[ Mature ]
The City of Death (MT)
"I'll get back right at you, I'll punch your face more this time!"
Fawkes apparently did not give a fuck. Punch? That was nothing compared to what ran through his head.
"Pfft, punch me. What a fucker."
Hearing this, Roy turned around and confronted the crutch-ridden Fawkes. He had just escalated hostility, and he continued to ignore his conscience to let it go.
"What did you say?" came the curt reply, prompting Roy to give him a slight push from his hand.
"I said you're a fucker, did you not hear my voice booming through your fucking ears?"
"Are you called me a fucker?"
"Fuck yeah I am. Punch me, sure. Then what?"
Of course, the only response was a slow swing of the fist, to which Fawkes dodged fortunately. He did not, however, heed further warning from Roy as another fist punched into his stomach, leaving Fawkes with his back onto the ground. The rush of adrenaline filled him instantly. Fawkes grabbed one of this crutches and swept Roy off his feet, where both men almost simultaneously rose up for another confrontation, Fawkes being the slower due to his bad right leg. Roy approached closer towards Fawkes as the entire canteen succumbed into silence, eager to see who would win the fight.
Mimicking Fawkes' swing of the crutch, Roy kicked him in the right leg, expecting a fall, but was totally surprised as Fawkes did not even stumble, who swiftly used his crutches for stabilization. Fawkes released his crutches for his next counterattack, hopped on his left leg briefly towards Roy and grabbed the back of his hair, masking the pain left by Roy's kick to his leg. He swiftly and vigorously clutched the head of Roy, smashing his face onto the first canteen table that was ridden with hot soup, followed by the second table which had plates filled with chicken and mashed potatoes. His final strike proved to incapacitate Roy in a quick blow to the head by slamming him onto the notice board. He was knocked out cold, rendered incapable to fight, leaving Fawkes to emerge as victor. Others were astonished to see Fawkes, a smaller teenager with a broken leg, dominate over someone twice his size and strength, and perfectly capable of knocking him out. The battle between David and Goliath was over.
Blood flowed down from his nose as he stood on his left leg, bruised and broken. Fawkes approached towards Roy's lifeless body and squat down to his ear.
"Come close to me again, and I'll fucking cut you open, rape your loved ones, and piss in the cavity of your dead body."
The memories Fawkes had experienced as he went through high school were still omnipresent after that fateful day. No longer would he regard himself as a weaker person to bully upon, but a formidable foe when it came to conflict. Of course, now he had to leave that behind, and focus on the life ahead of him. He pondered on what happened to Roy after high school, running scenarios in his head over and over again. He probably had end up as a slacker, or better, even dead after all this time.
Crouching behind a wall whilst fixing his gaze over the ruins ahead of him, he scanned the buildings for any possible signs of life. Nothing. He signaled the rest of his peers to rendezvous with him. Faye and Sam ran with their heads down low and quickly slid into cover, each surrounding Fawkes on both sides. Faye rested her AK-47 rifle onto her lap, who also had a steady gaze over the buildings ahead of them. Sam did not really pay close attention to his surroundings as he was busy addressing to the cuts and bruises on his leg. After what seemed like an eternity, both of them shifted their heads towards Fawkes, who laid motionless.
"What now?" asked Faye, tapping him on the shoulder.
"Fawkes?"
"Yeah yeah. Sorry. I was a bit preoccupied here."
"Occupied with what? You've been staring at the same space for more than a few minutes!" hissed Faye.
"Nothing.. Alright, so anyway.."
"We either take the apartments on the left, the open field in the center or the short walls on the right." interrupted Sam.
"Right, so.."
"If we take the left, we'll be in tight situation; out in the open means we'll be vulnerable targets to snipers and probably hit a minefield, and.." interrupted Faye this time.
"Taking the right means we'll need to have our heads down low most of them time." finished Sam.
"Will you stop interrupting me for one fucking second? Jesus, you guys are worst that my parents."
"It's obvious we are your parents, right Sam?" laughed Faye, who spat out her gum.
Sam nodded his head in laughter, before turning dead serious as he quickly responded to the faint sound of gunfire in the distance. An awkward silence preceded over them as they paid close attention to the sharp, yet ever so distant bursts of bullets piercing the air. The cease in gunfire for the past ten minutes were to be interrupted again, possibly dragging on for hours.
"That sounds like it's coming from the west." added Fawkes.
A few shouts in the air from the apartments, followed by the distinct sound of caterpillar tracks rumbling closer, prompted the three to go for the low walls on the right. Sam panted away as he carelessly dropped some of his ammunition cartridges, but there was no time to go back and pick it up, as the sound of a tank rumbling became more louder and closer with each footstep they made. Suddenly, muzzle flares lit up the building on their left as they could hear some ricocheting onto the tank. Apparently there was life inside the apartments, and since they opened fire onto the tank, it meant hostiles.
The sleeping giant awoke, bringing down the entire complex with just a few shells. The roar of the building crashing down muffled the screams and cries of it's residents who took refuge, which finally became silent once the apartment razed itself into the ground. They could hear nothing more but the rumbling of the tank and the distant gunfire closing in on them. They were the resistance fighters of Port Gibson, and they were up against an enemy far beyond what they have imagined. Fortunately, they are on the right side to begin with.
"I feel bad for the people in there." giggled Faye.
The trio laughed, appearing to be insensitive to the loss of life and the tragedy that had unfolded before their eyes, for it has been part of their day to day lives for more than a year.
