4 An Old Friend

(Ester's POV)

I didn't think my first day back after giving birth would go like this. It started so simply, with me spending a day at my food stall with my newborn son on my back. All my old regulars came back and congratulated me for the safe birthing of my son and my return. Then, I spent the day just making the food that made my stall none by a lot of people in the Lanes and earned me a decent amount of coin.

Of course this wealth would attract the sordid types, but the older groups knew the history of the Lanes and knew not to bother some people due to their strength or connections, so I was left alone for the most part and didn't really have to deal with the gangs throughout the Lanes, but then the new generation of thugs came in trying to make a name for themselves and without the honor or code of the old generation, so the Lanes became more lawless and dangerous. There were a lot more of turf wars as well. The old trying to control the old and the new trying to get a slice of the pie the old already had. Sometimes it went in one sides favor and other times the other side would win.

This lead to today's situation. These thugs standing in front of me were a part of the new generation that won against the old gang that ran this territory, but they did it with underhanded means. The bastards kidnapped the child of the leader of the previous gang in order to get him to surrender and then killed him while he wasn't resisting or armed. A coward's move.

Knowing their history, I really didn't want to fight, cause my son is with me and I can't be sure that he won't get hurt, but I also need the money to be able to eat and raise him. What kind of mother would I be if I didn't try? Plus, I grew up on these streets and made a name for myself when I was younger with a couple friends, so I'm not some greenhorn when it comes to a fight, nor am I shy about things getting a little bloody.

(Back to the fight)

"You really want to go there? Alright, then we might as well make an example of you, so that others don't get any bright ideas to do the same as you. Boys!" (Leader Thug)

As the first of the thugs begin to saunter up to my food stall, I grab a large cleaver, that I use to carve up the larger creatures I use as food sources, and the handle of a pan with hot oil still in it. When they get close enough, I swing the pan and splash hot oil on the faces of three thugs causing them to fall to the ground, screaming in pain as they hold their now disfigured faces. I then grab a second smaller cleaver and jump over the stall counter.

I was caught in surprise as I landed on the other side as it was an easy and fluid motion that I shouldn't have been able to do due to still recovering from giving birth, but I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I closed in on the three on the ground and swing my cleavers at them. I tried going for the throat, but their hands and arms were in the way, so I went for their wrists. I originally thought that I would just cause massive bleeding and make it so they wont be able to pick up another weapon, but it worked a little too well, as I ended up cutting their hands off at the wrist. It was soon followed with more screams from the handless thugs. As the rolled around with blood spraying from their wrists, quite a bit got spray on me.

"Don't just stand there. All of you attack her together! It's already sad enough that y'all would need so many to take down a woman that just gave birth, but it'd be worse if y'all actually lost!"(Thug Leader)

I could tell that the leader was getting riled up as his crew showed such poor ability. It'd definitely make him seem weak, which would make him a target of rival gangs and make it more likely that others would stand up against him. One or two is fine, but if too many rises up, he'd be in danger.

As the others rushed at me while holding pipes and shivs, I stood my ground and prepared myself. I was much safer with my back to the stall. With this, I won't need to worry about someone getting behind me. It prevents sneak attacks and keeps my son further away from them.

When they were within reach, I started swing my cleavers and tried dodging their blows. A lot of them received injuries. A few lost a limb or two. I mostly dodged everything, but a couple I had to block with one of my cleavers. This lead to a lot of damage to my weapons.

I continued swinging and dodging. I ducked a blow from a pipe swung at my head and cut open the thug's stomach. I parried the stab from a shiv and removed the user's fingers, making the shiv drop from his hand. As it was falling through the air, I kicked it into the crouch of another thug and then cut his throat. Two came at me with pipes and I had to block with my cleavers. I could hear the cracks forming. I kicked one of them in the knee, making it bend the opposite direction. Then, I used the now free blade to stab the other in the chest.

While my cleaver(smaller one) was still stuck in the thug's chest, another one came from my left side and tried to shiv me while another one was rushing from behind the now falling thugs that got stabbed. I had let go of the blade that was stuck in the thug's chest and use my free hand to divert the shiv on my left past me and towards the thug on my right. The thug on my right was aiming at my face with a shiv, so I bent backwards to dodge and it passed by me. The shiv from the thug on my left, stabbed the one on the right in the stomach and I used the cleaver in my right hand to remove the left thugs hands.

This was the last action I could perform with the cleaver as the damaged blade snapped in half afterwards. So here I was, now unarmed and with a baby on my back while fighting against a group of thugs. These bastards must've called backup or something, cause I swear there wasn't this many people before the fight had started and I put quite a few out of commission.

"Now look at you. Unarmed and defenseless with a burden on your back weighing you down. I admit, I'm quite impressed by what you've done. You definitely have the strength to back up your words from earlier, but you must be tired after all that and I still have a lot more men. I tell you what. I won't kill you. I'll just have my men capture you and kill that brat of yours to teach you a lesson, but don't worry, cause I'll have you make another one. I'll have you give birth to a strong son for me and once I get my son and I'm done with you, I'll give you as a reward to my most accomplished subordinate to give him a son and so on and so forth."(Leader Thug)

"Shut yer yapping and bring it. I can do this all day with how weak y'all are."(Ester)

The leader then gave a wave of his hand as a signal to the others and they charged forward. What happened after was just a beatdown. I was constantly punching and kicking the shit out of these weaklings. All they had going for them was numbers and that was quickly lowering with every bone I broke.

