The Dirtline
(tail area)
The tail of the snake is most likely left behind in the line, but it's not; it's the most crucial part of all. The head is where the eyes watch and look at the prey, and the mouth is open wide to let the prey come in, like us, and give it fangs under our skins. Its stomach keeps all the prey that it swallows inside and keeps it there to digest over time. But the poisonous part of the snake is not just fangs but the tip of the tail that shakes and vibrates, warning us if we come closer to its zone, it will strike and hit us with a sound and a fast attack without hesitation. It has no process to lure us in or do anything before the bite. It just strikes straight away.
And here we are at the tail area, all the gray desert, the smoking dirt, and the dirtiest dust, floating around along with the cold breeze.
I'm nervous, and I'm scared. My hands are shaking through my gloves. The vibration of the blood plunging up in my veins through my heart, its beating echoing louder than a drum inside the hall, and only I can hear and feel it all.
I'm not afraid of them. I'm scared for the man beside me on the right. For the man is slightly behind me on my left, and the man is near to him. And for the rest of the men behind us.
I'm not afraid to die. I'm afraid that I'm not able to live with him anymore or oppositely...
I'm hesitant...
'When in doubt, just run through it.' grandma.
Then, the big hand of the man beside me on the right holds my hand so tight, squeezing it and holding it inside his.
My eyes start to see the shadows, not one but multiple at a time, creeping in with the dust. I barely see them in gray outfits, blending in with the atmosphere. Indeed, we're in their element.
"You're surely in the wrong area, Takaki."
The man with the gray robe covers the black sporty clothes, wearing goggles to protect his eyes from the dust.
"Yes, that's why I want to end it soon."
Kaiza.
"Like the way you end Slaven?"
"He chose himself. We offer a way, but he's full of pride."
"Everyone is full of pride. Isn't that why you're here?...because you're too prideful to do all this."
"We just want you to leave any deals with the business that caused all the innocent people."
"How many times you deal with it, it will come back again. No Slaven, No me. There's going to be new gangs, new peeps, rising up. You can not prevent all the shit by acting so grand like this all the time."
"Then why did you prepare all the defense and ready for us like you want it, Gerardo?"
"Because this is not about the agreement between the city, it's not about you killing Slaven...It's all about the awakening, the rise of the Dirtline. You are stomping here and acting like a king while we respect the territory by brain. We never get across the line to your city. Never. But the city always does what it wants: to have more power, more gold, and more name... intruding the homes to have more territory."
This is not just about the Stygian. It's all about every person in the Sovereign City, especially the authority. They keep pressing them into the corner. Everything would stay the same if the Stygian hadn't come and made the deal again, giving them hope.
If I let it go, they will rise up anyway, right? They will tread into the city and take over, as Slaven had told us. And I'm the one who provokes him, evokes them to cut the slow motion and start the actions.
"I'm here only for one reason, and only that reason. I never want to rule the Dirtline, never want to have more territory or rule any of you."
Kaiza.
I glance at the shadows behind the dust on the left and shift my eyes to Jodai. He knows it. Jodai sends a signal to Jay beside him.
"I know you don't, but it doesn't mean the rest of the city won't do it. It's going to be another one that comes in. Stygians, Ferdis, Cardibaal...or even the authority itself...It's time to end the line here."
"Then because of the pride, too? You told me the same reason...you know there will be another... but you want to end it just like us..."
"Pride...no...I told you it's the awakening for us, Dirtees, to choose not to live under fear. The fear that we created by ourselves, the illusion that the city gave us for years and years... because they're so frightened of us."
"Kaiza..."
I call him softly.
"No matter what happens...Don't die."
I tell him.
He squeezes my hand.
"And you Takaki, if you're gone...The rest of the city will tremble even harder than now."
"I love you."
I tell him while squeezing his back and letting go of his hand.
"It's time."
Gerardo.
I pull out my sword, swing to the left side, and strike the body that runs to me. And another and another, Jodai and I swing our swords together on the left side.
"Pow! Pow! Pow!"
Kaiza raises his handgun and shoots at them, heading at him from afar, from the front, and from the right side. Jay uses his knife and gun at the same time, and he tries to beat them down before they get to Kaiza's body.
The Takaki men step up and fight back from behind and the sides in a circle.
But we can not win without adapting to or thinking like them when fighting under their elements.
"Pow! Pow! Arg!!!"
The sound from another circle opposite from us.
We also surround them. The Takaki men waited for the right moment and got them like they do to us.
Their man keeps coming to us with the guns and the hard-core weapons. We can't keep on doing this. We might lose the men. We need to and the main one.
"Thug, thug, thug."
