Rebels

Ch. 18

Lyla had spoken to Jack through the communicator nearly thirty minutes ago, yet Jack was still contemplating his options. Lyla had taken her brother to just behind the pub, where Luca could set up a visual of Jack's vitals and such. When Lyla had instructed Jack to pick out a fight with someone in the pub, Jack nearly shouted at Lyla through his communicator. He had not wanted to pick a fight with a somewhat innocent man in the pub. He figured he would be killed. He already could barely walk. With all of the men who had been drinking in the bar, he surely was destined for doom.

Lyla claimed she would not let Jack do anything else until he had done this one thing, and after about an hour, Jack finally gave up after he ordered a bottle of rum from the waitress. Once he took a sip, he stood. Scanning the room, he found a man in particular that stood out to Jack. The man was practically harassing two women of which were sitting with the man. As the man reached out to touch one of the young girls' hair, she pulled back, trying to smile to ease the tension. The man then began to get angry. The woman said something that Jack could tell insulted the man, who grasped the girl by her hair.

"Jack, what are you doing?" Lyla asked through the communicator.

Jack uttered beneath his breath, "I'm picking out a fight." Jack limped over to the man and tapped his shoulder. The man let go of the woman's hair and turned, taking another swig of his rum. Just then, Jack swung as hard as he could, his fist connecting with the man's nose. The man fell off of his seat, cradling his face.

Multiple other men in the bar stood, and as they did so, Jack swung at another man, who was much skinnier than the man on the ground of whom was clutching his nose.

Jack's fist this time caught the skinny man at the jaw, and he stumbled back. He spat out blood and advanced towards Jack, who began to panic. The man swung at Jack, who instinctively ducked. Jack then slammed his elbow into the man's gut, having him double over. Taking advantage of this, Jack swung at the man's face. He was then knocked to the ground. Jack turned, finding three more men gaining up on him. Jack swallowed down his fear, and swung at the first man, who dodged Jack's punch. The man grabbed Jack's arm and twisted it behind his back, causing him to wince. Nevertheless, Jack swung at the man with his left arm, connecting with the man's head. The attacker only stumbled a few feet back, then advanced once more. He swung, but Jack quickly dodged his attempt. Jack kicked with his good leg at the man's knee, and he could feel the knee cap shift awkwardly. Jack took this moment as an advantage and grabbed the man's head, slamming it down on the table where Jack's rum lie.

The next man took no hesitation and kicked Jack in his gut, causing him to double over. He lost the ability to breathe for a moment, and he found the man before him eyeing Jack's bandaged leg. Before Jack could react, the man kicked Jack where his wound was, causing him to kneel on his one good leg. Jack shouted as if it would relieve him of his pain. Jack tried not to think of the burning in his leg as he frantically looked around the room, knowing he was about to go down. His eyes laid on his bottle of rum. He grasped it and broke it against the man's head, shards of glass flying everywhere as the man before Jack fell down.

Finally, Jack was met with the last man who felt like fighting against Jack. Jack could tell the man was intoxicated, but nonetheless, the man still swung firmly at Jack, who dodged the attempt. Jack swung at the man's face, his knuckles connecting with the man's mouth. The intoxicated fellow stumbled back, but to Jack's surprise he did not fall. Instead, as blood dripped from his mouth, the man swung at Jack. Jack was too slow this time, for he had not expected the intoxicated man to swing so fast. Jack could feel his jaw snapping out of place as he was knocked backwards, his head hitting the floor.

From behind the pub, Luca ripped the earpiece out from Lyla's ear. "Let me talk." He said, pressing it into his own ear. Luca ignored the stares Lyla was giving him. "Bud, you've got to get up, alright? Can you hear me?"

"What's wrong?" Lyla hissed.

Luca glared at his sister. He showed her the image on his laptop. "I can monitor his brain through the communicator and Jack's movement. His blood pressure's high, and his heart keeps accelerating and slowing." He looked to his sister. "I cannot see much else of what is going on. All I know is that you're a lunatic."

Lyla frowned and took the communicator from Luca. "Jack, can you hear me?"

Jack most certainly could hear both Luca and Lyla. What he did not want to do was to get up. He had suddenly felt all of his energy leave his body, and it took a toll on him. Yet, Jack knew the man who was behind him was not done with Jack. Jack peered over his shoulder and saw the man struggling to step towards Jack. The man took an innocent beer off of a table and gulped it down, just as the man fell over, clearly too intoxicated to fight any longer. Jack wiped the blood from his jaw and stood, the pain in his bad leg reminding him to be cautious. Jack looked around the pub, minding the men who hadn't stood to fight all staring at him with a questionable expression on their faces. Jack only shrugged it away and limped out of the pub. He ripped his communicator out of his ear as he limped to behind the pub, finding Luca and Lyla somewhat stressed about something Jack could not tell.

Lyla removed her earpiece, looking somewhat relieved. "You made it."

Jack saw there was a garbage can with a lid and sat down on top of it, relieving pressure from his leg. He adjusted his jaw, hearing it crack in his own ears. "Might I ask why you are doing this to me?"

Luca stood and closed his laptop. "Would you rather go back to the shooting?"

Jack contemplated this. He did not want to fight any more men, nor get shot again. Yet, Jack did not wish to receive a concussion or even worse from the drunken men. He assumed he could fight through a bullet so long as Luca did not aim for the head. It also made Jack slightly nervous for being out in the open, for he could only hope there were no monitors watching them at that moment. "I believe I would rather take my chances with the gun."