One Regret

*~Riley’s Perspective~*
I took the kid to a hospital; they gave him 7 stitches from when he’d fallen, fighting Will. After that, we (Him and I) burned his red bandanna. I told him that if he survives the jumped-in beating, we’d give him a black bandanna.
I sent Sam home, and walked around town. I thought about my gang. It was made up of 132 members. I allowed woman to be full gang members, and same with colored-skinned people. The Demons of the South was originally a white gang, but then one day I found the more people I had in the gang, the more power I had.
I opened the door to a coffee place; Dutch Bros’, when some kid with a skateboard ran into me, spilling coffee all over the front of my white shirt. I glared at the kid and he laughed. “Good luck getting that out!”
I grabbed the kid by the collar of his shirt. “You making fun of me, kid?”
He tried to get away, but my grip was too strong. “No. I’m just saying its coffee- Ow! Damn it! Let go!”
I let go and pushed him away from myself. “Get outta here, mother fucker.”
The kid started to run off, and I smirked to myself. I loved control. Even if a non-gang member saw me, they’d know to keep their distance. This kid was just asking for a beat down. I was pissed off, even before the coffee spilled on me.
I was bored out of my mind as I walked back to the gang hang-out. It was actually my house. It was a one story, with a back yard that has an under-ground pool. I had two dogs, both English Mastiffs; Max and Blue.
“Riley! Where yo’ been? You missed a shoot-out today.” Ice told me as I grabbed a Budlight beer from the fridge.
“Eh, I have a flip-flop H.S.B. joining the gang.” I informed him.
“Wha- an H.S.B?! But, Riley, that’s Will’s new-”
“Yes, I know.” I growled, and sat down next to him on the couch, taking a gulp of my beer.
“Yo’ really gonna let him join? Or are we just gonna cut and touch him?” Ice asked, staring at me.
“I don’t know. We’ll see.” I shrugged.
Eh, killing and robbing him didn’t sound right to me. He was a survivor from Will’s gang. That’s a big deal to me. No one usually survived a beating from Will himself.
“Eh, There’s coffee on your shirt, Ry.” Ice told me.
I glanced down at my shirt, seeing the coffee stain. Oh. I forgot about that… “Yeah, a kid spilled coffee on me today. Roughed him up a bit.”

*~Sam’s Perspective~*
I was over at Erika’s, watching Katie. She was crawling on the floor with toy keys in her hand. I smiled. Ray would have loved this. He wasn’t the parent type, but that could have changed… If Will hadn’t ruined everyone’s lives and-
“Sam, I’m thinking about taking Katie to church with my parents.” Erika told me, slowly.
“Yo’ go to church?” I asked, astonished.
“I- I used to.” Erika stammered.
“Yeah? What religion?” I questioned.
“LDS- Mormon.” Erika admitted.
I stared at her for the longest time; unable to speak. She’s a Mormon?... Had Ray known? Had he hid it from everyone? His family was Anti-Mormon, and I believe he was too. I couldn’t believe she was Mormon. I didn’t know much about Mormons, but I don’t think they run around with gang members. Oh no- I am so damned! I took a Mormons virginity!
“W- why didn’t you tell anyone?” I gaped.
“I- I don’t know.” She said, confusion covering her voice.
“Oh goddess- I’m damned. I’m so damned- I took a Mormons’ virginity by rape!”
“Sam,” Erika said soothingly. “That was a year ago-”
“That don’t make a difference!” I challenged. “Oh goddess, I was so stupid!”
“Sam! Cut it out, things are going better than they were! You left H.S.B.’s and now you’ve started a better life!” Erika told me.
I fell silent for a moment. I hadn’t told her about D.O.T.S... Well, here it goes. “Actually… I got protection from another gang.”
“Which one?” Erika asked slowly.
“D- Demons of the South.” I choked out.
“Sam! I thought you left H.S.B.’s to start a better life style!” Erika shouted at me.
“Well- Riley knew what I was going through. His gang seems more organized. Remember that you can take the person out of the gang but you can’t take the gang out of the person.”
