Chapter 9: One Last Fight

Kid and Michelle's journey draws to a close.

“I've only been with the Angels for about a week now,” Kid started, staring at puddle covered ground. “Vegas, our leader, wanted to be heard. He figured if we took out Kiway, we'd be on the top of the map.”

“Vegas, huh? Sounds kinda cheesy,” Michelle snickered.

“Yeah, well he was born in Vegas. He's not really the most creative. Then again, I call myself Kid, so what do I know?”

“Speaking of which, what is your real name?”

“Another day. Anyway, no one volunteered, so I did. I didn't care about what rank the gangs were, I still don't, but if I were to do it, they'd be relying on me. For once in my crappy existence, I'd be needed, as pathetic as that sounds.”

“That's not pathetic, everyone feels like that at some point, Kid.”

“I think that's partly why I let you come with me, but, um, they gave me a gun, and dropped me off a block from The Harbingers' turf. When I made it to their hideout, I saw that Kiway was outside, alone, so I made my move. As I was coming up behind him, I guess he heard me, because he turned around. His face, it was calm. He didn't even care that I had a gun pointed at him. He just walked up to me and put his hands on my shoulders. 'What brings you here, young, wingless Angel?' he asked, smiling.

“I didn't even know Kiway knew The Angels existed, few people did until tonight. I couldn't speak. I was shaking. I suddenly realized I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I've never killed anybody, and I definitely didn't want to start for some recognition that I don't give a damn about. He placed a hand on mine, lowering the gun. 'You're too young to be mixed up in this lifestyle. What do you think killing me would accomplish?' he whispered.

“All I could manage was a simple shrug. 'I'm going to give you a chance no one gave me, child. Get out of here. Go home, go to school, do something with your life. You can be something someone can be proud of.'

“It was hard not to listen to him. The way he talked, his voice, like he was born to be a prophet. He was in the process of telling me that The Angels would be dealt with when a gunshot rang through the air behind me. I ducked and turned towards it, but didn't see anything. When I looked back at Kiway, he dropped to his knees, his head and face covered in blood. He stared at me, and all I could do was watch the life fade from his eyes before he fell over. Just like that, he was dead. Immediately, a group of Harbingers showed up, saw the gun in my hand, and I took off, dropping it in the process. Bumped into you not long after.”

Michelle's eyes were wide. “Wow. Why didn't you run back to where your guys were?”

“I couldn't make my way back there. I didn't really know my way around there too well.”

“Why didn't the Angels come looking for you? It couldn't have been too hard to find you in a car.”

“To be honest, I'm pretty sure as soon as they dropped me off, they went back home to celebrate. I was just a means to an end. I'm willing to bet they didn't plan on me coming out alive.”

“Well, they're not going to be happy then, are they?”

“I hope not.”

“So, who shot Kiway, then?”

“I don't even have the slightest idea. I've been running so long, I honestly didn't stop to think about it. What I do know is that they wanted me to take the fall for it, or they would have killed me too. It doesn't make sense. I know it couldn't be the Angels, because that would make sending me in there entirely pointless.”

“Yeah. I guess all we can really do about it now is just be glad we made it, and we're almost there,” she said, wearing that giant smile of hers.

Kid looked up at the sky. The sun was just barely peeking through the clouds. The rain had stopped, as if it were finally bored of dousing the city and decided to leave, taking the gray clouds with it. A light thud in the distance stopped them both in their tracks. “What was that,” Michelle asked, stepping forward.

“Not sure. Sounded like it came from further ahead, though.”

A little ways up the road, they saw a brick in the dead center of the asphalt. Wrapped tightly around it was a piece of paper with small rips and tears all over it. Simultaneously, they looked up at the building right in front of them. Fifty stories high and abandoned for years, the skyscraper had come to sport an ominous appearance. Kid picked the brick up and took the paper off as gently as he could, so as to not tarnish it anymore. The handwriting was crude, and almost looked like an illiterate child blindly scribbled on the paper, hoping for the best. “What's it say?” Michelle asked, peering over Kid's shoulder to get a better look.

