Billy and Bear

He shook off the strange feeling of being watched and strode a little faster. It was just his imagination. He was tired and hungry and it was dark and his mind was playing tricks on him.

Of course, those footsteps didn't sound like a trick. In fact they sounded like more than one person following him, like maybe there were three or four pairs of feet to go with the eyes boring into him.

He sped up some more, letting his backpack slide off and into one hand. He wrapped his fingers around one of the straps, ready to heft it if he had to. He started to cut across the street. Southdown would take him home the long way round but it would be more populated this time of night than Franklin Road was.

He was about halfway across the street when the footsteps grew shadows, and had nearly made it to the corner when the shadows melted into men. Well, kids really, teenagers. A whole gang of them. They were all dressed alike, in jeans and black t-shirts, their shoes bright and shiny in the darkness. Fuck, those things were expensive, certainly way out of his own budget. They each wore a band around their left arm. He couldn't make out the color in the darkness.

"Hey man, you can't come this way unless you pay the toll." The speaker had a scar on one cheek and was a good head taller than Billy, probably had fifty pounds of muscle on him, too. A hand was laid flat on his chest and Billy was shoved back, right against another gang member.

"Watch where you're going, man."

"Oh, so now you're dissing us as well as trying to walk through without paying the toll?"

"Hey, this guy is dissing us!"

"Yeah. Get him."

Oh, this wasn't good. It wasn't good at all. He hadn't said a word, but that didn't seem to bother his attackers. Billy's whole body went tight as he got ready to swing, hoping to surprise them enough to make a hole in the ring of men surrounding him so he could break free and take off. He wasn't very tall, and he wasn't very big, but he could run; and when it was six or seven on one, he knew pride made a very poor ally.

He ducked the first punch and swung out with his right arm, his knapsack catching the guy in front of him in the head. Before he could even try to make tracks though, the guy behind him grabbed hold of his arms and the next punch landed right in his gut.

Shit. He was just going to have to pray they left him alive. His whole body went tight as he waited for the next punch to land, his heart beating like it was going to explode.

A loud snarl sounded before a second punch could land and Billy watched as the guy about to hit him went down under the biggest fucking dog Billy'd ever seen.