[175/200 EXP]
—
After a long day of class, Quinn went to his dorm room planning on studying the earth ability more. He wanted to stay in and relax after working out yesterday. He was finding that lately his body was sore.
However, Fex was pretty bored of just going to class and heading back to the dorms. He wanted to live a little. After Fex said he was going to bring Peter along, Quinn was convinced, and they were leaving the stuffy school.
—
Quinn was out in town with Peter and Fex. While he was with Fex, Quinn wanted to know a bit more about his roommate properly. He was only friends with Peter, but not so much with vampiric acquaintance.
As they were walking around town and chatting, Fex really wanted to try out alcohol, but Peter had to point out that they weren't old enough to get any, not like they could afford it anyways.
When they went to the movie theater, Fex was super interested in the film. He kept asking questions to both Quinn and Peter about human culture, which got a few people to give them nasty looks.
When passing by a jewelry store, Fex gave the place a really long glance to the point of staring. It only made sense, at least in Quinn's eyes, that he would be interested in this kind of stuff due to his fancy accessories.
"How'd you even afford your jewelry?" Peter asked, looking at Fex's earring and ring, "There's no way a level 1 like you would have the money."
Suddenly, Fex looked a little nervous, "Well you see I… I made it myself!"
"Wow, that's really cool," Peter replied, looking a little excited, "Think you can teach me?"
"Hold on, we should learn the earth ability first," Quinn said.
"Actually, I bet you can use the earth ability on gems to make rings like mine," Fex replied.
Quinn then got an idea. An earth ring was pretty inconspicuous, but it wasn't large enough to make a functional weapon. However, if he had a larger earth ring that was on his arms, then he could change its shape into gauntlets.
"Earth to Quinn?" Fex said, waving his hands in front of him.
"Fex, that's smart!"
"I am, but why?"
Looking around, Quinn managed to find some mud and he shaped them into large rings. He put the rings on him like bracelets, pulling his sleeves over them. Focusing his ability, he managed to control the mud to wrap around his hands.
"There we go," Quinn said as he punched the air with his mud gauntlets.
"That's amazing!" Peter clapped.
"Whoa cool, a bracelet!" Fex said.
"It's not a bracelet, it's a large ring on my arms," Quinn quickly replied.
Since Quinn was only a level 1 earth user, the most he could shape was mud, and only if he was actively touching it. Making mud rings to gauntlets the best usage of his ability that he could think of.
Fex glanced at his wrist, then at the setting sun, "We should head back. We've been out for a while, and besides, didn't you want to practice your ability?"
The others agreed, and they headed back. However, before they entered the campus, Peter spotted a group of high levels he had met before. The moment they made eye contact, the higher levels gestured to him to come over.
"Hey guys, I just remembered I was going to meet up with a few people from school tonight," Peter said, "It was great hanging out with you guys but I'll see you back in the dorms."
Quinn looked to Fex, thinking it was suspicious. Fex, however, didn't really know what the big deal was.
"Peter, you know you can ask me for help, right?" Quinn muttered to Peter.
"It's nothing like that, don't worry," Peter replied, "I have to go now, bye guys."
Peter ran off to the high levels, leaving Fex's and Quinn's eyesight. As much as Peter liked Quinn, there really wasn't much he could expect him to do. If Erin wasn't safe from the high levels, then asking Quinn for help would've led him to be slaughtered.
Following the high levels past a corner, and into an alleyway, there were five first years patiently waiting.
"Took you long enough," said a student in front of the group who had a scar on his chin. His name was Earl and the leader of the first year group under Mono's gang.
Earl went and slammed Peter against a wall.
"What the hell was that? Calling the teacher the other day," Earl said, "Now Mono is getting on my ass because of you."
Earl then punched Peter in the stomach causing him to kneel over and fall to the ground.
"Damn snitch, why'd we have to be the ones punished?" Earl ran up and kicked Peter once again in the stomach.
Peter was thankful he didn't eat much that day as the kick caused his body to shake. It felt like at any second he was going to throw up.