Kid squinted his eyes, turning it at an angle, which somehow helped decipher it. “'Hey there, Angel, glad to see you're somehow still alive. To be honest, I didn't think you'd even make it out of The Harbingers' turf. Looks like I underestimated ya. Shame on me. Don't worry, though, I won't do that again anytime soon. We need to talk. It's time to end this. Come to the roof, and don't be afraid to bring that girly with ya, either.'”

“Who do you think that is?” Michelle was looking up at the building again.

“I'm guessing it's the one who really killed Kiway. He's right, though. It's time for this stupid game to end.”

“There's no point, we can just keep going. We're almost out of here.”

“If I don't end this here and now, then it'll never be over. If they knew we'd be here when we didn't even know we'd be here, then they'll find us wherever we go.”

Michelle sat there for a few seconds. “Fine, let's do it,” she finally said, heading towards the entrance.

Kid grabbed her arm, pulling her back. “No, I'm not letting you go up there with me. Whoever he is, there's no doubt he's got backup. I'm not bringing you into an ambush with me.”

“If you're expecting an ambush, then why even bother going up there?”

“You know why. Now go home. This is something I have to do alone.”

“No, I'm not doing that,” she got right in his face. “We made it this far together, we're ending this thing together.”

After a few minutes of staring into her eyes, he scoffed. “You're too dramatic for your own good. Fine.”

And just like that, they made their way into the building.

The inside looked like an apocalypse had come. Chairs and newspapers were strewn all over the dirty floor. Lewd graffiti and drawings covered the walls, surrounded by holes most likely caused by fists, or people's heads knowing the way things went around that part of the city. The elevator was on the far wall behind what used to be a secretary's desk. “You think this thing still works?”

“I'm sure he found some way to make it operable. I hope so, anyway. It'd be a shame if it gave out halfway up.”

Michelle pushed the button, which instantly emitted a dim light. In seconds the elevator doors slowly slid open. The light inside of the elevator flickered like a strobe light. “Not prone to seizures, are ya?” she said.

Kid let out a worried chuckle, and stepped into the shaky machine. With a heavy sigh, he pressed the button for the top floor. The doors slid shut, slower than he thought possible, and then they were moving. A nervousness embedded itself in the pit of Kid's stomach. He didn't know exactly what to expect, except the possibility of getting jumped and beaten to death. He was also ticked at himself for caving so easily with Michelle. If she died because of him... well, he couldn't even imagine it. Michelle propped herself against the wall, while Kid forced himself to lean against the other wall, taking silent, calming breaths.

Every time either of them started to say something, they stopped themselves. This was it. They were either going to die of the roof of a random skyscraper, or they were going to walk out alive, badly bruised and broken, but alive. With just five floors left, Michelle scooted over to Kid. She grabbed his hand, and he could feel her shaking. He never noticed how small her hands were. The elevator stopped and shook a little more than what was probably safe as the doors opened. Kid gave her hand a gentle, reassuring squeeze, before stepping out of the potential deathtrap.

The fiftieth floor consisted of nothing but a long hall and offices on either side all the way down. “Where are the stairs to the roof?” Michelle asked, looking up and down the hall for a sign.

“Gotta be around her somewhere,” he replied, moving forward.

Almost directly in the middle of the hallway was the roof access door. It was already slightly open. Kid cautiously opened it the rest of the way, expecting someone to jump out at him. When no one did, they walked into a small room which contained nothing but a staircase that led up to the roof. Without another word, they headed up the stairs, which there were just enough of to make their legs even more tired than they already were.

Finally, they were at the door that opened to the rooftop. “You ready?” Michelle asked, eying the door.

“As I'll ever be. Let's rock.”

Kid let go of Michelle's hand, and slowly turned the knob, trying to listen for movement on the roof as he opened the door. The sun was shining brightly through the clouds now. The wind was gentle now. All Kid could think was that at least it was a good day to die. They walked to the center of the gravelly roof. It appeared to be empty. Kid could see his entire broken and poor neighborhood from where they stood. Michelle opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a creepy laugh. They turned to see a scrawny guy emerging from behind the roof's door.

The guy was at least in his mid to late twenties. His hair was long, slightly curly. A couple of black and red headbands were wrapped around his small head. His face resembled a rat mixed with a ferret. His outfit was entirely black. Black leather vest over a slightly less black thin hoodie. Kid's eyes widened when he saw the name that was slapped onto the vest. The Wretched. “We finally meet face to face,” the guy said, smiling with sharp, yellow teeth.

