The Peacekeepers

Part Three; Chapter Thirty-Nine

The War Path

I was honestly stunned. I had no clue that they were that brutal. They need punishment. They need to be broken apart. With every mention of their name my urge to kill rises. I promised Alice that I would never kill again. I can't soil her memory like that.

"Sheamas," I say "I... I had no clue that... Damn, I'm so sorry." I wiped some blood off my mouth and spit some more on the carpet. It was then that I realized that the only difference between him and I was that I had nothing at all to lose. There is nothing on Earth more dangerous than that.

I put my hand on Sheamas' shoulder and tell him that I accept my fate. I'm more than likely going to die today.

"Either way this goes Sheamas, this is the last time you'll see me as a Peacekeeper. We've been through a lot, and we've had our differences but I hope you can forgive me. When you call me or any other Peacekeeper, "brother" or "son" I know you mean it and you have indeed been like a brother to me. I can never repay you for all that you have done for me and Alice. By the day's end The Fallen Kings will be punished by my hand. Don't follow me. Goodbye, my friend."

He walked to the door and bent down to get something and came up with a pair of almost new looking steel toed boots and presented them to me. I put them on and they fit perfectly. He gave me directions and told me where their strong points are, drug fields and other bits of useful information. Their leader is located centrally in an old warehouse.

I leave the compound. I'm standing still when the gate closes behind me for the very last time. For the first time in what feels like forever... I'm scared. I'm actually afraid, but I know what must be done. I have to do this.

Their territory is only a few miles walk from Peacekeeper territory. The deeper in I go the darker it seems to get. It's evil here. The broken road is littered with syringes, bones and the occasional half decayed body hung from a streetlight. I saw broken glass galore and unconscious junkies with needles sticking out of their arms laying by curbs, drool running down their faces. I even see a poor dog hung from a streetlight, decaying with flies having a feast on its carcass.

I see people shooting up with rusty needles and young girls and boys, half clothed and dirty faced cowering at my presence, dropping crack pipes and opium. Their small faces covered with filth, scars and bruises, covering their arms and legs and their rags stained with... everything I didn't want to imagine. I never knew evil until today. I thought I understood cruelty at one point... I couldn't have been more wrong. For the first time in my life I saw the effect of pure evil. The product of wolves preying on sheep. No more.

I see people following me with their eyes and whispering to each other.

"Holy shit, he's still alive?"

"I thought the boss killed him!"

"Oh hell nah! I'm outta here, fuck that shit!"

People part from me, some even start running. I recognize some of their scarred faces and deformed limbs from going a round against me. Very wise decision in running. Out of the corner of my eye I see them. Three men approaching me on my right side out from a shack. Bring it on. I stop in my tracks and allow them to approach me. After seeing this carnage and cruelty surrounding me, I need to hit someone.

"You best keep walking!" One of them addressed me. I didn't even look his direction. I kept my eyes straight. He put his hand on me to turn me around and without delay and in a blur of movement I grab his hand, twist it hard and fast. His wrist snaps like a twig. He drops to his knees in pain. I never bat an eye his direction. I release my grip. His friend shouts at me.

"You're dead motherfucker! You're fucking dead!" He takes a swing at me. I duck, twist around, swiftly swipe his feet out from under him, come back up and stomp on his forearm, violently shattering every bone there.

The third one can simply cower as I glare at him. I stomp my foot and he takes off running. I keep walking with one goal in mind: "Kill that Motherfucker".

I run into one of their opium fields and... I'm shocked at what I see. I see men wearing rags, in chains being beaten and forced to labor. I hear a whip crack followed by an anguished scream. No. No more. This will not go on! I pick a brick up and chuck it at one of the guards. It shatters on his head, knocking him off his feet. The slaves and guards alike are completely stunned and all eyes are on me. A guard about to punch a slave stops mid-punch to look at me. I count five men. One has a whip, two have has a machetes and one was unarmed. They charged me. One with a whip tried hitting me with it. I swayed out of it's path, grabbed it and yanked him my direction. He is pulled toward me and I punch him in the face. He flips and slams right on his back.

The two with machetes were closest to me. One swings it at me and I duck out of the way. I pop up, loop the machete wielding arm around my underarm at his joint and snap his arm. I push him aside as the other one lunges at me with his weapon. I kick it off course then bring my other foot up and kick him in the jaw. His head snaps back and he lands face first in the mud. I hear the keys on his side jingle. I need to remember this.

Finally the two unarmed ones get here. I pick up a machete and stab it through the foot of one of them. He squalls in pain until he's shut up by an elbow being swiped across his jaw. The last one takes a swing at me which I block. I hit him consecutively in the ribs and gut. I grab either side of his head and slam it into my knee. He flies back with a shattered nose and bashed front row of teeth.

I walk over to the guy that had the keys and snap them off his belt loop. The men are still dumbfounded by my display of skill and ferocity. I unlock their chains and many of them cry in joy. Only one stops to thank me. I hand him the keys and tell him to free as many people as he comes across.

"Thank you so much for freeing us! I will repay you some day my friend. My name is Johnathan, my brother is the leader of a small group out East. I will not forget you should our paths ever cross."

"Just do this one thing. Burn their fields. Cripple and break them. By today's end The Fallen Kings will be no more. Good luck." I go to a shack and find a full bottle of alcohol of some kind, a dirty rag and an old Zippo lighter that still barely worked. I put the rag in the bottle, soak it and light it. I chuck it into the field and watch the flames spread.

I continue deeper and deeper into their turf. I don't get attacked for a while but I know for dertain that things are gonna heat back up...