The Family Dog: Part 1

- The Family Dog: Part 1 -

7 Months After the Incident

"Forian is getting tired of waiting for your payment, Charla." Connor cracked his knuckles. He took a threatening step towards the woman who was pressed against the wall. They were down an alley, out of sight and out of earshot. No one would hear her pleas for help if things turned messy.

"I....I swear I have the money. Just some more time. More time is all I need." Charla did not take her eyes off of Connor's hands. She had heard the rumours of his strange capabilities.

Connor scoffed, "More time. More time. That's what everyone says. When you asked to live within the walls of Forian's city, did he ask for more time? No. He took you and your family in. He thought....no I thought that the rules were clear."

"They were. They were very clear," Charla stuttered.  Connor highly doubted that she was telling the truth. She could barely afford the clothes on her back let alone another night in the city.

The threatening man faked a grim look as he spoke a memorized script. "Upon entering Forian's city, you and all of your possessions automatically belong to the Forian family. In return for the protection that you are given, you will pay for your stay every two weeks. When you fail to pay," Connor said, carrying a grim look. "Forian sends me to collect." His index finger twitched as energy was pulled from the air. Blue sparks jumped along the palm as his hand. The elderly woman began to scream as Connor reached out towards her.

The wrinkled face lit up like a jack-o-lantern as the energy transferred from Connor's palm and moved under her skin. What was once pale flesh quickly darkened as Charla was cooked from the inside out from the blue light. A few seconds passed before the woman finally collapsed. Connor gave her corpse a firm kick and left the alley. Somebody would find her in a few days and maybe if they were nice they would bury her. They would not question her death. The burns were enough evidence that Forian had not been paid.

As Connor walked down the almost empty street of Forian's city, he was forced to remind himself how lucky he actually was. The crime lord Davin Forian was notorious for his cruelty. Connor was one of the few people out of the Forian blood line that was treated kindly. Connor snapped his thumb between his index finger and watched a teal coloured spark appear. His abilities were the only reason the Forians kept him around and let him live within the city for free.

When the Onyx Tide had struck, people were in a panic. Very few places in the world seemed safe and yet a single man turned an entire city into his possession. Giant pits were dug around the ten foot high steel walls that surrounded the town. Fires roared within the pits day and night. Dogs patrolled the perimeter as well. The Onyx Tide could not get in. Being a 'man of business', as Davin Forian always put it, he knew the value of what he had created. He let people stay behind the walls but they needed to give him something in return.

A large mansion overlooked the town at the northern end. It was the only structure that remained in one piece. The Forians ensured of that. There was no reason to maintain the rest of the city. They barely had more than one hundred people with them at one time. The residents were either smart enough to leave when they could no longer pay for their stay (and then die to the Onyx Tide that awaited them outside the walls), or Connor would have to get involved and make them pay. Their longest residence from any citizen was two months.

Connor smelled the fire before he could see it. The burning sensation filled his nose as he turned around down the final street. Dark plumes of smoke climbed from the base of the Forian house. Once green grass that surrounded the property was in flames. The front windows were shattered and angry searing fire exploded outwards. Connor paused for a moment, trying to make sense of what he was looking at. In the middle of all the chaos, surrounded by a ring of fire, was a small young boy. The fire did not touch him. Instead it seemed to bow away from the child.