A year passed…
— Somewhere in the border of the Timeless Slums — Northern Territory —
It's been long known by slum residents that the Timeless Slums is separated into three regions. The outer region, center region and the inner region.
But because of the appearance of gangs, most notably, the two major gangs that held the most power, it's been separated even more in the map agreed upon by the residents.
The northernmost area of the slums is Scorpion Territory while the southernmost area is dominantly under the Centipedes.
The residents of the slums mostly lived somewhere in the center region, so inhabited houses barely existed around the parts of the border. Though, the largest building in this area that people frequently go to is an abandoned textile factory.
The textile factory has multiple stories and windows, with the leftmost part of it completely destroyed into rubble. Red clay roof tiles were coming off in some places, but it was a great hub for Scorpions of the Northern Border.
The Scorpions call this factory the North Post. An important and strategic location for many of their businesses and supplies.
The North Post is even painted with a large black scorpion to let anyone know who it belongs to in a single glance.
Quite a fair distance away from the North Post, three men were smoking without a care in the world. Even with the knowledge that they were in a dangerous place, they weren't afraid and instead, flaunted their guns strapped around their torsos not only to intimidate onlookers, but to show that they are ready to engage when provoked.
The most noticeable feature of the men were that they were wearing sleeveless jackets with their shoulders exposed, showing a scorpion tattoo.
From the destroyed houses all around the place, they picked one with stairs to sit on.
People who were digging through garbage just to get food looked at them warily and left as quickly as they could. Even though the North Post was quite a fair distance away from the three, they didn't take their chances unless one of them felt like shooting.
"Has Hambo paid what he owes already? I haven't met my quota for the boss yet." A man with a high nose bridge tapped the ash off his cigarette, letting it fall on the deceased rubble filled soil.
Exhaling a stream of smoke out of his nose, a man with a titanium lip piercing spoke. "Edric and I went to his place yesterday. You said you ain't coming, so we got to work. Sorry Olto."
"Yeah, nah, nah… that was my bad. No worries Hitch." Replied the man with a high nose bridge named Olto.
"We can carjack some in the parking lot. I'm goin' to need money anyways." Said the man named Edric. His long bleached hair was tied in a bun.
"Edric, you have already met your quota. The hell you need extra stacks for?" Olto lifted the cigarette to his mouth.
Edric was about to touch his head out of habit to scratch it, but stopped when he remembered how much of a hassle it was to tie his hair back. "My brother's been tellin' me that he wants to join the Scorpions. I told him to get his ass back to school. This line of work I'm on? It's too dangerous, boy's got to stay clean."
"Ey, that's respectable. I can say that much because I'm a cheapskate myself." Hitch extended his fist.
"Nothing much man, just looking out for my own blood." Edric met Hitch's knuckles with his.
"I would probably do the same to be honest." Olto threw his cigarette onto the ground and stomped on it, using the sole of his shoe to crush it thoroughly.
"Olto, all you do is spend it on hookers in Madam Sally's Brothel." Hitch finished with a chuckle.
Olto raised both hands since he was caught red handed. "To be fair, have any of you seen Lady Luna? The one with the big..."
The three men collectively pointed at each other with a wide knowing grin.
Unbeknownst to them, a little kid was sneaking behind.
Olto's pistol was sticking out of his pocket with the safety on since he's not an idiot. But he is careless for not accounting for someone who plans to steal it.
As Olto is in the middle of Edric and Hitch, he didn't have any reason to turn his head too much in one direction. Especially since he has his guard down.
The house was long destroyed, the foyer that used to lead to the living room was nothing but two walls behind where the door was before. Wooden shelves bolted to the concrete were hanging down lifelessly by the side.
Somehow, the kitchen was now overgrown with tall grass, vines and moss, spreading outward to create a small wall of obstruction.
Tysiff made his way from the back of the broken house without getting seen and crawled on the foyer. He set aside the wooden shelf blocking his way and moved forward.
Inching closer, he reached out his hand and began to try taking away Olto's gun from his pocket.
He tugged and slowly started to get it out.
