Chapter 2: Flashback part 2

When I looked, I saw a building caught on fire. That building must've been his apartment. The same apartment I was going to live in for now. "What's going on." I asked him, but he didn't reply to my question. He stopped the car and got out. I soon got out of the car too, but my brother stopped me. "NO!" He yelled at me. "Stay in the car!"

He pulled out a small pistol, about the size of his hand from his back pocket, and headed towards the scene.

Just then two people from the alleyway come out of the shadows, pulling out baseball bats and a small pistol. The moment they saw Joey, one of the men starts shooting at him. Joey manages to dodge the bullets and fired back at them. It was a 2 on 1 shoot-out. Bullets were ricocheting off of everywhere. It ricocheted cars, walls, railings, even the ground. Both were trying to hold their ground in this intense fight. Joey is trying his best, even though he's outnumbered. But, he couldn't hold them off forever. He ran out of ammo and couldn't fire any more rounds. The two men, who realize he's out of ammo, close in for the kill. When I saw that the men were coming towards him, I attacked them without hesitation. I bolted out of the car and threw a high kick towards one of them and made their mark. When the other man realizes my presence and turned toward me, my brother charged in and punched his face with brass knuckles. Soon, both men were down.

"What are you doing Bruce?! You could've gotten killed!!" My brother yelled at me, thinking that I did something wrong.

"What do you mean?! If it wasn't for me, you could've gotten your gut pumped full of lead!" I scolded him. "Look let's get out of here!"

"I…I can't…" My brother told me as he tried to get up.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

I looked where his hands were covering. I moved it to get a closer look and I saw he was in pain. He was shot in the leg and is bleeding badly.

"You've been shot."

"Yeah, I didn't realize it too until I tried getting up."

"Do you know where I can find a doctor?"

"There's a hospital not far from here. If you can, I need you to take me there."

"I'll do anything to keep you alive brother" I carried him by the arm and helped him get into the car. It looks like I'll have to drive him there. I opened the side door and placed him in the passenger seat. After which I headed towards the driver seat while he closed the door.

"Do you know how to drive a car?" My brother asked me.

I looked at him for a moment with a straight face. "Nope. But I can learn right?"

My brother looked at his window and turned his head away from me.

"Just don't get us killed." He told me. Then he saw two more cars coming from behind and assumes that they're after him. "Drive! DRIVE!!!"

I stepped on the gas pedal and drove the car. Soon the two cars started following and started shooting at us. Bullets were ranging on the back of our car and our back window was destroyed. We kept our heads down to make sure none hit our heads.

"Man, they're going to kill us at this rate." I told him.

"I know, I know. Just hang in there. Turn Left!" My brother told me, just as I was going to turn left.

I looked in the rear-view mirror and see that they're still following us.

"They're still on our tail!" I told him.

"I know just shut up and keep your eyes on the road. I'll worry about them…Ok turn right."

As I turned right I saw two oncoming cars ahead of me. I quickly tried to swerve away from them, but the sharpness of my turns started to get the best of me. The car quickly tilted sideways and landed on its side then it rolled back to normal. The car was trashed and my brother was knocked out from the whiplash. I on the other hand was conscious. I tried getting out of the car but my leg was caught between the seat and the pedals. Soon I saw more and more of the same cars that were after me close in and got out; twenty cars to be precise. The cars were full and started coming out, pulling their Thompsons and pistols out of their coats and pockets. There were twenty, no thirty people surrounding me. I knew the moment they started firing, my life was going to end.

"Come on, come on!!! Get me out of here! I can't die yet!" I said to myself as I continued to break free.

Soon, I heard gun shouts and I knew I was going to die. The bullets rang out and I heard people screaming and falling to the ground.

"Somebody stop this!!!" I said to myself. "I can't take it anymore"

Soon the gunshots stopped, and I thought I was heading to the afterlife. But a couple minutes passed and I looked up. I was alive. Soon I saw a couple people, probably fifteen, out of the shadows with modified weapons I've never seen before. Soon two guys busted the car door open and pulled me out.

"You ok?" One of the men asked me.

"Yeah. I think so." I said to them.

"Don't worry, you're ok now." The other man said to me.

"Are you guys the police?"

Just then a large figure emerged from the shadows. It was a black man wearing a black suit carrying an automatic riffle from his arm. He also had a lit cigar from his mouth and had his game-face toward me.

"The police? Heh, yeah right! We're the Rafia," Said the black man.

"The Rafia?" I said to him. "I never heard of that before."

