LEVEL UP: HAREM EMPIRE

CHAPTER SIX: CIRCUIT.

Alex was woken up by a loud knock on the windshield that pulled him out of a deep, restless sleep.

He wiped the sweat from his face with trembling hands, and only then did he realize that he had actually slept off in the car.

But there was a bigger problem.

Who was knocking on the windshield at this time? It was already dead night in the middle of a forest, so who in their right mind could possibly be out here.

He adjusted his eyes through the darkness, and that was when he saw figures standing outside the car. Then one of them leaned forward and knocked on the windshield again, harder this time.

“What the fuck is happening again?” Alex muttered, his voice shaking with fear. Of course these people couldn’t be cops. They were definitely mobs, or robbers.

He watched as another person knocked on the window and shouted at him to open up. “Pull this shit down,” one of them said through a mask.

Alex knew instantly that he was in serious danger, so he tried to start the engine with shaking hands.

But the man outside had already lost patience and was pulling out a gun. He pointed it directly at Alex. In fear for his life, Alex slammed his foot on the acceleration, trying to drive off.

The group reacted immediately. They shot at the windshield, and the glass shattered into pieces, forcing him to stop the car.

“What the fuck!!” one of them screamed in anger behind his mask, as another began smashing the already broken glass and dragged Alex out of the car forcefully while the rest of them gathered around him.

Alex’s body went rigid. He curled up on the ground and started begging for his life. “Please, please I didn’t do anything,” he begged helplessly.

But the group wasn’t listening. One of them hit him across the face with full force. “You son of a cock. You were trying to run me over!!” he yelled, hitting him again until blood started running from Alex’s nose and mouth.

“Fucking nerves?” another person hit him from behind, the blow weakening his entire backbone.

“Please… please… take whatever you want, I don’t have anything,” Alex begged with everything he had left in him.

But his pleading fell on deaf ears. They continued to beat him until they were satisfied, and then they got into his car and drove off, leaving his lifeless body lying on the cold highway in the middle of nowhere.

Alex shuddered in the cold as he wept in pain from everything that had happened. In just forty-eight hours his life had taken a different turn. He had lost his father, his home, his house, the people he called family, and now it seemed he was going to lose his life too.

“Why must this thing happen to me?” he whispered to himself.

He didn’t even bother to call for help, because he knew for certain that no one was coming to help him in a place like this. So he just lay there and waited for nature to take its course. He closed his eyes, ready for death.

---

Alex tried to open his eyes, but he quickly shut them again because of the bright sun radiating through the windows, but someone walked over and closed the curtains for him.

He twisted his eyes open slowly as he tried to understand his environment, but he couldn’t make sense of anything. All he could see was the same figure who had closed the curtains, but the person was busy doing something behind him and completely ignoring him.

“Who are you?” he asked, trying to find his voice as he stared at the stranger’s back. The person was wearing white, and has a really long red hair. “Where am I?” he asked again, looking around the room. It was definitely not his room. It looked like a simple student dorm or a small clinic room.

He tried to sit up, but an excruciating pain shot through his spinal cord. “Fuck!” he snapped.

Almost immediately, another figure rushed into the room and held him down gently.

“Hey, stay still. Are you okay?” a soothing voice asked. It was a woman, definitely in her early twenties.

He nodded slowly as he studied her face and her eyes.

“Karina. Why didn’t you try to attend to him?” she asked, turning to the other person in the room.

“So he can bite me again?” the other figure finally spoke as she turned around with a tray in her hand, looking directly at both of them. She was a beautiful lady, also in her early twenties. From what Alex could see, both of them were nurses.

“It doesn’t matter,” the kind nurse argued. “He was going to fall off if I hadn’t come in here.”

“I don’t care,” Karina replied as she dropped the tray of injections on the desk. “This guy is aggressive as fuck!” she cursed while loosening his drip.

Alex stared at them in confusion. The only thing he could make out was that he was in some kind of inn or clinic, that there were two nurses with very different personalities, and most importantly, that he was alive.

But how?

“How… how did I get here?” he asked, finally finding his voice.

Karina rolled her eyes and picked up a filled syringe. “Tell him, because I’m not saying shit,” she said, turning to the kind lady.

Alex turned to her instead.

“Mr. Giffs rescued you and brought you here for treatment,” she explained softly.

“Mr. Giffs?” Alex asked. The name sounded foreign to his ears.

“Yes,” she nodded. “He is the owner of this place, and our job is to make sure you get back on your feet.”

At that moment, Karina bent down close to Alex’s side. “Now you’re going to want to stay calm and take this shot,” she said as she wiped his shoulder with disinfectant and pushed the sharp needle into his arm. His face twisted in pain. She pulled it out and started changing his drip.

“Who is Giffs?” Alex asked again, staring at his bandaged arms and legs.

“He is the owner of this place,” the nurse answered, “and I’m sure he will help you, because he always helps those in need.”

“Those in need?” Alex asked, still confused.

The kind nurse was already standing up. “Be rest assured, you’ll be fine,” she said before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

Alex collapsed back onto the bed as he tried to process what was happening. The only thing he could remember was being beaten up by a group of thieves, his car being stolen, and being left on the floor to die. Yet here he was, alive.

He looked up at the other lady, the one they called Karina. She still had her back to him as she worked on something. The only thing he could see was her very long red hair. He was sure this one was harsh, or maybe she was just reacting that way on purpose, because he remembered what she said about him trying to bite her.

“Erm… how long have I been here?” he asked.

“You’ve been sleeping for the past thirty-six hours,” she cut him off without turning around.

“Thirty-six hours?” Alex muttered. That was a day and a half. But the lady never replied.

He adjusted himself on the bed and tried to understand the tension between them. “What did I do to you? Why are you so curt? You don’t even know me,” he muttered.

She turned around and dropped a sponge on the table with a loud sound. “True. But if you hadn’t tried to bite my fingers off, maybe I would be nicer,” she snorted.

Alex shook his head slowly. “I didn’t know when I did that.”

“Probably because you were unconscious,” she said. “And when I tried to help you, you thought I was some piece of meat!”

Alex thought for a while. “Well, you said I was unconscious. I didn’t know. I mean..., I wouldn’t have done it,” he explained.

Her face softened a little. She walked closer to the bed and sat on the edge of it. Then she stared at him intensively and asked, “You’re on the run, right?”

Alex looked at her, then looked away. “Yes. Are you going to hand me over?” he asked.

But instead of answering, a soft smile curved her lips. “Mr. Giffs thinks you’ll be fit for the circuit.”

Alex frowned in confusion. “Circuit?” he asked.

“Yes,” Karina replied. “But the real question is… are you willing to draw blood for blood?”