Rise To Power In The Apocalypse

Chapter Four: The Girl In The Alley

"Hey!!" 

"Stop right there!!" 

Several men chased after a young girl through the alley and soon entered the open street.

"Huh?" Hearing the sounds of footsteps and heavy breathing, Ash turned around to know what was happening when a girl ran past and pushed him off the road.

"Hey, what the hell?" Ash shouted out to her.

"Sorry," she replied as she continued running.

Ash looked back at the small figure running away from the harm he couldn't quite see. For a second the way she ran looked familiar and her voice too. 

    

As he turned to follow her, some men pushed past him, running after the girl, which infuriated him.

    

The girl ran, dodged, and jumped over several people and obstacles alike as she tried to escape the men.

After creating a distance between them, she rushed into an alley to hide from them and catch her breath.

After several minutes, she thought she had escaped them and decided to check. 

The minute she looked out of the street, one of the men grabbed her by the neck and lifted her above the ground.

"I finally found you, you bitch," the man chuckled.

"Don't worry it's just me, the rest ran off to look for you in the nearby areas," he continued.

"Before they come back, I'll make sure to have lots of fun with you," a wide grin spread across his almost face.

The girl couldn't help but struggle against the strength behind his hand as he kept choking her.

She tried hitting him but her hands weren't long enough to reach.

He soon shoved her, head first, into the nearby wall as he pinned her hands behind her back.

"L-let me go, you are hurting me" she yelled while trying to resist.

"Shut your damn mouth, bitch. This will teach you a lesson not to mess with us," the man replied.

"Hey, she said you're hurting her," a lone figure tapped the man on his shoulders as undid his zipper.

‘I knew it, it is her.’

‘Back then when I first ran into her, she was all alone, scared, and beat up. She looked like she had escaped an angry mob or something.’

‘But like her, I was trying to escape a horde of zombies with a couple of my friends.’

‘The next time I saw her again, she had grown very powerful. Powerful enough to destroy several hordes of zombies without breaking a sweat.’

‘ There's no way I could forget that face and voice, and now she's in trouble.’

"Hey, she said you're hurting her," Ash tapped on the man's shoulder.

"Oh yeah, what're you gonna do about it?" The man replied, totally ignorant of the person behind him.

"Turn around," Ash requested.

"Huh?" As he turned round to face the Ash, a kick was sent straight into his gut.

The man groaned hard as he crashed several meters away from him.

As Ash got closer to the man, the slightly lit alley began to reveal his face to him.

Ash had managed to get to the alley in time before something bad happened to the girl.

The girl quickly rushed and stood behind Ash, breathing heavily.

"W-who are you?" The man asked.

"That's none of your business," Ash replied.

"Who the fuck are you?" The man shouted with fear drawn all over his face.

"Don't mess with me kid, I swear I'll kill you if you do," 

"Oh yeah, how do you plan to do that? Last time I checked, you're the one on the floor," Ash examined the man with a disgusted look as his friends came rushing from behind.

"Hey what's going on here," several men walked in on them.

Ash turned around to meet the same men who pushed him off the road.

"Who's this guy?" The first man stepped in and asked. "And how come he's the one with the girl, Mark?" He questioned the man on the floor.

"This guy knocked me off as soon as I grabbed her," he responded as he stood up.

"And who is he?" The man asked again.

"I don't know boss," 

"Listen, boy, we only want the girl behind you, hand her over and no one has to get hurt," he threatened.

"And what if I refuse?" Ash asked.

After hearing his response, the men chuckled together in unison.

"Get him!!" The man ordered to his comrades.

"Get back," Ash whispered to the girl behind him as he began to anticipate their attacks.

The first man charged at Ash without any proper stance. 

Immediately, he had his face slammed into the wall with a left roundhouse kick from Ash.

Following him was one of the lackeys of the man, who had the same size. The man threw an overhand punch but Ash parried quickly.

The man cut again from the side, and Ash again parried it.

He then bounced around for some time before jabbing at Ash.

Instinctively, Ash dodged every one of them as he backed away slowly from him. 

He soon hit his back against the wall unknowingly, when the man noticed this opportunity, he charged at him since he had no space left to dodge.

But unfortunately, Ash was quick enough to throw a haymaker punch at him, which took him off his feet and into the garbage cans close by.

"Ugh," he grunted as he crashed into the garbage cans.

After that, Mark, who had been beaten before stood up and charged back at Ash as soon as a few of his gang got beat up.

With his fist tightened, he attacked Ash from behind, but Ash was quick enough to dodge.

As soon as Ash dodged the attack, he gave him a kick behind his knee, making him drop to the ground.

Following that, Ash gave him a hard knock to the chin with his knee and he turned around to welcome the next enemy.

"You bastard," the three other men rushed at Ash together and one by one they had their asses handed to them easily.

"I knew you guys were nothing but mere disappointments to me," their leader who stood back scoffed out in annoyance.

He then drew out a pocket knife as he got closer to Ash.

Ash felt his senses heightened as the man got closer.

"Allow me to tell you my name," the man smiled, feeling confident.

"Why would I need to know your name?" Ash asked while cautiously watching him.

"Well... You need to know the person who will kill you,"

‘What kind of moron is this? He hasn't even attacked and he's going on about killing me?’

"The name's Gram, Edward Gram,"