Chapter 372: The Gasoline War Continues

Faye adjusted the Green safety vest over her shirt, her plastic litter picker opening and closing with a quiet click as she squeezed the handle. The sharp smell of exhaust fumes and hot asphalt hung over the street, but she ignored it, focusing only on the crushed soda cans and candy wrappers scattered along the gutter.

A few feet away, Malo was dragging his feet, barely making an effort as he swept a rake over the gravel.

Further down the sidewalk, Bambi Butcher was aggressively stabbing at a stray piece of paper.

After Malo brought up her name regarding the gas station incident, the security footage had cleared up any doubts. The GPS handed Bambi a heavy fine and sentenced her right alongside them.

Malo had a habit of dragging everyone down into his messes, and Bambi was just the latest victim of his mouth.

"I just don’t get it," a boy about their age muttered, wiping sweat off his forehead with the back of his gloved hand. He tossed a plastic bottle into his heavy black trash bag. "Why can’t we have our own rights in this land...? This is not fair, you see an Alpha Picking waste..."

Bambi didn’t even look up from the patch of weeds she was poking through.

"Because you are not an Alpha."

"It’s not just about being an Alpha," a girl with braided hair interjected, leaning on her broom. She let out a heavy sigh, her shoulders dropping.

"It’s about class and power... which our parents don’t have. All I did was chew gum and stick it to a park bench, and here I am, 4 weeks on probation serving the community..."

Malo turned toward Faye, pointing his trash claw at her like he had just won an argument.

"See, Faye? Everyone knows the lack of equality in this town... we are right. The council and GPF are corrupt bastards."

Faye didn’t stop her work. She bent down, grabbed a flattened juice box with her picker, and dropped it into her bag.

All she wanted right now was to finish her assigned hours, hand in her high-vis vest, and go home to her girlfriend and the kids. She had zero desire to stand around on an open street talking politics with teenagers and strangers.

"It’s not about corruption," Bambi chimed in, her voice cutting through the traffic noise. "Oakland is the home of nepotism..."

Malo rolled his eyes, turning his head toward her with an irritated scowl.

"Oh oh, nobody is talking to you, Bambi Butcher..."

Faye paused for a second, resting her hands on top of the long handle of her picker. She looked over at Malo, then back to the sidewalk.

"Well, as much as I hate to say it, she is right... this stupid town was founded by 5 families, and today those families are the council, protectors, and leaders. The school, the hotel... even the mall."

She turned her shoulders, using her litter picker to point down the street toward the storefronts and then across to the municipal park.

"When you look right and left, you either see a Kings Hotel, Petrova Library, Deanson Gas Station, Petrova Fashion, and Wears Store..."

Faye lowered the picker and tapped the metal trash bin standing right next to the sidewalk light pole. The metal was stamped with a clean, raised emblem.

Branded by the Woodson family.

"People who came into the land after them have to live by their rules to own a residence..." Faye said, her voice dropping into a steady rhythm.

Listening to history podcasts during her endless hours in detention had finally paid off. Every time she was forced to sit in that quiet class, the teacher played those history videos over and over again on the wall monitor, leaving the information permanently trapped inside her head whether she wanted it there or not.

The boy who had complained earlier stepped closer, looking around before lowering his voice.

"And this land is not even theirs to begin with. They stole it from the original owners. I heard they were tricked and got killed..."

Malo immediately held up a finger, his eyes widening as he glanced toward the end of the block.

"Shhhh, don’t let the deputy hear you, or you will be detained for Sedition and Treason....."

Every teenager in the group stopped moving. Heads turned together toward the curb where a police cruiser was parked. Two officers in uniforms stood leaning against the hood, their arms crossed over their chests, eyes fixed on the crew.

Bambi spit onto the grass, her hands tightening around her broom handle until her knuckles turned pale.

"Crazy people... wearing uniforms for fancy. They don’t even give a crap to people or hear what we have to say. How do they expect me to find and pay twenty-five thousand? I barely afford two hundred bucks daily..." She shifted her glare directly onto Faye and Malo, her voice rising.

"...and this is your fault."

Malo kicked a loose pebble into the street. "We wouldn’t be here if you didn’t spray us first."

"That is because show-off girl here insulted me," Bambi snapped back, throwing a hand toward Faye.

Faye stopped reaching for a stray wrapper and stood up straight, staring Bambi down. "Hey, don’t bring me into this. What did I say to you that made you waste gas on us...?"

Bambi smirked, taking a step forward on the sidewalk. "You called me a toy stud."

Faye didn’t back away. She shrugged her shoulders, her expression going cold.

"You are a stud, but with a touch of a toy... for Kiara Petro. Or should I have just said Kiara’s sugar baby..."

Bambi’s face flushed red, the smirk vanishing from her mouth in an instant. "You... fuck you and your fucking family... I may be what you just called me, but what is the difference between us two? You are getting paid for being the Alpha Princess’s breeder..."

A sharp, collective gasp rippled through the group. The others made a drawn-out "Ohhh..." sound, shuffling backward to give them space.

The words barely finished echoing before Faye snapped.

She dropped her trash picker onto the ground with a loud metal clatter and closed the distance between them in two fast strides.

Punch.

Faye’s fist cracked directly across Bambi’s jaw. Bambi’s head snapped to the side, her boots stumbling back against the curb as the impact echoed across the street.

Faye stood over her, her fists raised, her chest heaving as heat rushed behind her eyes.

"I don’t give a fuck about the names you give me," Faye growled, her voice tight and trembling with anger.

"Don’t fucking involve my family. If you are fighting with me, fight with me without mentioning families..."

Bambi shook her head, spitting a burst of red onto the ground. Her eyes flared with pure rage. She didn’t wait for a second thought. Faye’s punch stung like fire, but she wasn’t about to stand there and take it.

Lifting her shoulder, Bambi lunged forward and swung her right fist straight into Faye’s cheek.

Faye’s head jerked back, the skin burning from the blow.

She shoved Bambi back, and in a second, both girls crashed into each other, swinging fists, pulling jackets, and throwing heavy blows back and forth on the open sidewalk.

The rest of the kids scrambled out of the way, shouting and yelling as the two tore into each other.

Down at the curb, car doors slammed shut as the two officers took off running toward the brawl.