I had the basic idea of what I was getting myself into, but I didn't quite understand how it would feel. I guess the one thing I should have expected was sweat. Lots of it. It wasn't necessarily the king of sweat generated from the burning heat of the sun. No this was a more inner heat permeating through every one of my pores.

It was a Friday night when Jacob called my phone, excited to test out his new abilities. He talked as if he was trying to sell me some product, the type that you would get calls about from telemarketers, or pop up ads. Except the content he was selling differed. Yet what he did paid off, and here I was, running through a darkened alleyway hoping to make my way through unscathed.

It was rather quiet for a Friday night. It shocked me how the typical music that blared out of people's houses and speakers was nowhere to be heard. Shrugging off the silence I turned my run into a controlled speed-walk, doing my best not to add the tiniest bit of sound. Why did something like this have to be scheduled for Friday? Why couldn't they just back off? Feeling a light buzz in my pocket, I reached down and pressed a small phone against my ear, listening to hear the person on the other line speak first.

"Bry, you there?" Jacob whispered into the phone causing me to flush up in anger, "I thought I told you to stop calling me that. My name is Bryan. B R Y A N." I whispered back, taking a look around my surroundings as I did

.

"Calm down sheesh. I was just trying to lighten the mood a little bit. Anyways I am directly outside of where they met up at. It looks to me like some sort of initiation or ceremony is being held here. Fucking bastards are gonna torture some new people now."

I bit my lip. The Pure, as they called themselves, was once again adding new additions to their makeshift gang. They were mainly composed of kids, people who wanted to become something big, but failed to achieve their dreams, so they turned to the path of crime. It sickened me to even think about how pathetic those people had become.

"How are you seeing all of this Jacob?" I questioned worried about the safety of my friend. Tho, I wasn't sure what exactly I was worried about. He told me the weapon he brought with him would be enough to make anyone back away unless they too were armed.

Jacob began to speak as if his mind was in a different place from what he was trying to say, "I'm perched on top of a hill. You'll notice it right away when you get here, but give me a warning before you climb up. I don't want to accidentally shoot you dead." I shuddered knowing he wasn't exaggerating in the slightest. The cold blood that ran in his blood also ran in every member of The Pure.

The distant sound of dogs barking made me realize that I had reached the end of the alleyway. What laid ahead of me was a street, ravaged by the elements. Chunks of asphalt were scattered all along the roadside slowly deteriorating by each passing day. Moss and weeds had found their way growing in the small cracks and holes on the sidewalks. Looking down the left horizontal road, I noticed that every streetlight down there was enshrouded in darkness. The bulb either burnt out or stolen. To my right the street led back towards the city where the people who would be partying were.

"Jacob," I said ignoring what he had said, "You did say turn right?"

My efforts where shot down as Jacob laughed a bit too loud for someone who was supposed to be hiding. "No, go left. I know the street lamps are all screwed up. If you walk faster you'll make it here and not have to worry about some gang banger coming for you."

I groaned and began making my way into the darkness. It often amazed me how he knew exactly what I was worried about, but in this case, I figured he was also worried about which path to turn on when he was in my shoes. Walking across the road to the other side I immediately regretted my decision. Out of nowhere the pungent smell of rotting meat filled the air around me forcing a gag to escape from my lips.

"Bryan you okay?" Jacob questioned, a hint of worry in his tone.

Nodding to myself I suddenly stopped realizing he couldn't see my head movements, "Yes... I'm okay, look i'll see you when I arrive alright?"

Another wave of the toxic stench was sucked through my nostrils and I quickly moved the phone away as my gag reflexes activated. The phone murmured with a response as I moved it away. Returning it towards my head, I pressed the phone against my ear.

"Jacob, can you repeat that?" I was met with silence. Looking down at the phone I noticed he had hung up. Damn. I began to search  around as I walked for the source of the stench I was quickly met with the decaying corpse of a deer. A large hole was visible through the deer's throat. Of course the hole wasn't see through, since most of it was filled with maggots slowing eating away at the deer's insides. Looking away with disgust I examined the remainder of the body. The bottom half of the animal had been completely ripped off, including its legs. Dark patches on the deer's back were scorched, revealing more places where maggots could call a home. The most concerning part of the deer was that its eyes were replaced by red colored ping pong balls. I instantly realized that the mutilation was done by none other but the Pure. When they formed, they decided to start replacing the eyes of humans and animals with red ping pong balls to symbolize that they had done the killing blow. It was how they marked their victories.

Making my way past the deer I soon found myself standing over another body of a deer, this time with its legs intact.

