Powerless (On hold)

Chapter 1: Beginnings

Beginnings.

                Erik ran down the lengthy obscure alley way as fast as his slim legs could take him. He could hear the sound of yelling right behind him but he dared not look back to see how close the group of brawlers were. This is not what he had planned; it never went how he had planned. No matter what he did it always ended this way. It had happened like always; he found an underground fighting club and joined in. He told them what he had always told them, that he never lost. That much was true or at least he had proved it. It’s not that they didn’t mind losing every now and then but after he had beaten them all at least five times in row, yeah they were mad about losing. So this was where he had ended up yet again.

                His breath was hot and heavy as he ran around the twisting corridors of the alley ways. He didn’t know how long it was going to take him to outrun those goons but he didn’t rightly care. Then he felt it, the twist of loose clothes around his ankles. Then he felt the pain of his knee crashing down on the hard cement fallowed by the rest of his flailing body as he tried to catch himself. All he could think of was the pain that had begun filling his body and the sound of angry voices. This just wasn’t his day and he felt like it couldn’t possibly get any worse. Of course he knew it could, especially when he heard the sound of heavy feet gathering around him.

                “Where you going to Road?” The voice was heavy and thick sounding; it was the voice of the ring leader of the little underground fighting club. Travis Davy, a brooding egotistical monster of a man who had the IQ of an ant. He was one of Erik Road’s worst nightmares simply because the man fought before he thought; it was obvious since the man ran a fight club.

                “Yeah Road, where ya headed?” Ratty and arrogant. The shrill and scratchy voice of Paul Decker. Erik didn’t mind having the crap beat out of him every now and again, but one thing he couldn’t stand was the annoying right hand man who couldn’t think his own thoughts. Not to mention that the very sound of Paul Decker’s voice was enough to give him a headache. It made it even worse that he was about to have his head to take a few extra hits.

                “Hey guys what’s up?” Erik knew that this wasn’t the time to try and sound somewhat sarcastic but there was just some deep seeded instinct to do it. He knew that he had no chance anyways, he had to deal with not only Travis and his lapdog Paul but he had to deal with rest of the little crew. “What are all you guys doin on this side of town?”

                “What is with that mouth of yours Road? Sounds like it having trouble shutting itself, maybe I’ll have to help you with that,” said Travis with a slurring tone, trying to sound more in charge and important than he really was. Erik sighed; this was playing out like some sort of a bad movie. “You want me to fix that?” That’s when he felt a hard pressure against his head, and it only built more and more. He could feel the soles of the guys shoe grinding into his temple.

                The pain was intense and almost unbearable but Erik pushed himself into the back of his head and forced himself to ignore it as much as he could. Then he felt a sharp pain in his side as he felt a foot enter into his side and another into his lower back. He heard all different kind of voices yelling different things, all hateful and angry. It wasn’t something Erik wasn’t use to; this pain was more or less his home.

A chance meeting.

                It felt like hours had paced since the beating began and he endured every moment of it the best he could. He could feel a tear drop from one of his eyes from the pain and the blood slip from out the corner of his mouth. His lip was swelling and he had a black eye, it felt like he even might have a broken rib or two. But he sucked it up and did his best to hide the pain. At the end of the beating he felt a few of them spit on him. For the longest time he laid there after they had left, he dared not move for the fear of causing some weird internal injury. After a few minutes or even a few hours, he didn’t know how long it had been, he finally got up.

                As he limped out of the alley ways and onto the streets of New King city he kept his eyes down. He felt ashamed, he felt defeated. Normally he didn’t care about how people looked at him but it was difficult for him to deal with after he had the crap beat out of him. But it didn’t matter, it hadn’t been a fair fight, it hadn’t even been a fight at all. Had it been a fight he wouldn’t have lost it, he had never lost a fight and he never would. It was a promise he had made a long time ago and one he didn’t have any plans on breaking.

                Ever since he could remember his parents had never really been there especially since they were both drunks. He still lived with them so it wasn’t like he didn’t have anywhere to live or even sleep at night. But he didn’t care about that or much of anything for that matter. All he needed was the fight. He wasn’t some heartless jerk with an attitude he just didn’t see much of anything as important. For him fighting was everything, it was how he made his money and showed the world that he wasn’t some weakling who needed help. It was who he was, plain and simple.

                So he walked in front of all the people with a smile, not caring what people said or thought. He could see it in their eyes, the judgment and the hate. He didn’t care though, he just wanted to get home and sleep. His eyes were tired and his legs were heavy. Then he saw it well rather, him. On the side of the street was a homeless man who sat there looking as pathetic as he could. Just something about people who sat around homeless and begging for change and not trying to go do some work. Then the man looked up at him, his eyes full of sadness and loneliness. He held a hand out, not having to say anything at all. Erik stopped and looked at the man and sighed. Then he walked away. He just walked away, he didn’t care or at least he didn’t care. But he felt something odd, something different as he walked away from the homeless man.

It felt like everything was going in slow motion, he slowly looked back at him and the man looked him in the eyes. It felt like a connection he had never had with anyone before, one that felt like it reached deep into his own destiny. He couldn’t describe it, but if he could say anything about the connection it was this, it didn’t feel good. It felt like something he could only describe with one word.

Enemies…