“Fuck! They stink!” went thug one.

“Get over it. Just kick him if you don’t want to touch him. Or what? You just gonna glare at him all day and hope he falls down. Ha Ha!” laughed thug four.

“He’s old. It might happen” jokes thug three. That brings a chuckle from all of them except thug one.

“Fuck you.” he retorts. Before I see something sickening.

Thug one raised his foot and as Elde stood there trembling in despair, kicked his crutch out from under him sending him crumbling to the ground.

CLATTER. THUD. CLINK.

“Hey. Did you hear that?” asked thug three

“Yeah. Sounds like gramps here has some coin saved up.” said thug one

“Now that shouldn’t be. All the nice and giving people of this city toss him their hard earned coin out of the goodness of their hearts for him to buy himself some food. Where does he get the idea of hoarding it all to himself? Thug two mockingly asked.

“Exactly. This old piece of shit isn’t a beggar, he’s a thief. As good citizens of this city in the absence of proper officials nearby, it is our duty to reprimand and confiscate all his illegal goods so that proper social order is upheld….as the guards would say.” Thug four spouted with a grin creeping over his face. Creeping over the faces of all four of them.

But I’m not hearing this and I’m not seeing this.

I’m seeing something else.

I’m seeing Elde. Lying on the ground, hurt. But that’s not what’s wrong, that’s what’s not right. He’s not even looking at me but I can see it in his eyes. The tears that are falling out of them, as his hopelessness and his despair steadily take over.

NO.

I’ve lost my home. My friends. My family. My future. My life.

I’M NOT LOSING ANYTHING ELSE!!!!

“AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH”

Without even knowing how it happened, I’m on the first thug with red covered fists. He’s beneath me, his face already bloody and getting bloodier as I punch and punch and punch.

“““Huh””” the other three went, before they got a hold of themselves and came over to back up their friend by laying into me.

“Argh!” I winced as I fell down off of him.

“What the fuck? He came out of nowhere”

“Damn, Dax. You alright man? Can you hear me?”

“You lowly piece of shit!”

Out of the blue, I’m now on the ground and two of the thugs are kicking me between them full of their drunken fury while the other one is leaning over the one I got.

But that’s all I can figure out before the kicks and blows start coming down on me. I curl up and try to get in a few breaths in between until finally the thugs need to catch a breath themselves.

“Haaa…. Beggar….Haaa…. piece of shit…. Haaa…. How's Dax man?” the bastard asked while panting.

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“He’s not good. He’s out like a light and he’s not waking up no matter what I do, not to mention the fact that his nose is broken and he’s lost a few teeth as well. The blood also won't stop pouring out of his face either.” he said worriedly.

“Unfuckingbelievable… Haaa… What a shit day. Give me your knife. I’m gutting this guy myself” said the other scumbag as a chill rose up my spine.

The thug leaning over the first one searches himself before he pulls out a knife. He then holds it up to my soon to be murderer, when the thugs get their second shock for the day.

WHACK.

Me, the thug standing over me, and the one reaching for the knife pause, as we take in the surprise. The end of a wooden plank is now resting on top of the man’s head, after it has violently, and sickeningly, come down on him.

With all of us still suspended by our shock, the thug, knife still in his hand, topples down face first with the knife following after him as it falls from his grip and skates out onto the road.

With him out of the way I can now see what happened. Elde is there. He’s on his knees behind the guy, holding onto the other end of the plank, his crutch, that now has an end that’s all bloody.

“MAC!!!”

My would-be murderer dives down and reaches out desperately to his friend. But I can see it. We all can. There’s nothing anyone can do.

He’s dead.

The thug turns his dead buddy’s body face up and shakes him, calls out his name, slaps his face, all the while blood continues to pour out the back of his head. It’s all no use though. The body stares up with glassy lifeless eyes to meet the frantic eyes of his friend to no avail.

He starts to see it now but he doesn’t want to. His friend is dead. And with that terrible realisation, the panic leaves his face, and is soon replaced by something even more terrible.

Rage.

