District 42-Chapter 260: Southtern slugs
Javir jumped from the Drakkar once it reached a certain distance from the guards. He wouldn’t be taking that ride for too long since the place he wanted to go was around that zone.
Those people who embarked on that vehicle didn’t bother with him. They were used with robbers using the public Drakkars as a way to avoid the guards. Also, most of them were people that knew Javir; if they messed with him, a vengeance would be expected afterward.
Not all the people liked the guards. While some would get in the way of the criminals to help to capture them, others would just turn a blind eye and have fun seeing the guards being fooled. They were tired of depending on people that just served to woo their women and mess with the citizens, slacking all day and not accomplishing anything in their duties.
Javir got out of the Drakkar in the middle of a big slug. Actually, basically all the South region was a slug, but there were some poorest places in comparison to others. Where the young robber landed was one of the five poorest zones.
These places didn’t have guards rounding, since those cowards were too afraid to walk there. Most of the more dangerous criminals of the South region settled with their dreadful groups on those slugs and commanded the place. They would judge the citizens, replacing the guards, but more chaotically.
The drug traffic there was high too. In every corner, you could see someone selling something. Not just drugs, but weapons and all sorts of technologies as well.
Javir walked on that place as it was the most natural thing. The streets were all messy, just like a lot of different wool yarn threw on top of a table, making a complex maze. However, the criminal walked there fearless.
As he went through that slug, people started to recognize him. Some greeted him with sympathy and joy, others would just avert their eyes in anger. People there had mixed feelings towards him.
’I don’t care for any of them at all. The ones that like me are just a bunch of cowards who don’t know how to survive alone, so they ask me to steal things for them. The others are the people from who I stole the items. All of them are a bunch of low-life forms.’
Javir hated people who didn’t know how to survive alone. He felt like this because of his living conditions since he grew up.
’I have been striving to survive since the day I was born. I needed to live robbing every day once I turned seven years old. My father was a drunk bum who spanked his own child and wife. My mother went out with a different guy every day just to steal their money after a night of drinks. None of them ever feed me properly and kicked me from our house when I was twelve. Yet, I need to see every day these weak people slacking around.’
He spat on the ground, feeling disgusted just to remember from his father and mother.
As he was crossing quickly an alley to go to another part of the slug, he saw a man grabbing a girl probably in her late teens by the wrist and pushing her against the wall.
"Hey, hey, don’t be so selfish! I am just asking for some minutes, okay? I can even pay you! I bet you will grow to be just a drugged whore, anyway! There is no need to hold back!" The man was clearly high, his eyes were injected and red. All the veins of his arms were appearing.
The girl was yelling and struggling to take off her wrist from the man’s hand, but he was stronger.
Javir sighed, walking calmly around the alley and searching for something.
The girl was getting more desperate as the man became bolder. She was looking towards the young man wandering in the alley with pleading eyes. Her clothes were getting torn in different parts as the man began to tear them.
Javir seemed to not even see what was happening, doing rounds and rounds, then finding something.
"Please! Don’t be scared. I will be gent--"
"Hey! I think you forgot this on the ground." Javir called him, lifting a black tiny bag in his hands. His eyes were cold and he had a serious expression behind the brown dirty mask.
Just as he showed it, the man let go of the girl immediately and looked at the black bag like a wolf staring at its prey. Javir casted a look towards the girl, indicating with his eyes the exit of the alley.
Thanking the young man, she ran out of that place.
’She is a beautiful girl. I hope that she can get a job in the North or Midwest region. Beautiful youths here are taken as concubines for the strongest factions or end up in a catatonic state when guys like this one here can take them off guard.’
He looked again to the man, who was still standing looking at the bag.
’When dealing with these types of people, you need to treat them as dogs.’
"Look, I will give it to you since it’s yours. But, if you attack that girl again, or any of your friends do it, I will talk with the Big Boss and say to him to never sell Bruadar to you again. I will cut all your contacts."
The drugged man faltered immediately upon hearing those words, his jaw dropped, tears of despair appeared in his eyes. He kneeled, bowing to Javir until his forehead touched the ground.
"PLEASE! PLEASE, I BEG YOU!" He had a choked voice and his screams crossed all the alley. "I WON’T DO IT AGAAAAAAIN! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Shhh, shhh! Stop it already man! Take it with you and get out of here." He threw the black bag containing the strong powder to that man, who took it quickly and ran out of the alley in the opposite direction as the girl.
Javir sighed heavily, looking at his hands. They were sweaty and cold. His breath also was unsteady and he was sure that he was starting to get bloodshot eyes.
’Damn. I nearly ran after that man and knocked him out to get the drug for me. I could recognize its smell coming from the ground even in this dirty alley.’
He walked off the alley. Beside its exit, the girl was still standing, leaning her back on the wall.
"You should have had run to the other side of this zone already," Javir spoke, coldly. He put his hands on his pocket to hide how they were trembling.
"You don’t remember about me, right?" She asked somewhat shy.
"Of course I do, otherwise I wouldn’t even bother to save you. Rape or harassment are quite common things to happen in alleys like this and that guy could be a dangerous Traficant. I won’t put everything at stake by saving a random girl."
She seemed to find his line of thought reasonable, but it didn’t make it less disgusting. Anyway, that was how someone needed to think to live for another day on the slugs of the South region.
"That’s gross. Are you saying that you already ignored girls being raped?" She crossed her arms while narrowing her eyes.
"I barely see in person when it happens. Usually, you can discern their screams. This way, I just avoid the alley or house and walk off hastily."
Whenever he opened his mouth, the girl felt like punching him in the face. Javir wasn’t the most decent man. He would resort to cowardice if it meant not get in extra trouble.
"Well, anyway, I remember you very well. I don’t have all grades in school done, but the few ones I passed for were in the same classroom as you. Also, we were neighbors when I still lived with my father and mother. I saw you on the streets quite often as well. Your name is Inna, right?"
She gave a faint smile behind the mask, flattered for being remembered.
"Yes, and you are Javir, the Shadow of the South, right?"
"That’s not a title that I am proud of." He spat on the ground, feeling a strange bitterness in his mouth when hearing her. "Well, it’s better for me to keep going. And you should be careful; your black long hair and green eyes stand out from the average woman in District 42. It draws the attention of the criminals. You are an exotic person and it pleases them."
As he said it, he began to walk again, crossing the streets to go to another nearby alley. He didn’t intend to interact much with Inna.
"I know about what you and Drott are planning!" She shouted. It made the young robber stop to walk, turning slowly to her, his eyes widened.
’Crap...’ He cursed, sighing hard.
