I turned on that hose so it would soak Johnny and his stupid joint and his stupid costume. I didn't care about the repercussions. I knew there would be repercussions.
I took off running, hoping to avoid the beating that would be coming. Maybe I could get away. I heard him running behind me, I heard him telling his friends to get me, and I could see their faces in my mind. They were looking at him dripping wet, looking at him coming after me with that determination. I heard them all start after me and then fall. Maybe it would buy me enough time to get away.
Out in the parking lot, people and cars in my way, and most of them clueless. They didn't know why I was running like a nut, they didn't know that these guys were going to try and kill me, but I did. I struggled to get out of my shower costume. It was just slowing me down. I ran in front of a car and it hit another car, both drivers looking confused and pissed off, and I managed to get out of the costume and leave it lying in the parking lot, and already I heard Johnny and all his friends slamming into the doors and coming out into the parking lot after me.
I ran across the soccer field behind the school and scaled the fence behind that, and they were coming faster, I could hear them breathing. I could hear myself breathing, the air tearing into my lungs, my side starting to ache. They were getting closer.
I got over that fence and took off toward the next fence. On the other side of this field and the fence at the end of it was my apartment building. If I could just get there, get over that fence before they caught me I'd be home free. I ran toward the fence faster than I'd ever run in my life, my side killing me, my lungs starting to ache, my legs wanting to give out. They were getting closer, I could hear them.
The fence, it loomed ahead, so far away, not seeming to get any closer. I kept running even though at this point I just wanted to collapse. I couldn't stop. I reached the fence and started to climb up it, hoping I made it in time. I thought for a second that maybe I had, and then I felt someone's hand on the back of my shirt. They yanked me off the fence by my shirt, and then someone grabbed me around my waist and I saw them all there. They were all in the same skeleton costumes, their faces painted black and white, skull teeth painted over their mouths.
Someone kicked me in the stomach, maybe Johnny. All the air went out of me and this searing pain exploded in my stomach and I doubled over, holding onto my stomach and feeling these waves of pain. I couldn't run now even if I wanted to. I looked at them, the same vicious expression on every one of their faces. One of them held onto me and one of them kicked me in the head, and black stars exploded in my line of vision.
Johnny kicked me in the stomach again, and a new pain exploded over the old pain, and I thought I might puke or pass out. Then the one holding onto me shoved me at Johnny and he grabbed me by my arms and shook me. If he hadn't been holding onto me I would have fell to the ground. I didn't think I could stand up anymore.
"You couldn't leave well enough alone, could you, you little punk?" he said, and I saw the way his eyes looked under all that black paint, how it made them look even more blue. He shook me again and it made my head throb from being kicked, and it made my stomach hurt. I wanted to double up and guard against this pain, but the way he was holding me up I couldn't, and that hurt even worse.
"You had to push it," he said, and beyond him I could see the field and the fence at the far side of it, "now you're going to pay,"
He let me go and before I could fall he kicked me again, and then one of the other guys kicked me. I was in so much pain, every kick was searing pain burning up all my nerve endings. I turned around and held onto the chain link fence just so I wouldn't fall, and one of them kicked me square in the lower back and I groaned/yelled in pain. It occurred to me that they could really kill me. If they kept beating me like this I'd die sooner or later. I felt like I was dying now. Everything hurt. Everything. My legs from running and getting kicked, my back, my stomach was a white ball of pain, my head where they kicked me. Everything hurt, and they showed no signs of stopping. I held onto the fence for a second longer and then I fell to the ground, kind of passed out. I wasn't totally out. I could feel the cold ground beneath me. I could feel myself breathing despite the pain it was causing. But the ground felt as soft as a feather bed and I could lie here forever. Everything was getting a little blurry, and I wanted them to leave me alone. But it was getting dimmer. The pain was fading as I went in and out of consciousness.
One of them picked me up again, hauled me roughly to my feet but I couldn't stand. If they let go I'd just fall to the ground. I couldn't keep my eyes open, either. I was moaning in pain, because it was coming and going in waves.
"Leave him alone, Johnny," one of them said, "he's had enough!" The one holding me was not the one speaking, and he shook me roughly, and I moaned again because that made my head hurt real bad.
"I'll decide when he's had enough!" Johnny said this, I knew that. I wasn't too clear on the other guys, but I knew Johnny's voice. At this point I wasn't sure I cared. I didn't really care what happened to me.
"Are you crazy, Johnny! He can hardly stand up," I wondered who this was, which one of them thought killing me maybe wasn't such a good idea.
"The enemy deserves no mercy!" Johnny said, and I heard general agreement, and I was lifted up a little. I saw Johnny through my half closed eyes getting ready to kick me, maybe, or punch me, or both. There was nothing I could do now. I could barely move, I was on the edge of passing out. Whatever they wanted to do they could do, I couldn't fight back anymore. Maybe they really would kill me. I didn't know how many more punches and kicks I could take.
He came at me and I squeezed my eyes shut and tensed up, hoping it wouldn't hurt too bad. But then, somehow, the one holding onto me let me go and I fell to the ground, and the kick that was aimed at my head broke the sign on the fence in half. Just before I passed out completely I saw someone fighting Johnny and all his friends, and they were falling to the ground. I didn't get it and had no idea who it was, but dimly and with the last conscious thought I had before I sunk into the blackness, I was grateful.
Sometimes you get saved.