Protection Money

Ty and Eve are huddled together in the white sheets of the hospital bed. The toddler sits sprawled in his lap, clenching and unclenching her tiny fist on his thumb, starting to learn how to use her hands. "Grabbing" was a new and favoured concept of hers.

After his shift at RiseX, Ty stopped by St. Bernadette to check on his sister. Currently, he's in the middle of telling her a story.

"-then, the lovely brown hare told the white rabbit they're family."

"Ee, ee, EE."

Eve was babbling with each clench and unclench of her plush fist.

Ty lifts a shoulder in shrug.

"It was a bit weird. But the white rabbit knew she just used it as another word for team. And that's not so bad, huh?"

Eve flips over in his lap and grabs little fistfuls of his white dress shirt instead. 

"De, dededede."

He smiles.

"Right. And the white rabbit had his real family waiting right here."

With his hand now free from her grasp, he pets her silky white hair.

"The littlest white rabbit."

Eve bounces up and down a bit in his lap, hands still tight on his shirt, shaking her head back and forth.

"Ee, ee, ee!"

Eve had grown quite a lot recently. She was discovering more and more about mobility, and her gibberish was becoming more and more frequent. Her highly anticipated first words likely weren't far off. Still, for now, she really liked exploring the letter E. It was a good thing that was the majority of her name. 

Unlike Eve's evolution, Barry was stuck on his same old lounging and grumbles- some of which particularly depleted Ty's brain function. 

"Elections comin' round, and these muggins actin' like they ain't got a heart not in their fine-suit pockets. They forget Southsiders vote too? Northsiders."

Relaxing with his greying legs up behind the cash, eyes entrained on the radio, the old man flicks a piece of lint off his sleeve.

"Bunch 'a twits."

And at RiseX, Ty was likewise fairing pretty well. He found a certain hack to reeling in new customers, which was to mention his current situation with his ill baby sister, and how all the money he gets from sales goes toward her hospital care bills. He learned that just like the previous Sales exec that offered him this job, rich people loved feeling good about themselves by throwing some extra money towards a good cause. And so, at RiseX, he was always busy.

Dominique took his big clients so he wasn't getting any recognition for his achievements, but he wasn't particularly phased by it after their previous discussion about it.

'Besides, it doesn't really matter as long as I get paid enough to support Eve.'

Slowly, the peaceful days continued until one warm afternoon.

A whole two minutes before his shift at Barry's Fish Shop begins, Ty stands before the tacky place and blinks.

'What's this?'

Over the chipped turquoise door hangs a makeshift sign painted in heavy red strokes:

CLOSED.

'I'm definitely scheduled to take over from Barry this evening.'

He turns the door handle, only to find it won't budge. 

Locked.

'Did Barry forget? But he never forgets when his oh-so-lovely evening breaks are...'

He takes out the spare key Barry gave him back when Ty had the opening shift, thrusts the dirty metal key into the lock and twists. It takes him a couple tries since the ridges are slightly dulled, but he soon manages to unlock it with a satisfying click, and pushes the door open.

The reeking stink of fish hits him like a punch to the nose.

"Barry?"

Inside, the lights are off. He slowly steps inside and his eyes scan the store.

Empty.

A big dark shape lunges out from behind the cash counter, making a furious beeline for Ty. 

Caught by surprise, he stumbles back in a panic.

"Wh-"

"TY!"

Old man Barry hollers, his eyes wild in frenzy.

"Barry?! Jesus, you scared me!"

Now standing before him, the man's crazy eyes dart from Ty to the turquoise door. Suddenly ignoring Ty, he storms up to the door and locks it resolutely again. Then, the old man hurries back to him and grabs him tightly by the arms.

For such an old man, his grasp was really strong and painful. 

"Hide in the back, boy."

Barry's grip on his arms tighten, almost cutting off his circulation as he's pulled towards the kitchen door. 

"They're almost here."

The rush and deep, serious tone of Barry's voice made Ty shudder. Coupled with his big intense eyes, Ty had never seen him like this before. It was a chilling contrast to his usual laid-back crabby self, and it made Ty obediently follow him to the kitchen.

"Who's almost here? What's going on?"

Barry mutters back more to himself than Ty, his raspy voice grinding with disgust.

"Protection money, they said. Sure as hell knows I ain't got a dime to give. But they said they'd be back, 'n now they're in the area for sure. They're comin'."

Ty's eyes widen.

"Protection money? Who's they?"

With a tsk, the old man pushes Ty through the kitchen door, making him stumble and catch his balance on the countertop among the half-descaled fish. 

"Shoulda just went home, boy. But now, you be quiet. Don't dare come out 'till they're gone. If you do, I'll fire ye."

Ty nods quickly, propping himself up against the counter. 

"Okay, okay."

Barry pulls the door back closed, leaving him alone in the kitchen. Out of the corner of his eye in the false-wall window, he sees Barry dart under the cash just before the front door comes splintering down with a CRASH.

Ty ducks down below the kitchen counters, out of sight.

'What the hell is going on?!'

The crunching of broken wood fills his ears as he crouches down to the grimy kitchen floor and finds a small gap between the kitchen door and false wall. Slowly, careful to not make any sudden movements or sound, he aligns his right eye with the thin crack and peers back into the rest of the shop. 

'Just what kind of people have gruff Barry this rattled?'

Three ugly muscular men fill the shop. One has long greasy twisted dark brown hair, one has a skull tattoo overlaying his visage, and one is bald with a very noticeably mangled ear. All three of them share the same bulging black leather jackets with a crude white hawk design. 

'Shit. They're part of a motorcycle gang.'

These gangs were relatively common on the Southside, but in the three years that he's lived here, Ty had only really ever seen them in the abandoned parking lot out his window, or heard their roaring motorcycles in the streets just out of sight. Never before had he seen them so up-close.

'These are the guys doing some "protection money" scheme? Picking on the few people poorer than them... that's about as shitty as it gets.'

The biggest one, Baldy with the mangled ear, gives a loud nasty bellow from the bottom of his belly.

"WHERE ARE YA, BARRY? WE'RE HERE FOR OUR MONEY!"

The other two men have already started searching the cluttered shop, making it an even bigger mess as they kick over shelves and crates. 

Skull-Face sweep kicks a fresh export crate, knocking it over. Dead fish slide out and scatter across the floor, making him cackle like a hyena.

Ty's heart sinks as he watches Greasy picks up Barry from out behind the cash with a single fist-full of his pink cargo shirt.

"Well looky here! I caught a big one!"

Barry's stubby body kicks in the air, struggling to free himself by the gorilla-like strength of the goon. Skull-Face slides over with a snarl and punches Barry square in the face with a loud CRACK.

Let go, the old man's body crumples to the ground at their feet.

Ty's eye widens through the crack in the door.

'BARRY!'