Chapter 7: Fight Night

The streets were lit in an orange tint in the dark from the flames. The smell of burning rubber wafted through the air. They call me the King of Freedom Falls and right now, my city was burning in flames. Just earlier I helped Detective Zachariah fend off goons from a cultist gang known as Freedom Cry. It was this same gang that was the source of the current mayhem in the city.

I arrived at an alley to at least five members of Freedom Cry. One of them spotted me and shouted, "LOOK," he signaled towards me, "it's the King!" His friends turned around to get a better view at me. "It is!" One of them acknowledged. "GET HIM!" Another called out. With that, they charged at me. I, in response, also ran towards them. There were going to be many thugs to beat tonight. Five more makes no difference to me.

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Jessica climbed down from her hospital window. Something was bothering her. She could see the fire in the distance. All she could think about was that her best friend was in danger. She frantically made her way to Arthur's home. Her dream, it felt like a premonition. Arthur was going away and it didn't feel right at all for her. Why did her dream feel so real? It felt like it was a message. Was her best friend going to die? She didn't know. She just continued, little by little to her best friend.

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Zachariah and Julie witnessed the chaos in their car. Masked and hooded criminals were rioting in the streets. Zachariah exited his only form of shelter, "Stay in the car."

"No way we're both officers."

"Julie, these guys are looking to kill people like us."

"So?"

"I can't protect you while fighting them."

"You're already beat up as it is." Julie exited the car, "Trust your partner some more."

Zachariah chuckled, "Very well." He glared towards the chaos in front of him. "Let's put some order in this place."

********

I dropped another rioter. These were just members of the cult or gang or whatever you want to call it. There were regular people just taking advantage of this chaos. It doesn't matter, another I knock out cold means one less problem. The leader of Freedom seemed to put a bounty on my head. The members were targeting me specifically.

Their numbers didn't seem to dwindle. One spawned two and so forth. My body was aching and screaming. I lost count around the 20th guy. They kept coming. This is fine. I need to be the center of this riot. I noticed I was on Elm Street. "Her" house was only a couple blocks down. Hopefully the rioters haven't gotten that far. Another Freedom Cry posse found me. They noticed how battered I look and that boosted their confidence. I counted about seven. They had weapons: two with pipes, three with crowbars, two with knives. They charged at me screaming, "KILL HIM! HE'S BEEN FIGHTING ALL NIGHT HE'S TIRED!" The first guy had a pipe. He lunged towards me swinging downwards. I sidestepped his attack, grabbed his wrist and applied joint pressure causing him to drop his weapon. With my unoccupied hand, I struck his abdomen with a guy punch, followed by a vertical elbow strike to his chin which sent him upwards. I quickly spun around and picked up his pipe, and with the momentum, continued to spin and strike his ribcage with own weapon. The next guy swung his crowbar down towards my skull, but I blocked it. It must've been my fatigue, but I didn't notice his friend who snuck up from behind me and stabbed me on the right. I winced in pain but didn't falter. I grabbed the first guy by his collar and threw him on his comrade. I finished them both off while they were on the ground, but it wasn't over. While I was catching my breath, the remaining pipe guy struck my back. I fell to my knees and the next guy with a crowbar tried to hit me in the face but I blocked with my arms just in time. The force sent me to the ground. I yanked the knife in my left out and stabbed the attacker in front me in his ankle. He screamed in pain and responded by trying to kick me. I rolled away and choked his partner. Right before he was going to be unconscious, the remaining crowbar man hit me on the top of my head. That caused me to release his friend and back off. Blood proceeded to flow down and obscure my right eye. The last guy with the knife walked out from in between his comrades flipping his knife. He wore a huge evil smile. "Lookey here, looks like his majesty is all tuckered out," he chuckled. I looked down and saw that the pipe I used had rolled towards my feet. I picked it up and gripped it hard in order to stay conscious. The blood loss was making my already obscured vision woozy. I took a deep breath and gathered myself before I begun my assault. They didn't expect coming. I launched my pipe at the knife-wielder's chest. As I threw my pipe, I dashed alongside it. When it impacted his chest, it knocked the air out him causing him to stumble. Before the pipe hit the ground, I grabbed it, spun to my left, and used it as a hammer on the knife in the ankle that I left it. Using their panicked state to my advantage. I disarmed the one with the knife, proceeded to use it to stab the shoulder of the man wielding the pipe. While he was screaming in pain, I grabbed him by the face and threw him at the last remaining crowbar fellow. Right after that I threw a straight punch at the guy that was holding the knife. I followed through with the punch sending him straight to the pavement. I ran up to other two, regathering themselves. Copying the detective's technique, I used the pipe wielder as a springboard for an angled bicycle kick against his friend. While my springboard was regaining his posture, I grabbed his friends crowbar and struck him down.

