This story placed 1st in its heat in the first round of NYC Midnight‘s 2017 Short Story Challenge. The writing prompts that I had in my brief were: Comedy | Prescription Medication | A Martial Artist.
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake,’ Liu Hai Yan said (or, at least, the nearest Cantonese equivalent thereof). ‘Can we not do this today?’
Arrayed across the other end of the alley were a half-dozen warriors garbed in black. They did their best to loom ominously, but were undercut by the narrowness of the path forcing them to stand awkwardly close to one another.
Liu Hai Yan had expected some opposition. That was why she had ducked into the alleyway in the first place. She’d been pretty sure she’d caught a glimpse of Dai Sizhao, the Howling Wolf, at the far end of Wong Fei-hung Street. She’d defeated the young Wolf last Tuesday, while she’d been hanging out her washing, and it was almost certain he’d be looking for revenge.
These days, it seemed like you could barely cross the street in Lung Town without a confrontation with the Axe Gang, a long-thought-dead rival showing up, or—as in her case today—getting jumped by a ninja clan. It was, of course, too much to ask for her to be able to simply walk to the chemist and fill her arthritis prescription.
‘Why are you even here? Go back to Japan.’ The ninjas did not respond, but Liu Hai Yan had not really expected them to. She sighed.
Her opponents tensed, as if expecting the wizened older woman to attack first. There was an awkward silence that stretched on for far too long.
Liu Hai Yan folded her arms and gave them her best old lady glare. The ninja glanced at each other, then sprung toward her as one. A few minutes later and the alley was silent once more, the unconscious warriors sprawled on the cobblestone.
Liu Hai Yan straightened her cheongsam; the dress had gotten ruffled in the fight. She clicked her tongue, once, in distaste, then continued through the alleyway toward her destination.
The sinuous streets of Lung Town echoed the neighbourhood’s namesake, twisting like the coils of a dragon. As far as Liu Hai Yan knew, it had sprawled organically as the population grew. However, there were times when she was almost certain that some mad city planner had deliberately designed the layout. There were just too many blind corners (for hidden ambushes), too many wide plaza-like streets (ideal for pitched battles), and too many conveniently-reached rooftops (at a height perfect for stealthy shadowing and dramatic chases).
Despite all of this, Liu Hai Yan managed to reach the chemist without further incident. She opened the door and was confronted by a terrible sight. The shelving had been knocked over, stock scattered across the carpeted floor. At the far end of the store was Apothecary Chao, sweeping some of the mess up near the prescription counter. He looked up as she approached.
‘Oh, it’s only Liu Hai Yan,’ he said. One of his eyes was blackened and there was a noticeably discoloured lump on his bare, shiny scalp. Dried blood crusted the edge of his lower lip. ‘If you’re here for your prescription, that’s too bad. A bunch of toughs just cleared out the back shelves. There’s nothing left.’
Liu Hai Yan squinted up at him critically. Of course. It couldn’t have been that easy. ‘Are you okay?’
Apothecary Chao shrugged and nodded. ‘Yeah, I suppose. Couple of them roughed me up pretty good. Could have been worse.’
‘Are you sure you don’t have any of my medication left?’ She asked. She felt a little bad about pressing him on it, but she wanted to avoid any unnecessary revenge quests, if at all possible.
‘Hell, take a look yourself.’ He pointed back behind the prescription counter.
She did, picking her way carefully through the debris. There were a couple of scattered boxes left around, but none were her arthritis pills. Liu Hai Yan sighed. It felt like she sighed a lot, these days. She walked back over to Apothecary Chao. ‘What did they look like?’
‘Some gang, I don’t know. Young wannabe tough guys. They were all wearing green and white.’
There was a street gang that Liu Hai Yan had clashed with a couple of times before that wore all green and white. Not only that, if she recalled correctly they had a hideout in a warehouse not too far from here. It wouldn’t take too long to find it, but she was supposed to be home soon. Han Mei was coming over for tea, and tonight was definitely going to be the night that Liu Hai Yan beat her at Go.
She sighed again. ‘I’d better go and sort them out, then.’
When Liu Hai Yan had been younger, she’d thought Lung Town exciting. Every day brought new challenges and new heights to strive towards. New friends and allies, and new enemies. It had gotten old. Either that, or she had. Whichever it was, that sort of youthful exuberance was long past her. Now, she’d settle for being able to run simple errands in peace, without irrational kung fu masters and hordes of faceless goons popping up like weeds in her back garden after a heavy rain. She didn’t feel like she was able to just leave, either—all of her friends and surviving family still lived in Lung Town—so she suffered through the duels and challenges and poorly thought-out schemes. That didn’t mean she had to like it, though.
This side of Lung Town had an abundance of warehouses, most of which served as hideouts for kung fu gangs rather than housing actual goods. Still, Liu Hai Yan found the one she was looking for easily enough (though not quite as quickly as she’d have liked).
