Devil's Gambit

Chapter 2

Sticking his head out the window, Harley watched the streets of Northside melt away into the urban center of Southside, the sounds of people yelling and car horns blaring filled the late afternoon streets. Graffiti lined the brick walls of buildings, overflowing garbage bins lined the alleyways as rats fished through the garbage, abandoned loveseats with potentially biohazardous stains resided in the dirty alleyways, but it all was nothing but home to Harley.

"So, what's Missy like lil' bro? Did that old hag treat you well?" Axel asked, a lazy smile gracing his lips as he pushed a pair of dark sunglasses onto his prominent nose. The sun shone in through the open window on the driver side, catching Axel's hair in a way that showed off the reddish hue his hair had when the light would hit just right. He was the epitome of a free spirit, despite all the things life had thrown at him that should have made him angry and aggressive, it simply never hit Axel. It was in that way that Axel had always presented himself like an immortal being, one whose existence was infinite, and could never be taken by death.

Harley shrugged. "She gave me enough to survive, and that was enough for me."

"Sure, she gave you food and water; but you know people need more than that to live, Harley."

"Yeah? Like what? Enlighten me wise one," Harley pressed, raising his eyebrows playfully; but Axel was being completely serious in his following words:

"Like love, and family. I would die without my family, blood related or not. I think everyone would."

Harley relaxed back in his seat and sighed. Now that he's thinking about it, he would probably die without his brother. Mostly because his brother was the only person he knew with street smarts, which had saved Harley's life on many occasions when they were younger, but also because Axel had become so ingrained within Harley, it would be like a central piece of him had died and the rest of him would just fall apart into nothingness without that part. He knew he was probably being dramatic, but when you only had one person with whom you shared a mutual love for, they become an important part of who you are. Harley only hoped that he could become even a fraction of the person his brother is.

"Is this your house? This is where you live?" Harley breathed as the car pulled up to the curb. In his excitement, he exited Axel's car before his brother even managed to shut off the engine. There were about three other cars of varying ages and conditions situated around the narrow driveway and parked against the curb on the street. These couldn't all be Axel's cars, so who was he living with? Harley wasn't surprised Axel was living with someone, having roommates was a common practice in the area in order to keep up with increasing property costs, but there had to have been an entire group of people residing in the home, judging by the number of cars.

"No, no, don't say that. This is our house now. You live here too," Axel stated as he hauled Harley's duffle bag out from the back seat of the car. Harley just shook his head in endearment, and continued to take in the house. It was a small two-story home, with peeling pale yellow paint and moss growing on the roof shingles, but the white window shutters and bright red door gave it an almost welcoming vibe.

"It's cute," Harley commented.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that," Axel grunted as he stepped up onto the porch, producing a key from his jean pocket and concentrating on sliding it into the lock on the front door. "It used to belong to one of the guy's grandmothers, she passed away a few years back, and we've had the house ever since." Harley walked up the wooden steps to join Axel on the rickety porch, and when his brother finally managed to get the door open, the stench hit Harley like a semi truck. Loud music was blasting throughout the house as well, thoroughly pummeling Harley's senses with a barrage of external stimuli, one would almost have to be high as a kite in order to simply tolerate it.