CHAPTER 8

            I met Katie and Maria at the corner where I had met Bella, but Bella wasn't outside today. I noticed that every house looked the same. Katie took my hand and led me up the street, Maria just tagged along behind us, "Ok, as you know this is Bella's house. She's sort of the neighborhood grandmother, she's great. She watches the kids for everyone on the block while they're off trying to find some food."

            "The next house here is where Keller, Joshua, William, and Mandy live," she said pointing to the house just past Bella's, with wind chimes made out of beer cans, "They're the alcoholics of the neighborhood. If you ever see the cops come through here, it's probably their fault.

            I stared at the ground. I hope the cops didn't come through here, they'd pick me up, and they would probably be here because of me. I just nodded and followed Katie as she enthusiastically showed me every house for five blocks.

            "This is where the gang lives," Katie said as she pointed to a large two story home located only two blocks from where I would be, "The gang is our neighborhood's security, you could say..."

            "That's Jack, Xavier and Dylan," Maria said about the three men sitting out front, Maria nodded at them and looked at me, "There are a lot of people that stay there. Almost a quarter of our gang pretty much. Let's see, there's those three, as well as Ian, Luke, Bruce, Aidan, Sean, Trevor, Seth, Ryan... Umm there's Cole, Ethan, Lucas, Garrett, Carson, Matt, Zach, Michael, Jamie, Jessy, Daniel, David, Marco, Trent and Gage.. I'm drawing a blank here Katie. "

            Katie jumped in and started counting names on her fingers, "Um... there's also Hunter, Colin, Isaac, Austin, Ashton, Spencer, Keegan, James, Patrick, Cody and Chase.. And that's just the males!"

            "So, that's like thirty-seven people in one house, a thirty-seven person gang?" I asked as I counted along with them.

            Katie shook her head, "That's just here, this gang has another one-hundred and something spread out through the city. And females are also members as well, so with that we have well over two-hundred. They protect their females, their neighborhoods and its residents fiercely."

            They protect their females? Does that mean we're like trophies or something?

             Maria was signaling something back and forth with the three men on the front deck, "Yeah, you want them on your side with the whole gang wars going on..."

            Katie shoved Maria onto the ground, "Hello?! Duh?!"

            Maria stood up and brushed herself off, getting right up into Katie's face, I just backed away, "What is your problem?! She's sure as hell going to find out sooner or later anyway."

            Katie grabbed Maria's left wrist as she swung up to hit her, "Well, now we have to tell her, don't we!"

            Katie looked at me, "I'm sorry, you didn't need to know right away, but we'll explain it now. Follow me."

            I followed Katie as she dragged Maria by the wrist into the house. We passed right by the three sitting on the deck smoking, who all nodded at us as we went straight inside. The inside was nothing like the outside. There was a television in every room, if not two per room. There was furniture and electronics scattered everywhere, there were also several people in each room. This was definitely a gang palace for sure.

            Katie led us straight up the stairs and into the back room, where four more men were sitting and smoking. All but one was black, and all of them looked extremely intimidating. Katie let go of Maria's arm and turned to the one sitting on the antique rocking chair in the corner, "This is Taya, a new resident here, and Maria just sort of blew the whole secret of the gang war."

            They all looked up at Maria and frowned, "Whaaaat? I figured she would find out fairly soon, and I let it out, I'm sorry."

            Everyone turned back and stared at me for a couple seconds. The silence was killing me, but I didn't dare do anything. After they all looked me over, the man in the rocking chair nodded to Katie and Maria, who left me alone in the room and closed the door behind me. He turned back to me again, "Well, Taya, it seems that you've been thrown in before you were ready, so we'll make this easy on you. I am Spencer, and these three are Chase, Hunter and Isaac."

            Isaac moved behind me and locked the door, guided me over to a small recliner in the opposite corner of Spencer, and then sat down again. Spencer shook his head at me, "You see, we are what you call a gang. I prefer being referred to as a tight family, rather. The rules of the city are much like that of the lions in Africa. Each pride, or family in this case, has their own territory, and they guard that territory."