Pushing the image of the deer out of my mind, I began to run different scenarios through my head on how the confrontation with the Pure could play out. If we got a little bit closer to their base of actions, we could easily call the cops or the Knights to handle the situation. But if the Pure were capable of detecting us first... No we couldn't allow that to happen. The cool night breeze blew against my sweaty body, cooling me off very slowly. The second option is we go down there and raid their base, break in and steal information. This gang was full of amateurs, their leader being the only one capable of wielding a sword. And even then, his power of wielding the sword only allowed his blade to produce flames on the edges. No, facing them head on in a battle would be hell for us. Our third approach could involve us joining their ranks, tearing apart the gang from the inside. If we could weaken it we could pass on word to authorities to handle the situation. The only issue is if they don't take us into their ranks, and instead execute us as part of their training exercise. I shuttered at the image of my own head being served on a platter for some news team to report on. I shook my head as if I was trying to shake the image from ever appearing in my mind.

Grasping the phone from where I placed it in my pocket, I powered on the device and checked the time. 8:20pm. Sighing I shoved it back into my pocket. School began at 7am, and I was going to have one hell of a time waking up.

Up ahead of me I spotted two men making their way towards me, picking up speed as they went. I suddenly slowed my movements and began to walk even slower, looking around for any places I could escape to. These men had to be gang bangers, nobody in their right mind would patrol  pitch black streets like these. Reaching a hand for my back pocket I surprised myself as my fingers brushed against a small book-bag. I had completely forgotten about the package Jacob asked me to deliver. As I struggled to unzip a small pouch on he book bag, the two men began to dart towards me, probably suspecting me to be reaching for a gun.

Turning my back to them I broke into a run, no longer caring about trying to mask my sound. Leaving my bag unzipped, I moved my hands in front of me so that I was more focus on one thing while I ran. A wheezing sound escaped from one of the men's lips as he lunged towards me, plowing into my legs and sending my face into the pavement.

"Fuck that hurt." The man muttered applying all of his weight onto my legs causing me to yelp in pain. The second man approached cautiously and ripped my book bag off of me, tossing it to the side showing that it was of no value to him.

"What have we here? You understand this is Pure's turf right? Looks like you'll be heading back with us to Pure himself, then you can explain why you are trespassing." The second man said, enjoying the victory that he had scored. It wasn't on the top of my bucket list to talk to a deranged gang leader. To them tho, scoring me was major rep on their part. It showed that they were good at the border patrol assignment and that they could be better used at different sectors of Pure's turf, most likely the ones with drugs.

Spitting out a pool of blood that had formed in my mouth, I looked up to the man who had stripped me of my book bag. "What happens when Pure realizes I'm not apart of any gangs? Then shit will hit the fan for the two idiots who assaulted an innocent citizen of this cit-"

"Shut up!" The guard standing roared, delivering a strong kick into my side. My eyes watered at the impact of the blow but I fought against the tears that tried to force their way down my face.

The guard crouched down beside me and lifted my up by my dark brown hair, "Listen you punk." The man spit into my face as he continued, "Me and Joseph here are on a personal level with Pure. We are his top notch forces, and for the record, we could careless if you were apart of a gang. We are the biggest gang around here now, nobody fucks with us, got it?. The new recruits need to experience their first kill, you can serve that purpose. Hell, I might even beat the shit out of you before I throw you to them. How's that sound?"

The man pulled up on my hair, as if he was trying to force a response out of me. Yielding to the pain I spit out another wad of blood in his direction. Scowling he slammed my face into the ground and rose to his feet.

"Joseph, lift him up and let's get going to the base. I can't wait to kill this kid." Joseph grunted in acknowledgment and rose to his feet, bringing me with him. My face burned from being slammed into the ground for a second time. Fighting against the pain I planted my feet down to offer resistance as Joseph tried to push me along. But the brute was stronger. Shoving me too hard, he lost grip of my arms and sent me flying towards my book bag. Reaching into it I grasped my left hand on a cold metal surface and began to lift it out of the bag. Joseph was quick to grab my right hand and tug me away from the bag, helping to gift me a boost of speed as I moved towards him. Grasping the metal pipe in my hand I swung it as hard as I could and smashed it into the side of Joseph's face. Joseph yelped in pain and was sent stumbling back into the ground.

"Daniel! He's free!" Joseph called out, struggling to produce the word free. From the sound of it, I must of broken a few molars. Daniel lifted a gun from his pocket and pointed it at me,

"Fuck this." Pulling the trigger, he shot and missed, the bullet whizzing past my head. Using this moment to my advantage I charged directly at him and watched his fingers waiting to see the next movement in them. He pulled on the trigger again and I dove into a power slide, slamming my pipe into his legs as I passed by him. Jumping back up to my feet I moved to where he stood grabbing at his leg and cursing. Raising my pipe over my head, I slammed it down against his head, sending his body crumpling into the ground.

