Salvation

Chapter - 18

Fifteen minutes later, the two of them had finished their meals and were now enjoying pudding served in small round bowls.

Dave finished his pudding first. One last spoonful, then he placed the spoon onto the plate.

“I knew it. The food here is really good. Especially the meat stew, it’s incredibly tender,” he said with a small laugh, then drank half a glass of iced water.

Zavi only nodded, eating his pudding slowly, wanting to savor the way it melted in his mouth.

“The pudding is good,” Zavi said, his gaze empty.

“Right? I come here pretty often. Well, only three times so far,” Dave replied in relief, seeing Zavi enjoy the food and feeling grateful that he could share a meal with someone else.

Dave stood up, wiped his lips, then slipped his hand into the pocket of his brown trousers. He took out a black leather wallet, pulled out several banknotes and coins, and counted them.

Satisfied, he stepped forward.

“Then I’ll pay first,” he said, glancing back and seeing Zavi nod without saying a word.

At the counter, the same woman from before was already waiting. The two of them exchanged brief looks before Dave spoke.

“The order earlier was five Zen, twenty Pence, right?” Dave asked, ready to take out his money.

“Just a moment,” the woman said in panic, rushing off to look for a ledger.

Twenty seconds later, she emerged from behind the cloth curtain at the back of the counter, carrying a fairly thick book with a silver grape emblem on the cover.

“Yes, sir. The price is five Zen, twenty Pence,” she said with a relieved breath, placing the book into the drawer.

Dave glanced at her briefly, thinking that the waitress was quite careless with her duties, though that carelessness was offset by how friendly she was to customers.

“Here you go,” he said softly, handing over five banknotes and four silver coins.

Dave remained standing, waiting for confirmation.

“All right, the amount is correct. Thank you for visiting,” the woman said with a warm smile.

After that, he turned around, walked back toward Zavi, and sat down in his previous seat. The two of them looked at each other, while Zavi continued eating his pudding slowly.

Not long after, noise erupted outside. Both of them turned their heads at the same time, staring toward the door.

Curious about what was happening outside, Zavi quickly finished the rest of his pudding.

“Want to check it out?” he asked after finishing.

Dave only nodded, not answering verbally.

Zavi’s expression turned serious. He stood up, wiped his lips, then headed out of the diner.

Ting…

The double glass doors opened, closed again, and rang the final chime. The two of them walked toward a crowd not far from the diner, only two buildings away.

“What’s actually going on?” Zavi murmured, seeing several men and women surrounding something, accompanied by angry voices.

“Could be a thief,” Dave said as he walked beside him.

Zavi glanced at Dave, then moved closer to the crowd, looking left and right.

They both noticed that the weather had suddenly changed. Gray clouds covered part of the sky, turning the clear weather into gloom. The rumble of thunder began to sound, and several street lamps were forced to light up, illuminating the darkening surroundings.

But the darkness did not thin the crowd. Instead, the angry voices grew louder after the thunder echoed.

“Punish him…”

“Just die, filthy rat.”

“Hey, isn’t that too much?”

The voices echoed through the street, and from a distance, the two of them caught a glimpse of something unpleasant in front of a building wall, surrounded by several people.

“I told you,” Dave said while covering his face, unable to bear the sight.

Meanwhile, Zavi stood frozen, unable to understand what had driven those people to beat a boy of around fifteen years old until he was battered, his ragged clothes stained with drops of blood.

Feeling pity for the boy, Zavi closed his eyes briefly, then stepped closer to the crowd while hiding his unloaded revolver beneath his coat.

Dave noticed Zavi’s movement. He lowered his hand and stared at Zavi’s back, wondering if he was about to do something, whether to save the boy or attempt something else.

Deep down, he did not want to get involved in other people’s business. But after seeing what Zavi was doing, his heart began to move.

Dave shook his head with a small smile, then quietly followed behind him, ready to pull out the pistol from his brown coat pocket.

“Hey,” Zavi said coldly, his sharp gaze fixed on the people standing before him.

Four men turned their heads. One of them, a bearded man wearing a bowler hat, stepped forward two steps and said with a sneer, “Are you trying to stop this? Don’t be stupid, sir.”

“Really?” Zavi replied indifferently, stepping closer and pressing the barrel of his revolver against the man’s forehead.

“What are you doing?” the man in the bowler hat asked in panic, holding his breath.

