Tempest; Prologue 6

Prologue 6

Alan Nates took the blow into his lower torso like a man. It was his fourth but who's counting. He was caught by them in the alley and outnumbered by four to one. They had him but he took one of them down bad, but then the odds was against him. He got the bad end of the fight. They had him pinned to the wall while one of them threw those punches.

"Hey, we don't want your kind on the streets. So backed off." That came with the fifth punch. He then heard the shout.

"Stop that!" Alan heard the shout from the street. It was still a hundred feet length towards him. That cost him another punch before his assailants ran off in the opposite direction. He slumped down onto his knees and felt the hands on his shoulder.

"You okay, pal." The newly arrived person asked him. Alan nodded and fell over. Next thing he knew he was in a bar near the docks with his friends. He was safe there.

"Hey, Alan. You are one lucky guy. Paul Miller dragged your arse inside here." It was Brady Neals, one of the dockyard workers. He just started work there after High School, and stayed in Alan' street.

Alan struggled up and looked to his surroundings. He was in the bar which he normally comes in and the guy bringing the beer over was Paul Miller. That man had made a reputation here on the docks, and heard he singlehanded fought off three guys from the mobsters.

"Thanks." Alan took the beer from Paul. The later pulled up a chair and sat down with him.

"Who did this?" Paul asked him.

"Some guy I kicked the other night for peeing at the docks. He told me to bugger off, so I gave him a night bath in his peed." Alan replied. "He came back with his boys. I ran but got caught. I rounded up one but four was my limit."

"Rest up. Tomorrow see me here same time." Paul told him.

The next night Alan showed up and there was Paul with the guy who peed at the docks. Paul told him to come over and sit down by the same table.

"Mark, this is Alan. He's with me." Paul told the other guy.

"Heck, Paul. How would I know who he was....." The guy protested but Paul soon had his head slammed into the table several times. Paul then raised up the bloodied head.

"Alan is with me." Paul told him one more time and then dragged the guy out to tossed him onto the street. Since that night, Paul had Alan when they go out at night. Soon, Paul and Alan were known as the Miller family. But every now and then, Alan would think back. If not for Paul, he would had been dead a long time ago.

He owed the man much.