"Green"

Part 1 of 6

by Steave

"Bang."

I released the arrow and saw it soar through the hole in the black leather trench coat and slam into, and through, the face of Jack. The all too infinite moment was finally over. Jack fell backwards and his head made a sickening slapping sound as it connected with the concrete. His mouth was agate and his eyes had rolled into the back of his head. The arrow had went into his forehead and jolted through the back of his cranium and was lying in the street.

Jack's expression was the same as his dead comrades that were lying in the street with my mother and me. I surveyed the situation around me, trying to get Jack's now pale face out of my head and tried to find my father. He was lying in a heap beside the arrow that penetrated Jack's forehead. His sweat mingled with blood dripping from his nose and mouth due to the brutal battle he had with Jack.

He struggled to get up, but he managed, and walked towards my mother and me, giving a death glare at the mob of homeless that was still around us. They were all still in awe of what they had just witnessed. A fifteen year-old kid had just killed their leader, this knowledge must have been overwhelming.

"We need to get out of here," my father said with a loss of breath. "We can't stay here any longer if we plan on staying alive."

My father wasn't expecting any trouble from the mob, especially after what had just transpired. They wouldn't come near us, or even dare to try. I managed to pick myself up without too much trouble, even with the internal injury I had received from Jack's boot. The miniature pool of blood still stained the concrete that crept out of my mouth and forced its way out.

I went to help my sick mother stand up, the blood still trickling from her neck. Her tears still stained her pale cheeks, but the glow from her green eyes had not yet faded. Her eyes still sparkled like tiny stars, and it was beautiful to behold. I put my arm in between the gap of the bow-string and the wooden part and swung it to my back. My father and I grabbed her under her arms and gently lifted her off of the pavement.

We walked away from the mob of homeless and got a good 100 feet from them before I heard shouts of anger and disgust. I glanced back at the homeless and that crazed look that I had once beheld at the age of seven was in their eyes. One of the more fit looking of the homeless holding a piece of wood, which I assumed would be used as a club, started to come at us at an alarming rate, followed by the rest of the homeless.

"Father, get her away from here, I can handle this," I told my father with absolute certainty. "I can hold them off, just get mother out of here."

"Alright son, but I will be right back," he replied, with the calm gentleness in his voice.

I let my mother go and my father picked her legs up with his right arm and carried her in a cradling position. It reminded me of how my mother would have carried me when I was a baby. But there was no room to think of this now. It was time to fight once again, and I was more than ready and willing to.

I slid the bow off of my arm and pulled an arrow out of my jean pocket. I fitted the arrow into my bow and gazed down the shaft as I closed the gap between me and the homeless. I waited until the arrowhead was aimed directly at the forehead of what appeared to be the new leader. I gazed and once he was ten feet from me, I released the arrow.

I was too late, and he had already studied my movements from the previous encounter. He was already beginning to raise his club before I let loose the arrow and, with remarkable skill, batted the arrow out of the sky with a swipe perpendicular to the path of the arrow. This was only moments before it would have connected with his forehead.

A sick and twisted smile crept along his mouth and he talked in a low, baritone voice, "You gotta be better than that boy, if you wanna keep up with me."

I stared at my new adversary and only hatred and disgust filled my heart. I pulled another arrow out of my pocket and fitted it into my bow. I aimed, not at the leader, but at the man moving next to him. I released the arrow and it flew through the air and stuck into the right side of his chest. He fell onto his knees and the others only moved around him, leaving him to bleed to death.

The group was only five feet from me, and then I decided it was time to run. I turned and ran as fast as I could, towards the way father and mother went, I'm sure they went off of the street and into an alleyway, I was hoping that I wouldn't lead them straight to them. At this, I turned to my right and headed for Greenland Park and to the river.

The sudden turn surprised the homeless, and many stumbled, some fell. The leader however did not, and he continued to run. I came to a halt near the river and threw my arrows out of my pocket, and jammed them, arrowhead down, into the ground. I picked one up as fast as I could and fitted it. I aimed at the group, no person in particular and fired the arrow. As I hoped, it hit one, and the back half of the homeless fell over the dead one. This would buy me some more well needed time, except the front half of the group was almost to me. I hurriedly fit another arrow and fired at the front group, luckily, it caught one, and the same happened to them.

There were only three left, counting the leader that were still standing. I looked to the left of me and discovered a wide tree, the leaves dangling off of the branch's color were kind of an olive green. I crouched behind my wall of arrows, grabbed one of them, and tumbled to behind the safety of the tree.

