It suddenly dawned on him that this was happening, in his entire life no one had ever slapped him, not even his parents. It was the first time someone had slapped him and threatened him. The situation became real to him at that exact moment. He had thought they would simply let him go on his way so long as he remained still and quiet, it was an idiotic assumption. A naive one.
"I said kick him!" Shouted the hulking man pointing once again at the man on the floor.
Turning around, Jason took three steps toward Mikey on the floor while the two men stayed behind him to watch the show. The smell of blood and piss was almost enough to make him want to vomit.
'I have to do this', he tried convincing himself. Just as he was winding up his right leg to kick the defenseless man on the ground, he suddenly remembered that the man said he was only rummaging through their bins looking for food to feed his children. There was nothing wrong with that, he had a right to live and so did his kids. If anyone was at fault, it would be the government for letting a man with 2 kids live in such a way. It wasn't right. He didn't deserve to be beaten up just because he was starving.
Clenching his fists, Jason turned around and said: "I won't do it". There was a hint of fury in his voice, he was angry at himself for almost considering doing it. It was against everything he was taught.
"Then so be it, get him, rookie," said Lardass.
Lunging towards Jason, Scrawny tried throwing a punch but Jason barely dodged to the right, his now-opponent's fist grazing his hair.
Scrawny threw another, and another, but Jason kept dodging until finally he decided to go for a counter, striking Scrawny in the face with a right hook.
'Fuck, not enough power', Jason inwardly thought since he was still standing.
"Come on rookie, don't tell me you'll lose to a nobody," Lardass said tauntingly, not moving from his spot.
Scrawny's strikes grew faster, but Jason kept dodging and countering with punches, while using some footwork to his advantage. Up to this point, he hadn't used his kickboxing since he was 15, he was rusty and it showed. He had never used kickboxing outside of a spar or ring.
Having enough, Scrawny pulled out an OTF knife.
"You're dead!" He shouted while wiping blood off his face.
'Shit! What the hell, this is getting out of control', Jason thought while glancing at the other who still hadn't moved from his spot.
Scrawny slashed at Jason who barely dodged, getting a slight cut on his left forearm causing it to bleed. His adrenaline was spiking, if he was slightly buzzed a while ago, he was wide awake now.
Jason still managed to get another punch in.
Bam!~
He knew he needed to either get close enough to somehow take the knife away or run, but running wasn't an option with the other one just watching.
'Damn it, I was just trying to have a fun night, how did things get like this?'
Paying attention to the knife was his mistake, it distracted him from his opponent's movements.
Charging towards him with the knife, now in both hands, Scrawny lunged towards Jason at lightning speed. Jason, not knowing what to do amidst his own panic, tried to grab the knife with his left hand as it was aimed at his heart.
The knife pierced the palm of his left hand, causing him to scream in agony. Even so, Scrawny wasn't finished, retracting the knife with his right hand he quickly started stabbing Jason's side targeting his lungs and stomach, while his left was busy pushing Jason against the wall.
He kept throwing punches, even resorting to elbows to try and get Scrawny off of him but to no avail.
Bam!~ Stab!~ Bam!~ Stab!~
Jason managed to make a cut above Scrawny's eye with his constant elbows, but Scrawny kept stabbing sensing that his opponent was at his wit's end.
Scrawny stabbed Jason a total of 26 times. Jason's piercing screams didn't even make a dent on the noise coming from the busy streets, no one would hear him, or notice him.
Finally letting him go, Scrawny retracted the knife for the last time before Jason slowly slid down against the wall into a sitting position with both his legs straightened.
He was profusely bleeding, his shirt covered in dark red, while blood was seeping out of his mouth. The knife had managed to pierce his left lung, causing him to cough up blood every now and then as the larger man made his way to him.
"You should have listened, kid, all you had to do was kick that scumbag. Let's go, rookie," he said, gesturing for Scrawny to follow him out the alleyway.
Before Scrawny left, he kicked Jason one last time and spat on him.
Both Jason and Mikey were left on the ground.
With his head down and his life seeping away from him, Jason tried to move his right arm to reach for his phone in his pocket, but couldn't muster the strength due to the profuse blood loss.
'Fuck…Is this how I'm going to die? I don't want to die! Mom! Dad! Help! I don't want to die!', were his repeated thoughts.
Pushing himself to grab the phone out of his pocket, he managed to grab it through sheer will and dial '911', but couldn't say anything.
"911 what's your emergency? Hello? Is anyone there? Are you alright? Can you not speak?"
"Hnghhhhhhh," Jason groaned as loud as he could.
"Are you injured? Hello? I heard you. Help is on the way, stay on the line please"
Jason closed his eyes, waiting for the ambulance as his blood continued to trickle down onto the pool of red that was now under him.
He sighed one last time.
"Haa…"
The pain had finally caught up to him, and he passed out before opening his eyes.
Slap!~