Another one of those extremely normal situation when the main character of a web novel surfs through the page of his own. Greg continued his expedition through the page. It was a really productive day for him—he changed the cover of the novel, he changed the nickname of the author to chimp, which the author couldn't refute since Greg threatened to walk out, he managed to bring up the ratings for the novel- 4.7 out of five was indeed too sweet. In general, he was excited. And as always, he called out Sean to show off his hard work and the results.
"Greg, we shouldn't do this often. There is a slight possibility that the readers wouldn't like this engagement." Sean pointed out.
"Don't worry, Sean! Remember what I told you, we're just giving the people what they want. And if they don't want it, they just need it." Greg sounded like the cliché arrogant bastard in a few animes that the author have watched. "Anyways, look at this! We got a rating, we got a new cover—things are looking good!"
"Yea, you're right. By the way, I read that review of yours." Greg acted puzzled as Sean pulled out his phone. "Greg is a cool character and others are a bit lacking. Greg is great; Greg is awesome—if you said Greg is God, the self-praising would've been complete. But you really trashed us over there." Sean clutched his fists. Greg felt a chill in his spine.
"Ah, Sean. The virus—it has really made a lot of people worry, huh?" Greg tried to deviate the conversation.
"Yea, I hope everyone is safe. But you are not allowed to change subjects halfway. Now, tell me. What am I supposed to do with you?" Sean glared at Greg.
"Ah, shit. Looks like we don't have enough words to do this shtick. You do know that the Chimp is really punctual with the 1.1-1.3k word limit, right?" Greg chuckled nervously.
"Well, he'd be fine with extending the word limit for just once, right?" Sean said as he approached Greg. [Chimp approves] "See? He approved." Sean's face twitched as he spoke.
"Hey, Chimp! This isn't fair! No!" Greg screamed as Sean pounded on him.
[I hope everyone are doing fine in this stressful times. Be safe and wash your hands.]
***
With the shotgun in his mouth, Greg had nothing much to say—rather, there was nothing he could say. The girl was dead serious in pulling the trigger, so if he were to pull off some lame joke, he was sure to die. So, he chose to remain silent. The one that opened his mouth was Sean.
"Kelly, it's me!" Sean waved at her. The argument between them took place a few days ago and both of them deeply regretted it. So, when they actually saw each other after these few days, they were really happy. Kelly ran towards Sean, even though Sean was just two steps away from her, and hugged him. She forget about the fact that she had her gun on someone's mouth—at least, Greg felt thankful for that, as he threw away the gun.
"How are you doing, brother?" Kelly asked.
"Same as last day we met." Sean replied. "By the way, this is Greg. He's our—father." Sean introduced Greg when he was preoccupied in looting the fallen bandits. Greg simply waved at Kelly.
Kelly said nothing. She walked over to where the DP-12 shotgun was thrown by Greg, picked it up and started firing the entire sixteen rounds towards him.
It couldn't be said that Greg didn't anticipate it—more like he was waiting for it. Then he realized anticipating and waiting are the same thing and felt extremely dumb. But in the face of certain death, Greg didn't falter. He somehow managed to avoid all of the shots aimed at him. Kelly was beyond surprised. Sean became horrified, surprised and expressionless all in one go.
"Your shots aren't going to reach its target—the hatred; you bear too much hatred towards me. Your mind is not calm." Greg said as he approached Kelly.
"Shut up!" Kelly screamed as she took her pistol and started shooting at him. Greg still evaded the shots—most of them, as he caught one right under his knee. Sean saw this and tried to stop Kelly. Kelly threw Sean aside like Ali*ity threw her cat over her head. It took her some time to realize what had happened. She wanted to apologize but didn't. "So, you're with this traitorous asshole now, huh? You know what? Fuck you two. I don't care." Kelly scoffed and walked away.
Sean, who was just slightly injured with a bruise, walked towards Greg who was now on the ground. He checked upon Greg and then called a taxi to the nearest hospital.
***
After a few hours, Greg was discharged since it was a distal injury from a pistol. If he had got injured by the shotgun, it would've been a whole different beast. Greg was thankful for that was not the case.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Sean was concerned. He had no idea how to deal with Kelly.
"What else? We're going to find her yet again." Greg replied as he paced around, testing out his injury. It seemed fine. "We can't let her do any more of that. She is on the edge now and that would just cause danger to everybody."
"We'll just follow the initial plan then." Sean decided to check out the notorious places as they did before. But surprisingly, they were all calm. There was no sign of attack. They were confused.
