Ethan POV

"Ethan, you paying attention?" Toto yelled from the front of the room.

"Hm? Yeah don't worry about it." I replied, irritated. I'd been over this before. It was pretty stupid and would only cause more trouble.

"Good. Just drive carefully until after he shoots, then come back here."

It was a warning. They'd been getting more and more comfortable hanging around our turf, one guy in particular. He was a member of Dominic's gang, they all were. I would drive the car slowly while Fox would shoot him, and we'd speed away. Knowing Fox, he wouldn't try to kill him— even though that's what his orders were. Of course by doing all of this, we'd be on Dominic's territory.

"Yeah yeah, I know. Let's just get it done." I left to the car and Fox jumped in beside me, his gun sticking out of his waistband.

I rolled up the windows and started driving the piece of shit I was supposed to call a car.

"So, why the fuck is Toto giving us instructions?" Fox said.

"It's cause he's been kissing Ace's ass for two years."

"Fucker." Fox replied. I knew Fox didn't get along that well with Toto, but if something happened to him he'd be pretty upset. There were twenty-two guys in our gang so we were all pretty close, though two of them were currently spying for us undercover in Dominic's gang.

"We're here. Where is he?" I got nervous and pulled my car over close to the sidewalk. Fox said nothing and scanned the area with me. We stayed there a few minutes before he nudged me and pointed across the street at the nearest intersection. There he was, looking behind him hastily but continuing forward. I slowly pulled out of the spot and crept behind him while Fox loaded his gun and rolled down the window.

He aimed at the guys left shoulder and shot once, be aiming at his legs and shooting again. The guy stumbled and fell as the bullets struck him. I pushed the gas pedal as far down as I could, seeing him fumble for his gun. It had fallen a foot ahead of where he'd fallen. He let out a string of curses and saw us speed past him. Fox rolled up the window.

"Carlo!" The guy yelled and from behind the nearest street corner, we saw a scuffed up black car emerge and start speeding after us.

"Shit! Get his tires!" I yelled at Fox. He reopened the window and aimed,

"You gotta swerve left, I have no aim." They started shooting at us. I swerved quickly and Fox shot one tire multiple times and it deflated, making them slow down.

"Nice." I said, letting out a breath as they disappeared behind us.

"That was way too close." I looked over at him and he avoided my eye contact. "What?" I looked back at the road.

"You know Ace will be pissed you didn't kill him." He shrugged.

"So? I tried, I got him twice didn't I?" I shrugged and turned left to take a shortcut down a dark alleyway. We were back on our side of town. Fox could play dumb but he'd just shot the tire of a moving car, I knew he wouldn't miss a kill shot if he wanted to make it. I would back him up with Ace though, he was the closest thing I had to a brother.

We got back to the run down apartment that I shared with Fox and two other members of the gang, Chase and Hank. I grabbed a beer bottle and sat on our fading black couch. We'd found it years ago on the side of the street, along with most of our other furniture.

I waited for Toto to come get the details of what had happened and turned the tv on to the local news channel, hoping we weren't on it. Fox went to take a nap the room. Around an hour later, Toto burst through our door, looking as irritating as ever. 

"So?"

"We got him but they were watching us and followed us after we did."

"Shit. But you killed him right? Where are they now?"

"Fox shot their tires, they didn't make it that far. And he's probably dead but we didn't exactly have time to hang around and check." He looked at me skeptically.

"Probably dead?"

"Fox shot him twice. He's probably bleeding out in the street."

"If Fox wanted him dead, he'd be dead." I turned and stared him down angrily.

"I was driving fast. He tried." Toto clenched his fists,

"I told you to be fucking careful." I smiled and shrugged back at him.

"Maybe do it yourself next time." He ignored that and turned to the door.

"Dominic's gonna be pissed."

"Well didn't you know that when you sent us to shoot that asshole?" I said, feeling my temper pick up. Dominic would have been pissed either way. Big deal now he has to go steal some tires.

"I'm going to call Ace."

"Yeah you should." I said annoyed.

"Watch your fucking tone with me Ethan."

"Stop pretending you're Ace and get the fuck out of here." I was pissed. Just cause he was Ace's number two he thought he could just go ordering people around. He didn't even do any of the dirty work.

"Whatever Ethan. Don't think Ace won't hear about this."