There were a pair of toughs guarding the entrance to the warehouse, talking animatedly about something Liu Hai Yan could not care less about. The first went down with a single blow. The second went through the door—Liu Hai Yan hadn’t been sure it was unlocked, and didn’t feel like fumbling around for another ten minutes looking for the key.
Inside were a dozen more of the gang, each wearing green and white. At the centre of them, grinning at her with his wide mouth, was Dai Sizhao, the Howling Wolf. Of course he was. Liu Hai Yan was almost a little disappointed at how predictable this whole mess had become.
‘I see you have fallen into my little trap,’ the Wolf gloated, spreading his hands out to either side.
Liu Hai Yan walked slowly toward him. A few more gang members filtered in behind her. They would have been watching the warehouse from across the street and seen her enter. When she was younger, she would have remembered to check the nearby rooftops first. Oh well. Nothing to be done about it now.
‘This is dumb,’ she said. ‘You’re dumb.’
Dai Sizhao’s expression faltered somewhat, but he shook his head. ‘No, Liu Hai Yan. It is you that is the fool. Today I will repay you for humiliating me.’
The Wolf lunged forward, supported by the strongest amongst the street gang. She danced between them, laying about herself with fists and feet, almost too fast to see. Her enemies fell around her, leaves torn from their tree by a thunderstorm and dashed to the ground.
‘Im-impossible!’ snarled the Wolf, looking up at her, cradling his side.
Liu Hai Yan was pretty sure she’d broken at least one of his ribs. She hadn’t really meant to, but at least it had ended the fight. She ignored him, looking around the warehouse for the medication that the gang had stolen from Apothecary Chao. Over in a corner of the warehouse lay a small pile of bags, discarded next to some old crates and shelving.
‘Next time you will not be so lucky.’ Dai Sizhao called as he and the few members of the gang that remained conscious scrambled toward the door, half-limping, half-crawling. Liu Hai Yan let them leave.
As she drew close, she could see that the bags were definitely filled with the loot from the chemist. She was about to start sorting through them when something caught her eye. Sitting atop a nearby crate was a jian, sheathed in a simple leather scabbard. There was something odd about it.
Liu Hai Yan picked the sword up, weighing it carefully in her hand. Ah. There. She could sense it. This blade held a great destiny of some kind. It was important—an heirloom of an ancient bloodline, or a symbol signifying the return of the old empire. Perhaps it was even a mystical weapon, forged through magic, the bane of demons and shadowkin. There was a symbol that she didn’t recognise inscribed on the scabbard, two circles linked by a curved line.
Slowly, carefully, Liu Hai Yan put the sword back down. Nope. No thank you.
Instead, she rummaged through the discarded bags until she saw the familiar box of her medication. Picking it up, she double-checked the label and then gave it a gentle shake. She was rewarded with the jittery rattle of pills in blister packs, confirming it was full. Liu Hai Yan nodded to herself, retrieving a brown paper bag from a nearby shelf and placing the medication inside.
She was halfway home when she remembered that she was running low on eggs and milk. Pausing at a crosswalk, Liu Hai Yan made a face to herself and considered her options. She could just go home, of course, and worry about it later. Then again, there was a corner store at the top of the next street, so the extra errand wouldn’t take her too far out of her way.
When Liu Hai Yan got to the corner store, it was already surrounded by the Axe Gang, tough-looking men and women in dress suits wielding small hand axes. The windows were hastily barricaded with shelving, and a young, shirtless man she didn’t recognise was standing defiantly in the doorway, having a shouted conversation with an Axe Gang lieutenant. She didn’t need to listen to their words to know that a fight was almost certainly about to break out.
Liu Hai Yan sighed. She was almost home, and while she could circle around and head to a different store, the closest was a ten minute walk and there was no guarantee that she could shop there unmolested either. Plus, at this stage, she was almost certainly going to be late, and she didn’t want to keep Han Mei—and the Go board—waiting any longer than she absolutely had to.
While the axe-wielding toughs were focused on the young man, Liu Hai Yan quietly shuffled up behind the closest one and laid him out with a single chop to the back of the neck. He crumpled like a dropped sack of potatoes and his weapon clattered noisily to the ground. Several others turned to look at her, startled. The young man chose this moment to leap from the doorway, taking advantage of the distraction to attack.
He was actually pretty good, Liu Hai Yan observed. As he took down three Axe Gang members in rapid succession, she noticed a symbol tattooed at the base of his neck. A pair of circles linked by a curved line.
She darted in to join him. At least between the two of them, this wouldn’t take long. Though Liu Hai Yan resented being dragged into whatever this was, she decided that she should probably tell him about the sword after they were done. She did wish he would at least put on a shirt, though. That was just basic propriety.
