465 One day
Kai and the rest of the Howlers were nervous as they drove back. They managed to safely exit Morfran City without any problems. Even after half an hour, their group continued checking out of the back window, expecting to hear the sounds of motorbikes coming after them. Everyone had heard Blake's warning and it had sent chills down their spine.
“Alright, guys. It doesn’t look like we’ll have to worry about them today.” Kai stated eventually. “If they wanted to take us on, they should have caught up to us by now. Looks like we owe our little Altered Hunter friend a favour now.”
With those words, the others did indeed calm down a little, yet every few minutes one of them still turned around. They only calmed down fully when they were close to home.
‘I’m happy that you helped us today… I just hope you didn’t have to pay too steep a price…’ Kai thought to himself as he looked back.
——
Blake's arm was throbbing with pain. Even a layman could tell that he needed a professional to patch him up. The cut on his arm was quite deep and once his body had stopped producing the adrenaline, there wasn’t much but will power that kept him going. In fact, due to him being on the move all the time and on the bike, Blake hadn’t even noticed just how much blood he had lost.
While on the bike, his vision started to turn hazy, his body was beginning to weaken and he no longer added the throttle onto the bike to accelerate it further. Still, that was when he could hear the sound of the others, and could see them in the distance.
‘I still don’t… what should I tell them?’ Blake wondered as he drifted off, the bike itself started to lean. Fortunately, he had put on the spare helmet as the next second the whole bike was leaning on its side, and began to skid over the ground. Just as Blake fell off, though, another bike went past at the last second with no rider on.
Instead, the person themselves were sliding on the gravel with their specialised boots and had grabbed Blake before he fell onto the floor.
“You stupid kid.” Josh berated Blake as he held him in his arms. “If you’re injured to this degree, why didn’t you just tell me?”
A few moments later, the rest of the Altered Hunters caught up and stopped on the bridge to check the damage.
“What should we do?” One of them asked. “Should we continue on and chase the Howlers? That was the original plan, right?”
Josh looked in the direction from where Blake had just come from. It was where the Howlers would have been. Taking off his leather vest, and looking at the armour underneath, the leader could see the large cut on his arm, but was unable to any other wounds.
‘Just why did you run off like that, and why were you heading back towards us? It doesn’t look like you had a scuffle with them, and you had a bit of a head start compared to us.’ The three-star Hunter thought to himself.
After defeating Kit, they also needed to receive the Altered solution from him. Their task had been completed, and their rising newcomer was now one step closer to his next promotion.
“As much as I hate leaving things unresolved, we can’t just leave Blake like this. Splitting up and going from one fight to another also isn’t the best idea. Alright, we’ll take him to a hospital and focus on recuperating. We can always take them on another time.” Josh declared.
The older Altered Hunters weren’t too happy without that decision, but nobody complained. One of them procured a first aid kit, and with their basic knowledge they tied Blake’s arm. After that, the group exited the city and headed for the closest Tier-2 city to get more professional treatment for Blake.
They needed to head to a place that wouldn’t raise too many questions. They were sure that it would take some time until news reaches the Dark Guild about what had happened. It was certain that it would put them in a tight spot. They had always boasted about the safety of their auction, yet two gangs had died right underneath their noses…
The Altered Hunters changed out of their work clothes into a more normal set. At the hospital, nobody suspected them to be anything but normal citizens. Some of them looked bored, but Josh was keeping his eye on the TV screen.
“We interrupt your series to bring you breaking news. The Altered Hunters have struck today. Their calling card has been left at the scene of the crime where members Morfran City’s police force is investigating with the help of White Rose.
“The gang that had been targeted were known as the Brown Jackets and the No land Gang. A newly rising gang that had recently taken over a Tier-4 to…”
The news report went on, and of course, no members of the Dark Guild had made a public comment, since the actions themselves were a secret only to those that knew them.
‘I hope this has the effect that you are looking for. It's the first time something like this has been done.’ Josh thought as he was trying to understand his task.
“Visitors for Billy Hunter may now enter the room.” A nurse called out with a clipboard. Standing up, Josh immediately headed into the room, to see a young buck still alive and kicking.
“Thank you so much for saving my life, leader.” Blake thanked him with a still weak voice. “I am sorry for causing you trouble and inconvenience.”
Josh looked at him and just let out a deep sigh, feeling relief that it looked like his injured team member would survive without any permanent injuries. “Remember, there was a chance that we might have not had to attack anyone on this trip. The whole thing was a huge success. We took out an Altered and managed to get the solution as well.
“However, what I do want to know is what exactly happened, why did you go off like that.”
Blake had been awake for a little while, but the doctors and nurses were still doing a few checks on him. Altered Hunters were stronger than the average human, but as non-Altered, they unfortunately lacked the supernatural healing factor.
As such, Blake’s arm had needed to be stitched up with around twenty stitches. It looked like the wound he had received was quite the big one. Regardless, what it did mean was he had a lot of time to think about how to answer this.
“I wanted to take out the Howlers as well, for myself.” Blake answered. “I don't know what happened, but while I was fighting, there was something different about me this time. I could feel myself getting stronger.”
Blake paused there for a second as he turned to Josh.
“When you're fighting, have you ever seen those… lines?” Blake asked.
Josh raised an eyebrow at the question.
“When I'm fighting, it feels like someone or my own mind is telling me where to strike. It shows me the path of where a weapon will go, and it shows me where the best place is to strike as well.
“I only see these lines sometimes, but today I saw them again, and because of that, I thought that I could get a head start and head off to the Howlers. But when I got to them, my body was starting to feel weak.
“I'm guessing it must have been a loss of energy or something, but I could feel that I wasn't up to the task and most likely that feeling, that vision and white lines that I could see would no longer be there.”
This was Blake's answer to mix in some of the truth with a bit of his lies as well, and it sounded plausible because it would be a reason for one to jump the gun.
“I see, I think I have heard about this before. Maybe when I head back, I will speak to the management about this and see if anyone else has any information.” Josh replied. “Don't worry about the Howlers. Sooner or later you’re bound to get your chance… just promise me you won’t go at it on your own.
This was what Blake was partially worried about. The Altered Hunters were now clearly targeting the Howlers. It couldn’t be helped as they were now a gang who had won an Altered solution, making them even more troublesome in their group’s eyes.
“They’re from your hometown, Slough, right? When the time comes, you’ll most likely be the one we’ll call you to deal with them.” Josh said to cheer up the teenagers.
Blake didn’t know what to say to that. Although he had gotten away with not taking out the Howlers today, it felt like his actions had merely delayed their execution date. The worst part about it, he was now the one who was supposed to wield the axe to do the job.
Only time could tell whether he would be able to follow through on that order…
****
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