Noticing Joseph was back on his feet, I figured I wouldn't have much time to reflect on this victory. Running towards Joseph I threw the pipe into his face, nailing him in the center of his forehead.  As he fell onto his back I picked the pipe up and slammed the tip of it against his head, knocking him out cold.

Kneeling down, I began Reaching into his pockets, I quickly pushed aside all of the drugs stashed in the front and instead pulled out wads of cash and the pistol that he never got to use. Then standing back I made my way over to where Daniel had fallen and did the same.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Finding that my looting of the bodies proved to be bountiful, I made my way to where my book bag was lying and packed the money and one of the pistols in it, keeping the other pistol in my pocket for safety. Slinging my backpack on my back, I continued walking down the road, sticking more to where the moon didn't illuminate any of the path.

I felt the trickle of blood coming out of where I had scraped my face on the asphalt. The pain served as a reminder of the mistake I had mad bye disrespecting him. It also reminded me how incredible foolish I was to get caught off guard by two gang bangers who couldn't even aim a gun.

Trying my best to calm myself, I stuck my hands in my pockets and walked quietly, only slowing down when I began to see lights beginning to illuminate the road. I suddenly stopped and glanced around. This was where Jacob had told me to meet at, yet I didn't see the hill he was speaking of.

"Bryan, look up." Turning towards a hill that my back had been facing, I spotted the silhouette of Jacob. My face turned red in the darkness and I felt like an idiot for being oblivious to the hill behind me. Running to the hill, I slowly began to climb up it, being careful to not slip and draw even more attention to myself. Reaching the top of the hill I laid back on the grass and stared up at the stars as I breathed heavily.

"What took you so long Bryan?" Jacob questioned sounding a bit annoyed at my delay. To me, this was a sign that he was oblivious to the wounds I had taken from the two gang bangers.

"Just stopped a few times to catch my breath." I lied. No need to worry him anymore, I needed his full focus on this task.

"Has the situation changed at all?" Jacob lifted a pair of binoculars up, making sure to brush his grey hair out of his face he pressed it towards his eyes.

"Couple of cars came in about ten minutes before you arrived. From what I can tell they rounded up some civilians to use as new recruits. They'll probably go through an initiation stage tonight, have the recruits kill one another. The last few standing will be recruited."

I nodded knowing their methods of recruitment too well. It was typically one recruit against another, the winner being recruited. Almost like it was gladiator style, but ten times worse. The recruits were introduced to all kinds of advanced technology and weapons. Most not knowing how to work it and either ended up  killing themselves in the process, or getting lucky and killing their enemy. It was a cruel process, but Jacob knew that better than I did.

Jacob gasped as he moved his binoculars sharply to a single position and kept it in place.

"Whats the matter? Do you see something we can't handle?" I asked puzzled.

Jacob gave a small laugh which was followed up by an annoyed tone, "Only their fucking leader Pure. We may have to change our plans to deal with him now."

I squinted and looked into the distance trying to spot the white armor that Pure always traveled in.

"What do you mean change our plans?" I asked, failing to find Pure.

"This may turn from calling the Knight's to help, to assassinating Pure ourselves. If we can cut off the head of the snake their drug empire will collapse on itself. Their higher ups will kill one another for control until there is nothing left." Jacob spoke as if he had been planning this out for years.

To any other person he would have sounded insane, but I knew he was serious. When I had first met Jacob he was a hardened person whenever the subject of Pure came up. Other than that he could crack a joke or two in almost any situation, but what made it different with Pure was his history with him. When he was a kid, his mother and father worked close with Pure. Supplying him with transportation of people and and the occasional supplies when he provided them with money. As Pure's empire grew his transportation grew, more professional drivers took up arms to assist him and try and gain from his wealth. Jacob's parents were seen as loyal workers, ready to assist at his command. Jacob informed me that his parents and Pure had a falling out about some moral choices that Pure had made. Pure, noticing that the couple were too close to him, were a threat. They knew his identity, they knew where his bases operated, and they knew his trade routes. So he introduced the two to a prototype drug as a reward for their services, promising them that they would gain glorious powers just like him and the Knights. The couple bought his lie and took the drug, having their minds slowly being manipulated to need more and more of the drug, until they were full on addicts. The couple spent everything they had on the drug until finally overdosing on it. Pure took in Jacob to his recruitment testing and forced him to go up against multiple opponents to prove his worth. Jacob slaughtered his opponents and escaped from the facility, swearing vengeance on Pure.

"Did you spot how many gang bangers he had down there? We don't want to be too badly outnumbered. Even my power won't keep them at bay for long." Jacob shook his head and passed the binoculars to me to look through.