“Why'd you do it? Why'd you kill Kiway?”

“What, you think I like doin' things like that?” he said, his smile growing even bigger and nastier. “Why do you think? The Wretched deserve to be number one of the food chain, not those clowns.”

“If you've been following us this whole time, why didn't you just take me out when I didn't see it coming?”

“I've been busy takin' measures to secure my future place at the top. I've had my guys trailin' ya. Reportin' every move you made. I want you all to myself.”

“What exactly was your plan?”

Just then, about eighteen guys dressed like the walking ferret came through the door, all carrying bats and chains and whatever else would do some damage. “Yo, Ezra, can we waste 'em now?” one of the guys said, grinning like his leader.

“No, you idiots stay back. This is my fight,” his attention shifted again to Kid. “Now back to your stupid question. I heard an Angel was gonna take out Kiway, so I decided I'd beat 'em to the punch and do it first, mainly because I enjoy killin' a little more than most people. I'd let the war you would have started break out, and while the Harbingers had all their attention on the Angels, The Wretched would swoop in and take those idiots out. Completely blindside 'em.”

Kid almost couldn't believe that everything he'd went through all night was because of this power hungry gang leader that was standing before him. Just looking at him made him sick and furious. “I can't lie,” Ezra said, smiling. “I didn't expect ya to actually make it outta there alive.”

“Yeah, well me either, but unfortunately for you, I did,” Kid retorted, walking over to Ezra.

That was all it took. In no time, Kid was right in front of Ezra. Ezra was at least three feet taller than Kid, but that didn't even begin to deter him. One of the Wretched screamed 'go!' at the top of their lungs, and the fight was on. Ezra was quicker than Kid thought, and caught him with a left and right jab to the face. Kid stumbled back, but Ezra was already on him before he could recover. He put Kid in a tight headlock and threw him to the ground, sending him tumbling a few times on the gravel. “Is that all you got?” Ezra screamed, laughing maniacally. “You're nothin'! How the hell did you even make it this far?”

Kid was struggling to get up as Ezra slowly made his way over to him, reveling in the cheers of his fellow Wretched. Ezra slammed his foot firmly in the middle of Kid's back, forcing the air out of his body. “Kid!” Michelle screamed, her scared voice rang out louder than the wild noises the crowd were making.

Ezra took his foot off, turning towards her. “Shut up b--”

Kid used that moment to jump up and tackle him from behind, bringing them both down to the ground. He grabbed a fistful of Ezra's sweaty hair and started slamming his face into the gravel repeatedly, as hard and fast as he could. One of the Wretched sprinted over and kicked Kid off. Before the gang member could follow up his kick with a few punches, Ezra jumped to his feet and grabbed the guy by his face. “When I say this is my fight, I MEAN THAT THIS IS MY FIGHT!” he bellowed, kneeing the Wretched in the stomach before throwing him down.

Kid was on his feet again, and bracing himself for another attack. “That was slick,” Ezra said, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. “Looks like I gotta pay more attention to ya.”

Kid's head was throbbing, and his hands were stinging from the cuts the gravel had given him. “You gonna talk all day, or are we gonna finish this, Ezra?”

Ezra's head cocked to the side. A smile slowly spread across his bloody face. “After you,” he said, spitting.

Kid charged at him, ready to throw everything he had left into it. If he was to die, then so be it, but Ezra was sure as hell going to remember this day for the rest of his pitiful life. Kid jumped and landed a punch on Ezra's right eye. After laughing at the hit, Ezra kicked him in the chest, sending him back to the ground. As Kid tried to stand, his foot slipped a little from the small rocks everywhere, which caused the brightest light bulb in the world to go off in his head.

When he was on his feet again, he started backing up towards the edge of the rooftop. Ezra just started laughing even harder. “Where ya goin', Angel? You know you don't got no wings!”

Kid stopped and got into a running position. “Are you kiddin' me?” Ezra screamed. “You're gonna come at me again?! Maybe I was wrong about ya bein' a threat! Seems to me like ya got brain problems!”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Before he knew it, he was charging once more. When Kid was close enough, Ezra swung his left fist, throwing all of his strength into it. One step ahead, Kid, using what momentum he had gained from the short sprint, dropped to his knees and slid on the tiny sharp rocks, right under Ezra's fist.