However, not everything went to his wishes.
Olto suddenly scratched his head and turned to look at Hitch who was beside him.
Tysiff felt a suffocating feeling of a ghostly hand gripping his heart. He didn't dare turn his head up.
Olto laughed and continued on with the conversation.
Tysiff looked up and was relieved that they still didn't notice him. With his confidence restored, he pulled on the pistol with a little more force and successfully took it out.
He heaved a silent sigh of relief.
Slowly, he strengthened his hold on the gun and crawled backwards from where he came from.
Olto felt the area on his left hip itch. When he scratched it, he noticed that the expected object to be in his pocket was gone.
"What the?" Olto turned around, seeing Tysiff.
Without even thinking, Tysiff got up and bolted away running.
Olto saw the gun in the boy's hand and yelled, "Hey! Get back here!" He clutched his gun, but someone grabbed his hand before he could aim.
Edric stopped him, "Don't waste it on a kid.."
Edric and the two men dashed after Tysiff. The fallen shelf on the floor was kicked away forcefully in midst of their pursuit.
Tysiff's arms were swinging back and forth in a controlled manner as he ran. Spotting a tight alley, he immediately slowed down a bit and squeezed through with his back and chest pressed against the walls. As he moved forward, he was met with a dead end.
It was a concrete wall blocking his way that was taller than him by a head, alongside metal cages and a lot of stacked cardboard.
Tysiff hoisted himself up the cardboard with one hand gripping the gun and his right hand helping him climb. The unstable stack of cardboard wobbled before scattering into the ground messily.
Hitch saw this and rolled his finger above his head. "Around! That place leads to the three sewer grates in –"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I remember!" Olto dismissively spoke up as the three of them avoided the narrow alley and went to an alternate path.
Tysiff's heart thumped.
As his feet landed on a puddle, splattering droplets of water, he knew that he was approaching a place where rain was usually collected by potholes and broken concrete.
He stepped on three metal grates, creating consecutive clanging sounds.
Splatters could be heard from the back. When Tysiff turned his head, he saw Olto and Hitch tailing him closely.
Tysiff contemplated silently and looked ahead. He saw a rusty metal gate leaning against a house's wall and decided to pull it as he ran past.
Because the alley is only wide enough to let two people walk side by side, the metal gate fell, but was propped by the opposite wall, creating a slanted obstacle.
When Hitch and Olto saw this, they leapt on the gate and ran on it with considerably decreased speed.
Tysiff took a turn as the alley entered a wider area. It was a road previously used by motorcycles and small cabs. As the place was located close to the border, the surrounding houses weren't inhabited by a lot of people.
A man with a dark complexion was carrying a black trash bag containing his daily haul, only for Tysiff to appear from the corner and bump into him.
"Agh!" The man staggered. "Watch where you're going brat!" He shouted angrily while his fist was raised at Tysiff.
Tysiff laughed while short of breath and held a peace sign as he ran.
The homeless man shook his head with a grumble and went on his way.
Suddenly–!
Two grown men crashed into the man, sending him tumbling down the road.
"Let's go, let's go!" Hitch jumped over the homeless man.
Olto followed, clumsily running as he took a sharp turn, unfortunately stepping on the homeless man's leg on accident.
"AH–!"
They both ignored the man's wailing and kept chasing Tysiff. The homeless man held his left leg in a fetal position. There was a large bruise where Olto stepped on.
The commotion caught a lot of people's attention. When they saw the two Scorpion gang members, they were wise enough to step aside.
Most houses had two stories, but of miserable quality and rusty tin roofs. Some protective parents immediately closed their windows the moment they saw the two.
Up ahead, Tysiff saw someone resting under the shade of what used to be a store. There was a wagon beside the man that was filled with scrap metal.
As he passed through, he grabbed a handful of nails and threw it behind.
"Hey! The hell are you–?" The decrepit old man saw who was chasing Tysiff and almost had a heart attack. "Dear lord!"
Hitch received most of the damage from the nails. It pricked a bit of skin from his forearm, but as he covered his face, there was nothing too serious.