She looked at me like I was stupid. “Are you serious? How do you know this- this- Riley guy anyway?”
“After getting violated by Will, Riley found me in the alley. Said he watched me and him fight from the rooftops.”
“Sam, I don’t want Katie around gang members.” Erika stated.
“I understand. But- what will you tell her ‘bout- her father?” I couldn’t choke out Ray’s name for some reason.
Erika sat down on one of the couches. I was sitting on the floor, with Katie.
“I- I’ll tell her that he was the best H.S.B. gang member that ever lived…”

*~Erika’s Perspective~*
After that night, Sam and I barely talked anymore. It’s been years, now, since then. He just stopped dropping by. Katie just turned 5, and I had graduated High School at 18; two years ago.
I was at Dutch Bros’, getting some coffee, obviously. I had brought Katie with me, since I really didn’t know anyone to babysit her. To make matters worse, I also couldn’t find the car keys, so we had to walk over here. Yes, I’m that desperate for coffee.

*~Riley’s Perspective~*
“Yo’ want to come with me to get some coffee?” Sam asked me, on the way out the door.
“Eh, sure.” I mumbled and stood up. “Why not?”
There had been a party last night. A bunch of gang members and their girls and guys came over. Yes, there was drinking- and I always thought coffee helped with a hangover.
In Dutch Bros’, the only good coffee place in town, I got a Cappuccino, and Sam got a regular plain old coffee crap- I don’t know what he got.
“Katie, come sit down!” I heard a girl say.
Just out of curiosity, I turned my head to see who had said that. I was amazed to find it was a brunette, nice body, mmm… hot.
I bumped Sam with my elbow. “Be right back.”
I couldn’t resist talking to her. Sam frowned though, narrowing his eyes.
“Where yo’ going?” He asked.
“To talk to that girl over there- the brunette.” I answered him, starting to walk over to her.
I stopped, when Sam stood up. “Riley no, she’s been around gangs before. She wants no part in ‘em.” Sam told me.
I put my sly smile on. “Whatever. She’s still hot. I’m just going to say hi.”
I walked over to her. She was just sitting at a small coffee table, with a child sitting next to her. See, I say ‘child’ in the term of ‘innocent’ When I say ‘kid’ I mean ‘immature teenager; around 13 to 16’ Child- 1 to11.
When I walked up to her, she looked at me, stared for a moment, then did a weary smile.
“Can I help you?” She asked.
“Oh, No, I just wanted to say hi.” I replied. “I was just noticing how pretty you are- so hi.”
“Hi… and um- thanks.” She appeared to be annoyed, and somehow disappointed. Oh, so she was expecting Prince Charming? I can do that.
“The names Riley.” I introduced.
“Erika.” She stated, in a bored tone.
I noticed the child was staring at me, but being careful I wouldn’t notice. Too late. “Who’s this?”
“Katie.” The little girl said, quietly, almost so quiet that I might have not been able to hear if she wasn’t speaking directly towards me.
“She’s my daughter.” Erika informed.
I nodded. Great. Plan ruined. “Oh, how old is she?”
“Four.” Erika answered.
“What about you?” I asked, looking at her with a nice smile.
“Twenty. You?” Erika sighed, obviously getting bored.
“Twenty-two. So, sixteen and pregnant, huh? How’d that go?” I tried making a good conversation. I just hoped the guy she was with wasn’t around.
“Alright. I just didn’t like being alone. I mean, friends were okay but-”
“Oh, so your boyfriend dumped you or something, or vice-versa?” Things were getting interesting, so I sat down.
“No- No! He um… he was killed. Gang fight,” Erika stammered. “Killed by his own leader.”
“Oh. Will?” I asked, in a bored voice. I had heard of Will doing things like this, so it wasn’t a surprise to me.
“Well- yeah, how did you-?”
I interrupted her. “Will was once our gang leader. If he got pissed at anything, he’d always have someone to blame. He did this to me when I asked him one simple question,” I pulled up my sleeve, showing her the scars of a switch-blade across my arm. “It was his number one punishment. Still is, probably.”
