The Lust System: Brother, Please Help Me-Chapter 52: Paying the price

The group looked at the haphazard roadblock. Unlike the first, which was more ordered and had actual steel and other heavy items to block. This one was made of random junk. Dumpsters, office furniture, bent trolleys, random scrap metal.

Not long after they parked, people came out of the abandoned building ahead of them. There were approximately two dozen of them. They had an assortment of weapons. Some held baseball bats studded with nails, some iron bars; the weapons varied.

They walked out calmly as if they had done this numerous times before. They might have. Ember’s group had not seen any other people besides themselves for a number of days. They were sure people were hiding, but it didn’t mean there weren’t others that were hunting.

Not animals, but other people.

The people lounged against the junk wall. Their posture was arrogant. The smiles on their faces were predatory. It seemed like a regular Saturday evening for them.

"Well, they look friendly," Ivan drawled. His hand reached for the hilt of his knife.

"They’re not organized, but they have us beat with numbers," Aiden said as his eyes scanned the crowd.

"They have us with number and we have them with strength," Alex said. "Let’s see what they want first. If they get too aggressive, then we fight."

"Right! They can’t move as fast as me," Ivan said. "I can take them down easily."

Ember shook her head but didn’t say anything. They have only just learned they became stronger, and they are already acting arrogantly. She decided not to say anything. Even if they areproud of their strength, as long as they get the job done, she doesn’t mind.

"Let’s try reasoning with them first," Ember said. "We don’t need to provoke a fight."

Aiden nodded. "Stay here. Keep the engine running." He looked at Marcus and Ivan. "Come with me. Alex, you watch from the back."

Aiden, Marcus, and Ivan got out of the SUV. Their movements were slow and deliberate. They walked towards the roadblock, their empty hands in plain sight.

Alex also left the SUV, but stayed a distance away.

A man, assumed to be the leader, stepped forward to greet them. He was a big man with a greasy beard and a beer gut that strained his shirt. He carried a shotgun over his shoulder.

"This is a private road. You need to pay the toll." The man’s voice was loud.

Aiden stopped and looked at him, his gaze assessing. "We’re passing through. Since you claim this is your road, what’s the toll?"

Aiden didn’t want to immediately jump to conclusions. Although their clothes were dirty, they didn’t seem to be lacking food. If their toll was fair in Aiden’s eyes, he wouldn’t mind paying.

The man sneered. "The price...not much. We want your food, fuel and women." His eyes flickered to the SUV, a lecherous glint in his eyes.

The three women in the car heard him. His voice was too loud to ignore. Ember’s eyes narrowed, and her hands gripped the steering wheel.

Aiden’s posture changed. Before, he was trying to avoid a conflict, but hearing what they asked for, he decided to hell with it. Since they weren’t reasonable, he wouldn’t be either.

"That’s not going to happen," Aiden responded, his voice even.

The leader snarled and gave a subtle nod. "I think it will."

Two men stepped forward. They were tough-looking characters. They walked forward, each with a baseball bat in hand. "Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?" asked one of the men.

Ivan sighed. As soon as he saw one of the men swinging his bat, he made his move. There was a crack, and then the man screamed. The bat fell to the ground, and the man clutched his hand.

The people who could see his hand saw the unnatural way it was bent.

"Get ’em," the leader shouted.

The rest of the people surged forward. There was no organisation. People chose someone they considered weaker than themselves and started swinging.

Marcus stood, not dodging the hit. He discovered recently that he could take a hit. Blame Ivan and his horsing around early in the morning. He watched the iron bar swing towards him. It bounced off his chest. The man who intended to harm him, eyes widened in shock.

Marcus punched him lightly, sending him flying back towards his people.

Alex continued to provide support. He had his pistol ready, but he didn’t shoot.

Aiden moved through the crowd. He didn’t waste time with fancy moves. He did the most with the least. He delivered punches that sent people flying and snapped bones with great efficiency.

They were winning without even really trying.

But in the scuffle, they missed one.

A woman had been hiding. She slipped past the other and headed towards Alex. Alex, who was focused on the fight in front of him, didn’t notice the woman coming towards him.

Ember, sitting in the driver’s seat, watched the woman raise the knife. She noticed Alex was distracted. She didn’t hesitate. Acting on pure instinct, she threw the car door open and leaned half her body outside.

She didn’t aim. She simply trusted the feeling in her gut that told her the right angle to place the gun. It was a quick point and shoot. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

The gunshot was deafening. The woman’s head snapped back as a mist of red and grey erupted. Her eyes went wide momentarily, the last signal her brain managed to send, before she fell to the ground.

The knife fell from her fingers, clattering on the asphalt.

The fight stopped instantly. Every head snapped towards the sound of the gunshot, then turned to the woman’s body.

The leader froze. His face was full of disbelief as he stared at the body of the woman on the ground and back to Ember, who held the smoking gun in her hands.

His eyes moved to the shotgun he had thrown down in his fight with Aiden. He knew it, Aiden knew everyone knew the gun was for show. They never expected there would be someone willing to actually shoot.

With that one shot, the power dynamic had shifted. Aiden’s team went from being the hunted to the hunter.