8

As Alan made his way through the neighborhood, the clock read exactly eleven o'clock. By this time, all of the stores, restaurants, and other businesses that had offered their light to pedestrians had closed for the day, taking their lights with them. As a result, the only source of illumination on the street was the security lights of the nearby homes. During the entire trip back to his house, Alan walked slowly while thinking about Ruth.

Alan was preoccupied; as a result of his thoughts, he made a false turn into an alley where a bunch of juvenile delinquents were harassing a teenage lad who was twenty one years old. He was finally brought back to the present when he heard a voice tell him, "walk away, if you don't want trouble." He looked up and saw a shabby looking man with full beards and a tattoo on his neck, and beside that very man there were other two men: one holding the shit of the victim on the floor, and the other holding a digger in his hand, tying a bandana on his head, and wearing a black leather jacket.

"Hey! Are you deaf, or did you just sign a wish that you would die?" Alan was already making his way toward him when the first man yelled at him. As he approached closer, he reached into the back pocket of his pants and brought out a revolver, which he then aimed towards Alan's chest before pulling the trigger. Alan looked down at the gun that was firmly placed on his chest and looked back up into the eyes of the man. The man smiled sinisterly as he turned to his henchmen and said, "this fella signed a death wish with the devil." After saying this, the man pulled the trigger, allowing the bullet to go through the chest of Alan.

The man turned around to finish what he had started, fully anticipating that Alan would be lying on the ground, bleeding to death. Instead, he heard the voice of the person he had just shot, asking, "How?" He yelled while aiming the pistol at him and unloading all of Hun's bullets into Alan's body while Alan continued to remain there without moving.

The men drew their weapons and advanced toward him wielding sticks and daggers. One of the men had the misfortune to get close enough to Alan to try to stab him in the neck, but Alan was able to avoid the attack and immediately grabbed his neck, raising him off the ground with just one hand. Alan turned the man in his hand showing him to his friends and for the first time he spoke saying, "Go home and don't let me see you troubling this neighborhood again." as he lowered the man to the ground and he quickly moved to three of them looking them in the eyes, compelling them to forget everything that had happened, they turned and ran away.

Alan approached the boy on the floor, who was trembling and confessed that even he was scared of Alan as a result of the remarkable incident that he had just witnessed taking place in front of his very own eyes.

The youngster pleaded with everyone around him, "Please don't murder me."

Alan extended his hand to him and said, "Take my hand, get up and clean yourself off, and get on your way home, boy." The young man eventually took Alan up on his offer to help him and accepted his hand.

Alan reached into his breast pocket and pulled out his handkerchief, then handed it to the young boy and instructed him to use it to wipe the blood off his lips and nose. The young boy, whose hands were shaking, took the handkerchief from Alan and used it to wipe his face.

The young boy quickly ran over to Alan as he was turning to leave, telling him that he had nowhere to go and that his parents had been killed in a fire accident, and that he had been living on the streets ever since. Alan turned to leave at that moment.

Alan looked at him with pitiful concern in his eyes and remarked, "You stink."

The youngster inhaled his own foul odor and concurred with Alan's assessment that he stinks. "Would you like for me to come along?" The young youngster replied that he was still terrified and unclear of what he should do.

Alan continued to walk while the child trailed behind him and asked, "Are you sure about that?" Alan then continued on his way. They were able to get to a store that was close to the hotel; it was a pharmacy, and there they were able to purchase bandages and ointments to clean the boy's wounds.

Alan told the young man, who greeted him with a friendly smile immediately after hearing his offer, "You may come stay in the hotel with me." The young man started to relax, but he was keeping his thoughts to himself because he wanted to find the appropriate moment to ask all of his questions regarding what took place in the alley.

After Alan hailed a cab and provided the driver with the name of the hotel, the two of them entered the vehicle, and the driver took them directly to the lobby of the establishment. Both of them got out of the cab, gave the fare to the driver, and then walked into the hotel, down the hallway to the elevator, and then directly to the room that Alan had reserved. After swiping his key card into the entrance, which caused the door to become unlocked, he pushed the door open by bending the handle as they both entered the building.

Bruce and Tony have arrived at their residence and are currently waiting for Alan "Oh! Bruce said to Tony when he saw Alan walk in, "Guess he was having so much fun with his new girlfriend," when Bruce saw Alan break one of his rules. "Wow, Alan didn't keep to his rules," Bruce said "Tony gave Bruce an answer, and the two of them continued to make fun of Alan. However, as soon as they saw the boy who had entered the room behind Alan, they became silent.

After a few seconds of silence, Tony finally broke the silence as he whispered to Bruce, "I think this is dinner, maybe Alan brought him as a way of saying sorry." They both giggled as Tony broke the silence, while Alan turned to the boy and said, "Go in there, take a shower, and freshen up." The boy immediately left and headed toward the bathroom.

As soon as Alan saw that the small boy was no longer in view, he turned to his brother.

"Who is that, exactly? Dinner?" Tony asked, with a guilty grin on his face,

"Not at all, but for real, who is he? It's possible that he's putting us in harm's way "The statement was made by Bruce, who sounded upset at Alan.

"That boy is going to be staying with us for a time, I found him on the streets in an alley..." "That boy is going to be staying with us for a while..." Alan told them the complete story while explaining it to them.

Immediately following the explanation, Bruce got up from the bed and walked towards Alan. "Are you required to always play the hero?" Bruce continued, "This boy could be dangerous, do you want him finding out what we are, if he hasn't already discovered it after your fight with the goons?" as he grabbed Alan's shirt. "This boy could be dangerous," he said.

Alan told Bruce, "Get your hands off me," but Bruce didn't listen. After much aggressive talking from Bruce, whose hands were still firmly gripping Alan's shirt, Alan said, "Get your hands off me Bruce," but this time he pushed Bruce off of him, causing Bruce to land on the bed due to the strength that Alan used. Bruce got up from the bed and was about to attack Alan when all of a sudden, the door to the bathroom flew open. At that moment, both of them had unleashed the beast within them, complete with fangs and everything else.