Luke vaulted over the wall easily, but the drop on the other side was bigger than he had expected and he fell eight feet onto the tarmac of an empty parking space. There was a screech of mistreated brakes as a car jolted to a halt, and a not-so-friendly “what the hell are you doing?” was thrown his way. He’d done his best to roll with the fall, but hadn’t been expecting it and had actually ended up mostly sprawled on the ground. He clambered to his feet, looked around for a moment, before sliding over the boot of the car, this went considerably better than vaulting over the wall had done. The driver watched in astonishment as the slim, masked figure sprinted away at full pelt without looking back.
He leapt sideways into an alley, a narrow opening that only narrowed as it continued, he hit the wall at the t-junction and pushed off again, slowing and swearing as he spotted the chain link fence at the end of the alleyway. He glanced around quickly, seeing the dumpster pushed up against the wall a scarce four feet from the fence. He jumped to the metal bin, vaulting easily up onto the lid which flexed dangerously beneath his weight. He took another step and leapt, barely clearing the ragged top of the fence and returning to a smooth run as he landed on the other side.
He came back out onto the main street, and it had been the right choice to take the shortcut as more by luck than judgement he cannonballed into the mugger on the sidewalk, sending them both tumbling into the road. Luke reacted instinctively, and recovered from the fall quickly, throwing a punch into the man’s stomach. It was swiftly returned and both staggered to their feet, the slightly flabby mugger out of breath and panting from the run. He scrabbled in a pocket and produced a flick knife, the blade sliding out with a metallic click. It gleamed in the streetlight as he waved it back and forth. Luke backed away a little the knife featuring chief in his concerns, then the adrenaline came back and he grinned behind the black, featureless mask.
He pulled the maglight torch from it’s horizontal holster on the back of his belt and sprang forward. The man’s hand flickered and there was a sudden sharp pain, quickly dulled by adrenaline as it sliced open his sleeve. But the maglight was already swinging through the air and there was a satisfying crack as it thumped into the pale greasy temple. The mugger went down like, well, like an unconscious mugger. Luke stood there, panting with exhilaration, then turning to the bewildered pedestrians threw a mocking salute. “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it’s done. Someone call the cops, this piece of shit,” here he kicked the unconscious man, “needs to spend the night out of the gutter.”
The man who’d been mugged, overweight and red faced was only now hoving into view around the corner. Luke didn’t even stay to wait for his thanks, and took off into the night, running a little down the street and disappearing into a rubbish filled, shadowed alleyway.
Running up the garden wall was child’s play now, he’d been climbing it since he was little, now it was simply a matter of stepping from it onto the roof of the garage, and from there climbing quietly through his bedroom window. He’d made sure to take everything off the window sill now, there used to be ornaments there until he’d knocked one off, waking his parents and getting caught sneaking back in. At least back then it had only been from a party, and not from a night of thrill seeking. Since then he’d made sure to keep it clear, it wasn’t worth the hassle of another lecture from his parents.
He flipped open the Macbook, logging onto VigilantesofCalli.com, checking to see if anything else had come up since he’d last checked. The ‘Construction Crew’ thread had appeared in his subscriptions, and he clicked on the link. A member he’d seen on here before, ‘Goldenshot’ had commented. He quickly read her response, then began typing up his own.
“Goldenshot, these are just one of dozens of gangs we already have, and they’re hardly the first to knock over a bank. The whole gang world is one fight for survival, of course they’re trying to make their presence known. If we’re lucky one of the big gangs will take notice and squash them, or they’ll take them on, either way we’re down one gang. It’s a win win as far as I can see. And BorntoDie, what do you propose? Going undercover, good luck with that, I’m sure they’re just dying to give away their phone numbers and home address, you try to interfere and next time the body count might be you.
Edit – Hey, let me know, I might come along, that way there’ll be someone to bail you out when you find yourself in the shit.”
With a smile, he lounged in class, legs stretched out, drumming his pen idly on the desk. He was bored, he was always bored in class. Instead of concentrating on what the teacher was saying he was idly checking out the girls, his eyes pausing, and then lingering on Kylie Saunders, appreciating her long legged form, but there were rumours here was something going on between her and that kid Cavan, he wondered whether it was true, or just more high school rumours. He was snatched back to the class as the teacher coughed, and proffered the test again. “If you would deign to rejoin us Mr Hunter.”
He smirked and took the offered test paper, “sorry, how could I be distracted from such a riveting subject.”
His voice was heavy with sarcasm and the remark prompted a titter among some of his classmates, particularly among the girls. He flashed a winning smile around the room, ignored the teacher’s infuriated glare and bent over the test.
