First Punch ➟ Kellic

T W O

I wake up startled, sitting upright in my chair as my back cracks in eight different places. I don't even remember getting tired. Last I can think of, the sun was setting and I'd yet to see so much as even the neighbours moving. But something had woken me up. I can't remember exactly what, but I knew that much. I peer out the window, looking around. I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Until I do.

A few houses down, there sits two cars. I normally would chalk it down as being normal, but the hydrolics were going off in a strange pattern and then the horn would honk. Another low, purple car pulls onto the street and matches the pattern of the other two. I start to get worried, could it be Bloods?

"Carter!" I yell, getting up and knocking on our shared wall. I don't hear any response, which isn't surprising since it looks like early afternoon and—again, so surprising—gangsters don't really surface until noon at the earliest. I sigh, grabbing my knife from where I'd dropped it on the floor at some point in the night.

"Dimitri!" I yell into the hall. He's usually one of the first ones up and often wakes me for school. I glance out the window one last time and see the cars parked and the engines off. "Oh God..." I nervously mumble. They are at KU with us. They must be.

"DIMITRI! CARTER!" I scream at the top of my lungs, banging on everyone's door until their grumpy tired faces open up.

"What the fuck!?" Carter says, his eyes half open.

"There's three car-fulls of Bloods outside. We gotta get ready for a fight."

"You sure?" Lamar asks. I roll my eyes, again annoyed that no one around here seems to have any faith in me.

"No," I say sarcastically, "I just woke everyone up for fun."

"Shit," Dimitri says, grabbing his gun as everyone grabs theirs. Carter tosses me one of his since I've always been a blade person, most of the Triads are. Knives are quieter, cheaper and take a lot less maintenance. And guns jam, a knife never jams.

"Alright," Dimitri adds, gathering everyone as he states the plan. "Everyone at an exit. Don't shoot first, we don't need anyone blaming us for this. If they so much as step onto the grass, it's open season for those bitches. Fire if you need to, but you all know the motto."

We all chant together, "Silent but deadly," as we make our signature triangle hand signal.

We all split ways, Carter and I sticking together since I trust him the most out of everyone.

We head to the back door, just in case they try and surround us. I stay hidden between the window and door, waiting for it to open as Carter peers through the window, ready to give me a warning signal.

We stand there for what feels like hours and my already sore back is fucking killing me. I'm still standing perfectly still, my eyes locked on Carter who's knelt under the window. My stomach growls and everything inside of me begs to just give up and go back to bed. But then we hear the loud popping that I know all too well.

"Go go go!" someone at the front of the house shouts. I look at Carter with wide eyes, hating these violent scraps that're unavoidable when in a gang. He puts a finger to his lips and nods towards the window, meaning someone's coming. Fuck me fuck me, please don't kill me. He points to me and puts up three fingers before making a running motion. He's telling me to run after three shots. Why would he want me to run? Wouldn't I just be more obvious and get popped in a second? I don't really plan on listening, but nod anyway, turning off the safety of his small glock.

Before I can even fully prepare myself, the door bursts open. Caught off guard, I don't react right away but once Carter's gun goes off I snap back into it. The first guy who comes in, Carter hit with his first shot. Another one comes in immediately after as though nothing had happened. I don't hesitate, pulling the trigger and hitting him in the arm. He falls to the ground with a yell and I finish him off by sending my knife through his heart. Normally I'd feel pretty bad about taking someone's life, but this is self defense. In this world it's kill or be killed.