The Peacekeepers

Part One; Chapter Twenty-Five

The Attack

"Hey Sheamas!" The voice of a young adolescent girl called out. "I want you to do me a favor." Alice said to Sheamas.

"Hey, what is it?"

"I gotta know something. Compared to Drake how fast am I?"

Sheamas shrugs his shoulders. "I dunno 'lil girl. Let's see what you've got!"

Alice takes a stance and begins to strike Sheamas. He blocks her well balanced punches and kicks except for one, in which she jumped in the air and hit him in the mouth with enough force to snap his head back. He stumbles then regains his balance and wipes the blood from his lip and chin. He smiles back with blood stained teeth.

"Damn, you're good, kid! Your brother would be so proud of you Alice."

She smiles ear to ear and playfully taps him in the arm with her fist then thanks him. However, this moment of peace came to an abrupt end.

"Fire! Sheamas we need the fire crew! The west apartment building's on fire!" A terrified voice rang out. Sheamas and Alice bolt out and they arrive just in time for Alice to see her home a pyre of flames and smoke. Sheamas immediately starts to bark orders at people, but it appeared that the chaos had only just begun. More screams were heard. Terrible, terrible screams. Alice and Sheamas look to see the origin of the screams and they saw them.

Dozens of corpses lay in front of eleven ghastly looking figures. They were all about the same size except for one, who was much larger and towered over the rest. He held another violently squirming person up by their neck. The sight filled Sheamas with a rage unlike anyone had ever seen before.

"No! My boys! Not my boys!" He shouted, running at full speed at the figures. All the non-fighters in the compound were either watching Sheamas run like a lunatic at these men or helping with pales of water for the fire.

When he had finally arrived at the broken bodies of his Peacekeepers, blank expressions, mouths gaping wide open as if at the moments before their deaths they had felt an incredible sense of terror. Sheamas fought to stay upright and not fall to his knees in anguish and pain. The eleven men started laughing, mocking Sheamas. Sheamas noticed the one defining feature among them all was a tattoo of a red "C" in dark red ink on their right cheeks.

The largest among the men was holding Gideon by the neck. Beaten, bruised and bloody he still struggled to get free, clawing and hitting the large man's arm but it was all in vain. They had only just arrived and dispatched Gideon in mere seconds. The large man tossed Gideon in front of him like a rag doll. Gideon struggled to get up but simply didn't have the strength in his body.

"C'mon you stinking Arab! I'll give you another shot at me! I'll let you keep some of your honor and die fighting!" The large man shouted.

At hearing this, Gideon, with all his might, stood tall against this beast of a man. He takes his stance, looks up and down the inhuman beast. He closes his eyes and scoffs as a last act of defiance. A thin line of blood went down his face from his torn scalp. Sweat poured down his brow. He opens his eyes and looks back at Sheamas. Gideon had finally accepted his inevitable fate.

"Forgive me brother. Just buy Drake some time until he can get here. I will join my family in paradise today." Two tears fell from his eyes. He cracked a smile at Sheamas and Alice "Stay safe my brother." He turns back to his opponent. "Let's do this!" He shouts at the top of his thunderous voice.

"Gideon! Don't!" Sheamas shouts in a last, futile act of desperation. The Irishman's words fall short. They have no meaning to Gideon anymore. Gideon just wanted to save his friends but he knew that it was impossible at this point. He prayed silently for Drake's arrival.