CHAPTER 6

I almost jumped at the loudness of his shout. It felt like it echoed in my ears. I guess I have no choice but to speak or else he’ll explode like a dragon spitting fire.

“I-I came here to look for you, guys. I used a g-google map, and detected Axle’s location was open, so I found w-where you are.” I stammered.

Hyde was even more pissed off by my response. He tugged his hair like a mad man who lost his insanity. Then, he turned to Axle.

“Bullshit!”

Axle shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t know. I must’ve forgotten to turn it off.”

“What if something happened to you? What if Rox hurt you!?” Hyde blurted out.

“Why are you so angry!?”

He was stunned when I yelled back at him. I just don’t understand. I get the point that he’s mad at me for following them here even though I know it was dangerous, but he’s being too much. Not that I’m assuming, but he reacted as if he was ever concerned. He’s acting strange as if he was always worried about me.

“I-I’m just… Damn it!” he defended irritably before he walked away without a clear explanation for his action.

Did he lose it? Is he insane already?

When Hyde was gone from my sight, I turned to the six jackasses who were looking at me. I arched an eyebrow at them and they immediately averted their eyes.

“Why are you here?” I asked them, baffled by what was happening.

They swallowed hard and their shoulders slumped down. I have no idea of what was going on, but the war I witnessed today wasn’t an ordinary fight among strangers. I want to know their reason. I want to hear it so I can understand. There must be a reason for sure.

“I’ll ask all of you again, why are you here in this abandoned place? Why are you fighting like that?” I repeated. “What are you? Who are you rather?”

I don’t know why they are fighting in this place. All I know is that those who riot in the underground or vacant lots are gangsters or mafia groups. Now that I think about it, I still don’t fully know the seven. The information I know about them wasn’t enough for me to say I know them well. I don’t know their true identities yet.

“We are bad boys if you will call it…” Xavier answered. “You’re right, you still have no idea of ​​who we really are, Ezra.”

“We have a lot of gangs, and Rox is one of the gang leaders that we fight with so we are here, to account for a battle. Maybe you think we’re not the person you don’t expect us to be, but you’re mistaken,” Joaquin explained furthermore.

“Playing games isn’t everything we are good at, we’re also skilled at using knives and guns. We can do such things to our opponent. We can hit them, beat them, and even kill them…” Iñigo added seriously.

I can’t adapt to what I’ve heard. I backed away and shook my head, refusing to believe the truth. I can’t seem to put it in mind. I feel like my brain has stopped functioning, and my world crashed.

“Now, answer me, Ezra…”

Hyde stuck steady in front of me. I didn’t even realize that he had appeared out of nowhere because of my utterly dumbfoundedness. He stared at me intently as if it was penetrating my soul. It sent chills to every part of my body.

“After everything you knew and heard about us, do you want to leave us now?”

A large, painful lump began to form inside my throat, making it difficult for me to gasp for air. Tears welled up in the corner of my eyes. I blinked it back, trying not to allow it to fall, but doing it won’t do because it still fell on its own, and there’s nothing else I could do but to just let it flow freely like a river.

I asked myself a question I never wished to have an answer, weighing the decisions I should and shouldn’t make.

Do I want to leave these bad boys?