Erika stared at my arm, until I covered it back up with my sleeve.
“He- did that to Ray… he cut him too much, and it killed him.” Erika choked out.
“Must have been an accident. Will likes to murder by gun shot.” I told her.
Sam all of the sudden came over to the table. He seemed- Timid. That wasn’t like him.
“Hey,” He said to me, then to Erika.
Good, always notice your shot-caller first. Sign of respect.
“Hi, Sam.” Erika said slowly.
“Riley, Ice called.” Sam told me immediately.
“About?”
“He saw some H.S.B.’s walking around here. Will is with them.”
I frowned. “Exactly where is he?”
“Four blocks away. Heading our direction. Perfect time to jump-”
“No, not jump.” I interrupted Sam. “Will always has the best with him. We need to have more than just us. Call Ice back. Tell him to bring Rebal, and Wolfhowler with him.” I ordered.
“Wait, are you going to kill him?” Erika gasped.
I did a nod to her. “We have to, or even the cops won’t be able to stop the murders.”
We left Erika there, and told her to stay in the coffee shop. Ice, Rebal, and Wolfhowler showed up, and I set up their positions all around the stores; on the rooftops. We had AK-47’s with us.
I saw Will walking our way with five H.S.B.’s. I gave the signal; a wave of only two fingers toward Will.
Ice fired his gun, taking out an H.S.B. member. The gun had a silencer on it, which I loved. It made killing easy; no one usually got caught. While they were running; not knowing which way the shots came from, I gave the next signal. This time, it was Wolfhowler who took the next H.S.B down. I didn’t hesitate to give Sam and Rebal the next signal. They both took out the other two.
Good, this should be fun. I crept over to the stairs and went quickly down them, with Ice and Sam with me. Rebal and Wolfhowler were on separate buildings. They would be our back up; if anything went wrong they’d take out Will from the rooftops.
“Will!” I growled, making them run even faster. His gang member followed closely behind him. I knew this irritated Will. He didn’t like to have people he had to babysit.
“They’re too far awa-”
“No. We’ll catch them. We know this town better than them.” I silenced Ice, and ran into an alley way. I ran through the alley, knowing there was an alley up ahead that connected to this one. I saw them, when we turned a corner. Behind them was a dead end. They would have come down this alley, and then realized it was a dead end, but when they turned to run, we’re right there waiting for them.
“Where you gonna run now, Will? Nowhere to run- Nowhere to hide!” I growled, taking a step forward, grabbing a pistol from my back pocket and pointed it at Will. I clicked the safety off. I knew I was going to kill them. Right then, right there.
“I was running anyway, Ry. I’m done… Shoot!” Will shouted. “Do what I trained you to-“
I shot him; in the kneecap. I watched him as he collapsed and yelled in agony. He deserved it. All of it. He abandoned us, as well as others. He hurt me.
I pulled the trigger again, which hit him in the shoulder. The next shot is the heart.
The H.S.B. member was backing away, in fear. I smirked, knowing he’d never seen his shot-caller in the state before. I heard Ice coming up behind me, and glanced to see- Erika?
I shook my head and focused back on Will, then took the last, needed, shot, which killed him.
I heard Erika gasp, but I was pointing my pistol at the H.S.B. member. “Tell Will, Get your Issue.”
With that, I pulled the trigger.
“You- You just killed them!” Erika gaped.
“It needed to be done. Anyway, Will was a wanted man.” I replied with a shrug.
Ice walked along side me as we walked back out of the alley. Erika followed us. “You’re just going to leave them?”
“We ain’t cops.” I told her, not even glancing back at her.
We met up with Sam, Wolfhowler, and Rebal, outside the coffee shop. Sam was holding Katie, when he spoke. “He dead?”
I nodded, seeing the cop cars starting to appear. “Yeah, and get rid of the choppers, someone.”
I then nodded to Erika, noticing Sam still was holding Katie. “And give her back her kid, Sam.”
Sam chuckled and gave Katie to Erika.
“Thanks,” She told Sam.
He only nodded, and that’s a good thing. I was getting a bit jealous.