And the sound of the footsteps stomping the gray desert toward us.
So, Gerardo thinks like me. I'm about to walk ahead. Kaiza grabs my hand. And then another man stomping beside him.
"Together?"
I ask.
"..."
Kaiza's hesitant.
I join my hand with his hand. I look at him, and he looks at me.
"Jodai...take care of yourself back here."
I tell him while looking at Kaiza.
"..."
I nod to Kaiza, and he pulls me in to kiss.
Then, we run to the two big guys ahead of us. The man facing me is Gerardo. He brings out the heavy chains and lets the big, sharp axes connect to the chains on both sides of his body. And I see the orange spark from another man wearing the sharp blades on his arms. The length of the blades is farther than his elbows.
I need to do the first strike.
Then, Gerardo swings the chain into a circle beside him and swings ahead of us. I quickly run past Kaiza and jump, spin my body on the chain, swing myself up along with a sword, and cut his arm before I change my target to another man, but it passes halfway through because of the armor he wears under the coat. I turn myself before my new target, who is about to hook me from behind with his blade. I use my sword to block in time.
Kaiza takes his big spartan, which is hanging on his back, and hits another axe, which swings at him to the ground. He hurriedly spins himself, jumps up, and raises his big knife to hit the ankle of Gerardo's neck and shoulder. But it also only gets through mid-way because of the armor coat.
The man, who is wearing the gas mask and the blade gloves, hooks me and strikes me nonstop. Left and right. I block and block. I decide to lower my body, spinning my body with a sword down to his legs. It cuts him. He doesn't wear the armor on his legs. And swift myself to his back and cut him at the back.
He isn't wearing any armor. He uses his blade to strike upward. I bend my body back to the ground before the long, sharp point almost cuts my chest long to my chin. I spin myself on the ground to move myself away. I use the sword to slice at his stomach, but he blocks it first. He uses his left blade to strike at my neck. I quickly swift my sword downward and stab hard into the dirt to support my body, swing up over his body, pull the sword out, and cut his face through the gas mask a long way up to his forehead. And I land on the ground behind him.
"Arg!!!"
He bends his body and touches his face. The gas mask falls on the gray dirt.
He turns to me. I see the red blood running down his face and dripping to his uniform and on his shoe. He puts down his hands, seeing the fresh scare, not clearly enough to tell. But his one eye is closed.
"Fuck."
Gerardo says it out loud after seeing the reaction of the man I fight with, who is crying out. The man with blood loses his mind and runs to me while Gerardo swings the axe at Kaiza, and he dodges the axe perfectly. Then, I find the chance. I run to the man in blood and slide through between his legs while I pull his belt down with me. His body's forced to roll over, and I get up together with the big man.
"Zephyra!"
Kaiza calls me because of the axe, and the chain swings past me. The man gets himself up and is about to hit me, but the axe of the Gerardo is coming.
"!!"
The axe hits his arm blade, and I jump away to avoid the hit and the chain simultaneously.
The impact of the axe is hard enough to make the blood man shake, and the blade is cracking, probably his bones as well.
Gerardo is shocked and stunned for a second, then runs at me.
"Pow!"
Kaiza shoots at his leg, and he falls down.
"ARGG!!!"
Gerardo screams.
Kaiza hurriedly comes to him and puts the gun on his head. And the blood man tries to get up, and I use the sword to poke at his throat.
"It doesn't end like this. I don't want to kill you."
Kaiza.
"But you can then do it!"
Gerardo.
"This is not the fight for claiming territory or the power...Gerardo, I told you."
"If you don't kill me now, I will come for you...and them..."
"If I kill you, who is going to take over the Dirtline? You hate the city, right? If you die, they will take over...Do you want to be that way?"
"..."
"Die now or die later, you choose."
"Click."
Kaiza reloads the gun.
Gerardo shifts his eyes to the man in blood and looks at me, poking him on the skin of his neck, waiting to stab.
"The under-shit business is gone. There's no one. No one will do any business with the Dirtline anymore...I want to be that way, and you do, too."
"..."
"The big fight of yours isn't the time yet."
Kaiza.
"ha..."
Then Gerardo let go of his weapon. And their men stop fighting. I pull the sword away from the man's throat. Kaiza pushes the trigger back to the position.
I walk to Kaiza and grab another hand, which is holding the spartan. Kaiza pulls his handgun away.
Gerardo stares at me with his one arm and one broken leg.
"This place is yours, not mine or the city's"
Kaiza tells him, keeps the big knife on his back, and holds my hand. He takes me away from the two men who are lying down painfully on the ground.
"You will regret, Takaki...and your..."
Then, Gerardo's voice fades away.