Prologue

Can a tiger really change its stripes? The thought ran through Hunter's mind as he crouched down low in the back of a building with his best friend, Grant. He could see three dark figures helped by the light of the moon in the reflection of the store window. He didn’t know how they had found them, but they did. He could hear them stepping over the smashed glass; glass that he and Grant just smashed to steal electronics. 

Hunter motioned to Grant to go, and Grant shook his head. "This is going to end one of two ways: either we get beat up and they take our stuff or we dump everything and get out of here.” Grant adjusted his armload of dvd players, laptops, and tablets. “There’s no way I’m leaving you to those b******s. They think they run this neighborhood, but we can take them.”

Hunter smiled in the dark. “I know, but we can’t make a big scene, so go.”

Grant shook his head. “No way, man.” 

 Hunter dropped his head. “You know we need the money. It’s the only way we’ll get out of this town. I gotta do this.”

Grant tried to reach for his shirt. “Don’t!”

Hunter got up from their hiding spot and started running in the opposite direction. He heard voices behind him and the sound of their footsteps closing in on him. He knew this town like the back of his hand.

“Well, well, well, who do we have here?” a voice called out from the dark.

Hunter punched the brick wall in front of him and reluctantly turned around. “Don’t you idiots have anything better to do? I’m trying to make an honest living here, Bill. Plus, I’ll see you punks at school tomorrow, so this is going to be embarrassing for you guys when I kick your asses.” A chorus of laughs resounded through the narrow alley. 

 “Get him!” yelled Bill. The other two grabbed him and held him by his arms. 

            Bill took out a switchblade. “You landed a lucky punch last time, Cody, but not tonight. Tonight, you’re going to meet my friend Susie. Susie likes fresh blood.” The blade gleamed in the moonlight, and Hunter could see that Bill was enjoying every minute of this. He thrashed against the two holding him and growled, forcing his anger to swell. He stared at the blade as they laughed.

Bill lunged at him and Hunter could feel his right arm burning intensely. Suddenly, the guy holding him on his right let go of him and Hunter pushed him into the brick wall. He dodged the knife and Bill staggered forward. Hunter then slammed the other one into the dumpster. Bill turned around and Hunter stared intently at him. Bill let out a yell as he ran at Hunter with knife held high. As the knife swung down, Hunter brought up his arm up the blade pressed against his bare arm, but did not cut it. They both looked at it in disbelief. Then, Hunter quickly disarmed him and threw the switchblade into the dark alley. 

            Bill fell to the ground and crawled backwards. “Please, don’t!” Hunter walked past him out of the alley and into the mildly mugging spring air of Charon. Not a soul could be found. He wasn’t sure what had just happened, but he could’ve sworn that he felt a sword in his hand. But that would be crazy.

Reviews

[alanwgraham]

Good but I do find some of it puzzling. Are Hunter and Cody the same person - Cody could be a first name! Where did grant get to? Your sentence 'Not a soul could be found' doesn't seem right - should it read, 'be seen' . Also what is Charon? (another planet?)
I'm interested in how this develops - It's always worthwhile doing a lot of proofreading to pick up inconsistencies!
By the way you'll pick up lots of faults in mine but that's the way we can help each other improve.
But lots of promise here - well done.
cheers,
Alan