Donnelly turned into an alleyway, I had been chasing him for damn near 10 minutes and I wasn’t about to let my legs fail me now. It was almost funny how the shoe was on the other foot, all the times as a kid I ran away from the cops and now I was chasing one down.

The alleyway had a fence in the middle, separating the properties. Donnelly tried to hop it but misstepped on his jump and was forced to try to climb the rest of the way up.

As his hand grabbed onto the top of the fence I was able to grab him by his ankle, tearing him off of the fence and slamming him down on the hard pavement below.

He lay on his back and tried to pull his gun on me but I swiftly kicked it right out of his hands and underneath a nearby dumpster.

“After so many years I finally have you grovelling at my feet… you fucking bastard” I growled as I stared down at him.

He gave a little half smile, I could tell he was nervous, he had no idea what to expect from me. As far as he knew I was just some punk who had him cornered.

“You don’t even know why you’re here do you? You don’t even know who I am? Or what you did?” I asked him as I crossed my arms.

“Listen here buddy, you’re not gonna make a name for yourself by killing me. Just let me go and I’ll pretend like this didn’t happen.”

“You didn’t let Zeke go, no you thought it would be more fun to put a bullet in the both of us.”

He looked at me like I was insane, this bastard really didn’t remember. “Do you really have nothing better to do than to make up stories about me? Don’t you have somewhere better to be.”

My mind flashed to Hannah alone on the streets and I felt anger growing even more within me. Yeah I made my choice but me wasting time on this fucker was keeping me away from protecting her, I was breaking my promise to her. I couldn’t just kill him, not when he couldn’t even remember what it was that he did to me, not when he didn’t know that his actions brought me years of pain.

I leaned over him and held him on the ground by his throat, just enough for it to hurt and cut off some air.

“Two years ago” I told him. “Two years ago you killed my friend and threw me in jail all because of some bullshit your snitch was saying about us. He fucking died in front of you and you just laughed, then you threw me in the pen for two years on some bullshit drug charge.”

I hit his head hard against the pavement and he winced in pain before meeting my eyes with his own again.

“You better fucking remember.”

I loosened my grip on his throat so that he could speak, his face had already started getting red from how hard I was choking him.

Suddenly I could see the revelation in his eyes, but of all the reactions he gave me I never expected him to laugh in my face.

“You actually gave a fuck about that piece of trash? I did you a favor by putting him down and letting you live, now you never have to deal with him again.

I flew into a blind rage, pulling him to his feet and pinning him against the chainlink fence.

The sound my fist made when it connected with his face is one I’ll never forget, it was loud enough that I’m sure Zeke himself heard it. Feeling my knuckles collide with that freckled faced bastard was the most satisfying feeling in my life, and I let myself experience that feeling again and again and again.

In that moment I forgot about everything else, I forgot about the club, I forgot about my duties as president, I forgot that Donnelly was a cop, hell I almost forgot about Hannah. It was just one man seeking justice for the sins of another, and damn did it feel good.

I stopped for a moment and just looked at him, the fucker was still laughing no matter how hard I hit him. My knuckles ached and my fingers were cut and bruised but I was more than ready to lay him out again.

“You call Zeke a piece of trash when you put down your own chief of police? What kind of sick fuck are you?” I asked hitting him one more time in the jaw.

He took a few seconds to catch his breath before looking back at me with a fire in his eyes that he didn’t have before.

“That fat fuck of a chief knew his place, do you? You’re wasting your time beating the shit out of me and that pretty little thing of yours is out on the street right now. Some fucking boyfriend you are...”

He grinned at me, his gums were as busted up and bruised as his face and in my rage I had knocked out two of his teeth.

“I know exactly who that girl is, I don’t know how you got her but I searched Edgar’s house and there’s no signs of a murder which means you fucking took the bastard. That was a fucking mistake. Although... I guess in the end we got what we wanted out of him, I was hoping I could maybe interest him in getting a second girl though. Now I realize I should have never let him in on all of this, I knew he would fuck up, I should have listened to my instincts. Damn shame.”

He licked his bloodied lips and continued. “As soon as I get out of here I’m gonna clean up the mess he made, then I’m gonna find that little Hannah of yours and fuck her for days.”

I pulled my gun out and put it to his chest, this sick fuck knew that Edgar bought Hannah and he did nothing. I was ready to end this, to end him, nobody talks about my girl that way and nobody hurts my friends.

“You’re not getting out of this Donnelly” I said cocking my pistol as I began to squeeze the trigger.

“You should have killed me when you had the chance” he blurted out.

Suddenly I felt something around my neck, pulling back on me as I dropped my gun on the ground and grabbed at Donnelly. I glanced back to see another cop, trying to restrain me with a lead pipe as I struggled to try and get him off of me.

In my struggled I ripped Donnelly’s uniform, tearing the whole right side off of him.

I looked down wide eyed to see a Scorched Satan tattoo on his arm, just like the one the chief of police had.

Donnelly picked my gun up from off the ground with a smile, as the other cop found the strength in him to throw me against the dumpster and hit me over the side of the head with his lead pipe.

Donnelly smiled and shook the hands with the officer that helped him, judging by how out of breath he was he also fled the scene when he could. Some fucking cops they were, things get hard and they run away.

“You should have stayed in your own fucking lane pal” Donnelly said as he checked to make sure my gun was loaded. “This is bigger than you or anyone else in this shithole of a state could possibly imagine.”

My head was throbbing and my ears were ringing as I tried to piece together what was even going on. What the fuck did his tattoo mean? How many other cops had it? Was it a bond to the Satans? I can’t let it end like this, there’s too much left undone, I can’t go out less than a week after taking over the Desert Vultures.

I was trying to pull myself together as I kept my eyes on the gun in Donnelly’s hand, he was about to put a bullet in me for the second time, I’m sure he wouldn’t make the mistake I just made. I should have shot that fucker when I had the chance and now I was about to pay for it.

I reached underneath the dumpster my heart skipped a beat, I could feel the handle of Donnelly’s gun, the one I had kicked out of his hands during our fight. This was my last chance, I had to make it count.

I drew the gun from underneath the dumpster, I knew my aim would be shit, the bastard hit me so hard in the head I was practically seeing doubles.

Without hesitation I pulled the trigger three times yet to my dismay the gun only fired once, he must have used up all of his bullets in the shootout with my club brothers, I just used the last shot.

That shot didn’t go completely to waste, I hit Donnelly right in his shoulder causing him to drop to the ground immediately. His calls of pain were like nails on a chalkboard, I didn’t get a kill shot, the bastard was still alive.

The other cop swung at me again with the pipe, just barely missing me and hitting the dumpster behind me with a loud bang.

I stumbled onto my feet, still disoriented from the blow to my head as I took off running as fast as I could. The other cop picked up the gun Donnelly dropped and fired it at me, grazing my left arm just as I turned the corner to high tail it out of there.

I failed.

I fucking failed.

I chose getting revenge over trying to find Hannah and I couldn’t even finish the job.

Zeke and Hannah… I failed both of you today.