Urban Heroes
I woke up that morning not expecting what was to come…
As I awoke that morning it was cold like usual, but as a kid from Tucson we’re not very used to this type of weather. I got dressed, a little nicer than usual because that day we were taking our senior class pictures. I left the house and got into my car, a 1995 Chevy Camaro, my dream car. I remember saving up for it, working every weekend with my uncles or doing yard work, even selling some of my shoes. I remember walking into the car lot and picking it out 2,500 or 3,000 something for that car. Driving it home was such a rush, blasting Eminem and N.W.A out of my piece of shit puke green Camaro. But I couldn’t be happier that day.
As I drove to school passing the Circle K which I’m pretty sure was robbed the night before, but when isn’t that damn store being robbed? I arrive at school and see Julian, my best friend, a tall, skinny, dark haired boy looking like he’s never eaten a meal in his life. We start to walk to class and as usual we stop at the vending machines to get our pre-class meal, he buys about three bags of Hot Cheetos and I buy my favorite cookies Famous Amous Chocolate Chip.
“One dollar for a tiny bag with about five cookies inside, what a fucking rip-off”
I tell Julian, but I’ve been buying them since freshman year so what am I complaining for? We enter class as I gobble down the last cookie, the crumbs fall down to the floor.
The teacher leads us outside to the bleachers to get us ready for our class picture everyone talking about the graduation party LeOnnie was throwing that weekend, Julian and I were of course on liquor duty since we were the only ones with a fake I.D’s. As the class finally settles down we take about three or four pictures before we all take off to first period, and in that moment as soon as I get up it happened.
I look up as a plane takes off at the nearby air port, then it seemed to get closer and closer, the engine roared and in the blink of an eye, BOOM! The plane burst in to a ball of fire a wing hits the bleacher and everything goes black.
“LUIS! LUIS! WAKE THE FUCK UP!”
I come to and see Julian’s face bloody and bruised his clothes ripped and burned in some parts. He picks me up and I can’t feel my legs, he drags me through the rubble and I see the horrible sight of blood covered students, some dead, some barely breathing. All I’m thinking is “this has to be an accident, a horrible, horrible accident, but it’s much more than that this was an attack.
Me and Julian hide in the gym bathroom we hear gunshots and the screams of the victims. “We need to get out of here!” I tell him “my family! I need to find them!” He says it’s better for us to stay inside until help comes, and just as we calmed ourselves we heard the door get kicked in, we run to the last stall and hide inside. I get a peek at the soldier, he looked Chinese or Korean. An AK-47 hangs from his back he stops to wash his face and that’s when I whisper to Julian
“Now”
I grab my key chain and wrap it around his neck Julian muffles his screams for help. He drops to the floor his eyes staring into the ceiling almost as if he was staring into nothing. I felt weak in the stomach I start to throw up in the toilet “we had just killed a man” I thought to myself but we had no time to sit and feel guilty I grabbed his AK-47 and give Julian the hand gun strapped to the side of the dead man’s waist. As we walk out we see a scary sight, the school burning, half of it collapsed. It wasn’t just the school that had been attacked the whole city seemed to be on fire, more and more war planes fly over us the gun fire completely surrounds us.
It’s not safe to take the car so we make the walk to my house, my neighborhood not in the best shape. We arrive to my house my parents sitting by the T.V holding my sisters, my brother sitting beside them. As soon as my mother sees me she gets up and hugs me tightly, tears running down her face. What we see on the news is not pretty; apparently we had been the victims of an attack. North Korea was the country to blame, and we were not the only city or state to be attacked.
Julian says “I need to get home to my parents”
“are you crazy?” I tell him “you’ll be killed”
He won’t give up he needs to find his way home. I toss him my mother’s car keys “take it, find your family and head up north if the news is right there’s a safe zone if all goes right I’ll see you there” he walks out and gets in the car “thanks man I’ll see you soon don’t worry about me” he says. I watch him leave and pray for the best, we get into my dad’s truck I sit in the back where I can keep watch for any enemies.
Half way there my dad says, half way there and no problems, no stops our priority is getting to the safe zone, if this place even exists and this point. I sit in the back of the truck thinking back to this morning, my classmates dead, teacher’s dead, half of my hometown burned to the ground. My thinking interrupted by the screeching of tires, I ask why we stopped, I get nothing but silence, until I get up and see it. Sure as hell the safe zone exist and sure as hell the godamn thing has been burned to the ground me and my dad get off, we decide to look around and try to find any survivors or even supplies. A couple of cans of food and a knife, no guns, ammo, but no guns just as we are leaving we hear a car engine I aim the rifle ready to shoot. What pulls up is a relief, Julian with his family, I explain to him there is nothing here and we found no survivors. We figure we’ll camp there for the night and just keep traveling up north in the morning.
I wake up to a cold hand across my face, it was Julian, the pain seemed to stay longer because of the cold air but I made nothing of it, besides there was worst things to worry about. We load up the truck and go on our way up north, hopefully to our salvation, Julian sits in the back with me this time so now I have a friend to share the piercing cold and the traumatizing memories left back in Tucson. I haven’t forgotten the look in the soldier’s eyes as he dropped dead to the floor, staring into nothingness. I haven’t forgotten the horrible sight of my own classmates covered in their own blood. I’ve especially haven’t forgotten the impact of the plane, I don’t know what caused it to go down, all I remember was the sound of the engine screeching as it came down, the screams of my classmates half of them now dead.
The farther up north we get the less hope I have, we pass nothing but burning cities raided homes, families killed in their own homes. We pick up supplies and weapons on the way the only good thing from the demise of the innocent victims; our grief interrupted by an explosion, Julian’s parent’s car is hurled into the air. My father hits the breaks and Julian jumps out and sprints over to the car, before he can even get to the vehicle it bursts into flames. He falls to his knees as he watches his family burn in the mangled wreck, and then we heard gunfire from all directions, I pick Julian up and toss him a rifle
“Let’s go man! We got to move now!”
We are in the middle of an ambush, a landmine had been the cause of Julian’s parents death, this landmine was also a signal. They surround us and unleash fire, we take cover behind my dad’s truck, Julian completely furious starts to shoot. Revenge is what he wants, revenge for the death of his parents
“Get the hell back!” I shout
“I’LL KILL YOU ALL!” Julian screams at the top of his lungs as he squeezes the trigger taking out three enemy soldiers. He fires until he empties the clip, as he reloads a bullet hits his chest, another to the leg, and a final blow to the neck. I run to him and drag him behind the truck, he’s bleeding badly and there is no doubt he’s done for,
“You… you’re going to be fine ok, you’re going to pull through”
“No, it’s over for me; I’m just extra weight you need to go.”
“Godamn it! No you’re going to pull through! Get up man I’m not leaving you”
“Go! Leave me the rifle and the grenades, I’ll slow them down”
“You kill these bastards!”
“Get to a safe zone, this will all be over soon.”
We get in to the car and drive off I watch as Julian fires at the enemies, I lose him in the distance all I hear is a loud boom, and I know he’s sacrificed himself for us. Four days later we find the safe zone. Welcomed by soldiers and given shelter, food, a home I just wish Julian could have been there. But I’ll always remember him, my best friend but know I have a purpose to fight, for him and his family.