I heard the footsteps of the three men approaching and then abruptly stop. Then, I heard something whizzing by in the air. I looked straight in front of me and the flying object had skidded off of the ground into the water. Another whiz, only I could feel something striking the tree. Throwing knives. They were more than likely hoping that the knives could pierce the bark of the tree.

Well, at this point I knew that they were out in the open. I peered from behind the tree and surveyed the three men. They were in the middle of a clearing of trees. This should be too easy was all I could think to myself.

I went back to my arrows and started to collect them and put them back into my pockets. Looking at the three men, I noticed that they weren't really quite sure where I was. The cover of night helped more than I could've hoped for. They started to scream obscenities that I shall not repeat, but after I collected my arrows, I went back to the safety of the tree.

I looked up the bark of the tree and noticed that it was indeed climbable. I wrapped the bow around my back and leaped up catching a low branch. I pulled myself up and, while making little noise, moved to the side facing the homeless and crouched. As I gazed from behind the leaves, the other homeless, the ones who took a nasty fall, had come into the clearing. "Oh, this should be extremely easy," I muttered to myself.

They started to all converse and had wondered where "the little brat" had gone off to. I slid my bow from my back, and carefully fitted an arrow into my bow. Making sure I made no noticeable sound, I crept to the edge of the branch, but staid in cover of the leaves. I pulled back on the arrow and aimed for their leader, who was standing in the center of the large group.

It was going to be a tough shot, one of the toughest ever, but I could manage it. I'm sure I could, no, I know I could. A smile snuck onto my face and I gently whispered to myself, "bang."

The arrow was released and flew out of the tree and I heard the grunt of a man. As he fell, I could already tell, it wasn't the leader. My aim was only off by a hair, and I caught the man next to him. After the homeless fell, the entire group looked up where I was, they had tracked the location of the arrow, if they had spotted me or not, I couldn't tell.

"The brat's up there! Get him!"

The leader screamed this at the top of his lungs and the homeless obeyed his orders. I was already one step ahead of them. I could hear them screaming and running towards the tree. Their footsteps echoing in my brain, they couldn't be too far away now. Sliding to the lowest branch, I knew what I was going to do.

Crouched, I listened to their footsteps and yelling, only a few seconds later, they seemed close enough. I held onto the branch with my hands and swung down. The bark of the branch made small incisions in my hands, but nothing too deep or serious. I swung my legs back and forth, gaining momentum, I only had seconds, and I was amazed at how fast I had gotten down the tree and was already ready for the homeless.

The group came bursting from around the tree as I was in forward motion. I was ready for them, but they weren't ready for me. I released my grip from the tree branch as I was moving forward. My legs were together and I was like a human missile being launched at the homeless. The first one in my sights caught my feet straight in his face. This caused him to hurl backwards and into the group, falling over again.

I landed flat on my back, driving the air from my lungs into the night sky. I quickly rose to my feet and sprinted back a couple of yards, pivoted, drawing an arrow and fitting it, and shot at the fallen group. It found its mark on the poor soul that got my feet in his face.

When I bothered to look around, I noticed that I was in the clearing . . . bad move. As I swung around to escape, I also noticed something else, during all of the confusion, they surrounded me. A careless mistake I had made looking back on it now, but I assure you, I will not make this same mistake again.

The leader came from the side of me and stepped into the circle, into our unofficial arena. We stood there, gazing at one another. It was so silent you could hear a feather drop on the grass. I never really cared to notice the physical features of the man until now. He was a good inch or so taller than me, and wore no shirt. He had a nice physique, his muscles were a good size, obviously bigger than mine. His face had intelligence written all over it, by the look of his face, he knew what he was doing. He had brown eyes and was bald, no facial hair.

His voice then broke the silence, "Looks like you've been outsmarted boy. Any last words 'fore ya die?"

"I only have three words to say to you. Go to hell." My voice was very cocky and arrogant, but the time for talking had ended. I knew he saw this coming, but I decided if I couldn't get him, it would be just as good to take some of his crew out. I drew an arrow quickly and fired, but he was already in motion. He ducked and crouched as the arrow flew over his head. It flew into the eye of a woman standing behind him. She made a shrill scream and fell over, dead.

He moved at me with great speed, so I followed suit and we met at the middle of the "arena." I put both of my hands on the edge of my bow and swung violently at his face. He rolled on the ground, avoiding the swing and rose to his feet. I pivoted and swung again, only this time, he put his club up and parried. His club, meeting my bow, we both pushed with all of our strength. Eventually, he won the power struggle and pushed me backwards, the momentum causing me to fall flat on my back.

