.Tap. Kenny heard the light sound of footsteps behind him. "Hello? Is someone ther- Ah!" He yelped as he was shoved roughly into one of the many puddles of mud formed by the previous night's rain storm. Kenny pushed himself off the ground and turned his eyes upwards in an attempt to see his attacker. A man was looking down at him, smirking. "Well, I'll be damned, it's the McCormick kid!" He bent over and seized the front of Kenny's orange parka. Kenny looked up at the man, a terrified expression on his face. The man shook him a bit, "Where is it?!" He roared at the petrified boy in front of him, his booming voice echoing off the tattered, graffitied walls of the poor run down neighborhood. "I-I swear...I h-have nothing t-to do with th-the people r-renting our g-garage...so I d-don't know w-where your m-money, o-or your meth, or w-what ever it is you're l-looking for is!" Kenny stuttered. The man just snarled and punched him straight in the eye, causing Kenny fall backwards, clutching his eye in pain. The man walked a few steps closer before kicking the boy in the stomach a few times, "I SAID WHERE IS IT, MCCORMICK!" He kicked him again, causing Kenny to cough up some blood . Kenny trembled as he got to his feet," P-please... I-I don't know!" He cried, tear brimmed on his eyelids as he raised his hands in front of his chest in surrender. The just drew his arm back and threw another punch, hitting Kenny in the side of the face and causing him to stumble and fall back into the muddy puddle with a splash. Just as he began to try to get up, the man grabbed him by some of the greasy, blonde hair on the back of his head and forced his face back down into the puddle. Kenny flailed about desperately. After approximately a minute, the man yanked Kenny back up allowing him some much needed breaths of air. Kenny coughed a bit before the man shoved his head back under. Another minute passed and the man yanked him up once more. Kyle flinched at the sight. He watched as Kenny drifted in and out of consciousness, trembling due to pain an lack of oxygen. Kyle had been walking back to his house from the woods when he saw the man held Kenny's head under the puddle. After about 30 seconds, Kyle finally mustered up enough courage. He stood up from the bush he was hiding behind. " HEY! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" He yelled. The man turned to him and cursed before letting Kenny go, flipping Kyle off, then walking down one of the alleyways. Kyle realized that Kenny was still lying face down in the puddle, to weak to get up or even move. "KENNY!" Kyle dashed over to him and turned him over, dragging him out of the puddle. Kenny coughed violently, spitting up some murky water mixed with blood. When he was finally able to stop choking and coughing, he began taking short, hiccup-y breaths. As he began trying to get his bearings once more, Kyle took off his own jacket, carefully wrapping around Kenny's shoulders as he gently laid the injured boy's head in his lap. Kenny felt his left eye slowly coming back to focus and realized right eye was painfully swollen. He saw a figure in a green hat looking down at him, "Hey, your name is Kenny McCormick, right?" Kenny slowly nodded, "Good, you can hear me, okay, I'm Kyle Broflovski we met once today at school, do you remember? " Kenny nodded slowly once more. "Good, okay dude, you're gonna be okay, my friend Stan, and my fat ass 'friend' Cartman are coming and they're going to help get you back to my house." Kenny nodded and blinked his good eye shut. He opened it briefly to see Stan and Cartman staring curiously down at him. He blinked his left eye closed once more before slipping into unconsciousness.
Curtain poked Kenny's limp body with a stick "heh heh. "He poked him again. Kyle growled and shoved him over, "LAY OFF HIM, ASSHOLE! " Cartman stood back up, "SHUT UP, STUPID JEW!" Kyle growled, "don't call me a stupid Jew, you fat ass!" With that Kyle focused on Kenny, picking up the injured boy in his arms. Cartman's back straightened "'EY! DON'T CALL ME FAT, YOU GODDAMN JEW!" He thundered. He was about to tackle Kyle when Stan stepped between the two, "Guys, now's not the time to be jacking off, save the fighting for later, right now we have something serious to deal with, alright?" Cartman nodded, looking strangely at Kyle. Stan turned to his friend. Kyle was just standing there, staring down at the bleeding, trembling mess in his arms, a horrified expression painted on his face. "Kahle?"
"Dude, are you okay? What's wrong?" Stan questioned. Kyle looked up at his friends. "Dude, I can feel his ribs through his jacket… I – I don't think he's eaten in weeks… " Stan walked over and gently touched Kenny side, then abruptly drew his hand back. "Whoa dude!" Stan heard Cartman growl slightly. Stan turned to Kyle, "Dude, we need to get to your house. " Kyle nodded. "Kinny..."
"No… "
Kyle and Stan turned to Cartman, who was holding his jacket, hat, scarf in his hands. He walked over to Kyle and carefully wrapped the scarf around Kenny's neck. Cartman then laid his red jacket over the other boy and finally he gently fit the hat on his head. Cartman took a step back and sighed. "We should bring him to my house. "Kyle glared at him, "No dude, it's farther away and you just want to screw with – " Cartman raised his hand to stop Kyle, "Kahle, please, let me finish… " Kyle stared at him strangely. "My mom doesn't give two shits what we do, okay? Kyle, your mom will ask questions, lots of them, questions that we all don't know the full answers to or if Kenny even wants them answered, we – " Stan looked over to Kyle. "Dude, he has a point, remember, on fourth of July, the three of us took those fireworks and tried to use them and we almost blew up the house? Cartman's mom just rushed out to see if we were okay, she didn't question the fireworks or get mad or anything...I think afterward she made us cookies! " Cartman clear his throat, "and since you two are concerned about him as well and it's a weekend, and you could spend the night… "Kyle rolled his eyes, "Okay, you win, but if you try anything I swear to God… " on that note, the boys began to walk to Cartman's house.