Fist Fights

"You have got to be kidding right?"

Bash's annoyed voice rose as he stared at his baby girl. He stood up and down and then peered below the truck's chassis.

The vehicle had just suddenly stopped, there was nothing visible that could have indicated something wrong. Nor was there anything that broke down.

The truck had just become – immobile.

We had been traveling for two days now, the stops making our trip a whole lot longer than it should have been.

For some reason, when we tried to go on to the usual route down Albaquerque, the roads were either under construction or an accident created congestion of traffic.

Levi had to turn around and find another route hoping it would be better than the shortcut. In the end, we got lost and now we had just recently arrived at Los Angeles and the loud city was a whole lot to absorb.

Low rise buildings made of glass and the busy streets were a sight for sore eyes. Not to mention the arid climate. In the distance, there were few towering skyscrapers but not so much as the cities we had passed by throughout the trip that began from the sub-urbs of Massachusetts.

There were palm trees every few meters and they towered as tall as other two to three leveled buildings.

"Great, another bump in the road." Zeke muttered. "How are we going to move all our equipment now? Coachella Valley is still a long way and LA traffic is just – never mind."

"Babe, don't stress it out. This is a huge city, surely there's a shop we can take Bash's car to." Becky said as she wrapped her arms around Zeke's waist. "Would a kiss make you feel better?" she asked.

Zeke smiled and scoffed; his eyes swept down at Becky whose height was just right below his shoulder. He swooped down and gave her a deep kiss and everyone's groans of exasperation became their theme song.

"Baby you always make me feel better." Zeke told Becky as they ended the kiss with a loud smack. Becky's whole face was flushed with the color of a red tomato.

"Zeze, seriously?" Bash said as he placed his hands on his hips. "Can you help us out here instead of always making out with Becky? The two of you are so useless."

I hadn't gone out of the front seat but I saw Ezekiel's body turned stiff and his cool demeanor suddenly shifted. He faced Bash who was busy swiping at his phone, trying to search the net for some place he could take his car for a check.

"Oh right! How can we be so stupid?! We can call Nic-"

Bash wasn't able to finish his sentence as Zeke's fist smashed on the left side of his face, which stunned him in the process.

Bash staggered and almost lost his footing were it not for the truck that saved his fall.

He spat what looked like bits of blood and cracked his neck as he stood straight. There was a rage in his eyes that I had never seen before and then he charged at Zeke with a taste of his own medicine.

Suzy shrieked as the two guys punched and grabbed at each other. "Guys what the actual fuck are you doing?!"

"Holy shit, stop it you two!" Ali's outlined eyes widened in disbelief.

Now that was a new term. There is nothing holy about shit. Fuck? What does that even mean?

The commotion shocked everyone. People that were standing by the corner of the street that we had parked the truck stopped momentarily to observe.

"Wow! Live action film!" someone mockingly shouted from the crowd and he pulled out his phone to take videos of the chaos. The girls couldn't break Zeke and Bash apart and Becky was crying for them to stop.

Honestly, I was kind of enjoying the show and rooted for Zeke to win. Ezekiel was shorter by a few inches compared to Bash's six-footer height, but it was clear as daylight that he dominated the fistfight.

The air was humid and the sun blazed above us.

Perhaps the weather was also one of the reasons the two were so hot-headed.

"YOU IDIOTS!" a loud and deep-toned voice boomed from behind. I turned around and saw Levi rush towards Bash and Zeke.

When the car had stopped, we had to push it to the sides and Levi had gone off to try and ask around for nearby repair shops while we stayed to watch over the truck.

Levi easily broke the two apart just like how Moses parted the Red Sea. Bash incurred a black eye and a bruise on his cheek while Zeke's nose profusely bled. Ahhh… the fight ended too early.

Levi's big built was made for moments like these, I guess.

"Don't you dare call Becky useless!" Zeke pointed a finger at Bash. His other hand covered his bleeding nose.

"Fuck you, bastard!" Bash spat at him.

I couldn't hold it in and smirked.

Oh, dear lord, one thing hasn't changed from the 1600s. The men are still driven by testosterone when their women were disrespected.

Ahhh… how lucky Becky is to have a lover as protective as Zeke.

It made me bitter as I was reminded with the harsh reality that William hadn't done anything to protect me when I had been disrespected back in Shalem.

I turned my eyes to peek at Bash and my bitterness worsened.

Zeke grabbed Becky and stormed off the opposite direction. Suzy looked back and forth then turned to follow the couple. Ali just shrugged and moved towards me at the front seat.

"Bash, dude. What the fuck were you two thinking?" I heard Levi reprimand Bash. "I left you all for a couple of minutes and when I came back, I get to have an audience with the greatest martial artists of the Lovely Painted Roses."

Bash was irritated and didn't respond to Levi. He just turned and rechecked everything he can, trying for the nth time to search which part of the car had been compromised.

"Dammit!" I heard him curse.

"I had called Nico and asked him if he could assist us. He said he had sent people to check and get your baby girl going." Levi told Bash. "It won't be long after they arrive. Nico is a true life-saver with his money and all."

"As for you remaining ladies," he sighed. "Could you please go get Zeke and company, wherever they are now?"

I suddenly felt apprehensive. I wasn't entirely accustomed yet to all these twist and turns of the city. Shalem was a very simple and small town, nothing could get you lost there unless you were new.

"Oh dear. I'm not exactly sure about that idea." I reasoned out to Levi. I still hadn't come out of the front seat even after all the commotion.

"Don't worry, I know Los Angeles really well. Used to visit my relatives here." Ali reassured me. "We could explore a bit also! It's been years since I last came here. Maybe there's someplace you would like to look at near the vicinity."

I remembered what Juno told me to find the blind seer and that I could find him somewhere lost angels reside. The city was the closest answer I could think of.

If I stay here, I would lose the chance to find him and get this messed up situation I'm in straight.

"Sure! Let's see what we could find out there aside from Zeke and Becky and Suzy."