact with the owner of the mall. He agreed to let us form a new base at his building for as long as we needed, with a couple of threats and some bargaining of course." Louis chuckled. "Being at the top sure has its perks."