Curb your confidence

Zayd's Aunt's place wasn't too far from the school luckily. A medium-length walk allowed him to reach home in about 15-20 minutes if he was really slow, maybe more.

As he walked he came across an alleyway where he saw a group of three people crowded around another person and obscured his vision.

"HEL-MMH!" It was a girl.

Zayd was about to continue walking. Ultimately, he was reminded of his younger sister who he'd not even known that well. The mere thought of her getting into trouble with some thugs caused Zayd's blood to boil.

"Will you shut up already?!" Of the three people, there was a bald guy, a guy with a mohawk and a guy with a hoodie on. The one who spoke was the bald guy.

"Hey dickhead what are you looking at? Piss off! It's none of your business."

"I'm making it my business." Of course, Zayd was not going to back down from a possible confrontation and altercation. Not when he was angry.

A few seconds after saying so, Zayd began to feel light-headed. It started in the front of his head and it spread to the back rapidly.

"Oh fuck off already." The bald man separated from his two pals and walked towards Zayd with an exasperated expression on his face. "This is the third time today god damn."

Throwing a punch at Zayd, the bald man saw his hand miss Zayd's head and it slipped past him instead.

Before his hand could come back to guard, another hand was there and it hit him before he could register what was going on. He remained standing but was stunned for a second and he was hit with a second punch from Zayd's right hand that smashed his nose.

Suddenly, the bald man felt his eyes water and his nose stung. He couldn't breathe through his nose and it felt like it was clogged.

While he was in the midst of confusion, his two buddies started to realise what happened before Zayd threw an uppercut that hit the bald man and caused him to fall awkwardly as he groaned in pain

Zayd didn't pay attention to the girl for now even though he could see her. Instead, he went towards Mohawk man.

Although the alley was rather narrow, it allowed Zayd to get the upper hand on the baldie.

Mohawk man seemed rather confused as his companion had fallen rather quickly. Compared to the bullies at Zayd's school, these men were rather experienced with having baldie test the waters. His impeccable ability to have a supremely punchable nose was strange.

They were not intimidated and instead, Mohawk man and the hoodie hobbit came at once. Zayd was used to fighting two people at once though, it took a little more work usually. However, the narrowness of the alleyway made it even easier to deal with them as they would mess one another up. As long as his enemies came from the same direction, he could deal with them somehow.

For some reason, although the girl had been abandoned by the two men, she remained stuck in a position like a mannequin. She could run away so why did she stay where she was?

Zayd was still focused on the two in front of him. Moving backwards allowed him to dodge their attacks barely. Eventually, he would enter the street and he did not want that as it would make things rather difficult. He stopped moving backwards to dodge all of a sudden and instead countered Mohawk man's attempted punch with a lightning-fast left hook. The Hoodie Hobbit attempted to grab Zayd but instead grabbed thin air as Zayd kneed him from the side.

Kicking the Hoodie Hobbit in his defenceless balls as hard as he could, Zayd caused the man to tremble in pain as he maintained a low grumble. Last but not least, Mohawk man!

Mohawk man was feeling a little intimidated.

Zayd was feeling quite tired from swimming and was glad the encounter was nearly over. 2 of the 3 assailants were incapacitated in some way and the last one was scared.

Suddenly, the Mohawk man's eyes were filled with relief, mere milliseconds later, his face also contorted with pain as his balls were also struck with a kick.

"AAAAGGGGH!! WHY?! WHY MUST YOU HURT ME IN THIS WAY?!"

Hearing footsteps behind him, Zayd turned around.

On the floor a pool of blood gathered where baldie was, baldie wore his black leather jacket and he was still holding his nose. However, he was standing now. Beside him was a man who was wearing a cap that hid his features.

The man with a cap patted baldie on the shoulder. Like a dog when they meet their owner after four seconds apart, baldie smiled happily.

"Boss!"

"I've got this." The cap guy walked towards Zayd with steady steps. Zayd felt some pressure instantly. Zayd's pupils dilated suddenly as this man who was quite tall and lanky looking blocked off the entrance and exit of the alleyway.

Gulping, Zayd didn't feel scared.

Since he was young, Zayd didn't tend to have a flight or fight response. It was usually just not flight but fight. It was strange, his instincts had always led him to do such a thing.

Zayd was still registering the situation when the man quickly assumed a stance of sorts before he showed the signs of a punch. Zayd pre-emptively moved out of the way. However, the punch never came, instead, he felt like he got hit by a car as the man swung his leg under Zayd's arm and hit his ribs with his shin.

Just the force lifted him off his feet.

'Oh shi-' Zayd's thoughts were interrupted by the long legs of the cap guy.

Although the alleyway made it easy to deal with multiple people before, it was terrible right now. He could only move backwards or slightly sideways before he ran out of space.

As he was getting cornered, another kick came out of nowhere, striking his front leg and making him lose his balance as it was swept out from under him.

Zayd was used to fighting, however, that was fighting against people who weren't trained fighters.

Right now, those kicks were extremely worrisome, so much so that with Zayd's inexperience, he forgot punches existed.

In the midst of his leg getting back to position, a punch landed on his right cheek that caused him to hit his head against the alley wall.

The blow dazed him and he couldn't stand up as his legs gave out from under him once more from another leg kick.