"Of course you haven't. I'm Roffie, the leader of the group." Roffie said to me as he helped me up.

"Uhh Bruce. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

"Come on, we should be getting out of here. The Fed's will catch up soon. We'll tale you to a hospital."

"But what about my brother? He's still inside there."

Roffie looked at my unconscious brother and looked at me.

"Son, I'm afraid your brother might not be alive. The crash of the car could've killed him. But we'll have someone check to make sure."

"Don't need to," said another man who was with Roffie. "We pulled him out and checked his pulse. Nothing. I'm afraid he's gone."

I was shocked, and confused. Everything happened in a flash; my arrival to the U.S, my reunion with my brother, and now the death of my brother. It was too much to bear. I broke down and started to sob, mourning the loss. Roffie, who was still with me by my side, carried me to another vehicle and had one of his men take me to the hospital.

"Take this man to the hospital, we'll meet at the usual spot at the usual time." Roffie told the driver.

"You got it." Said the driver as he takes me to the hospital. The shock was still affecting me, and suddenly I blacked out.

The next thing I knew was that I was lying in a bed in one of the rooms in the hospital. I was all bandaged up and my wounds from the crash were treated. As I slowly regain my consciousness, Roffie entered my room.

"Ah I see that you're awake." Roffie said to me. "You ok?"

"I…I think so." I said to him in a weak voice.

"You were hurt pretty badly the last time I saw you."

"Yeah…say who were those guys that attacked me?"

Roffie looked at the window, pulled out a cigar and started to light it.

"Members of the Italian Mafia. They were the ones that attacked you and your brother."

"The Mafia?"

"Yeah, We heard the gunshots and saw the smoke from the distance and that brought to my attention. We decided to head there to figure out what's going on. Turns out that the Mafia was driving past you guys and that's when we decided aided you guys. Once of our men saw you guys fight off two of them earlier. Man you guys took them out cold."

"Well my brother was in danger, so it was just natural to me…say, is my brother…" I couldn't finish my sentence because I feared the worst.

Roffie looked at me, and lowered his head. I had soon realized that my brother…is now dead.

"I'm sorry. We'll make it up to you."

"How…"

Roffie raised his head and grinned at me. "You wanted revenge don't you?"

"Yeah…"

"Come join the Rafia. We'll help you settle in America and give you all the necessities of life. In return, you help us regain territory we lost. You'll be living in a life of crime, and your life will be on the line." Roffie gave me his calling card. It was a small piece of paper with a number in it. He then started to walk away from me, headed towards the door and starts to leave. "The choice is yours, you can stay here and mourn the loss of your brother. Or you can join us and avenge your brother…I'll give you time, call me by the number I gave you."

Roffie then left my room and I was alone, again. I looked at the ceiling and did some thinking. Should I join them or not? I had to take my time making this decision, because either way, my life has already changed. I can't go back to my old country, there's nothing there for me.

A couple days later, I was out of the hospital. I had already made my decision and I was ready to tell Roffie my answer. I grabbed the phone in the lobby and dialed the number that was listed in the paper.

"1-5-3…8-6-7….0-3-0-5" I whispered to myself as I was reading the numbers while dialing them on the phone.

The phone rang from the other side of town, where Roffie was. The room where he was at was dark and unknown. The only area that was visible was a lamp that was pointing at the phone. It rang for a few seconds then he picks it up.

"Yeah," he said in a monotone voice.

"Hey, is this Roffie?" I asked him.

"Whose this?"

"This is Bruce, the guy you visited a couple days ago."

"Oh yeah I remember…so have you made a decision yet?"

"Yeah…count me in."

Present day

"And that's how it went." Bruce concluded to Erick and Tony.

"Man, hard to believe that our boss was the one that saved you," Tony said to him as he made a left turn. "Too bad he didn't save your brother. I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's all good. He's in a better place now."

"So what did you guys do with his body?" Erick asked Bruce.

"A few days after I called Roffie, we held a funeral and a burial for him. There were a lot of people attending it too. Didn't know he had a lot of friends here." Bruce told him.

Soon Bruce, Erick and Tony arrived at Big Papa's burgers. Tony parked the car behind the restaurant and they all got off. Erick placed a cover on the gun to make sure it was well hidden. He also hands Tony and Bruce a small pistol in case anything goes wrong. They don't want to fight with their bare hands if they encounter any rival organizations. They all acted natural, blending in toward the crowds as they emerged from the alleyway and into the streets. A few seconds later they all entered the restaurant, to have a meal.