In the past, Gary was often called hot headed by his family, friends, and classmates who all thought that he did many things on impulse rather than thinking them through, most prominently his choice to dye his hair green. Once the blood rushed to one part of his body, perhaps another part as of late, he acted based on the first thing that came to mind.
It was the same now.
Gary could have easily gone over to Olivia first, or at least called her, or he could have talked about his next course of action with Kai. Any of the other Howlers would have also been fine, all of whom would have surely offered him their help, but instead the teenager had decided to follow after the one Mark that would lead him to Damion.
‘None of those monsters deserve to live! How could they be so cruel to someone like Old Morten?! He’s one of the kindest people in this shitty world! I can’t let them get away with this, otherwise they won't hesitate to do even worse things to others.’
Pushing them into the corner no longer seemed like it had been the correct move, seeing the consequences of their desperate actions. Gary didn't know if this was also part of Kai’s plan, but he was worried that they might come back and try to get the money from the residents soon.
Then more innocent people would get hurt. The teenager couldn’t just wait around and watch that happen… not when he could do something about it!
‘I don't want the others to see me like this, I don't want them to see the bloodbath that I'm going to create.’
On the way to his target, Gary had texted Marie. Initially, he had planned to contact Kai, but things were still weird between them. What’s more, he was afraid that the blonde teenager might somehow figure out what he was about to do.
As such, Marie seemed like the more reasonable person to contact. He had informed her to head to the hospital to make sure Morten was treated, and all the bills would be paid.
The reply came within a few seconds. The teenage girl told him that she would take care of the old man and all the procedures, but also asked why he couldn’t do it. The Werewolf didn’t reply to that.
Following the mark, honestly, Gary was unexpectedly going to a part of Slough that he hadn't really visited. It wasn't part of the Underdogs establishments or areas he had been to before.
When he could finally see it up ahead, he realised that it was simply a junkyard.
‘What on earth is Damion doing here?’ Gary wondered. ‘Nevermind… the most important question is whether he is on his own? If so, this would be a lot easier. There shouldn't be people around him all the time, right?’
Rather than going through the front entrance, Gary quickly used his powerful legs to leap halfway up the large surrounding gate, then once more straight over the barbed wire that was placed around it. Not that the workers would be concerned if someone was going into a junkyard, but who knew who was and wasn't working for the Underdogs.
When entering, Gary could hear many heartbeats in the area. In fact, he could even see scavengers at this time, picking through the trash.
They had perhaps paid the security guards and asked if they could take whatever looked to be off interest. It was making it hard to tell if there were other members of the Underdogs there or not, since there were quite a lot of people searching through the heaps of trash.
There was one thing the Werewolf had not accounted for… smell.
The place was filled with expired food, carcasses of dead animals, and other types of wastes that he didn’t even want to recognise. He never realised how much smell could disorient him. It was to the point that he could no longer see the surrounding Mark.
‘Are my senses being overloaded at the moment? Well, Damion is definitely in this place.’ Currently, Gary was wearing his gang uniform and his mask, because of course if something went wrong he still needed to be careful just in case.
‘If I remember correctly, the Mark pointed in this direction.’
Gary was wondering if he was heading in the right place or not, but soon he had come up with an idea.
‘Wait, I can use Controlled Transformation to the point where it only works with my throat, so I should be able to do the same with my ears, right?’
Fur started to grow from his ears as he activated the skill and it worked just the way he had hoped. His already sharp hearing improved another notch. Instead of relying on his sense of smell that was still being bombarded, he could hear numerous heartbeats close together, as well as the sound of laughter.
‘It has to be in this direction.’
Gary ran forward, expecting to get the jump on Damion. He knew the gang leader was strong based on what he had seen, but if he could ambush him when he least expected him, it might all be over with one attack.
Running through the piles of garbage, there was strangely a cleared area that Gary had spotted, he could see that there were several barrels with hot fires burning inside them. There were also cars that looked to have been destroyed and brought over to the area.
Gang members were sitting down and drinking away, and the sight would remind one more of a colour gang than a regular gang. It really seemed like the Underdogs had fallen compared to what they were at before.
Still, Gary didn't care as he ran straight into the centre.
“Everyone!” A man shouted immediately, as he stood up, recognising the mask in an instant, as the orange flames reflected underneath from the two barrels by the entrance of the place.
“It's the Howlers’ Altered!”
Gary continued to run forward. Originally, he had planned to do this stealthily, taking out every member he chanced upon, but he had changed his mind once he spotted Damion. The gang leader was on his own, far away from the rest, sitting on an old sofa, drinking away with his top off.
Hearing the news, the man threw the beer bottle glass on the ground, and lifted the red axe that was by his side.
“With everything happening, we decided to change tactics, and I had a feeling that perhaps you would come to us. You’ve come at the perfect time!” Damion laughed.
After hearing these words, Gary knew something was up but he still chose to run towards Damion, yet the next second something strange happened as his whole body lit up blue. The Werewolf started to shake uncontrollably as he was suffering from thousands of volts.
‘What is this….is this…the Altered Hunter's equipment?’
*****
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