The Peacekeepers

Part One; Chapter Ten

Tresspassing

It was finally harvest time. Alice and I had our buckets filling them up with tomatoes, corn, squash, cucumber and the blackberries growing wild in our yard.

"Hey Drake watch this!" I stop picking the vegetables to look at another one of Alice's antics. She takes a bite out of a juicy, ripe tomato and red juice runs down her face. She started making zombie noises and had her arms extended.

"I'm gonna eat you bubbie!" She exclaims.

I set down my bucket and smile. "Oh is that right?" She smiles and starts chasing after me.

"I'm gonna eat you! Come back you steak!" She started yelling in her high pitched, pipsqueak voice. We're both laughing. I stop suddenly, sidestep and pick her up by her ankle and hang her upside down. I raise an eyebrow at her. She's still giggling. "Ya still gonna eat me shorty?"

She smiles and nods her head yes. I carried her to the blackberry bush and picked one for her. "Here, eat this munchkin." She opened her mouth making an "ahh" noise. I set the tart berry in her mouth and she chomped it. She growled again and we both started laughing. However this moment of laughter and cheerfulness didn't last long.

"Ain't that just so cute?"

I immediately set Alice down and my face went serious quick. Four guys had hopped the fence into our yard. I tried staying calm but seeing their bandanas erased any sense of calm I had. Half red, half black with a cracked, bloody crown between the red and black. That symbol had been described to me before. I had seen that flag flown several times in the distance as well.They were Fallen Kings. My heart began to race. I was nervous, scared even. Not for me but for Alice who I swore to that I would never kill again.

I know how they work. If I fight them and win they'll come back in force and kill us. If I lose they'll still kill us and if we do what they say we'll wind up dead one way or another. I tried looking calm when I spoke to them.

"Can I help you guys with something? If not, you're welcome to pass through and be on your way. I don't want any trouble."

One of them gave me a shit eating grin. "What make you think we gon' start something?" He cackled a little. I always hated that open mouthed cackle they have. Sounds like they're intentionally choking on their own tongue.

"Because you're gangbangers. That's enough for me bud. I don't want any trouble, just please be on your way."

He swaggered over to me and got nose to nose with me. He smelled horrible. Like bad food and old tobacco. After he took his first step toward me I knew how this was going to end. This is gonna hurt us both pretty bad.

"An' what're you gonna do about it? Whatcha gonna do if we don't leave? Da fuck you gonna do homie?!" He started getting louder and louder. "You think you tough? What you think you hard bitch? Do something 'bout it! Do some-"

I headbutted him as hard as I could to shut his fat ugly mouth. I had no clue he would needlessly react like this. I didn't want this to escalate. I'm sorry Alice. I'm so sorry.

He hit the ground and screamed in pain. The rest of them rushed in and tried to surround me. This wasn't supposed to happen like this. This was a harbinger of trials and sufferings to come. I shoved Alice aside with all my might and prepared for the brawl that was about to occur.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a fist headed towards my face. I swayed out of the way and it hit the other guy running at me from my other side. It hit him in the jaw and snapped his head back. He fell to the ground unconscious. The same guy took another swing at me. I covered up and kicked him in the hip. He fell back a bit and I caught him in the mouth with a left hook. The force of my hit knocked the teeth out of his head. The last guy attacked me. I slipped around the first two attacks which were a right and a left hook that were slow and sloppy. He threw a right jab at me. I sidestepped and pushed it off course. I grabbed his wrist, kicked the back of his knees out and kicked his arm in the joint breaking it. He squealed in pain and I let him fall to the ground and writhe.

"Breath you little pussy. I didn't even kick you that hard." I said then spat a large collection of phlegm on his face.

The one I headbutted was the only one conscious and without any broken limbs. I walked over to him and lifted him up by the neck. "Okay asshole! Who all knows you're here?" I shout. I punched him in the gut so hard it lifts his whole body up near my head. He shouts in pain. "Why are you here?!" I punch him like that a second time.

"Relax buddy. They're not a threat to anyone anymore."

I heard the calm voice behind me say. I wasn't calm though. I was still fired up, running on animal instinct and adrenaline. I threw the guy on the ground and kicked his head to knock him out.

"You with these guys? 'Cuz that was a damn good warm up!" There were three of them. No problem. He raised his hand peacefully at me.

"Calm down friend. We're not Fallen Kings. We've actually been hunting these guys for the last week and a half. They're huge players in the Fallen Kings. Real dangerous men."

I looked at the unconscious losers around me.

"Dangerous? If you say so. Just take 'em and leave. Now."

They started laughing a bit.

"We saw you fighting and I must say, I'm very impressed. We could use someone like you as a Peacekeeper. Good men and fighters are always welcome to join us."

He sticks out his hand for me to shake it.

"Like I said, take these guys and leave. Leave me out of your gangs and bullshit. Don't be back. This is your only warning."

I'll be honest, if it was just me I'd do it in a heartbeat but I have to look after Alice. She's the whole purpose for me living. The only reason I didn't kill myself after mom died. I'd die if anything ever happened to her.

They took their Fallen Kings and left with no hassle. They did leave me with the words "think about it". And I did. For a day. For a week. For a month I thought about it long and hard. It was my every waking thought and every thought when I went to sleep.

This was the hardest decision of my life...