Chapter 1

I stood at the side of the entrance of a narrow alley, where it met the main road, looking at the Butcher's shop which was just opposite. The main road was swarming with people walking in all directions. This was normal, considering we were in the middle class sector of Carlton City, where most people had to sell their cars to people from the east coast of the USA in order to buy food. As I watched the mass of people walking in different directions, so many with their families, I was remembered of when I too had a family. A Mom and Dad who loved me. That all ended five and a half years ago, when my parents were killed by Blade Hunters for being what they called 'Blade Harbourers'. I remember as if it was yesterday....My mum screaming at me to run, while my dad held them off with a crowbar, my nine year old self crying as I ran into the streets, and didn't stop running until I reached the outskirts of the city. I would have been killed long ago if Bert hadn't found me. He taught me how to hide my abilities as a Blade. Together, me, Bert, and a few others started a group of young Blades who lived together, looked out for each other, and split what we stole. I'm Ronavaran Andreas Calor. Friends call me Ron. If you want a picture of me, think of a scruffy brown complexioned boy(I'm an ethnic Indian.) of average height and build for a fourteen year old with black hair, green eyes, and a serious expression on his face. "Ron!" Called out a voice from behind me presently. I turned towards the voice irritably. It was Harry, also one of Bert's bunch. He continued, "Ron, have you checked out the place enough? I'm hungry!" "Quiet!" I snapped back, turning towards the Butcher's shop again. I was finished, however, so I quickly turned back towards the two boys waiting behind me. "Mark?" I called out, to which there was a quick reply. "Ya, Ron?" Mark said immediately. He was always so cool and confident, his blonde hair slicked back with stolen hair gel, and his pale face calm. He seemed like he could do anything if you asked him to. "Mark, you know the drill. Cause a diversion. I'll walk into the shop and talk up the butcher, and then knock him out and take that nice link of sausages in the window. Harry will stand and keep a watch out for danger. Any questions?" "Yup, me." Replied Harry in a whiny voice, his messy red hair flopping up and down as he shook his head. "Why do I have to stand guard again? I wanna do the real stuff for once!" I sighed before answering "We need those sausages. So, it's best that I go, as I've had the most experience in lying and stealing. You can't lie convincingly and you know it. You'll screw it up." Harry frowned but didn't reply. I then said, in my best leader voice, "Good. We all clear then?" Both nodded, although Harry didn't seem too happy about it. "Good. One last thing. Remember, restrain yourselves. Make sure no one finds out that you're a Blade. If someone does, then the Blade Hunters will take you down within a day." They both nodded again. I grinned and said "OK then bros. Let's do this."

I walked right across to the butcher's shop. He saw me as I came in, with my scruffy look, and dirty clothes, and growled "I hope you got cash, kid. I don't need no labour and I ain't giving no charity. And if you try to steal, I've made precautions." And he showed me the the gun in the holster slung on his right side. He was a big, brawny man, with huge muscles. I shrugged and said "Peace! I got cash." And I slapped a five dollar bill on the counter. He looked at it and said "That won't buy you a scrap of meat, so I guess it's bones you want." "Yup," I replied, with a cheery voice, "we boil 'em for our broth." "Ya I know." He snapped at me, before asking me "You wanna buy five small bones or one big?" "Five small," I replied, and he lifted out a bucket, and shoveled a few bones into his hand. "Could you put that in a piece of newspaper please? People in Poor sector steal from anyone with food." I helpfully dropped another fifty cent coin on the counter. He grumbled, but he did it. When he handed me the piece of balled up newspaper, I opened it and frowned, before complaining, "Hey! There's only four bones here!" He had been looking out the window, frowning, having seen that the usual crowd had disappeared. On hearing me, he turned to me and growled, "There most certainly are not!" And he leaned over the counter to look at the paper packet. "See? One, two, three, four..." At that, I socked him in the jaw, and he slumped onto the counter unconscious. "Five." I finished for him with a grin. I then grabbed the link of sausages in the window, and scrambled out of there, pausing to grab my money from the counter. Hey, I had spent some time pick pocketing that, and I wasn't about to let it go to waste! To be kind, I left the butcher the bones. 

I ran back to the alley, and then continued to run until I reached the road junction in Lower Class sector where we had planned to meet, all the while taking care to keep my speed to human speed, so anyone who saw me wouldn't get suspicious. Mark showed up, soon followed by Harry. I grinned at them. "Mission successful boys!" And I pulled the link of sausages out of my jacket from where I had hidden them. They both grinned back at me. Harry eyes lit up and he asked "D'you think they're real pork?". I snorted, before laughing and answering, "In a middle class sector store? No chance! They're probably rat." He frowned, slightly disappointed. "Hey, cheer up! We got 'em first, so we get first dibs! We can have one each now, and no one will know, so we'll still get shares when we split them with everyone else!" At that he grinned, his Latino brown face lighting up. "Can we roast 'em?" He asked eagerly. I replied "If we find a fire, sure." Mark smiled before replying "I think I can help with that. I saw a guy with a trash can fire when we were coming in." I nodded, smiling. As we walked there, I asked, "I gotta ask, Mark. How did you clear the crowd away this time?" He grinned before answering, "I used one of my old classics. I yelled that a building was on fire, before running down a side alley. They all followed me, and then I lost them." I laughed and replied "They always fall for that, don't they? Stupid middle classers." Mark agreed and presently we came upon the street corner with the man whom he had mentioned. The guy was tall, with a bushy beard. He regarded us suspiciously. I called out, "Hey! Can we use your fire to roast our sausages? We'll give you one!" At that the man smiled and nodded, as he was obviously starving. I tossed him a sausage before giving each of us one. The guy started to eat it raw, tearing at the sausage with his blackened teeth. We roasted ours, and ate them whiling sitting and leaning against a deserted building near the street corner. I was almost content. It was one of those days where I was almost happy, and could almost forget my tragic past. Those were few.  

After we were done I led Mark and Harry away. We ran to the edge of the city, where there was a an abandoned former rich man's estate, where us and the rest of Bert's Blades lived. There was a large mansion there, but plenty of people walked by it everyday, and, even though no one knew we were Blades, we liked to have precautions. So, we lived in the barn a short distance behind the mansion. As we reached, I Saw that Bert was waiting outside the door. Upon seeing us, he looked relieved and asked "You got something, right?" I proudly produced the sausages. "Great!" He breathed a sigh of relief, "At least we'll have something to eat tonight. Frank's team didn't get anything. Worse, Frank's not come back yet. His team said that he said that he couldn't bear coming back empty handed, so he told them to come ahead while he continued to search." I froze in fear. One of us not back yet? It was past sunset, the time we all had to be back by. Frank could have been captured by the Blade Hunters, and even now, they could be torturing him, extracting information out of him...I forced myself to think rationally. Frank was a pretty emotional guy. Most probably, he was just wandering the streets in anger, looking for some food or money to steal. That seemed much better than the alternative. I nodded at Bert indicating that I had understood what he had said, and walked into the barn.

We split the sausages amongst us and roasted them over a fire we made outside the barn. Most of the bunch stayed awake for a while after, joking around with each other. But not me. As one of Bert's lieutenants, I got my own private spot to sleep in the far corner of the barn. I went in, walked over to my spot, fluffed up the hay pile, and plonked myself down on it. Let the others stay awake. I had had a full day, and needed to rest. With that thought, I lay down, and promptly fell asleep.