Spitfire

Chapter 1

I slid into a dimly lit alley trying to avoid the atrocity that was happening across the street. A crime I never wished to witness and prayed to god that it would soon be over. Something quickly flashed across my field of view and startled me to the point where I started to shake in fear. The unknown from what else may have been lurking in the mounds of boxes, trash cans, and old furniture littering the alley caused the fear to escalate. A meow and a hiss told me it was just a stupid street cat, which made me feel like an idiot for having been so scared. I was suddenly plunged into darkness when the street light flickered and burned out. Moments later the girl screamed sending fire through my eardrums, the sound becoming forever burned into my brain. Two gunshots in quick succession silenced the girl, and probably ended her life. At least she wouldn't have to live with that monster on her back for the rest of time, I certainly knew what that was like.

It had been 6 months since I had found refuge here and yet the evil that plagued this place still terrified me. Growing up in a brutal household and a rough neighborhood was one thing, but the violence in a crime-ridden city was incomparable to that; it wasn't just scary, it was frightening. I knew that the city wasn't truly safer than where I grew up,yet somehow I felt less out of place, and ultimately safer here, than the place I ran from.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted two shadows that loomed in the distance and relaxed as I realized who it was, TrenchCoat and Shorty. They were my,for lack of a better word, guardians. They followed me practically everywhere and protected me from getting hurt or killed numerous times. Even though I had learned to get used to them, the abruptness of their presence still startled me at times. Once I had gotten farther into the now pitch black alley a commotion of sorts inside one of the buildings snapped me back to my senses.

It was probably a stupid idea, but my curiosity got the best of me, so I ran up the fire exit and slowly opened up the door, cringing as it creaked. It took me by surprise when I saw a fight going on in a cage of sorts. Instead of leaving, like my first instincts told me too,I looked on with interest. Guns and weapons had a tendency to scare me, but fist fights weren't as bad since I witnessed those every day in my old neighborhood. Suddenly there was a hand on my shoulder and I winced at the contact when I heard a somewhat familiar voice.

"It's the Underground." I turned my head to come face to face with Shorty, I shrugged his hand off gently.

"Underground?" he smirked with a creepy twinkle in his eye. I gulped gently lowering my stormy blue eyes to avoid his.

"Yes, an organization for street fighters."

"Why do they have an organization?" I turned back to look at the fight as I spoke.

"Why do you ask so many questions?" I crossed my arms and glanced back at him before he continued.

"It keeps most of them out of trouble and it's easier to keep track of the fights that happen, kind of like MMA, but not. That and they can get paid a few thousand dollars a fight, if they win."

My mouth dropped open "You could make a living off of this." I trailed off at the end going into silence as the gears turned in my head.

He chuckled quietly and closed my mouth "Some actually do, those ones normally don't have family or abandoned them a long while back. Otherwise it normally goes toward supporting their family. There are a lot of teens in here who are just trying to make ends meet."

It hit me then that this must be where Devil fought.

"Wait, the same Underground that Devil has mentioned? The place he fights?" I turned to look up at Shorty, his burly frame towering a good 8 inches over my 4 foot 3 inch slight stature, and he nodded. There were a few legendary street fighters that roamed the black market I worked in. I had heard of this before, but didn't know much about it, until now. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as it dawned on me that I had finally found the fabled Underground. It was scary, yet exciting, a cheer went through the crowd and I noticed I was holding my breath so I let it go and turned to watch the fight. One fighter had a red paint stripe on his arm, and the other had blue.