" last night "

Chapter 1

     Coming to terms with defeat was one thing, but seeing your comrades completely and utterly obliterated in front of you was entirely different. Shouts indicating retreat rang out, but those that it applied to were either dead, dying, or already running. The commanding officer shouting the orders had been kicked to the ground and nearly had a cleaver shoved into his stomach, but he rolled over just in time. Many of the men in his squad were not as lucky.
     To the guards' horror, gangsters were actually much better fighters than they anticipated. Blades clashed, shots fired, bottles shattered, and flesh tore. The fight was only illuminated by the occasional flashes of lightning, and the only thing that drowned out the shouts were the deafening cracks of thunder. One of the gangsters had loosened an explosive bottle from his belt and chucked it at a group of three guards like a grenade, the officer catching the main brunt of the explosion. It didn't collide with any of the guards, but the flames from the explosion was the worst for him. His screams were the loudest, but luckily it was put out by the rain eventually. The burns were still clearly severe, though. Once he hit the ground, he didn't move for a while.
     At last the remaining Watch Guards were struck down, either dead or too injured to move much. The Bottle Street Gang sheathed their weapons and left them all to die.

*

     He stayed as still as possible. Didn't dare move a muscle until all of the thugs had vacated the alleyway. The pain was nearly unbearable, but someone else (one of the only people he cared about anymore) was bleeding to death, and that was more unbearable. He jumped up as soon as the last Bottle Street thug left and leapt to the other man's side, blood pouring from a wound in his stomach. Adrenaline coursing through his body, the wounded officer assessed the situation as best as he could, but his mind was racing far too quickly.
     The officer ripped off his coat. His vision was blurry, but the rapidly spreading red stain was as clear as day. The dying guard stared bleakly at the the other man.
     "Sir," he wheezed out. "Please..." He sputtered up blood. "Please just leave."
    The officer's hardened gaze didn't leave the dying man. "Don't...don't you f-fucking tell me to leave," he managed to say, pressing his coat to the guard's wound. "You..." He choked back tears. "You stupid son of a bitch, don't die. Please don't die."
     The blood wasn't stopping, and the guard was growing paler. Every word he uttered seemed to demand every ounce of energy he had left.
     The officer jolted slightly when he felt the dying man grasp his arm. "Darion," he said, "Don't...bother, I'm going to die. I-it's okay, just...leave, get somewhere else. Get those burns treated. I don't want you to die either, if it can be helped."
    The officer, Darion, gritted his teeth. "You're not going to fucking die, dammit! You're my friend, I'm not going to..." The tears were blurring his vision even more than the blood streaming down his face. "I'm not going to let you die. You're not going to die, I swear by the Void, Dylan."
    Dylan laughed bitterly and then coughed. "You're making...a promise you can't keep." He paused to catch his breath. "If Matt managed to escape this mess, tell him he owes me. If not..." His head lolled to one side slightly. He could barely keep his eyes open. "I'll tell him myself." Dylan's shallow breathing slowly came to a halt. His hand eventually fell away from Darion's arm, all his muscles were limp. His eyes, half closed, were glazed over and turned up to the sky. The life had left his eyes.
     Pained sobbing was the only thing audible from the alley. Curious enough to hear anything other than thugs fighting, but hearing weeping was even stranger. It sounded strange in Darion's ears, his own crying. But he couldn't stop himself. He just witnessed his closest friend dying. Hell, he witnessed a good portion of his entire squad dying. Not surprising that it took a toll on him. He wept quietly. And didn't stop. Not even when he heard the footsteps of another being behind him.