Meeting again (9)

With the skinny and weak body of which the bones evidently could be seen, he walked, without shoes, around the town for some food to eat. He went to the restaurants and food stalls shamelessly asking for the people's kindness to give him some but sadly he was ignored and some even harshly scolded and chased him away. They avoided him like he was a contagious disease. He went to every dumpster he passed by and fought with the dogs and other animals there for leftover food as he dug out the black plastic bags but most of them had already be taken away by the animals.

His feet was full of pus. Every step he took came with striking pain on his feet but he adamantly continued his searching for survival. His cloth was shabby and ripped, revealing some part of his dry skin. When the light breeze passed by, he would be shivering in cold as if it was the winter season.

Luckily, after almost one day had not eaten anything, he found an unkempt warehouse far into the little forest in that town. He peeped through the open window and saw rusty furniture and random things in it. The place was in a mess with the stools, clothes, snacks and drinks scattered on the floor. His eyes were shining brightly when he caught the sight of the snacks and drinks especially. Even the sight of the packaging gave him a little hope and he was even drooling seeing those food packages. His stomach had been growling the entire time like the sound of the fierce thunder.

He first looked around that place as to ensure no one was there before climbing into the place through the window. He excitedly ran to where the snacks and drinks were lying on that dusty floor and checked the content of the packages. Some had been ripped open and empty and some remained untouched. Hurriedly, he grabbed a handful of them with his short arms and quickly walked away, afraid that the owner might see him stealing. In his condition, if he could bear to eat the rotten or leftover food in the dumpster, he, obviously, didn't care if those had expired because all he wanted was to fill up his empty stomach.

Unfortunately, with his hands full of food, he had the difficulty to climb over the window and at the same time he heard a few voices came nearer to the warehouse. He became panic at that moment whether he just escape without the food or brought them along with him. In that moment of hesitation, the door was flung open and a few people came in. They were chatting loudly with each other. They stopped talking when they noticed his presence there. Seeing him with the food, they let an evil laugh and mocked him. These people were scary.

Gabs froze like a statue under their eyes and among them, there was one guy with a big physique, five times bigger, approached Gabs. Naturally in that situation, Gabs was consumed by fear and felt like he was on the brink of death. The big guys, in his eyes, appeared as the grim ripper, wanted to take away his soul.

With one move, the big guy grabbed his neck and raised him higher in the air. All the food fell down from his arms and he began to desperately gasp for air. He was suffocated by the tight grip on his neck. He couldn't breath as normal. His face then turned blue because of the lack of oxygen and he was kicking in the air, struggling to free himself.

The big guy and his friends continued laughing and taunting at him.

"Hahaha... you dare to steal our food... let's see if you can fight back... hahahahha"

No matter how hard he tried to stretch both of his hands and punched the big guy, his short arms couldn't reach his opponent. But his mental strength was strong. The inner voice in his head kept telling him to fight back. 'Come on, Gabs... Fight him!"

His eyes began to glow ferociously and he kept throwing the punches, although his effort were futile, it was better than him admitted the defeat. The force exerted on his neck was getting stronger and almost completely blocked him from inhaling the air. His blue face had turned purple. Gabs was reaching his limit and his movements then began to slow down. He tried to lift up his hands but he had no energy left.

"Release him..." Like a saviour, a low and raspy voice interrupted these bullies from enjoying his suffering. In that instant, the big guy released him and he fell onto the ground with loud thud sound. His butt got hurt but not as painful as before when he couldn't breathe. He breathed in a huge air into his weak lungs while coughing due to the aftereffect of the suffocation.

"Boss..." said the big guy and his friends in union as they gave respect to the hero that saved Gabs from dying. They even bowed down their heads to the ground.

The hero, who was in his black suit entered the place with another two to three people followed him from behind. His grand manner clearly showed his supreme status among the others. He stood a few metres away from him and said, "Go... Go and take those food home..."

Everyone there was shocked hearing their boss letting Gabs to escape. It was unusual for their boss to do this hence they couldn't believe what their ears heard. He gratefully nod his head repeatedly and took the food with him before running through the door very fast like a bullet.

Gabs scrambled out of the warehouse while hugging the snacks and drinks tightly on his chest like they were his precious treasure. He ran and kept running without looking back. He had just escaped from death.

He could feel the pus on his feet tore up as he dashed towards his home. It became worse and the dried wounds bled again. When Gabs almost reached the bridge where he temporrarily lived at, Gabs finally sighed in relief. He was safe from those bullies and he could stop running. Gabs panted heavily as he abruptly stopped in his tracks. He couldn't bring these food to that bridge because other homeless people would ask the food and if he didn't give it to them, he would get beaten up and he was sick of getting these bruises. So Gabs sat down and ravishly ate everything as fast as he could. He was so famished. He must finish everything before others saw him.