Hearing that, the others shifted their attention to the bowler-hatted man, who now stood stiff with his hands raised.

From their angle, the three men could not see what was in front of the bowler-hatted man. It was only natural. He was around 180 centimeters tall, with a large build.

“Hey, what are you doing?” one of the men asked curiously.

Two to five seconds passed. They heard no reply. Curious, one of the men decided to approach the bowler-hatted man.

Meanwhile…

Seeing Zavi diverting the crowd’s attention, Dave knew what he had to do. He quietly moved toward the boy lying on the ground, grimacing in pain. He intended to carry him somewhere safe.

Zavi glanced to the left, looking at Dave with hope that his plan would succeed. “Stay quiet and don’t talk,” Zavi said in a threatening tone.

But suddenly, a man walked up to the bowler-hatted man. His heavy footsteps were clearly audible, making Zavi slightly panic.

A few more steps, and the man placed his right hand on the bowler-hatted man’s shoulder.

“Why are you raising your hands?” he asked with a serious expression.

The bowler-hatted man lowered his hands as instructed by Zavi, his eyes staring straight ahead without turning, and said in a low voice, “Ah… I was talking. I mean, I was greeting my friend.”

Zavi was startled by the man’s words.

“What kind of excuse is that?” he muttered to himself, finding the man untrustworthy.

Meanwhile, the man who had asked the question stood still, staring sharply at the bowler-hatted man’s back.

“Hm… I see,” he said calmly.

The bowler-hatted man nodded slowly, and a few seconds later—

Bang!

Everyone there was shocked, including several passersby on the street and sidewalk.

Zavi’s eyes widened, thinking that the gunshot had come from Dave and that it was fired not far from where he stood.

He slipped his revolver back into its holster and blended in with the people walking along the sidewalk.

On the other side, the man grew suspicious and immediately turned the bowler-hatted man around. The two stared at each other in silence, but the silence was filled with fear from the bowler-hatted man.

“What’s wrong with you? You look terribly pale. Are you sick?” the man asked in surprise after seeing his face.

“Don’t worry,” the bowler-hatted man replied, holding his breath. “And… was that a gunshot just now?” he asked, turning his head and looking up at the gray sky.

The man turned around, looking behind him, right as he heard the shot.

The crowd was thrown into confusion by the gunshot, and when he turned back, he was shocked to see that the boy was gone.

“Where did he go?”

“Damn it, was that shot connected to this?”

“Find that kid as fast as possible!”

The crowd quickly dispersed, anger erupting like a volcano about to explode. Around ten people, seven men and the rest women, spread out from in front of the shop, searching for the boy to make him pay.

Two minutes later, from the main road, Zavi ran frantically toward the source of the gunshot, pushing through the crowd filling the sidewalk.

The moment he spotted a narrow gap between two houses, he jumped into it, certain that the shot had come from there.

Behind the damp wall, atop a pile of crates, Dave and a teenage boy sat side by side. Seeing Zavi arrive, both of them stood up. Dave stepped forward first and greeted him with a tense expression.

“Do they know I took this kid with me?” Dave asked, glancing toward the street.

Zavi, still out of breath, looked at him and said hoarsely, “I don’t know. But they definitely heard that shot.”

“My shot?” Dave frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Zavi froze for a moment. “Huh? So that sound wasn’t from you? I thought it was a signal.”

Before Dave could answer, Zavi felt something. A faint presence from deep within the corridor ahead. Dark, damp, without light. But the footsteps were clear, slow, certain, and getting closer.

Then, from within the darkness—

Dave appeared. Another Dave, his coat covered in dust, his face slightly battered and suddenly pale, carrying a teenage boy over his shoulder.

The new Dave’s face was pale and confused, just as shocked as Zavi.

Zavi looked at the Dave beside him, who stared back at him with a flat, expressionless face.

The narrow alley fell silent for a moment…

Only then did Zavi realize one thing. He was standing between the real Dave and something wearing Dave’s face.

“Who is that, Zavi?” Dave asked in confusion, staring at Zavi who stood some distance ahead, their gazes meeting.

“Um, big brother… over there,” the teenage boy said weakly, pointing toward Zavi. “There’s someone whose face looks just like yours, and…”

Before he could finish, Dave replied in a trembling voice, “Yeah, I know what you’re thinking right now. Stay quiet and don’t move, okay?” Dave turned his head, staring at the panicked face of the teenage boy.