"Ok, and if you forget I'll make sure to tell him myself." I spat in his direction. After he left, I sat fuming for a few minutes before deciding to walk to the liquor store. The people I passed could tell I was in one of the serious gangs because of the way I dressed, so it was pretty fun watching them pretend not to notice me, or notice me and steer their children away.

I sat outside the liquor store and closed my eyes, listening to the cars drive by and the whispers of kids as they passed. I suddenly felt something jolt my legs, and heard someone falling to the ground. I opened my eyes quickly and saw some kid in a dark hoodie sprawled in front of me. I stared at him and didn't move, waiting for him to get up. When he rolled over, I studied his face, but was shocked with what I saw. He looked to be about my age, maybe a year younger. But bruises and cuts were spread across his features. Nobody got injuries like that here unless they messed with a gang member.

"Maybe watch where you're going next time." I said, trying to get a reaction out of him like everyone else.

All of a sudden, his body started trembling and he tried sitting against the wall. He was taking deep breaths, which got faster and faster. I could see sweat gleaming on his forehead and he covered his face with his hands. What the hell?

Daniel POV

I was on my way back from school when I tripped over something on the sidewalk next to the liquor store.

Just stand up. Apologize. And keep walking.

My body wouldn't cooperate. I felt an anxiety attack creeping up on me and tried to push it down.

Get up. Apologize. Keep walking. Keep walking...

It was no use. I could feel myself start to shake slightly so I tried sitting up which resulted in me slouched against the wall. I was gasping for air that I couldn't seem to find. I felt like I was drowning. I tried to push myself abruptly to sit up straighter but ended up getting lightheaded really fast. Darkness consumed me.

Ethan POV

Either this dude was on some serious drugs, or was having some sort of spasm or heart attack or something.

Probably drugs.

I was a bit worried that this was my doing. I was the reason he tripped.

He collapsed, breathing heavily before his eyes closed. Was he unconscious?

"Hey man. Wake up this isn't cool." I said. I crouched next to him and shook him. Nothing. I looked around me and didn't see anyone. I went back and shook him one more time. I'm not in the mood to watch someone overdose right now.

He stayed still for a minute, people walked by and glanced down at him looking concerned. I sent them all away with a glare and refocused my attention to him. His bruises and cuts looked new, as if they'd happened a day or two ago. I reached over and put two fingers on his neck, making sure he still had a pulse.

He stirred at my touch before slowly getting up. I frowned and stared at him. What had just happened?

"Are you okay?" I asked before I could stop myself. I usually didn't get involved with other people's business, but he looked... troubled.

He looked at me with fear in his eyes. I reached my hand to his shoulder but he backed away and stood up. He checked his surroundings before hurriedly walking away from me, pulling his hood back up.

Daniel POV

I felt pressure on my neck and my mind forced me awake. I looked to see a stranger, looking back at me. He had bright green eyes that watched me with concern, while the rest of his features were dark. He said something and reached towards me but I flinched back, stumbling to my feet.

Where am I?

I took off in the direction of where I thought my house was, just wanting to be by myself.

***

From my room, I heard a deep laugh as the front door opened. It seemed my mother had brought home another random man. I tried falling asleep before they started anything, which was easy. My anxiety attack seemed to have taken all of my energy with it.

Ethan POV

Okay then...

I walked back to the apartment where Chase, Hank, Fox and a few other members of our gang were hastily grabbing guns from under our couch and cabinets and fully loading them.

"Um. What's going on? Why is everyone in our apartment?"

Nobody seemed to hear me so I repeated myself louder. Fox looked at me.

"Dude go find all of your shit."

I stared back at him, seeing the urgency in his eyes before going to my room and grabbing two guns and two knives.

"So?" I asked Fox when I was back downstairs.

"It's Dominic."

"What about him?"

"Go ask Ace, he's back." I ran out of the door with my weapons, and walked through two alleyways to get to the meeting area. Ace was there. He was born and raised on the streets of Los Cabos, Mexico, and had been in different gangs since he could remember. Looking completely unfazed by all the commotion around him, he explained to me what was happening.

"I heard from our guys over at Dominic's they're attacking tomorrow. When we're out there we'll need to keep a lookout for the cops. They'll be snooping."

Shit. A turf war?

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