            Isaac offered me a cigarette and I just refused, and focused on what Spencer was saying. I tried not to look like I was reaching panic.

            He stood up and opened the window, "This family has miles and miles of territory, which we do guard. There is another rival gang just past our territory that insists that we surrender our territory to them. Do you think that it's bad to ask us to leave our territory?"

            My mind was racing with thoughts now. I nodded my head, "Yes?"

            He smiled at me and walked over to me, bending down with one hand on each arm of the recliner, with his face only inches from mine, "So you understand that we will not go easy?"

            I leaned as far back as I could, my fingernails digging into the arms of the chair. My eyes grew wide, I just nodded in reply.

            He stood back and looked at Isaac, "Alright now, you're part of this family, and we protect our family. Whether we are at war, or at peace."

            He nodded to Isaac who looked at me as he pulled his sleeve up over his shoulder, revealing an intricate tattoo on his upper left arm. Spencer, Chase and Hunter did the same, showing the exact same tattoo. Spencer then sat down again, "Katie and Maria will take you over to get signed tomorrow. After that we will explain more."

            Isaac got up and opened the door, motioning for me to leave the room. I didn't know what to say. Do I say thank you? I just nodded my head once, "Alright."

            I got up and left the room, Isaac shutting the door behind me. I'm getting signed? Branded? That makes me sound like property now, but I suppose I can do it. After all, it is just a tattoo. How much trouble can a simple tattoo get me into.

            I walked down the hallway to the top of the stairs, where I found Katie and Maria standing, smoking cigarettes with another man. Katie looked at me and smiled, tilting her head slightly to the right, "So, let me guess... we get to take you to get marked tomorrow, huh?"

            I nodded back, "Yeah, that's what he said."

            Katie and Maria lifted their sleeves as well, showing a slightly altered version of the tattoo. The man with them saw what they were doing and did the same, his looked like the ones I had seen upstairs. He smiled at me, he flexed his muscles, making his tattoo stretch.

            "It's like a security card," he explained, "So long as you have this tattoo, any one of us will protect you."

            Katie nodded, "We'll be near three-hundred by the end of the month."

            "You see the mark is pretty much the same for everyone, but the female's mark is a little different," he grabbed Katie’s arm and ran his finger over the tattoo, "You see, in this family, females aren't allowed to fight, they're to be protected. It used to be spread out so that there were only those that would fight and those that wouldn't. The ones that wouldn't fight turned into the females."

            Katie grinned and raised an eyebrow, "It's pretty sweet actually. Females are welcome in this house at any time, night or day, this is our second home. We even have body guards."

            I was actually getting excited now, I mean why not? I was actually going to be part of something, part of a bigger family that actually wanted me. I smiled, "Nice!"

            Maria ended up taking off, but Katie continued to show me around the house and introduce me to everyone. I met only about twenty-two people, the others were out 'watching the boundaries' as they told me. Of all the ones I met, Aidan got my attention. Katie insisted I become his, since he was single and I was too. She told me he was great to have, especially when you're 'just beginning', whatever that meant.

            After I learned my way around the gang house, Katie continued to show me the rest of the neighborhood. I learned every single house, who was in it, who used to be in it, and what the residents were like. I learned that not all residents became a legal part of the family like I was going to, just the special ones that the members thought would do well. Only about six others from this homeless neighborhood were part of the gang, the rest were from surrounding neighborhoods.

            Katie walked me for the rest of the day, taking me around the boundaries of our territory, and explained the dangers of leaving the boundaries. She told me that I needed to make special arrangements at least a week in advance with Spencer so that he could declare some 'peace walk' thing with the gangs whose territory I would be crossing. She reminded me over and over of that rule, telling me that passing the boundaries without the 'peace walk' would literally mean I would never walk again.