He leaped forward at me, holding his club with both hands, coming down hard with a downward strike at my face. I rolled to my left and got out of the way. I was able to sit up and swing my bow at his calf, which he leaped over. He was amazingly fast, and I wasn't quite sure how I was going to be able to beat this man.

Right after his feet landed on the ground, and I was just finishing my sweep with my bow, he one-handedly swung his club and connected with my temple. I immediately fell to the ground, dropping my bow. I noticed that my vision started to become blurry, I had to stay conscious. I got on my hands and knees and was beginning to get up, when I felt something hard hit me straight in my gut. I fell back on the ground, and something warm and not too pleasant forced its way our of my mouth. I looked on the ground . . . blood.

Something warm started to stream down the left side of my face. I was already aware of what it was, and it didn't bother me as much as my internal injury, which this man had reawakened. That was his upper hand, he had seen me fight and knew my weaknesses. At the time, he appeared to have none. "I can't win," was the only thought going through my head.

I lied there on the ground, thinking about my next move, when something started to tug on my hair. I was yanked completely off of the ground and set on my feet. My vision finally started to return to normal, and all I could see were two brown eyes glaring at me.

"I think you're the only one who's going anywhere son," were the only words the man spoke. He gave me a hard punch, straight to my stomach, but continually held me up by my hair. The feeling came again, and the blood forced out of my mouth, only it turned into a spit. It went directly into the face of this madman. I forced a painful chuckle and a smile. The blood was gushing from my temple now, and the entire left side of my face was covered in it, which was impairing my vision somewhat.

"You're gonna pay for that ya little bitch!" Another punch, only this one was straight to my nose. Blood oozed from my nose and my sense of smell was clogged by the smell and taste of blood. Tears were forming at my eyes and started to mingle with the blood on my face.

"What kid, ya gonna go cry to that little whore of a mom!" That feeling of anger and hatred returned, and the pain went away. I stared a hole at this man and forced some words out of my mouth.

"If you even mention anything about my mother again, what you've done to me, will be nothing compared to the suffering I will cause you."

"Tough words comin' from such a scrawny little punk." This man was only making it worse for him. I grew angry and I bent my right leg, swung back, and swung forward, keeping my leg bent. If he was a man, this was going to hurt. My knee connected with his . . . you know. The cocky and arrogant look that was once in his face was gone now. His face was full only of surprise and pain and he fell forward, releasing his grip on me, and landed on the ground.

I managed to land on my feet and pulled my knife from my boot. Full of rage and hatred I made my way over to the, now stunned, man. Looking over him, I noticed that he too, was carrying a knife on his boot. I removed it and got in a mounting position over him. I placed my knife between my index finger and my middle finger, and did the same with his, only between my middle and ring finger. I made a fist, with the blades pointed towards him and raised his head.

"Do it kid. I'll be waiting for you in hell."

"I'm looking forward to it." With that last sentence I punched at his head, the knives diving into his forehead. I left his knife in his head, but took mine. All I could think about was the last thing I said, and it wasn't right. Should I have let him live? He was defenseless, and in the end, I was no better than he was. These were questions I could answer later, right now, my life was at stake.

From the direction of where I entered Greenland Park, I could hear a shout . . . a woman's voice. It sounded as if she was calling my name. I got off of the now former leader and turned to the voice. Coming into the circle of homeless, was a homeless whom I could remember, yet I didn't know why.

I looked at who he was holding by the throat . . . it was my mother. This scene reminded me too much of what had just transpired with Jack. A memory flashed in my mind, I now remembered. The man that I caught in his chest, and was left for dead, didn't die after all. He was now standing there, right in front of my eyes, holding my mother by the throat, and had a knife to it. Due to the darkness of the night, I couldn't tell what his physical features were.

Her beautiful green eyes were full of tears, and she now had black bruises all over her pale face. I looked around and something was out of place. Then, it finally hit me, my father wasn't there.

"Does she look familiar to you boy! DOES SHE!" His voice was a low growl, and it slightly reminded me of Jack. The man was demanding that I answer, all I could manage between the rage and sadness was a nod. "Good, cuz you're about to know what it's like to lose everything you ever loved! Oh boys, it's dinner time."

My eyes widened as did my mother's, and I could already hear the anxious footsteps of the homeless edging towards my mother. He threw my mother to the ground and ran off into the city. I ran to my bow and threw it off of the ground and into my waiting arms. Reaching into my pocket, I quickly pulled out an arrow and put it into my bow and fired at the closest one. Dead, and I repeated the process. After this one, they started to form a closer, tighter circle around my me and my mother.