"Fuck this!" Hitch grabbed his gun and stopped to fire.
His finger got to the trigger and…. stopped.
The pain of knowing how expensive bullets are prevented him from going all the way through. Hitch begrudgingly dropped back his gun and let it sway on the strap. "You're fucking lucky I love money!"
Tysiff looked around and checked for the nearest alley to get away.
He saw a blue pole with paint peeling off with a narrow path behind it with sewer grates unevenly installed by the sides.
He went there immediately and grabbed the pole to swing his momentum directly to the path.
As Tysiff did so, he was met with a fist the moment he entered the opening.
The punch dropped him on his back.
Tysiff looked up and saw Edric. He quickly pointed the gun at him without stopping to think how he somehow knew where he was going to go, but merely Edric grabbed and pointed it away, causing the bullet to miss.
*BANG!*
Edric stomped on Tysiff's right arm by the wrist and bent down to pick up the gun.
Stabilizing his breathing, Edric shook his head as the other two caught up not a second later.
Tysiff tried to get his arm off Edric's foot, but a kick to the face sent his head keeling while two streaks of blood exploded from his nostrils. The smell of iron was strong for him.
Hitch placed his hand on the wall while panting heavily. Olto stepped on the grates and bent his head down, sweat trickling heavily as he hasn't ran that much in quite a while.
"Your gun." Edric held the pistol by the barrel and gave it to Olto.
"Hehh– hehh– thanks…." Olto took it from Edric while wheezing. He then looked at Tysiff with wrathful eyes.
"You little fucker. Who the hell told you that you can get your hands on my shit, eh?!" Olto grabbed Tysiff by the neck and lifted him up.
Tysiff felt his feet dangling in the air.
He gasped and tried to breathe while his hands wrestled against Olto's grip against his windpipe.
"Ghhhkk– …. C– C–"
"Centip– edes!"
Olto and Edric looked at each other with a serious expression.
"Let 'em down." Edric tapped Olto's shoulder.
Letting his grip go, Tysiff's dropped down weakly on the ground, blood and tears mixed in streams of ugly discomfort. He coughed multiple times and felt that his predicament was quite bad.
Olto squatted down to Tysiff's level and grabbed him by the hair. "So, who among the Centipedes told you to do this?"
Tysiff clenched his teeth and looked at him. "It was…"
Tysiff sensed a lot of killing intent from the three. He swallowed any plans of using any tricks and answered in defeat.
"It was Jeckal."
Hitch scoffed, "Jeckal? That bastard? Brat, don't lie to us now."
Tysiff's eyes widened as he said in desperation, "No! No! No! I swear, I swear! Didn't you hear? He's been paying kids like me around to sabotage Scorpions one way or another!"
Edric rubbed his chin.
He thought about it for a good while.
"Hm…. Not gonna lie, that does sound like Jeckal."
"That fucker again…" Olto tossed Tysiff's head aside like laundry to the wall and stood up.
"That sounds like trouble… Tch, I'm feeling a gang war boutta' happen soon.." Hitch clicked his tongue.
Knowing that it's pointless worrying about it for now, Olto spoke up, "Let's talk to the boss later. As for now, I'll take out one piece of trash first."
He grabbed his pistol and pointed it straight at Tysiff's forehead.
"Wait! I have information about Jeckal! I– I can talk about his operations that I've o– overheard! I'll tell you if you'll let me go though!" Tysiff begged for his life.
His face was besmirched with blood, tears, sweat and dirt. It was an unsightly one to look at. One of Tysiff's teeth was even dark crimson due to the bloodstains.
Olto would've shot Tysiff immediately no matter how he pleaded. But the value of the information that he was offering prevented him from doing so.
"Fine. But if that information ain't good, you're dead, don't test me."
Tysiff trembled in fear upon hearing his words.
"O– okay… Jeckal's planning an ambush to steal guns in Dunning's Street with the Centipedes. I- I only overheard it… He said that he's really really sure that you guys have a base using the old community hospital at Dunning's."