Giving Ezra no time to react, he instantly leaped up and pounced on his back, wrapping his arms around his neck. Ezra was thrashing around, but Kid's grip was too tight. Kid landed as many knees and kidney punches as he could. None of the Wretched knew what to do. They didn't want to risk getting wrecked by Ezra, so they just stood there, looking at one another.

When their leader limply dropped to the ground, struggling to breathe, the Wretched audience finally moved in on the pair, prepared to take whatever measures were needed to pry Kid away.

“BACK OFF!” a loud voice echoed through the air behind them.

Kid looked towards the door to see an army of Harbingers approaching them. Each one clasping much more brutal versions of the weapons the Wretched had. The Wretched were all terrified, backing up as far as possible. Kid let go of Ezra's neck and stood up. He was exhausted. He didn't have anymore fight or flight left in him. “You want me? Here I am, I'm through runnin',” he said, his arms outstretched.

“Relax, Angel,” Kiway's apparent replacement said. “It's not you we want,” his eyes shifted to the barely-recovering Ezra. “We caught one of his punks on his way here, and before we even said anything to him, he spilled his guts, told us everything.”

Kid looked back at Ezra's scared, pathetic face, and couldn't help but be ecstatic for whatever was going to happen to him. “Sorry about what you been through,” the Harbinger said. “But you're pretty good, Angel, I'll give you that.”

“No. I'm the best,” he said, making his way over to Michelle.

“Well, get out of here. We can handle the rest,” he said, his eyes still fixed on Ezra.

Kid grabbed Michelle's hand, and headed for the door. “Let's get you where you belong.”

“Wait,” Ezra's eyes filled with tears as The Harbingers surrounded him and his gang. “I didn't do it! It was him! He did it! Wait! No! Stop! Please!”

The sounds Kid and Michelle heard as they left the roof were almost unbearable. Almost.

Walking out of the building, they couldn't help but laugh like children. They made it. They were alive. “Pretty smart moves up there, Kid. By the way, how're those knees doing?”

“Oh, yeah, they're on fire, but I think I'll live,” he smiled.

***

Not long after, they were finally in front of Michelle's boyfriend's house. “This is it,” she said, sighing.

“Alright then, I guess that's that,” he replied, not really knowing what to say.

“Wait, your hoodie,” she said, starting to take it off.

“You keep it. I don't need it where I'm going. Just don't let anyone see you wearing it, I don't want you getting caught in a gang war, or something,” he chuckled.

“After what I've been through, I don't think there's anyone out that that can take me,” she said, crossing her arms and doing her best Kid stance.

“You might be right.”

“Do you think we'll ever see each other again?” her tone was suddenly serious.

Kid had kind of been wondering the same thing. After all, she was, as weird as it was to admit, his only real friend, if she could be called that. “I'm sure there's still a whole lot of trouble out there for us to get into.”

“That doesn't really answer my question, ya know.”

“Maybe one day. Now go. Put on some makeup, fix your hair, do whatever it is you do.”

Without warning, she hugged him, squeezing as tight as she could. “Since I won't be around I can't keep you from getting yourself killed, so be extra careful out there, okay?”

“I will. Michelle, you have to let go.”

“Sorry,” she jumped back. “I'll see ya when I see ya.”

She walked up to the front door and knocked. The door opened almost instantly. She turned back and gave a small wave before walking in. “Bye,” he whispered as the door shut behind her.

And just like that, she was gone.

***

Thirty minutes later, Kid, bruised and bloody, was standing in front of his small house, more excited than he thought possible. “Hello, you beautiful piece of crap,” he said as he climbed the porch stairs.

He was ready to start a new, better life, away from the violence, and the gangs, and the creeps that plagued his neighborhood. But most of all, he was ready to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Author's Note

The final chapter. I hope all those who read each chapter enjoyed the story. It took me way too long to finish, but I finally did. As usual, any feedback of any kind is greatly appreciated, as it helps me improve, and lets me know my story has possibly entertained, or even wasted your time. (hopefully that's not the case though) :D