Human Nature (Book 4): Human Nature IV by Borthwick, Finlay (book recommendations website .TXT) 📗

“Nine!”

Valorie held Kieran’s hand firmly, deterring him from taking up arms.

“Eight!”

Valorie cleared her throat as she gave Kieran a soft answer, “Because if we kill him… We’re no better.”

“Seven!”

Kieran rolled his eyes, “Val, are you serious right now?”

She nodded sternly, “Think about all the threats we’ve encountered over the years.”

“Six!”

Valorie took Kieran back down memory lane despite the desperation of their present situation, “When Harry, Richard, and I first came across your group, we were being chased by savages.”

“Five!”

“It’s the same reason we didn’t kill them until we absolutely had to: We’re better than that!” Valorie passionately clenched her fists, though still kept her tone low.

“Four!”

“…And that’s what Richard believed.” She affirmed with sombre eyes.

“Three!”

“Like you said, we had to kill them in the end Val!” Kieran reminded her. “It’s the same damn thing right now!”

“Two!” The man bellowed the numbers with more intensity now.

“You hear that?” Kieran pointed up to the window over the counter, “We’ve got two seconds before our heads are blown into oblivion!”

“One!”

“Stop!” Rubin cried out as he threw open the door to the backroom and stepped out into the main area of the store. “I surrender!” He quickly raised his hands.

Kieran and Valorie both looked up at him with worried eyes that said, ‘What are you doing man?’

Without turning his head, Rubin darted his eyes down at Kieran and Valorie and winked at them, as if to let them know that he knew what he was doing.

“Step out here quietly, friend.” The man calmly ordered.

“I’m unarmed!” Rubin desperately noted as he took slow and long strides towards the front door.

Kieran and Valorie remained low, still extremely unsure of what Rubin’s surrender was supposed to accomplish.

“What do you want from me?” Rubin asked, deliberately using a singular pronoun so as not to give away the existence of his comrades.

“We want to know what you’re doing in our territory.” The man stated firmly, though Rubin could still not see him outside.

“Your territory?” Rubin asked in kind.

Kieran and Valorie looked at each other perplexingly.

“We’re The Bandits, and we own these streets.” The man affirmed as Rubin came closer to the door now, just inches away from the counter which Kieran and Valorie were ducked behind. “So, I’ll ask you again,” the man’s rifle could be heard priming, “What are you doing in our territory?”

Swallowing hard, Rubin gently pulled the door open – the bell above it ringing as he did so – and took several steps outside…

…The street was just as dead and desolate as it had always been. There was no sign of life anywhere.

“Yoo-hoo! Up here!” The man called down to the bewildered Rubin.

“Oh.” Rubin was slightly surprised to see the man was standing on the roof of the pub opposite the technology store. “How British.” He remarked to himself.

“So, for the third and final time,” the man’s voice quickly went from neutral to aggressive as he aimed his rifle down at Rubin, “What. Are. You. Doing. Here?”

Rubin’s eye twitched as he passively answered, “I’m just trying to get by.”

The man laughed, “Well, aren’t we all?”

“That’s why I’m here—I didn’t realise this was your territory, for which I am sorry.” Rubin deliberately overdramatised his façade.

The man slowly lowered his rifle, “Well, I guess I could accept your apology… But I’m gonna need something from you.”

Rubin gulped, “As long as I get to walk out of this city alive, you can have whatever it is you want—”

“Your pack, your knife, your gun, your clothes,” the man wasted no time in laying down his demands, “I want everything that you’ve got on you.” He grimaced.

Rubin sighed, “You can have my pack, my knife, and my gun, sure, no problem—But I’m keeping these overalls.”

The man became uneasily silent for a moment.

Kieran and Valorie were peering over the counter now, watching the commotion through the smashed store window with great interest.

Then, the man’s sinister smirk suddenly lit up into an agreeable smile, “Well alright then! You’ve got yourself a deal, my friend.”

Rubin smiled in kind, “Good. I’m glad that we managed to sort that out civilly—”

“Put your fucking hands back up!” A woman ordered as she approached Rubin with a revolver from the alleyway next to the technology store.

Once again, Rubin sighed, “There was really no need for that. I’d just sorted things out with your buddy up there.”

“Shut it!” She ordered as she waved the gun right in Rubin’s personal space. “Don’t play dumb! Your group killed our friend!”

Now, Rubin had suddenly lost his leverage, “I’m sorry? What are you talking about?” He asked the woman in genuine puzzlement.

She flicked her greasy long hair out of her eyes, still holding the revolver up at Rubin as she answered him, “Benji? Remember him? You fuckers were so desperate to get to the safe zone that you killed him!”

Rubin stammered, “I—Ma’am, I assure you, whoever you’re talking about, it wasn’t my group that did that… I didn’t take these roads to get to the safe zone.”

The woman laughed, “Really? Then how did you get in there?”

“My plane fell out of the sky.” He bragged a brief answer, his eye not twitching in the slightest as he declared this.

“Ha!” The woman didn’t believe him. “How stupid do you think I am? You really think I would’ve missed a massive fucking airplane crashing down in the middle of London?”

Rubin shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe you just weren’t looking up.” He tried to be humorous, but this only served to anger the woman even further.

“Don’t play games with me!” She whipped Rubin with the butt of the revolver, causing him to drop his knees and cradle his head.

As Kieran motioned to get up