2) Zealots with Lighters

In the time when leather jackets and motorbikes were cool, there was a gang called the Zealots. They were real hard, like stone jackets encrusted with diamonds. They’d wreck diners on the highway just to not pay for a cup of coffee and pollute the world with their cigarettes because who gives a damn about trees anyway? Only tree hugging hippies. Dumbasses.

Yet with all glory days, they had to end. New gangs who defined themselves as gangsters and went on joy rides were all the rage now. Or was that last decade’s fad? It got hard to tell.

The Zealots still hung out together, mostly in their local park by the concrete chessboards. They weren’t as a lively anymore, though still covered in their tattoos of snakes, boobs and of course their insignia, the Zealot hood and skull.

Jack, or Raging Blood as he had been known back in the day, was the leader of the Zealots. Bald then and bald now, the muscles he had once shown off had turned into sagging skin and a beer belly. But god help him he loved beer.

The other two who were still alive were June, or Screaming Mary, and Terrance, or Bear Hug. June’s hip meant she could no longer kick people down like she used to, and Terrance was slowly slipping into Dementia. Most days he’d start the conversation with stating it had been years since they’ve been together and they simply must do this more and where is Harry the Rattlesnake? Sadly he always remembered how to play chess.

Jack was flicking a lighter while June and Terrance played a game of chess. The park was empty, given it was a chilly October evening. The orange lamplights were the only light. Although June wasn’t entirely comfortable with being out this late, Terrance liked it because it meant there were less people to remember while Jack conceded this was as close as he got to danger. When he wasn’t at the park he was at home, listening to the radio blurt out this techno crap that all the kids loved.

Terrance moved his knight across two and up one. June was in check and had to sacrifice her queen to save her king. As she hesitated over this move, a young man in baggy grey trousers hanging around his thighs knocked over the chess pieces.

‘Ya’ll right,’ he said. Every other tooth in his mouth was gold and he wore a red bandana. ‘Now what ‘chu 

OAPs doing in ma park at night?’

Once upon a time Terrance would have shattered this guy’s jaw, but he could only muster himself to stare at the tipped pieces. June leaned back in her chair.

‘What? You got nuffin to say?’ the young man said.

Jack flicked his lighter so his wrinkled face became a shadow.

‘Who says this your park, punk?’ Jack said.

‘Yo, what you call me?’

The young man had perfected a waddle walk which meant his trousers stayed in place around his thighs. He squared his forehead against Jack’s.

‘Are you going to sucker punch an old man, kid?’ Jack said.

The young man laughed: ‘You know what maybe I will. What you gunna do about it?’

Jack returned the lighter to his pocket. The flick the lighter made when it opened was heard again, but this time it was a knife. Jack pointed the tip into the young man’s throat. His teeth disappeared behind quivering lips.

‘Ya’ll man, I want no trouble,’ the young man said.

Jack smirked. June stretched out her legs. Terrance remembered how this part went.