The three went silent.
Their eyes grew in alarm once they realized the implications of this information.
They didn't doubt Tysiff at all because it was true!
It was one of the operations that a lot of Scorpions were briefed on. Any room for doubt was indeed nonexistent.
"That's… not good." Hitch's frown went deeper.
"We have to tell this to the boss." Edric added.
The two of them looked at Olto, waiting for his response.
Olto acknowledged them silently.
He glanced at Tysiff and sighed. "Fine, get out of here. You earned yourself another day." He flicked the gun to the left.
Tysiff didn't linger lest they decide to vent their anger on him. "T- Thank you.."
He wasn't really that worried that they would shoot, but it was to be considered given the weight of the information that he gave them.
After all, humans are unpredictable.
He got up and scampered away. He began moving towards familiar grounds, leaving the three gangsters to dwell in their unease and uncertainty.
A crowd of residents watched him run away and eventually lost him in their sights.
"Why was there a gunshot? What happened?" A man with a dirt smudged baseball cap asked.
"Ukas's kid was running away from three Scorpions. I have no idea what he did." A lady in her forties with a lit cigarette between her fingers answered.
"I saw, he was running away with a gun. Maybe he stole it?" A young girl with a ponytail tied by a red rubber band chimed in.
The middle aged lady scoffed and put the cigarette in her mouth, "What kinda fool would do that?"
…
Tysiff kept moving until he saw the broken water tower in the background and the blown up stadium that he now knew was called the Nostin Sports Stadium.
As he got further away from the border, the number of people around him grew more sparse while the diseased ruins of the slums grew denser.
He slowed down his pace the moment the surroundings grew more and more familiar.
The houses around him were at least three stories tall, with some apartment complexes that have fallen. The roads around him also used to be part of a highway.
Tysiff stopped under the shade of a house and messily wiped the blood off his face. His fearful expression was no longer seen.
He lifted his head and took a deep breath.
"Aggghh– Fuck!"
Tysiff angrily stomped his foot down the sidewalk as he poured out his heart's grievance.
"I was so close! Why the hell did I have to be so unlucky?!"
A man wearing a knitted fishing net for a shirt with a wide brimmed bamboo hat saw him shouting like a madman in his peripheral vision and called his attention. All while laying down in a hammock covered by the shade of a bungalow's ruins.
"Tysiff, can you tone it down? I'm trying to get some good sleep here."
The man had brown rough skin, thin eyebrows and a small stature caused by malnutrition. From one's first impression, he'd be the grumpy senior who would constantly shush young children having fun.
Tysiff quickly turned and replied to the man, "Old Fisher, do you think anyone's going to be happy if they're kicked in the face this badly?"
Old Fisher lifted his bamboo hat to observe Tysiff better. "Egh, I can see why you're mad." He recoiled with a disgusted face.
Though he knew it was just an exaggeration, it bummed out Tysiff even more.
Old Fisher stood up and grabbed a square food container from a blue plastic barrel drum next to him. It was almost overflowing with water, the food container was just a necessary method to get it out.
"Here, wash yourself with this before Ukas sees you." He passed the plastic food container filled with water.
Tysiff glanced at it for a bit and unreservedly took it with both hands.
"... Thanks." He said as he splashed his face with water.
"So? Who's the football player that thought your face was the ball?" Old Fisher chuckled.
Unamused, Tysiff waved the plastic container at him. "Really old man? You can't be here insulting me while wearing a literal fishing net. It makes you look like a stripper."
"Seriously? I worked hard to sew this thing together." Old Fisher looked down at his attire only to wave his hand off. "Eh, forget it. It's comfortable, and no amount of words will make me take this off under normal circumstances."
"The heavens can kill me if that abomination's comfortable." Tysiff laughed. "Are you sure your body ain't breaking down because of your age? Only soft silk is what is supposed to be comfortable."
"I know what silk is, you young uneducated crumb." Old Fisher snatched the plastic container from Tysiff's hand and held on to it. "The reason why I made it out of a fishing net is due to convenience. I can use it to fish in the Central Canal and wear it after it's been washed by the water."