"Hah, a dead end. What shall I do-" Greg stopped his monologue midway as he saw the guy who ran away from Kelly previously. He was the one who talked about the "demon" and now he carried a machine gun in his hand supposedly in a hurry. "Hey, are you supposed to carry a gun out like this? We do have a no-gun policy, remember?"
"Fuck! Why the hell are you two here? Look, I know you're strong and all, but I've this gun now and I won't hesitate to-" He wasn't even able to complete his sentence when Greg took away his gun to point it back at him.
"Okay, now. Tell me. Where the hell are all the thugs?" Greg politely asked.
The man sighed. "The demon girl that I talked about—they somehow captured her. Everyone's gathered in Y-alley in X-town—they'll kill her publicly."
"When is this happening?" Greg asked.
"Anytime now. I would hurry if I were you." He replied.
Greg tossed the gun back to the man. "Try to lead a better life from now on. You seem like a good guy. Don't be a nuisance." Greg said before he and Sean ran towards the destination.
***
Y-alley in X-town. Most of the notorious criminals were present there. If the NYPD knew, they would've had a field day catching these criminals. Kelly was tied up to a post and the criminals stood around her. A woman in her thirties started to speak up. "The resident demon of X-town; the one who caused havoc amongst the crime community within few days. Finally, you'll get what you deserve. Eat my bullet! This is retribution!"
The woman pointed her gun towards Kelly who had her eyes closed. It was not such a bad way to die—she considered it as a victory in the battlefield. She braced for what was about to come.
"Excuse me? My daughter doesn't really like BDSM, so how about we do that to someone who actually likes it?" It was Greg who interfered.
"Eh, so you like bondage play?" Sean asked.
"Well, I tried for an epic punch line, but failed! Never mind that, how do you know what BDSM is?" Greg raised questions against Sean's knowledge.
"That—wait, they're coming!" Sean signaled at those pouncing towards them.
Greg cracked his fingers as he looked at Sean. "We're going to have a talk over dinner, young man!"
Every single one of them were equipped with weapons. Some with long range and some with short range guns. Greg had nothing on him. But he smiled—and that was a sinister one.
"I came here after hearing about the public execution. I never would've thought you'd be here too!" Someone interfered. It was Konner King. He had his merry boys with him.
"Well, things we do for family." Greg smiled as he answered Konner. Konner smiled back.
"Merry boys! Get ready for a fight!" Konner screamed as they ran towards the ones attacking Greg and Sean. The place was a battlefield. The two sides were equal in power if you weren't considering the monsters—Konner and Greg. Those two were enough to rough shot through the entire bandwagon of criminals. Somehow, the way they move was completely different from others which left Sean in awe. Moreover, they were smiling!
"Monsters! You two are monsters!" The lady screamed as she took her shotgun and pointed it towards Greg and Konner. But the intimidation itself was enough for her to concede her defeat. "Now, you aren't going to hit a lady, are you?" She played out her trump card—being a woman.
"We are not monsters. Better if you call him devil. And as of me, I'm just a benevolent king." Konner answered. "And you're right. A king never hits a woman—he has his dignity to maintain. But the same can't be said about the devil."
Her smile wore off as she got hold of the jaw cracking blow from Greg. His eyes still had the bloodlust. To this day, people in the crime syndicate piss their pants when they hear about a certain devil in X-town. And the day ended up in the history books as the battle of silent alley, since the police didn't even noticed a battle of such proportions until after the battle. And thus, the battle didn't technically end up in the history books, but in the minds of every criminal in X-town that they should now mess with the demon since the devil may come to kill them.
***
"Are you okay?" Greg asked while he untied Kelly.
"Thank you." Kelly said. "But that doesn't mean that I forgive you!"
"Fine. I'll leave you with Olivia, if I'm the problem." Greg knew that it would take time to build a bridge between himself and his daughter.
"Wait, do you have any mattress in your apartment?" Kelly asked while she looked away from Greg.
"No, but I do have a couch." Greg replied.
"Buy a mattress for me and I'll consider living with you two." Kelly pouted as she looked towards Greg.
Greg gave out a pleasant smile. "Sure, let's buy that today!"
"Okay, I'll be going then. And also, please reconsider my offer." Konner was about to take off from there before the police arrive.
"Sorry, my answer would be no. But thanks for today, man! I really appreciate it." Greg hugged Konner. Konner was surprised since this was the first in a long time.
"Wow! By the way, who are these two?" Konner asked. "I remember seeing this kid back when I was at your apartment—Sean or something. But, who's the girl?"
"Oh, you're right! This is Sean and Kelly. They are my kids." Greg replied as he placed his arms around their shoulders. Kelly didn't quite like the gesture.
"Eh?" Konner was dumfounded, yet again by the actions of the man named Greg Shepherd.
***