His head jerks up and then turns to look back at a stunned and speechless Elde. Then he turns his head again and looks back down at his friend, before his gaze falls onto the knife that lies close now in front of him. He gently puts his friend down. He crawls over and picks up the knife, stands up, and then turns his back on me and his other friend.

And starts walking towards Elde.

Panic overcomes Elde’s face as he topples onto his back. With the knife in his hand the man, seeking retribution, makes his way over to Elde slowly, who is desperately trying to back away.

Seeing this wakes me up from my stupor, but not of the man standing over me. He’s still lost in the surreality of it all.

I waste no time taking advantage of that. I don’t even think about it, I just do it.

With the back of his leg in front of me I lunge, and take my strongest bite out of the back of his calf.

“AAARGH” he screams as he topples to the ground.

I waste no time spitting out the blood and flesh in my mouth as I push past my pain to get up and standing and get to Elde before it's too late. I’m scrambling to my feet and moving as fast as I can, watching as the man now backs Elde up against a wall and stands over him, growling something quietly. Before I slip.

The blood! It’s all over the ground! From the two other goddamn thugs!

I fall face down. But I have no time to waste and so immediately push myself up again with my bloody hands, only to see the worst.

The thug, the strongly built fiend, clothed in brown, with dark blue hair and brown eyes, is pushing his knife into Elde, slowly, as he holds him down, soaking in the sight of him as he shudders with pain.

“ELDE!!!”

I jump and launch myself at the bastard as he turns his dark blue head around just in time to see me tackle him.

We go sprawling. But I get to my knees first and punch him in his nose. He jerks back in pain and I jump on top of him and start launching a flurry of blows on him. Before…

“GRRRRR”

The knife! It was still in his hand and he’s stabbed me in the shoulder with it.

It hurts.

It really fucking hurts.

I fall off him, clutching the knife in my shoulder as my own blood drips warmly through my fingers whilst I clench my eyes shut in pain. But my adrenaline is still running high though and so I thrust open my eyes in time to see my adversary making his way back to his feet.

No.

I don't even think about the pain but I feel it at the back of my mind. I grab the knife sticking out of my shoulder by the handle and rip it out in a spurt of blood. I have no hesitation. I slash at the bastard beside me and I feel the knife scrape through his flesh and over his bones as now he cries out in pain and falls backwards.

I crawl to him, and with no uncertainty I plunge the knife into his stomach. He wails in pain, but I don’t care. I use the knife in his stomach as leverage and I pull myself on top of him while I also push his arms away. I pull the knife out, before I stab it down again.

And again, and again, and again and again.

I pause to breathe, and after I do, I turn around. I haven’t forgotten the one I left behind.

When I look back I see him still lying on the ground, clutching at his bleeding leg, looking at me overcome with horror.

We meet eyes and I see no courage. Any he might have had has fled out of him as panic and fear has pushed everything else away. He jumps to his feet and starts running away as best he can, as fast as he can. Not looking back.

But he doesn’t matter. I turn back to the bloody mess below me, to the man I have killed. The man that I killed. With a knife still in his chest.

I leave it there.

I still hurt everywhere but that doesn’t matter. I push myself to my feet and rush over to Elde as fast as I can. He’s still alive, thank god, but a red stain he clings to is growing over his chest as it leaks his life along with it. I reach down to him.

“Elde. Listen to me. It’s me, Barde. Talk to me Elde, talk to me” I shout at him.

“...Barde, lad. It hurts, it hurts lad.” he struggles to say.

“It’s going to be okay, Elde. You remember “okay”, right? Well? That’s what it’s going to be”. I manage to say with no subtle hint of panic in my voice.

I look around to see a bloody street occupied by bloody bodies. There’s no one else around but not for too long. People will start filtering back out of the city centre soon and we can’t be here.

I don’t know where I draw the strength from, but I take Elde into my arms and manage to pick him up. I hold him in my arms, like I scornfully remark to myself, I imagined doing maybe for a wife someday. Before we start walking away.

Away from this awful place.