Taylor. My Name's James Taylor

VII

I did my best to try and wake Pug up but it was no use. He had apparently banged his head on a very inconveniently placed tree stump and was out cold. I could hear the other football players' voices as they seemed to be calling for someone, most likely their dead comrade. I knew that we couldn't just stay here and we had to move. I knew that I had to get Pug out of here and take him somewhere safe and that I wouldn't be going back home anytime soon. I grabbed Pug's arms and put them over my shoulders then picked him up so that he was riding piggyback. I didn't know how late or early it was but I went to the only place I could think of taking an unconscious brother. The alley.

I must say that the trip there was more challenging when you have an unconscious person on your back and you've got to navigate in a way that you won't be seen. When I finally made it to the alley, my hope dwindled. There was nobody there. No sound came from the alley and I didn't get the feeling I usually get when they're here. I knew I couldn't just leave Pug somewhere and leave so I decided that I'd make my way over to the graveyard. After a few wrong turns, I finally managed to get there but the result was still the same. It was deserted. I laid Pug down and sat down beside him not knowing what to do. I knew I couldn't take him to the hospital because there are probably cops out looking for us and I know that the gang is really the only people I could trust to take care of Pug. As I had just started to consider taking Pug to the hospital, I heard feet running towards us. I stood up and took my pocketknife out and looked in the direction of the footsteps. I don't know how the football gang found us but I sure wouldn't be going down without a fight. The footsteps got closer and closer and stopped under a streetlight and I could finally see who it was. I was a group of four guys, all looking like they ranged from about eight years old to sixteen.

"Prince? What're you doing? And what's wrong with Pug?" The oldest looking one said, coming over and examining Pug. I knew that these guys were a part of the LC. I was in friendly territory.

"We got jumped and Pug got knocked out," I said. "But we also ended up killing a guy and had to make a run for it."

The guy, Dice I believe, picked Pug up.

"Come on. I think you need to go and report this to Cory." He said then turned back to the other guys. "Keep patrolling. I'll join back up as soon as I get them back to The Dome."

The guys just nodded and walked off.

"Come on." Was all Dice said and started at a swift march down the sidewalk. Seeing that I have no idea where we're going, I made sure to pay close attention to all the details of the surroundings. We had been walking down the side of the road for a while when Dice suddenly made a turn into a small pathway through the trees that can't be seen unless your right beside it and know it well. The pathway was a very curved one with many ways to get lost but Dice knew where he was going and we finally came out into an open area with a small dilapidated shack in the middle of it. After what I had seen of the LC gang, I wasn't expecting something like this to be there headquarters.

"Many of the people that Cory recruits don't have a home or anywhere to stay," Dice started saying. "So when they were recruited they were given a place to stay with a family of people like them. When the recruits turn eighteen, or twenty-one for others, they're given three options. They can either decide to leave and start a new life and never mention or seek the gang again, chose to stay and work with the gang, or they choose to take the van. Many of them end up taking the van though."

I was about to ask what 'taking the van' was but I then realized we had reached the front door of the little shack. I didn't see how all those people could live in something like this, there must be some other place they all were.

"Home sweet home." Dice said kicking open the front door. I looked inside to see nothing but a single moldy couch sitting in the middle of the floor.