“Get. Off. Right now.”
“Well, look who it is! Little James sitting on his lonely rock, this is truly a lucky night,” A large man only a year older than James taunted.
With a sigh, he looked up at the man and set down his sharpened knife. “Lay off, Gabriel, we don't want to do something we might regret, aye?
Gabriel snorted with confidence, “What's a little squirt like you gonna do? Go crying like a baby to Commander, or snitch like your little brother? Maybe you'll flee from the army and go running into your stupid mother's arms.”
The calm man that was normally James broke. He was silent for moments too long, and with a voice cold as death he responded. “I said, we might not want to do something we regret,” And with a sudden burst of nervous laughter, he stared at Gabriel with wild eyes. “I don't have a family, and we certainly wouldn't want to talk about that... Nobody would want to see that.”
Satisfied he'd broken through the emotional defenses of the smaller man, Gabriel went in to give the stunned James a nasty uppercut. The impact knocked the small man from his perch on a rock and sent him flying to the packed dirt. The ground, however, had probably done more damage to him than the punch.
“You bullies just can't get enough, can you?” James asked with clear annoyance, picking himself and dusting the dirt off his now bloodied cheek. The cool night air and hard punch cleared his head and he quickly recovered, waiting for Gabriel's next move.
It usually happened that bigger people were bad at subtle movements and feints, and this bully wasn't any acception. He quickly closed the distance between himself and James and immediately made a wide hook with his left arm followed by a quick punch to the gut.
With a quick sway, James dodged the first punch, but nearly received the full second punch, staggering a few steps back.
“Haven't learned anything or grown a single muscle from the training we've been doing, huh? Maybe I'll ask Commander if I can give you some special lessons,” Gabriel smiled cruelly, swaggering up to James and pushing him to the ground.
The small man caught himself with his hands and attempted to get back up. Unfortunately the bully pressed his foot upon his back, pushing James back down with an oof! Then a sly smile flickered on the defeated man's face. And yet his smile denied his speech.
“Get. Off. Right now. You've got your final warning,” James growled in perhaps the most deceptive and angry voice he could muster.
“Or what? You're gonna cry like a little baby?” Gabriel taunted once more.
“Worse,” James responded, and gave two ear-piecing whistles. Then with a carefully practiced move, flipped under the bully's foot and pushed the foot forward knocking him off balance. Once freed from the foot, James immediately started running into the night, and dressed in dark clothing, he easily blended into the darkness of their surroundings.
“Where'd ya go you little rat?” Gabriel yelled trying to find out where his victim had run off to.
Then another figure emerged with a flashlight shining in all directions, searching for something it might never find.
“James? James? James!” The newcomer shouted, and soon Gabriel could see the large build of the advancing man.
“Chris!” A hoarse voice answered out of the dark, followed by a few coughs. Suddenly, Gabriel realized what was going on. He desperately looked for some way to get away or seem as if he was doing something completely normal. Then seeing James' discarded knife and stone, he did the same exact thing James had done before Gabriel had come along.
Chris continued his search for his disappearing friend until he noticed the hunched figure on a rock. He shone his flashlight on Gabriel. “James? Oh, you.”
The disappointed look on Chris' face made the bully all the more nervous as he turned around and tried to give a smile.
“What are you doing out in the middle of the night?” Chris asked, already suspicious of Gabriel's behavior. Only a few selected people liked the man.
Gabriel shifted on his seat uncomfortably, stuttering at every possible word, “Well, I-I uh, I'm j-just sitting out and uh, enjoying the cool night air?”
“And that?” Chris asked once more, pointing at the knife, “Last time I checked I only knew one person with a knife like that.”
The knife, that Gabriel held was a one of a kind object. The blade itself was simply made of carbon steel, but the back edge of the blade was serrated as to cut wires, then in the center was a specially carved groove, which Chris had still yet to find out what for. The hilt was the shape of a normal flip knife, but had two white symbols from a couple of James' favorite games.
“Oh?” Gabriel did his best to lie, “Well, I had recently just found this in the dump, all dull and stuff. I decided to uh, sharpen it and maybe use it.” His excuse was followed by a weak smile, and Chris stared at him with a deadly grim face.
“Why don't you hand it over then, since it's obviously not yours,” Chris demanded, opening the palm of his hand.
“No! I found it, and it's now mine,” Gabriel argued, in truth he actually did admire the knife and wouldn't mind keeping it. After all, it was finders keepers, losers weepers.
Chris was in no mood to talk any more, he knew the bully was always picking on his friend and he'd had the last of it. He let down the hand which had offered peace, and dropped the flashlight to raise his other arm and give the bully a large punch to the face. He then swooped down to pick up the knife and muttered, “No doubt that's gonna mark. Next time you can do things my way.”
Gabriel didn't even pay attention. He lay there, shocked by the force of the punch he'd received. Then two heavy coughs directed Chris' attention elsewhere.
“Hullo, there,” James smiled as soon as Chris stared at him. “Still coughing up my phlegm as you can tell!”
“Damn it, James! I thought something worse was happening,” Chris sighed, tossing the knife at his friend who happily tucked it in his pocket.
“Well, it nearly turned into that, but I couldn't just let my beautiful lungs get crushed.”
“Come on, get up. You're lucky we get to sleep in tonight,” Chris dragged James on his feet and walked back to camp.
James hesitated for a split second and looked back at Gabriel.
“Don't be surprised if you find something missing tomorrow,” he smirked and jogged on to catch up with Chris.