As the fight continued, I was getting more and more fatigued and I could feel a pain in my abdomen. I guess despite whatever boost I got, whether it be because of adrenaline or something else, I was still a woman that was still in recovery from giving birth and it was starting to affect might body. There was no way all this activity was good for me right now and I'm now beginning to suffer the consequences.

I soon ran out of steam and could barely hold my hands up to show that I was still willing to fight despite my current state. The thugs gave a collective sigh of relief as they saw me and began to laugh. They started to saunter up to me slowly while carrying a cocky attitude. I began to worry as there was still a lot of them. They were like roaches.

Once they were in front of me, I tried to through a punch, but my lack of energy made me feel slow and heavy. My punch was too slow and easily dodged. They laughed again and one reached to grab ahold of me, but as soon as his hand came within reach, a strong bloodlust washed over us. I felt like there was a terrifying beast just behind me ready to pounce. All I could think was that I was going to die. I could tell the others felt the same, if not worse, as they were actually staring at whatever was causing this pressure. No one dared to move or speak. We were all frozen in place, hoping that this creature would pass us by.

The bloodlust soon went away and with its departure, everyone's body gave out on them and we all collapsed on the ground like puppets that had their strings cut. The sense of relief we felt was shared, but then everyone seemed to remember what we were doing before. The thugs got up on shaky legs and began to walk towards me again. I tried to get up, but my body lacked the strength. I thought this was it, but more than fearing for myself, I was afraid for my baby.

Just as I was dreading my and my son's outcome, I heard a familiar voice call out to me.

"Why if it isn't Ester. Always the tough one, rushing into fights against what common sense would say was too many, but I never thought I'd see the day where you'd fall on your ass like this."

I couldn't help but laugh at his words. As I laughed, I saw a large fist wearing a poorly put together, metal gauntlet break a few teeth from a thug and laughing him into another one. Of course it was him. An old friend a mines that I used to run with before I gave up the gang life and tried to settle down and start a family.

"Well, a fine hello would've sufficed, Vander. You know I'm not a part of that life anymore. Of course I would become rusty."(Ester)

"Rusty? You call this rusty? If this is rusty, then you wouldn't have needed my help at your peek. Are you sure you're done with this life?"(Vander)

At the sight of him and the familiarity between us, the thugs and their leader began to panic, cause everyone knew who Vander was and knew not to mess with him. We made quite the names for ourselves before, but unlike me, he continued to be a part of that lifestyle to this day. They started to get up and ran as fast as possible. Well all the ones alive and capable of moving.

"You want to stop them or something?"(Vander)

"Nah. Ain't got no more energy in me. Plus, I'm pretty sure you scared them off and with all the damage I did, they'll probably not bother me anymore."(Ester)

"I originally came down here to welcome you back and congratulate you once I heard you were back. I also heard you have a son. Let me look at him."(Vander)

I of course moved the strap holding my son, so that he's in front of me now and Vander went into his embarrassing uncle mode. I noticed Lucius looked at Vander quite a bit while having a big smile on his face.

"I think he likes me."(Vander)

"Or finds your embarrassing act silly. He probably thinks there's nothing in that hard head of yours."(Ester)

"Well that's not very nice."(Vander)

"Yeah, but you got to admit that you become quite silly around babies."(Ester)

"Yeah. I can be tough with them later. I wouldn't want him to become afraid of me. Then, he would start crying."(Vander)

"Fine. Whatever you say. I would offer you some food, but I just broke a set of knives and will need to buy some more before I can cook again. Plus, with all the customers I had today, I sold most of my stock and made quite a bit of coin, so I can close early. Also, with all the commotion and dead bodies around here, I doubt anyone is gonna be in the mood to eat around here for awhile. At least not until it gets cleaned up."(Ester)

"Hey, Ester. I recently got a new place of my own. I bar of sorts. I can handle the drinks, but I bet it would be better with some of your cooking to go with it. It also has a small living area in the back, but I can get some people to renovate it, so that there'll be a big kitchen to cook in and have enough storage for all your ingredients and I can have the living area increased and improved. This would be a better place to live in than the place you do now and It'd be safer. You live too far away from this area and the trip is too dangerous for a woman and a kid to be making that journey everyday. Plus, after today, you're bound to have enemies and those probably have friends or alliances with other gangs that could attack you or your kid. I'd feel better knowing you were safe."(Vander)

"How much would I be making if I sold food in you "Bar of sorts"?"(Ester)

"The food business would be counted as separate from my bar, but will still be serving food from the kitchen in the back, but you'll have to pay rent, but I'll make it cheaper than the place you currently own and it would be a lot safer for you and your son. You wouldn't have to worry about any run-ins with any gangs."(Vander)

"Deal, but you have to help me move my stuff from my current home and my food stall over."(Ester)

"That's fine with me."(Vander)

"Then, it'll be a pleasure doing business with you."(Ester)

After that, we traveled to my current house packed all my stuff into a cart that Vander had to pull. Then we went to the market so I could buy new Cleavers and to pack up the stuff from my food stall and place it on the cart. I place a sign on the stall to let my customers know that I'll be moving shop and let potential buyers know where to find me if they wanted to buy my stall. After that, we headed off to Vander's place. Where my new home would or I should say our. Can't forget about Lucius.