Tristan shoved his hands into his pockets; huddling into the warmth of his winter coat as an icy wind cut through his cloths and stung his skin. With twenty five mile an hour winds from the north and two foot of snow, he was struggling to walk home.<br/><br/>His walk home hadn’t been planned. Two bad streaks left him walking home at eleven o’clock at night in the middle of a snow storm. He had been fired for missing too many days due to his poor immune system, but when he went to drive home, his truck broke down due to the bitter cold. Those two happening back to back wasn’t very promising and he was beginning to wonder how the hell he was going to afford another payment and keep his home.<br/><br/>Taking a shortcut home through the alley, he allowed the two large buildings to provide him a break from the winds. Unfortunately, it seemed to have been a bad choice. Two men stepped out in front of him; causing Tristan to pause in his tracks and stare at them.<br/><br/>As nonchalant as he could, he turned around and began walking back the way he came. Two more men stepped out; now surrounding him and forcing Tristan to have to deal with them whether he wanted to or not. He tried his best to just give a smile and walk past, but was forcefully stopped by one of the larger men.<br/><br/>“You think you can just walk past us?” He chuckled, shoving Tristan back and watched as he stumbled into the other two; who gripped his shoulders painfully tight.<br/><br/>“Ah, well, I had to try, right?” Tristan shrugged.<br/><br/>“There’s a fee for walking down this alley. Pay up.” Another demanded; patting his shoulder as if he was a friend.<br/><br/>“Oh...I, uh...” Tristan trailed off, reaching into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Before he could fish out any money, one of the men snatched it from his hand and flipped it open. He rummaged through the wallet before throwing it on the ground.<br/><br/>“Where’s the money?” He snapped. “You can’t walk down this alley and not pay a fee.”<br/><br/>Tristan parted his lips, thinning them and repeated this action as if he was searching for words to say.<br/><br/>“That’s ok. We accept several other forms of payment, too.” A third spoke; giving a wink in the dark of the alley. Tristan felt his stomach drop and his blood run cold.