            She turned to me as we neared the last corner of our boundaries, "Okay, let me tell you a story here... One of our members two years ago ended up passing the boundary line, and no matter how much negotiation Spencer tried to do, they wouldn't hand her over. When they did, they handed her over with her legs broken in four different spots, and she'd been beaten and raped so much that you couldn't recognize her. The police got involved, and she ended up leaving the city. I don't want anything like that to happen to you."

            My eyes grew wide as I shook my head, "No, I wont leave, don't worry."

            She smiled at me, "Good! You see the tattoos are like scents, and if you don't match the scent of the pack, they kill you. The only other thing you have to worry about are trespassers, those from other gangs that come into our territory just to find someone to bring back, or just to raise hell. The gangs around us have been trespassing boundaries, so therefore it started a gang war. If you see anyone suspicious, let a male member know, and they'll be able to investigate and take care of the problem."

             I nodded my head, "Yeah, I can see it now. No problem. But... what if they do come after me past their boundaries?"

            Katie looked at me and shook her head, "I hope and pray that never happens, but if it does, you just better hope that you can run fast enough, and scream loud enough for members to hear you. "

            I stared at the ground again. The whole idea sounded really intense, like it was just a good idea to remain near my neighborhood just to be safe. I was in now, I was part of the gang, part of a family. Protected by people who wanted me. I didn't have any regrets leaving my old life behind.

             Katie drug me back down our neighborhood as it was getting dark, taking me back past Bella's house, to the last house on Bella's block, across the street. She turned to me and smiled, "This is ours, this is our first home."

            Katie showed me inside, where Maria was already sleeping on the living room floor. The outside of the house made it look like it should be condemned. There were two dead trees out on the front lawn, one was even on the ground where it had fallen over the walkway. The front deck had two big holes in it surrounded by rotting wood. The front door didn't close all the way, and the entryway was all torn up tiles.

            To the right was the small kitchen, with a small table only feet from the counter. To the left was the living room, the tan carpet was stained with God only knows what, and the only furniture was two duct-taped trashy beanbags and a small solar powered radio. Past the kitchen on the right was a tiny bathroom, with only a toilet and a sink. Past the bathroom to the right was a small bedroom, with one dirty mattress on the floor. Across from that room was the master bedroom, which had two dirty mattresses, that were each covered with old and torn up blankets. The bedroom had a small walk in closet, and was connected to another bathroom, which actually had a shower. The house didn't have electricity, but it did at least have running water, just not warm running water.

           The master bedroom was where Katie and Maria slept, and Katie let me have the bedroom across from hers. She told me that if I ever needed to shower, to just head to the gang house and I could shower there. Katie brought in four old folded blankets and a pillow, and handed them to me, "Here, this is all we have, unfortunately."

             I smiled as I took them from her, "Oh, no problem, this should work."

           She shrugged her shoulders, "Alright, I'll let you get set in, just call me if you need anything."

           "Thanks," I said as I dropped my backpacks to the floor, and the blankets and pillow on the mattress, "I think I’ll be ok."

           I watched her walk out of the room, closing the door behind her. I looked over my room, one dirty mattress in the middle of stained tan carpeting, but I couldn't complain. I had blankets, and I was free of the weather, I would be able to live with this. The smell wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world, but she told me she'd get me something from the gang house to make it smell better. She told me I'd get used to all of it after a while.

            I unpacked my backpack, folding the clothes and laying them on a clean piece of cardboard on the floor next to the mattress on the left side. I took out my book of poems, grabbing a card from my pocket and sticking it in the pages to act as my bookmark, and then set it down next to my mattress on the right. I then shook out one of the blankets and laid it on top of the mattress, tucking the excess underneath. I then shook out each of the other blankets, layering them one by one on the mattress, and then finally placing the pillow at the head of my bed.

           I sat down on my mattress, feeling it sag somewhat in the middle. I looked over my room and made myself love it. This is my new home, and tomorrow is another day.