Main Character’s P.O.V

“Holy shit! Smoke Pac! Is that really you?” Rodent… this shit-faced traitor was finding it hard to believe that it was I, his former boss, the man that he pledged his allegiance to was still alive and holding him firmly.

I slammed Rodent roughly against the dumpster and uttered, “It is me in live and living colour.”

“But how? You are supposed to be dead! I thought Sharp Stepper killed you.”

“Funny enough, I thought he killed you as well.” I touched noses with this crack pipe and spit my word directly into his ears. “How did you survive that night?”

“I… ah…” Rodent averted his eyes and tried to avoid answering my question.

“You don’t have to say it. I already know the answer. You sold me out, didn’t you?”

“It’s not what you think, boss?”

“Boss?” What this traitor said got me ticked off, I was egging to explode but I relieved some of my stress by clamping my rotten hand tightly around his throat. “The nerve of you to even say that word out of your mouth.”

Rodent’s face became red due to the stress being incurred in his veins. “Smoke Pac… please loosen your grip… you are… choking me to death.”

“That’s the idea, genius.” To add to this backstabber’s suffering I kneed his exposed lizard and put even more force into my arm to crush his windpipe but as soon as I’d done so, my vision became flooded with flashing messages.

“Dammit! Not right now.” Due to this sudden interruption that was clouding my vision and waning my strength, I was compelled to loosen my grip around Rodent’s neck. This allowed him to call for help.

“Byso and Tyrone come quick!”

Seconds later, his goons showed up at the alley’s entrance. “What’s the emergency, boss? Did a rat bite your lizard off while you were pissing?”

“Get real! This piece of shit is trying to kill me! Hurry up and help me out!” The distress was quite evident in Rodent’s voice. It prompted his men to rush over and tackled me.

“Is that hobo trying to mug you? I’ll take care of him!” The big guy who had the build of a wrestler speared me to the ground. He was wild and animalistic like Batista.

Before I crashed hard onto the ground, I heard and felt several of my ribs breaking apart. It was an agonizing experience having my back pounding on the ground like that.

“I’ve got him, Rodent! This piece of trash mugger is going nowhere.” This muscle freak sat on top of me to keep me pinned.

The other thug came over with a wooden club in his hand. “Byso give me some room so I can properly teach this hobo a lesson.”

The big guy shifted himself from top of me. “He’s all yours, Tyrone.”

“I’m going to break you in half hobo for harassing my man, Rodent!” He started swinging the bat at me.

‘Bam! Bam! Bam!’

The sound of my bones cracking and my sinews ripping apart was causing a great disturbance to the alley’s eerie silence. Rodent along with his 2 followers was pouncing all over me like a menace. I was experiencing massive blood loss faster than a woman’s menstrual cycle. I was utterly defenceless to do anything against these punks. If my body wasn’t so bashed up, these bastards would have been to hell and back several times over.

After becoming satisfied with my unresponsive state, Rodent decided to ease down on his abuses. “That’s enough guys. Give me some room.”

“But he’s not dead yet.” Byso protested. “Why are you being so soft with this mugger, Rodent? Do you know this dipshit or something?”

Rodent wasn’t sure how to answer, it was evident in his voice. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Explain what, Rodent?” Tyrone had the voice of curiosity leaking from his mouth.

Rodent grabbed me by the head then slammed my head firmly against the dumpster. ‘Bam!’ A dent was formed on impact.

Rodent used his bare hands to rip out parts of my beard and showed my face to his men. “This dirty man that smells like piss and shit is, Smoke Pac.”

“Are you serious?” Byso didn’t believe a word Rodent revealed about my identity.

“But this man can’t be, Smoke Pac because Smoke Pac is dead. You said so yourself.” Tyrone didn’t believe him either.

Rodent became insistent. “I’m telling you this is him. This is Smoke Pac. Although his face is being concealed with all this hair, I spent a lot of time slaving myself out for this bastard so I would never forget his eyes or his voice. I don’t know how it is possible that he survived but this is undeniable, Smoke Pac.”

Rodent and his men were caught up in a mouth battle about my identity being true or fake. “Do you know how insane you sound right now, Rodent? If this piece of garbage is Smoke Pac then I’m Sharp Stepper.”

“Sharp Stepper!” Hearing that hateful name again sent off a fuse in my head which caused my veins to explode. I became so enraged that I awakened a hidden secret of the thing dwelling in my chest.

My heart began producing hectic beating resonance that attracted the attention of the 3 thugs who were standing around me.

‘Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!’

“Where the hell is that drumming noise coming from?”

“Listen, it is coming from him! It sounds like a heartbeat.”

“He must be scared shitless of us, but even so, a person’s heart shouldn’t be capable of beating so loud right Rodent?”

“Why the hell are you asking me, I’m not a doctor.”

“You don’t need to be a doctor to know that this shit is unusual. I have a bad feeling about this.”

“And you should.” A sinister-sounding frequency escape my mouth as I became elusive as vapour and vanished out of sight.

“Huh! Where the hell did he go?” The gangsters became very apprehensive upon being unable to locate my presence beside the dumpster.

“He disappeared?”

“For real? Were we just messing with a fucking ghost?”

“I don’t like this shit man! I don’t like it one bit!” The big man became jittery.

“It is one thing to run into a ghost and not shit yourself but it is another thing to have abused the ghost of fucking Smoke Pac. I’m not staying here a second longer.” Rodent began dashing to the alley’s exit followed by his 2 goons.

“Hey, wait for us, boss!”

Every single one of these fools was locked in the kill trigger of my vision. It would have been foolish of me to allow them to slip away. The Dying Man’s Blood Lust that I was currently high on wouldn’t allow it. ‘If I don’t find a way soon to replenish my Blood Bank from 0.1% then Death would be sleeping with me tonight and I am in no mode to cuddle with her deadly vagina.'