"It don't itch?" Tysiff asked, looking at it inquisitively.
"Not in any days of me wearing it, no." Old Fisher shook his head. "The reason being? What you're seeing right now ain't no fishing net. It's made of normal thread and cloth. What's on my back is the fishing net."
He pointed to his back and turned to show a bit of it to Tysiff.
"That stitchwork is uglier than any inbred rat and scorpion that I've ever seen in this godforsaken place." Tysiff dropped the words unhesitatingly.
"Aiee…" Old Fisher pinched his glabella. "Where'd you inherit such a foul mouth?" He half chuckled on the last syllable.
Tysiff scratched his head filled with rough black hair.
"Didn't you hear what the Scorpions say? They said that my mother mated with a rat to give birth to someone as ugly as me. I picked up a few words."
Old Fisher smirked and dramatically voiced, "Good grace, if you're ugly, then anyone who sees me should have vomited their guts thrice every time I stepped out. Pray for those young women who would never try to date a man ever again…"
The two wore stupid grins at each other before letting their laughter loose.
"Hahahaha!"
Tysiff wiped a tear off his right eye. "Thanks for that Old Fisher. I kinda feel a bit better now."
"Mm, alrighty…" Old Fisher nodded with a lifted mood.
He watched the boy walk off into the distance before calling out,
"Oh and Tysiff.."
Tysiff turned around, halted in his tracks. "Yeah?"
"Don't take other's words to heart. You're worth much more than what you take yourself for granted." Old Fisher said, his gaze sincere.
Tysiff opened and closed his mouth as if mumbling something, shrugged his shoulders and gave a thumbs up.
"Uhh, ok. I guess."
Then, he continued to walk and went home.
***
In a dilapidated street, an abandoned fire station stood tall. Barely.
Outside its doorless doorway, a man with a black tattered hood and a sling bag of the same color sat on the stone slabs.
He looked up and saw Tysiff approaching.
Smiling, Tysiff raised his hand expecting a high five. Instead, Ukas grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him with a reprimanding tone.
"What the hell have you done Tysiff?!"
Unperturbed, Tysiff took a momentary pause and said, "Nothing, I was just looking for food like you told me to." He then took a can of corned beef from his pocket and showed it to him.
"I was asking you to get iron nails, not to provoke the Scorpions!" Ukas grabbed the can out of his hand and threw it on the ground.
Adamant on acting oblivious, Tysiff replied, "I didn't?"
Ukas faced away in frustration before snapping back and pointing out the obvious injuries that Tysiff had, "Don't lie to my face, I can see your bruises."
Rolling his tongue to taste the iron from the bloody kick he received, Tysiff spoke tersely, "I…. tripped."
Ukas scoffed, "I have eyes and ears here. I know what you did."
"…" Tysiff began to read Ukas's emotions habitually. He gauged what the right response would be and conceded at the right time. "Okay fine, I took the…. dude's gun or something, I don't know."
Hearing the confession that he wanted, Ukas slowly squatted down to be on Tysiff's eye level. "Why the hell would you do that?"
Visibly irked, Tysiff took his turn to yell.
"Because none of you were doing anything?!"
Ukas appeared puzzled upon hearing that.
Tysiff had a look of realization before smiling wryly. "Oh, you don't know? You don't know that the bastard Kayron is being a fucking pervert towards Sister Nenka?"
Ukas was taken aback, clearly not in the know.
"And your decision is to take a gun? To what? Kill Kayron? He's a high ranking Scorpion with a lot of connections. He can kill you with a word and his lackeys will act." Ukas slumped his head down for a second before looking up at Tysiff. "Do you want to die?"
"I did it fully expecting that I'll die." Said Tysiff, his gaze was steady. "Sister Nenka does not deserve to be groped by a scumbag of a man. No– an animal!"
"Do you seriously not… care about your life? At all?" Ukas scratched his head in frustration.
