The boy stood, as though a statue of himself. One arm was rolled into a fist, while the other was extended, fingers clenched around the smooth edge of a sharp stone. His lean frame was coiled, ready to spring into action. To his back and sides were high walls that he could not hope to climb, especially in the dark, and the opening that he had come in through was the only way out. He had ducked into this blind alley to get away from his pursuers, without knowing where it led to. He would never have otherwise done anything as stupid, but he had had no choice. He was in an unfamiliar part of the neighborhood, which is why there had been a problem in the first place. Perhaps, he had grown complacent and let down his guard for a brief instant, and that could prove fatal. In the part of the world that he inhabited, the margins for error were minuscule and your first mistake was more often than not, your last.
Although he wasn’t directly part of the gangs that indulged in this territorial death match, it didn’t matter. There was no court, no jury. Justice would be administered quickly, even painlessly. Of course, they would kill him. The street urchins chasing him took boundaries seriously. He had wandered into their territory in a moment of carelessness that could cost him his life. At least it would be quick and painless, he thought to himself. Two of the boys would hold his arms down, one would grab his legs while the leader of the pack would slit his throat. He had heard the stories, and they all went like that. It was brutal in its efficiency. He shook his head and cursed under his breath. He could not afford to have such thoughts. He had spent every living moment of his sixteen years staying alive. It was the one thing he was good at. He could not, would not, seek refuge in such weak thoughts. Every sinew of his being was focused on not dying. If he could just get out of this predicament, he would get a lot of time to think about what had happened. At the moment, he had to think of a battle plan.
Where he stood, it was quite dark. At least, he had picked out quite a good corner for hiding, but he had nowhere to run, if found. From where he stood, he could see another alleyway full of cobbled streets, which he recognized. He would feel a lot more secure being chased in comfortable territory; in fact, he was sure that if he so much as crossed a street, they wouldn’t attempt to come after him. If … if only he could get there, he was sure he could escape. The trouble was that he’d first have to get out of the alley he was in, and then there was a large open space between the end of this alleyway and the entrance to that alley. If those urchins were lurking around a corner, he would be walking right into their lap.
He tried to think. How many were there? Four. Yes, there were four of them. The tall one, the fat one, and two shorter boys who were likely younger than him. They probably had a knife each, maybe even a more dangerous weapon. All he had was a sharp stone. He had dropped his knife while trying to get away. He cursed under his breath again. He would have to find another one when he got out of this, if he got out of this.
He focused on staying as still as possible. His muscles were still tense but his heart was beating a bit slower now. They must have split up, he thought to himself. The fat one and the tall one took one kid each with them. That would be the logical thing to do. So, if they did get into the alley looking for him, he would try and stab the bigger one in the thigh, so he couldn’t chase after him and try to run for the alley across the clearing. He had been in knife fights before. He was sure he could handle the smaller kids one-on-one, if he needed to. He wasn’t even sure the smaller ones would try chasing him on their own. The element of surprise is your biggest weapon right now, he told himself. Whatever you do, don’t let them know you’re here.
He quietly blended into the shadows and focused on the sounds around him. Things were eerily quiet except for a dog barking incessantly in the distance. Just then he heard footsteps. Someone walked past, close to where he was. He crouched lower, waiting to pounce if they came into the dark corner looking for him.
No one came. Instead, he heard laughter and voices. Two men, seemingly inebriated. “I’ll show you what a woman is. You haven’t seen one till you meet this one”, said a high pitched voice. The other made some incomprehensible sounds and the voices began to fade away.
He relaxed for a second, but his ears perked up almost immediately after. More voices. This time he was sure it was them. There were two voices, speaking among themselves. He heard footsteps really close. He was sure they were walking towards the corner where he was hiding.
“I think he went that way.”
“Shut up and listen.”
Then there was absolute silence.
He tried to blend into the shadows even further. Then he caught a silhouette followed by another standing not more than five feet away. He did not dare to breathe. He could almost smell their sweat and hear their breathing. Could they hear his?
He recognized them as the two kids. He couldn’t believe they sent these two together to look for him. Maybe they had underestimated him. Or maybe he was underestimating them. Either way, he felt more confident about getting out of here in one piece if he had to take on these two.
One of them shook his head at the other, and they walked away. He could hear their footsteps recede as they left the corner and the noises from the tip-tap-tap of their soles softened into the distance.
Now, he told himself. He had to take this chance now. If they had organized search parties, they would’ve expected these two to do a thorough job. There wouldn’t be anyone else here.
He made a mad dash across the alleyway, not daring to look behind him. Only when he got to the opening, he glanced backwards, but didn’t see anyone. He then darted across the opening, eyes fixed at the alley on the other side. He startled a rat that was scurrying across the opening in the opposite direction. That was the only other living organism he saw before he made it to the alleyway he wanted to get to.
This he could manage, he told himself. The ramshackled houses, the broken pieces of pavement, the dumpsters overflowing with litter - this was his part of the slum in the forgotten part of the Sector. This was home. It was everything he’d ever known. In that moment, he reveled in the familiarity of his surroundings. As he put more distance between himself and the alleyway entrance, he finally started to relax and began dreaming about eating half a loaf of leftover bread with cheese. And maybe even some of the wine that he had been saving for a special occasion. Staying alive was certainly worth celebrating.