Chapter 3: Saturday, September 7 part 1

Saturday came with a dreadful start. Instead of hanging out at Mark's place like he usually did, he had to go straight back to school. He decided to walk because he was in no rush to be in detention all day. As he was walking past an alleyway, he heard a gruff voice say, "What did you tell the cops about us? Huh?!" A weak voice filled with fear replied shakily, "Nothing! I didn't tell no cop nothing!" Zach hid behind a building wall nearby to see what was going on. He saw 3 men with scars on their faces, all wearing black leather jackets with flaming skulls on the back. Some of them had teeth missing and were smoking cigarettes. The one guy that seemed to be the leader was holding a man in his seventies by the collar of his shirt, with his free hand raised in a fist. From the way Zach saw it, it was 3 gang members picking on a poor old man that was scared out of his wits. When the leader punched the old man in the side of his head, Zach knew he had to break up the fight before the old man was hurt any further. Zach walked up to the leader and threw a right hook at the leader's nose. The leader fell on the ground, he got up and touched his nose to find that it was bleeding. He looked at Zach with disgust, then signaled to the other two men. They got up and ran away with their leader. Before they were completely out of sight, one of them stopped to turn around and yell, "Don't you forget about us! We're going to come back with more of the Flame-Rider gang and make your life a living Hell!" Zach watched as they disappeared from view, then turned to help the old man up.

"Flame-Rider gang... ain't that a stupid name."

"Thank you, young man. How will I ever be able to repay you?"

"Oh, it's nothing! I was just doing what any good Samaritan would do for someone in need!"

"But there must be something I can do! Ah!"

The old man reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a circular green pendant on a leather string with what looked like Chinese symbols on the East, West, North, and South sides of the pendant. "A monk gave me this back in China 50 years ago. Said that it would bring Good Luck. But to me, you might need this pendant more than I do now that you are on bad terms with that gang. See this symbol here on the West side? It means 'fate'. And this one here on the East side means 'luck'. Keep this on you at all times and Luck and Fate will be on your side."

"What do these symbols mean?" Zach said, pointing at the North and South sides of the pendant. "Those mean 'Yin' and 'Yang'. Together they represent balance. If bad happens, there must also be good. If good happens, bad must also be there. Our lives and souls must have balance. I wish you luck in the future, young man. Now, if you'll excuse me. I need to go buy flowers for my wife."

"Alright, try not to get into any more trouble. Gangs can be dangerous, they live by their own rules and break the law. Be careful."

"Thank you, young man. I will keep it in mind. If I may ask, what is your name?"

"Zach. Zachary Beck."

"It was fate that we meet today, Zachary Beck. Fate will tell when we meet again. Good day to you, Zachary Beck."