Ken Doig Of Steve's Crew

• Thomas Clarke, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2009

Ken ran for his life as bullets whizzed past his head. This was his first gang war, and he did not like it one bit. The enemy gang had better weapons, more ammo and more people, but his crew leader, Steve, had still decided to go to war with them. “Curse him,” Ken thought, as a bullet slammed into the window next to him. Another complication in the war was Commissioner Jono and his police force. Jono hated gangsters and had made it his life’s ambition to rid them from the streets. Without knowing it, Ken had made his way out of the main battleground. He walked into his crew’s HQ.

When he got there, the first thing he saw was Steve, his crew leader, handcuffed by Commissioner Jono and two of his officers. Without hesitation he pulled out his pistol and shot one of the officers in the leg. The two officers and Jono then ran to their car and drove away. “They’ll be back soon,” said Steve as Ken removed his handcuffs. “Mark my words.”

“Wow!” Ken thought aloud. He had just managed to kill someone from the enemy crew. “Bang! Bang! Bang!” fired Jono’s gun. Ken had not seen him there. He ran for his life!

When he got back to crew HQ, he saw his Capo, Isaac, banging the table with his fist. “We have to win this war,” said Isaac, “no matter what!”
“Yes,” agreed Steve, “But how?”

Steve walked warily down the street, with his hood pulled really low. There was no sound but the sound of his feet, and he had his machine gun ready to go. Ken was ready for this, and he had brought his sniper rifle, as sniping was one of his talents. He hid behind a chimney on the roof, and picked off five enemy crew members in the space of a minute. He thought they might actually win the war. Then something slammed into his head, and everything went black.

As he woke him, he heard a vaguely familiar voice say “This one’s alive, what should we do with him?”
“Take him to the interrogation room,” said a different, but also familiar voice. As he was dragged into a small room, he saw the grinning face of his mortal enemy, Jake. Ken had blown his left leg off with a shotgun, and Jake had never forgotten it. Then he realized with a stab of panic where he was. He was in the enemy crew;s HQ, and Jake was going to interrogate him for information about his crew. “Now where is your HQ?” Jake asked.
“I-I-I’m not t-telling,” Ken stammered.
“I’m going to enjoy this interrogation session,” said Jake, and his fist whacked into the side of Ken’s head, and everything went black once more…