In Slough, one of the hospitals in Cipen had been rebuilt. It had been upgraded, allowing for state-of-the-art equipment to be placed in it. It was something that needed to be done to attract well-known doctors with great skills.
The one thing that was missing from Slough right now was a large well-known university, so they could funnel students into the workforce. However, with the way things were, they needed to attract as many talents as they could outside of Slough, and convince them that it was the place to be.
They had been doing a good job of that in many areas, but the hospital, in particular, was an important area for the Howlers gang. This was because Gary had a particular person that he was looking after, someone who had been asleep for a while now.
Today, Gary was visiting the hospital along with Kai. The sun had risen as it was the start of the new day, but he wasn’t here to visit his mother, he was here to see someone else.
“I didn’t think I would be coming here to see someone else,” Gary stated.
“Come on, keep your head held high… you can’t show your face like this, otherwise what will the others think,” Kai said.
They walked across the stone pathway among greenery to the left and right. Nurses were out pushing patients, giving them a sense of fresh air and helping them with their needs.
Then they had finally entered the front entrance of the large building. They knew where they needed to head, it was the top floor. Taking the elevator, there was a nurse that was coming along with them, guiding them.
“I should warn you, that there are quite a few people waiting in the waiting area,” the nurse explained.
“Really, didn’t we state to not let anyone visit?” Kai asked.
“Ah, yes,” the nurse nervously answered. She didn’t know exactly who Kai was, but did know Gary Dem beside him, who had put a lot of seed money into developing the hospital in the first place. So she was treading on eggshells around them.
“We did as you asked, only allowing those that could prove that they were part of the Howlers… but many had come here.”
When the elevator door pinged, it slid open, and the two of them could see exactly what she meant.
Inside the room, filling the seats, there were around fifty people all dressed in black and gold uniforms waiting. Most of them were men, looking a little rough around the edges. Bruises and marks on their faces. They were loud as they talked to each other, and even had the wildest hairstyles.
“Are all of these guys… here for Austin?” Gary asked.
“Of course,” Kai replied as he walked forward. A few people looked at the two of them here and there but none of them said anything just yet.
“These guys were the ones that were under Austin. Most of them joined the gang either after dropping out of high school or when they finished. You know Austin had a big following before he was even invited to the gang."
“They are quite the loyal bunch and continued to follow him here as well, and then he built even a bigger following because of those under him.”
Hearing about this, it reminded Gary of when he and Austin had first met as well, on the school rooftop, he certainly did have a strong-headed personality.
When Gary and Kai had walked past the others, there were a few disgruntled looks at the two of them. Since they weren't wearing their masks, they hadn’t come as the leaders of the Howlers, and it was safe to say they were a little annoyed as to why those two got to go ahead.
Both of them were escorted to a sliding door, and Gary took a deep breath before opening it himself. Immediately the sound of a steady slow beat was heard in his ears, and a horrid sight was right in front of him.
Austin was hooked up to more machinery than he had ever seen. Gary didn’t even know what their uses were. His chest was encased in some metal type of armor, with clear glass above it so one could see on the inside.
But worse of all, was the fact that Austin’s eyes were closed and they weren’t opening. There was no reaction from him when the two of them had entered the room.
‘Why am I in the same situation as I was before?’ Gary thought to himself. ‘I got stronger, I built everything up for the gang because of what happened, but I still wasn’t able to stop this from happening.’
Kai walked over to his side, looking at him. They weren’t the only ones that were in the room, Vere was sitting in a chair by the side of his bed. She had acknowledged the two of them with a smile but continued to look at Gary, not saying a word.
Vlad was standing by the wall still like a statue, and then there was Olivia along with Marie as well. The two of them hadn’t said anything yet, because when they had entered, they were going through the same set of feelings.
Unlike with Midwak, who could still speak and wasn’t particularly close to them all, this was completely different for them. It felt like a part of their own body was lost, sealed away in front of them.
Even Kai seemed at a loss for words, his mind was mixed. Was there anything he could have done to prevent this?
“Should I have come up with measures to try and stop this?” Kai mumbled to himself.
“Kai,” Gary said, tensing his fist, his whole body shaking. “They attacked us in Slough this time, they attacked us on our own turf. They invaded our home… F*ck them… F*ck them! When you were hurt, Austin and everyone else marched right into Notsburg."
“We can’t run away from this, we can’t hide, we have to face them head-on to stop them. This is F*cking war!” Gary shouted.
A smile appeared on Olivia’s face when she heard this as she stepped forward.
“Good, because I know exactly who was behind this.”
*****