I then gripped my bow as I had with their leader, and started swinging aimlessly, just trying to keep them away from my mother. One of the homeless came from behind and took me to the ground. I was able to hang onto my bow, but we started to roll and wrestle away from the group. We reached the edge of the river and I managed to throw him off and into the current, and I witnessed him struggle to come back to shore, but he wasn't strong enough, and he soon faded off into the night.

I got to my feet and ran towards the group, and I could see their dirty hands grope and maul my mother. The first homeless that stood in my way received a blow to the back of the head. The force was so strong behind the blow, I wasn't quite sure if the homeless survived it or not.

I kept swinging, trying to reach my mother, and I took down homeless after homeless. Then my mother started to scream wildly and I could see her struggling to get the homeless away from her. The homeless started to circle around me too and they had made two circles, another around my mother.

Then, I could feel them trying to rip at my skin, and they were so close I couldn't do too much of anything. I managed to get a few short punches into some of their temples and noses, but they kept coming back. They started to pull me further from my mother, tears mingled with the blood on my face as I screamed for my mother.

She kept screaming and crying. I fought desperately to pull myself towards her, but there were too many homeless. They tugged and I pulled and I only went closer to the river.

"MOTHER! DON'T GIVE UP!"

"I LOVE YOU OLLIE! I LOVE . . ," then my mother's desperate cry of help turned into a grunt and a squeal.

"NOOOOOO! MOTHER!"

I then bore witness to something I never wanted to see again. Flashes of Scar's body being ripped apart ran through my thoughts and mingled with what I was watching. My mother's body, was being ripped in half.

I screamed with rage and hatred and I violently punched and kicked the homeless that were carrying me away. I felt a crack as I connected with one's nose, and I was sure I had broken my hand, but the homeless who received the punch, never got up again.

My legs were lifted off of the ground and I was being carried to my all too obvious destination. I put an arrow into my bow and waited for my cue. They then threw me, as hard as I could, towards the raging river. One last thing to do.

I spun, in midair, and aimed at one of the homeless. I released the arrow just seconds before I landed in the water, whether the arrow found its target or not, I will never know.

The water was cold against my naked upper body, and it was a raging river that day. My arms struggled to keep my head above water, but they failed. Every time I went up to get a quick breath of air, I was drug back underwater.

Ice cold water started to fill my lungs, and everything grew silent. I opened my eyes and all I could see was the deepness and vastness of the river. My eyes started to roll in the back of my head, but I forced them to stay open only a little longer, I hadn't given up hope yet.

The final moments with my mother flashed through my head, and I accepted that she was dead. Soon, I would join her. I let my eyes roll into the back of my head, and all was dark and silent.

. . . Pain. My hand started to hurt like hell. I wasn't sure if my eyes were open or not, all was dark, and I still couldn't hear anything. I could, however, move my hand, so it couldn't have been broken.

I forced my eyes open, was I dead? At the time, I couldn't really tell. All was blurry and white, then I let my eyes focus. I was lying on some rocks and pebbles, they dug into my skin, but after what I had been through, this was nothing.

Out of instinct, I rolled onto my back. It was morning, it must've been the next morning. The sky was clear and beautiful. It reminded me of my mother's beauty.

The image flashed again in my head, and I then realized I was not dead. I tried to sit up, and then I felt a sharp pain in my stomach and I fell back down. I felt around my temple and could feel the laceration started to seal up. The internal injury had not yet faded unfortunately, and the pain was excruciating.

As I lay there, thinking, I couldn't help but wonder, where was my father during that time. Why didn't he come help us? Was he murdered? Did he leave to get something for my mother only to return and find she wasn't there, and get to her when it was too late? These were questions, I hoped would be answered after I figured out exactly where I was.

I felt my right hand still gripping something and I turned my head to look at it. It was my bow, and it was amazingly still in one piece.

Ok, I had to be stronger than this. I forced myself to a sitting position, and struggled severely to get myself back up. After a couple of tries, I got myself up and took a look around, I imagined I couldn't be too far away from West Star, I mean, I hadn't been out very long . . .

I was amazed. This was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my life. There was life and wilderness all around me. It was all so perfect. The trees were beautiful, birds hopped and flew all around the place. The only obvious answer to where I was, was in a forest outside of Star City.

My parents never talked about anything other than Star City, they had never told me what lie beyond its borders. Mostly due to the fact I'm not quite sure they exactly knew what was beyond Star City.

I gazed in wonder at the forest, and breathed it in. I looked in my pockets, and found that my arrows were no longer there, nor did I expect them to be. "Well, looks like I've got some work to do . . ."

I slowly made my way into the forest, going against the current of the river, back to what I hoped would lead me to Star City . . . and to my answers.