The Herd

Chapter 15

P.O.V.: Antonio
     I pushed my forearm into the front of Ron's throat as he held his against mine. He pushed me hard against the pavement as an uncomfortable rock dug into my back. I wrapped my legs around his waist and rolled over as hard as I could. I manage to get on top and started to punch him in the face. He caught my fist and slammed his palm into my nose. I grunted and stuttered backwards, letting him get up. In a sudden rush of frustrated wrestling, he slammed my back against the truck.
      Damien wasn't having any luck either. Curt was just whipping his fists across Damien's face left and right. His bow was a few feet away and his arrows were scattered across the ground. Dazed, Damien allowed Curt to stand up as he laid on the ground. Curt walked over to his head and lifted his foot, but as he jerked it downwards Damien caught it in his hand and tripped him, making him fall to the ground. They both stood up as quickly as they could. Damien grabbed Curt by the shirt and whipped him around, slamming him against the truck making a loud clang.
     Damien was choking Curt with both hands but someone came up from behind and knocked the back of a rifle against his head. His vision became blurry as he got dizzy and disorientated. Curt took that moment to grab the back of his head and slam Damien's forehead into the metal of Ben's truck. He groaned and fell to his knees, struggling to stay awake.
     The woman that knocked the back of his head looked at me as Curt pushed Damien to the ground with his foot. She wore a black leather jacket, and a gray hoodie underneath, its hood shadowing her face. Her T-shirt underneath read: "Sorry, you're dead." and her blue jeans were torn at the knees and some other places. Her fingerless gloved hands gripped the rifle and the numerous bracelets jingled on her wrists. Her black convers were dirty and ripped. She scoffed as she took off the hood. I scoffed as well when I saw Ashley Hakakā's face.
Dammit. I thought. She was the driver of the truck, and she came from behind. She was flanking us the whole time. We would've been fucked either way.
She held up her gun and jerked it towards my face but I narrowly caught it in the palm of my hand. She rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Won't you make this easy for yourself? We've already won." She said.
"Pht." I spit on the ground next to her feet. "We Nerds don't make things easy..."
Ron pulled at me and then slammed me against the truck again.
"Ashley." Curt said. "Go get the car ready please."
She nodded and ran off to the semi.
Three guys came from around the truck and stood waiting for orders. Curt motioned to Damien and one of them picked him up by his hair making him shout and wince in pain. The man then slammed him against the truck beside me, and held his arm against his throat as his other hand gripped his shirt. Damien pushed back, but the man had him pinned.
Ron looked at one of the guys and told him to come. He told him to hold me as he let go. I took that moment to surge forwards and strike the man across the face and punch Ron in the nose as well. Curt swiftly cracked me across the face, punched me in the gut, and then kicked behind my knee making me fall coughing.
The other guy then picked me up and pushed me against the truck same as Damien, only in a different position.
Curt dusted off some dirt from his pants and then patted his palms together. I heard a car behind me and turned around to see a mustang reverse out from the back of the semi. How'd they even fit that car and three dozen people in there? It was a semi-truck, not a train.
"Okay." Curt said. "So here's what's going to happen. We are going to take you two, like you were planning on taking us." He said coldly. His tone had a tinge of mischief and revenge in it. "Then, then there, we will interrogate you with as much cruelty as I'm sure y'all were planning to do as well. We will find out where you live. We will get there. And your friends will all die. Got it?"
I rolled my eyes and smiled. "Please." I said. "You really think we'll talk?"
"Oh, you'll talk." Ron said.
"I wouldn't be too sure.." Damien growled.
The two of them, plus that other guy who came over, looked at us with fiery tension. They hated us. For what reason? We had no idea. We gave them less reasons to hate us then they gave us to hate them. Other than just to show that we're better.
Just then, shouting came from behind us. Their men shouted orders and curse words as the gunfire roared to life again. A man came over gasping, trying to catch his breath.
"Sir." He said. "There's a green car driving straight our way."
     "Shit." Curt growled.
     That didn't make sense. Sure, it meant James was almost here, but they wouldn't shoot so panically at a car so far away. They could have been shooting at Noah, but I hadn't heard any sniper shots.
     The man went back behind the truck and out of my view. Curt looked like he was about to say something but something to our right caught his attention. He cursed and tapped Ron on the shoulder.
     "Dude. It's time to go." He said.
     "What about them?" Ron said, gesturing to Damien and I.
     "No time, lets go!" He said with some fear in his voice. They both ran off but but before he completely ran out of my sight, he shouted at the other guy standing there. "Kill them."
     He nodded in response. Damien and I shook at out captures but they wouldn't budge. We watched as the man pulled out a pistol from his belt.
     "No!" I shouted as he pointed straight at Damien's head.
     He was about to pull the trigger when a knife planted itself in his throat. He still pulled the trigger, but he missed Damien by a long shot. Then another throwing knife lodged itself into the mans forehead. We watched in shock as he fell to the ground, but neither of our captures noticed, they were too focused on us as they growled in our faces.
     From my right, I watched the man holding Damien get pulled straight off as Kāpena appeared behind them. He quickly reached his left arm over to me between Damien and the other guy, and stabbed the blade of his curved trench knife into the back of my captures head. Kap pulled it free as he pushed back the other guy. The man in front of me fell to the ground lifeless. With a swift swing, Kap cut the other guy's throat out, but the momentum caused Kap to stumble and fall over with a frustrated growl.
     The whole left side of Kap's face was bloody and his eye was closed because of it. His left arm was badly bruised and his right arm had a nasty gash in it with blood running down the rest of his forearm. His green flannel was torn and bloody along with his undershirt and pants. He pushed his fists, with his knives in both hands, against the pavement and lifted himself up to all fours with an angry grunt.