With all of them defeated, as if in response to my victory, my fatigue finally took ahold of my body. My vision darkened and I fell.

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Zachariah and Julie slowly made their progress apprehending one rioter after another. Zachariah noticed that unlike the group he and the King fought, these guys weren't doped. Rather they had the drugs on them but they didn't take it. Did each member have these drugs? Why? If you had drugs wouldn't it have been more beneficial to sell them not give them out to your members? It wasn't until he arrested his tenth rioter then he connected the dots. The drugs made them feel no pain, no danger. The leader wasn't trying to sell these drugs. This was a test, a trial, an experiment. He wanted to make an army fool of unfeeling dolls. That's why he gave it out to his minions. An unfeeling army. That's why each member of Freedom Cry had some. This was merely advertisement. Not to sell the drugs but to recruit. As chaotic as tonight was, it was just the beginning.

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I coughed and opened my eyes. I must've blacked out for a few minutes. I stumbled to my feet and felt the numbness kick in. I saw the red and blue lights in the distance. The law enforcement was finally able to take ahold of this situation. I noticed I was at my physical limit and decided to leave the rest to Zachariah. I limped towards my safehouse. I was going to leave these guys on the ground but noticed that their wounds from me were quite serious. I decided to stop their bleeding first. I can't kill for "her" sake. With my amateur first aid complete, I headed out.

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Jessica had been walking for a while now. She had to avoid rioters every now and then but she was almost at Arthur's house. She was right. The riots were near their home. While she had security at her place, Arthur lived alone. He had no form of protection. These riots must've been the bad feeling. She reached his house and almost rang the doorbell. Why would he open the door in this chaos? She went around and tried to sneak in the window. Arthur was always scared of stuff like this. As she was about to unlock his window it opened and Arthur popped his head out, "You know you like kind of dumb hobbling around like that."

"ARTHUR!" She screamed. "YOU'RE OKAY!"

"Uh yeah. Why you sneaking around my place?"

"Uh….I snuck out of the hospital."

"No shit really? Hurry up and get in here there's crazy people out there."

"Well help me in." Arthur helped Jessica into his house. It was a tiny home with two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a basement that he was renting out. He used the second bedroom as a home gym, since he lived there alone. Inside his kitchen, Jessica saw it clearer. "Arthur, you're injured!" She cried out like a worried mother.

"Says the one who snuck out of the hospital. I got hurt defending my home," he joked. Arthur was injured on his head and his arms had multiple bruises. Jessica punched him on his side, "Why didn't you call the cops?"

"Ow, I have bruises everywhere. And I don't have to, they're everywhere Jess."

"YOU GOT HURT IN MORE PLACES?!"

"Well yeah."

"Let me see."

"No."

"LET ME SEE!"

"No."

Jessica couldn't understand, Arthur was so hurt but yet she felt relieved. She felt...safe? She felt at peace even though outside was going crazy. "Arthur can I?"

"Spend the night? Jess, I was gonna make you. Ain't letting you go out there like this while it's like that the fuck. You can take the bed. I'll sleep out here." Arthur chuckled.

"Thank you." Jessica got up and went to the bathroom to wash herself. "Arthur?"

"¿Que?"

"You're not leaving anywhere are you?"

"I mean I do plan to get a big ole corporate job when I graduate," he joked.

"Arthur!"

"What, no I'm not hehe." Arthur giggled. "It's late Jess. I'ma go call it okay?"

"Okay. Goodnight Arthur."

"Night."