"Their forces are broken up from the last confrontation with the Knight's. We know that they have multiple facilities and that Pure likes to visit them to check up on sales, so if we strike here quietly we should be able to win, despite the enemy numbers." Patting a bow and quiver he had sitting behind him he continued, "We can mask the sound of our kills with this." I shook my head,

"We agreed on no kills."

Jacob not listening lifted the binoculars to my eyes and I began scanning the facility with them. Recruits being unloaded from the cars varied in all ages, some being as young as eight, and others being as old as seventy. As long as they could hold a weapon of some sort and use it to kill or wound another, they were recruited into their ranks. Of course Pure preferred the younger ones, because their minds were so easy to shape to his own purposes. The sick sadistic fuck.

Moving my eyes from the recruits I stopped the binoculars on the white armor set of pure. The armor was composed of pure iron, painted over with an intense white, which was used to often blind opponents when the sun landed on it. The armor absorbed the sun's intense rays and spit it out at its foes. From what I could tell, he was extremely buff and around six feet in height. His entire body was built with muscles, causing him not only to be insane, but immensely strong as well. His mask was the most offsetting about his costume.

There was no place for him to breathe or see. The speculation going around was that he had a layer of mesh allowing him to breathe and see through the mask. But nobody that had ever fought him and won really knew. That was another thing that popped into my head, not a lot of people win a skirmish against this man. With that in mind, I made a mental side note to take extra precautions when it came time to battle him.

Resting on his side was a large scabbard where his sword, Purify, was sheathed. And just like his armor, the blade also emitted bright lights to try and blind its opponents.

"Quick and quiet eh? I like the sound of that, let's get moving then." I said rising to my feet.

"Not so fast, did you bring the package?" Jacob questioned, looking towards my book bag.

I nodded silently and pulled out a large dome like container and placed it in his hands. He smiled for the first time in a long time, "Good job. We will plant this down at the end and then call law reinforcements."

I nodded and bit my lip wondering what would emerge when the dome activated. It had been one of Jacob's inventions, so knowing him, it would be as painful as possible for The Pure. Rising to my feet I placed the dome back into my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. Waiting for Jacob to rise as well, I slid down the hill slowing myself as I slowly reached the bottom.

We made our way across the road and moved towards a small fence that was already cut open. Slipping in through the gap in the fence, we began to slide down another hill, aiming to get behind a large warehouse. I had to admit, the person who picked the location of this base had to be a genius. The location was for one, in the darker side of the city where most of the major gangs ran their drug empires meaning cops would steer clear of here, and it was so well hidden by its surrounding structures.

The place looked like a private companies shipping house. Pressing my back to the warehouse, I held my breath to try and reduce the sound I was making so that I could hear if anyone was on the other side. Failing to hear anyone I moved closer to the warehouse door with Jacob at my back.

Turning the knob on the door, I quickly moved myself inside and crouched down low. Three men stood in the middle of the warehouse, checking inventory on specific cases marked with a white ball of spray paint symbolizing the ping pong. Keeping low to the ground, I moved behind a large box labeled, "Explosives". Looking towards Jacob I watched as he lifted his bow and pulled an arrow out of his quiver. Pulling back on the arrow he took aim at one of the guards that was separated from his comrades.

My heart began to pound. Jacob did know that we had to only wound the guards, not kill them. Letting the arrow fly free, it hit its target, going through the back of the man's head. The man thumped against the ground and instantly the other two guards began looking around to see what had caused the thumping.

Taking my eyes off of them I watched as Jacob loaded up another arrow. Dammit. He's letting emotions compromise our morals. I waited until the second arrow was free from the bow before breaking off into a run.

The second arrow slammed into the second guard's neck which alarmed the third guard, but by then I was already next to him. Slamming my pipe into the guards leg, I watched as he crumbled into a kneel before delivering another blow to his head, knocking him unconscious.

"What the fuck Jacob!?" I said trying my best not to shout, I was beyond pissed off. "We both agreed to wound and knock them unconscious not to kill them. You can't let your past interfere with this. Your life is not the only one at stake anymore here, so is mine."

Jacob approached me and gripped the arrow that had been lodged in one of the guard's throats. "I also said there was a change of plans that turned this mission into an assassination. The few people that die on our journey to destroying Pure aren't relevant to our lives. Grow up Bryan, people die every single day over little disputes. It is life. I asked you to come because I thought you could handle it, if you can’t just leave."

Jacob clenched the bloodied arrow in his fist and placed it back into his quiver. As he finished speaking his words seemed to sting. Never had Jacob ever been this serious. He was just joking with me over the phone minutes before I arrived. I pushed away the many possibilities that could have changed his mood towards the entire mission and instead changed it to continuing his personal vengeance.

"Very well." I said with a heavy heart, "Shall we get going?"

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Enjoy. Not really sure what everyone's feedback will be about this haha.