"Of course not! Who even am I? There's a hundred Tysiffs out there. What's one more? Who cares if I remember my name? Will my mother come back for me?" Tysiff scowled. "I know that she won't. That is why I'm going to make my life actually worthwhile. Survival is a bonus."
"And don't you dare tell me that my life is worth something. Ever since I woke up in this damned place, it's been nothing but shit." Tysiff's words remained firm.
Taking offense, Ukas stood up. "Oh that's right? You think that all of what we've been through is shit? So we weren't at least happy once together? Is that what you're saying?"
Tysiff couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Yes we were happy, but were we living or were we just prolonging our lives? It's not like we can climb into a better one because the Timeless Slums is one giant hellhole, it is a deep ditch and not everyone is lucky enough to get back to the clean cities where they could be happy without worrying about dying, being bitten by rats or being shot by a drugged up gangster that had nothing better to do!"
Ukas pushed Tysiff back in anger. "You're being impulsive again! Can you at least think about us? What if they take revenge by killing me, by killing everyone?"
"That's why I have been pinning it on the Centipedes. When I decided to do something this dangerous, I planned not to bring them back with me." Tysiff didn't back down.
The two of them stared at each other for a brief moment.
Ukas broke away and walked around like a stressed father unable to figure out how to discipline his son.
"What about me then? What do you think I will feel if you're gone?" Ukas said as he looked back at him.
Tysiff felt a pang of regret all of a sudden.
He suppressed his churning emotions and slowly said in a low voice, "Ukas, I am not Mino."
"You never were! Tysiff, you are– Tysiff. Remember that. I want you to have your identity, I want you to live your life…" Ukas kept pointing to Tysiff's left chest where his heart was. "I can't bear to lose someone again, please."
Tysiff was about to open his mouth until the two of them heard someone else speak.
"... I overheard a bit of your conversation."
A woman with long, uncombed dark hair wearing torn denim pants with clear patches and an old gray hoodie with the designs faded away showed herself from the fire station's doorway.
"Sis?" Tysiff was surprised and worried if she heard what he said about her.
Ukas turned around and looked at her carefully, he wanted to speak but ended up appearing as if he was struggling against himself for not being able to find the right words.
"Hi Ukas, sorry for not telling you guys about that." Nenka walked towards the kid and placed her hand over his rough hair. "And Tysiff? About what you did, I am very thankful… but I doubt that he'll do it again because I've been making myself look.. unattractive, to say the least."
"Stop trying to kill yourself for my sake. It'll be lonely without you here." She added.
"But…" Feeling the warmth of her gaze and her hand on his head, Tysiff lowered his head and sighed.
"I'm convinced. You guys win."
Nenka smiled and gave his head a little ruffling. Tysiff then turned towards Ukas and apologized. "Sorry Ukas, I guess I wasn't thinking well about that."
He nodded at Tysiff and focused on Nenka.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Ukas asked and reached out his hand to comfort her.
Nenka took a step back instinctively with a short gasp. She clutched both of her hands closely to her chest.
Ukas dropped his hands back after seeing this and let her speak.
"I– I was scared.."
As the adult, Ukas turned to look at Tysiff who responded with a short nod.
"Here, sit down with us… let's talk about it." Ukas patted the edge of the stone slab that was part of the stairway and sat down.
Tysiff followed suit.
Nenka was hesitant at first, but then she allowed herself to step closer and sat between the two of them.
"Before I speak… I want you to know that I don't want to trouble anyone for this."
Tysiff's voice rang out with reassurance, "Sis, don't worry about that. Aren't we family? Your trouble is our trouble too."
Though comforting, Ukas couldn't help but shake his head inwardly when it came to the treatment of words.
Seeing Tysiff smile like that, it was hard for Nenka not to feel slightly at ease. "Alright, just promise me that you won't do anything like that again."
Now that Nenka's emotions seemed to have improved slightly in Tysiff's eyes, he rode the positive momentum and raised his right hand.
"I, Tysiff of the Timeless Slums, promise that I will not provoke the Scorpions again for selfish reasons."
He smiled at Nenka and Ukas and added in his mind.
'Unless they go overboard again…'