Earl lifted Peter's head by the hair and was about to slam him into a wall again, until he paused and dropped him.
"You know what? How about I go a little easy on you," Earl said, "Maybe you didn't know what our plan was. We never did tell you, and you can make it up to us if you just do this one thing…"
Peter gulped. He had a feeling that Earl's request was not going to be so simple.
"We have a job for you, Peter, and you better not get anyone else involved. Consider yourself on good footing if you just nod and agree to it."
Peter began sweating, his fingers nervously fidgeted with the hems of his uniform. He was worried about what they would have him do, but he had hung around them long enough to have some sort of guess. Even if he did agree and told the others what their plans were, surely Mono and his gang would find out somehow, increasing his punishment tenfold.
However, when thinking about Quinn, he couldn't help but feel guilty betraying him if he said yes. Sure he had been hurt badly before but if he did agree to their demands, Peter felt like he was going to do something he was going to regret.
Peter was thinking hard, trying to figure out the best answer, but he eventually didn't move his head.
This frustrated Earl.
"Is that a no?" Earl threatened.
That was it, even if Peter said yes now, he was going to be hurt.
Earl grew furious and punched Peter in the face, knocking him down.
"...n-no…!" Peter cried, covering his head.
"What was that?" Earl shot back, "it sounds like you're going against us. Mind repeating what it is you said?"
Everyone was silent for a split second, which felt hot and uncomfortable for Peter. He only said no because he didn't want to be hurt again, but they took it as a sign of disagreement.
Earl ran up and kicked Peter. He tried to block his repeated kicks. He was being hit everywhere, in the face, his chest, his legs, and more.
Peter didn't know why Quinn even tried to fight them off at the assembly. He got hurt badly going against them, and when he was trying to comply now, the same would happen. It was a lose lose scenario no matter what any of them did.
He was littered in bruises. Peter wanted it to end, the torture, the suffering, the agony. Not a second was given to breathe. Until suddenly—
It stopped.
Peeking between his fingers, Peter saw Earl looking down at him with disgust.
"You first years are getting ballsy. If a regular beating won't make you submit…" Earl looked over to another member of his gang with a sinister smile, "Then how about we try something different?"
Suddenly, Peter was slammed into the wall and held in place. He wasn't able to move at all. Then, Peter's sleeves were rolled up and they stabbed into his arms multiple times, including an artery. Blood began pouring onto the ground.
"If you don't comply, then we're just gonna have to bleed you dry."
Soon, Peter could feel himself getting light headed and cold. The air smelled of iron, and the amount of blood on the ground was too much to bear.
'They're… They're going to kill me!?' Peter thought, 'they're going to kill me just like—!"
He felt his vision fade, his consciousness clouding and his mind falling asleep.
That was when Earl looked over to a shorter member of his gang, "Jerry, do your thing."
Jerry noded and began to heal Peter's wounds. His cuts closed up and he didn't feel as cold.
"W-what—?" Peter said before he got stabbed again in his arms with jagged blades and pulled out taking flesh with them. The wounds were cut even deeper than before. It didn't take a genius to tell that they were targeting his veins.
The pain stung, but again, he was losing consciousness. The floor was covered in red. Through his blurred vision, he saw a figure using a water ability to clean up the floor.
"We don't exactly have anywhere to be, and there might be a time when my buddy Jerry here might be too late to save you. Or he could just run out of MC cells."
Peter knew what Earl was getting at. As he tried to hold off on complying, every time he lost enough blood to need to be healed, he was risking death.
They continued to do this for an hour straight, and it really did seem like they would do this until he actually died. There was no way out of this.
Through a heavy and weakened voice, Peter muttered, "fine… I'll do it…"
Earl smiled, "Good. Next time, you better answer us sooner. I'd rather you not waste everyone's time."
Jerry healed him again, but not enough this time as Peter's hands were visibly shaken, and pale. He only had enough strength to stand, much less think straight. They let go of the boy, and Peter fell to the floor.
'What did I agree to?' Peter thought.