Neverending- Dallas Winston x OC (COMPLETED)

10- initiation

Author's Note: **trigger warning** mentions of drugs/substance abuse, and there's a lot of gang activity and violence. 

Once River got everyone to settle around the fire she did an introduction of sorts. She pointed at me first, "This is Sam, she joined Basilisk Beacons at the age of fourteen and she has found her way back here, being Dallas' best friend," then she points at Jess, "Sam, this is Jess, as you know," she rolls her eyes then points at the quiet guy seated across on the other side of the fire, "This is Gunther, he handles a lot of the rule keeping and is pretty much my secretary, I guess."

Out of curiosity- maybe a little pettiness, I ask, "Jess, what do you do?"

She grins wildly, "I'm what you'd call the... advertisement of sorts. I attract the customers," she turns towards Dallas and smirks.

Dally speaks up, ignoring Jess, "Jess is also in charge of weapons, and hiding our weapons or any drugs we might have."

"That's my boring job," she shrugs.

River rolls her eyes. It's obvious that she can't stand Jess either, the only people who could probably get along with her are guys like Dallas who'd get laid by her. 

Jess quickly turns my own question against me, "What about you? What exactly do you do, Sam?"

River raises her voice, "Shut the fuck up, the both of you. Now, our next move is to pack up and get back to New York without being noticed. That's where Dallas and Sam come in. You guys know this town much better than I do, so Sam you're gonna help everyone pack up and keep everyone in order, while Dally and I focus more on getting out of here unnoticed. Think you can handle... this, Sam?" She motions towards Gunther and Jess.

I sigh, "Um, yeah sure." Gunther shouldn't be a problem, but Jess... this should be fun.

We get a plan situated, and I just kind of sit there nodding along. I am pretty out of my element here, I babysit kids for crying out loud. For Dallas it's like it comes natural for him, even though he hasn't done anything this serious in three of four years. River catches me up on everything. They killed Dallas' dad, Jason because he was leaking information to a rival gang, Denim Jay-Crows. Now, we're compromised because the Denim Jay-Crows (the Denims for short) have been stealing all of our merchandise and even some of our gang members. I guess since Winston is a well- known and feared last name in New York, River became leader, but she soon realized she couldn't lead while being taken advantage of by all the men in her gang. So, she needed Dallas to level the playing field and be in charge of punishments.

The punishments she listed were horrible and sick and twisted, but somehow Dallas agreed to do it. I don't know if I would've.

Then the dreaded time came, "Time for initiation!" River said in a sing-songy voice. "You know the drill, Gunther, if Dallas or Sam refuse anything, you get a good shot at their head, alright?"

Gunther nods, aiming his gun at the both of our heads. I shiver, hating when the gun is pointed at me.

River digs through a bag and pulls out the pills that I was dreading, and two pieces of paper and pens. "As you guys know, you must be under the influence of the Basilisk  during initiation." She hands Dallas and I a pill each. "Don't worry about the side effects, they're very temporary, only about 30 minutes or so. Not addictive if you only take one, and in this gang we prohibit our members to take more than one within six months."

I stare at the pill in my hand. I never thought I'd willingly do this.

"Well, go on, take it." River demands.

I take a deep breath, then toss the pill to the back of my throat, swallowing hard, feeling it slowly slide down my throat. I look over at Dallas, who had already taken the pill. His eyes are glazed over and he's staring blankly in front of him.

"Now, we don't follow the same initiation rules that the old ruler gave out, you don't have to beat up innocent children anymore. What we do instead takes even more willingness, more courage, and it is much more deadly. Follow me," River stated, walking out of the back and into the tall grass in the field behind the building we were just in.

The sun seems extra bright, and everything is blurry, but I still feel the need to listen extremely closely to River. "Are you ready to do whatever it takes to get into the Basilisk Beacons?" She shouts with superiority.

"Yes!" I yell back, although I feel like I'm going to puke.

My hearing fades in and out, but I hear Dallas yell, "Fuck yeah!" faintly. Where is Dallas? I can't see him. Maybe I'm just not looking, I need to focus on what's ahead.

River pulls back a patch of grass, and there's two young men on their knees in the dirt with their hands tied together. They don't look up when Dallas and I walk towards them, they keep their heads hung, and their eyes on the ground. River explains, "Imagine these two guys are the enemy- the Denims. Now, what you do determines whether you get shot right now," she looks over at Gunther, then back at us, "or if you get into the Basilisk Beacons." She hands us each a gun. "The Denims are your enemies, but the trigger is worse. If you're able to conquer it all and pull that trigger, you're in." River's eyes grow narrow. I gasp, not ready to kill these guys for nothing. "You have thirty seconds for a bullet to come flying out of that gun or you're out of here." She concludes quickly, clicking her stopwatch.

"Are we really doing this?" I ask Dallas, lifting my gun to aim at one of the boys' heads.

"We have to. Gunther has his gun cocked ready for his chance to shoot. I have to be there for River, she's my sister." Dallas mumbles, cocking his gun. "Let's do it together. River's gonna count down and when she gets to one, we'll both shoot."

"O-okay," I stutter, beginning to shake. I'm going to be a murderer in less than thirty seconds.

River shouts, "Quit the chit chat you have 15 seconds before someone's gonna die!" She waits a few more seconds, then starts counting down, "Ten, nine, eight, seven.."

I look over Dallas, who is glaring, fixated at his target. I turn back to my gun to aim.

"Six, five, four, three, two.."

I pull back the trigger and there's a click, and no bullet shoots out. I hear Dally's gun click too. "What the hell?" Dallas yells, turning to River. "They weren't loaded!"

River, Jess, and Gunther start laughing. "You really thought you'd have to murder someone to get in? That's too intense, even for a gang!" River chuckles, walking up to us. "Pulling that trigger proved that you guys will do anything for the Basilisk Beacons, and you're now worthy to be part of the gang. And these guys here, they really are from the Denim Jay-Crows, but we have other things to do with them before we kill them." She waves a hand towards the two guys I thought I was supposed to kill. "Gunther, take care of these two, and I'll take Dallas and Sam in for the contract."

Gunther jumps up without a word, and starts leading the two young guys deeper into the field. I shiver, not wanting to know what's going to happen to them. River leads us back inside and hands us two copies of their contract, which Dallas and I signed cooperatively. 

Once everything was signed, River brought out a tattoo kit. "We don't burn our brands into you anymore, tattoos look better anyway," she smiles.

So I got my first tattoo, a black lizard with a torch, not what I imagined my first tattoo would be. I got mine done right over my scar below my breasts, and Dallas had his done on his back. 

Finally initiation is over and it's time to rest.