***Instead of saying "King Cobra" with a symbol of a snake, Kap's knives actually say "Alpha Wolf" with a wolf.***

     I crouched down and held out my hand. "Dude, are you okay?"
     With a shout of anger and pain, Kap pushed off the ground and ran forwards, limping.
     "Kap!" I shouted.
     I watched as he shoulder bashed a man onto the ground and then stabbed him in his throat. The car that pulled out of the truck was now reversing and getting ready to speed off. Kap was after the Jocks.
     He stood back up and started running but the car burned rubber and jerked forwards before he could reach. With a cry of anger Kap pulled a knife from his back pocket and threw it at them, stabbing into the back window, but didn't make it much farther. Kap continued to run after them but tripped and fell to his knees.
     The last of the Jocks' men were killed off by Noah in the back and the last guy was slammed into the semi-truck by James and his car.
     Damien walked over to Kap as he limped through the battle field. "Kap, you good dude?" He placed his hand on his shoulder. Kap smacked it off angrily, accidentally cutting Damien's hand with his knife but he continued to walk without a care.
     We continued to rush after Kap as he made his way to his crashed car. Sure, it was totaled, but that was no reason to be such an angry asshole. I was about to confront him about it until I saw what he was really upset about.
     In the building they crashed in, and beside his car, Ben was holding his hands to a bleeding wound on Cameron's shoulder. Ben looked alright, with a single cut on his forehead, but Cam was completely unconscious. That would make Kap angry, but not as much as the rest of us. I only realized the problem when I saw Kahu laying motionless on a bed of concrete. He was breathing... but it didn't look good.
     Noah and James came up from outside the building and James gasped as he saw the scene.
     "Ben," Noah said. "Take Cameron to James car. Kap, take Kahu as well. He'll take you guys straight to the house while we take care of things here."
     Ben nodded in agreement as he lifted Cameron off the ground. James went around to help him out. Kap just fell to his knees wordless as he slid his knives off his fingers and laid them on the ground. He then carefully slid his arms under his injured companion's body and lifted him up off the ground.
     As they walked past me I caught a glimpse of a tear running down Kap's face. I decided to say nothing and just watch as the three of them carried our friends to James' car.
     I turned around and looked at Damien and Noah. None of us said anything. We just stood there in silence for a whole minute.
     Finally, Noah leaned down and picked up Kap's knives. He looked at the car an sighed. It was on its right side, leaning against a half broken brick wall. He stepped over the debris around his feet and sighed.
     "There's a chain in Ben's truck." He said. "You two get Kap's car on its wheeled and I'll drive over the truck. We'll tow it home."
     "Right." Damien and I said in unison.
     Noah walks away and Damien and I looked at each other. We both knew this was a major loss. It was bigger than the Exterminator. Even though there was three dozen dead Jocks outside, we took a huge emotional hit. If Cameron of Kahu didn't make it...
     We decided not to say anything and pushed the car together.