Exodus Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen
Training Day
           
Mr. Wolf was red in the face as he stared at all of us. Finally his eyes stopped moving and he stared at Wolf. I could feel the bottom drop out of my stomach, and I knew what was coming next.

"I've tried, for years I've tried to make you a man, and you keep insisting on acting like a child. I am going to whip you into shape this time even if it kills me."

The space between Mr. Wolf and his son seemed to warp and absorb the sound like sponge- making everything deathly silent. Nobody moved for the longest time, and I kind of started to think that time had actually stopped.

And then Owl stepped between them.

"We are men." He said, arms crossed, "You told us that we needed to be men and not boys. Well we took you serious. And men make their own damn decisions, they don't let other people do it for them. You aren't mad that we're still children, you're mad that these men decided to oppose you anyway."

Mr. Wolf turned his head away, almost like he'd been punched in the face. And then he slowly turned back to Owl,  “You are a spoiled brat who has no idea what it takes to keep civilization together."

Owl moved his hands to his hips, "You think we're still kids. Then we'll prove it."

Owl looked at me then, and I nodded and stepped up to join him and Wolf.

Owl continued, "You want to whip Wolf into shape? I think you're a coward who likes to hit people smaller than yourself. But you want to be a bully, I say even the odds. We'll all take that whipping. If you can manage it. If you can take us."

Silence stretched like a monster growing between us. Owl had baited the giant, would he bite?

"You boys all want to share the whipping, that's just fine with me. You all need a lesson anyway."

I could hear Mr. Wolf's men whispering about the awful things that were about to be visited up us as Mr. Wolf marched us out of the school yard and back to Wolf's house, back to the Carport where Wolf spent more of his childhood that was probably far. The carport was cold enough that our fingers went numb almost immediately. Mr. Wolf seemed oblivious to the cold.

Mr. Wolf didn't say anything. I think he was too angry to speak. he just walked to the center of the ring and pointed to his son and ushered him with an open hand. Wolf nodded, and held up a fist for me to bump and then did the same to Owl. Then, without a word, Wolf stepped into the ring and hell broke loose. I had watched Wolf fight. And I had seen Mr. Wolf fight Lion and Owl. But this was brutal. Wolf was going harder and faster than I had ever seen, and Mr. Wolf was handling it. The traded blows so fast, I frequently couldn't follow it. Wolf was pressing his father, trying to force the man to respond and burn out. But in doing so, Wolf was being aggressive and it was leaving him open more than was probably safe. Mr. Wolf was not a fast as his son, although only by a narrow margin, but he clearly hit much harder than Wolf could, because every blow he landed, shook Wolf and forced him onto the defensive- least briefly.

I looked at Owl. The reality of challenging the man who had brutalized him before had clearly sunk in, and Owl looked like he was tied to the tracks of a railroad in an old movie. I looked back at Wolf. This was a war of attrition. We had to stall his father with our bodies. And We needed to pace ourselves and stay in the fight long enough for everyone else to do their jobs. But it was clear that Wolf was losing ground and taking hits that might prevent him from coming back in later on if it went that far.

I couldn't wait any longer. Wolf was landed solid blows consistently, but his father kept acting like they didn't matter, and countering with blows that staggered Wolf. Then Wolf telegraphed a punch a little too much, made a little to obvious before he threw the blow, and Mr. Wolf took advantage. He stepped around his son's punch and hammered Wolf hard in the ribcage and followed it up with a blow to Wolf's hip. Wolf dropped to his knees and stayed there. Mr. Wolf didn't pursuse, he stepped back and folded his arms and looked over at us.

I could feel my legs shaking, literally shaking. Mr. Wolf had always been the scariest man I'd ever known, but Wolf wasn't getting up. And somebody needed to do something.

"My turn," I said, trying desperately to sound brave, "Wolf doesn't get all the fun."

I walked over, and Mr. Wolf grinned like a cat with a mouthful of canary. Wolf pulled himself to his feet and I fist bumped him, and then turned with my fists up to face his father as Wolf limped out of the ring.

"Tag," I said, and I could hear the waver in my voice, "I'm in."

I'm a decent fighter. It would be almost impossible not to be with Wolf as my best friend. But I'm no where near as good as Wolf or his father. I knew this as I stepped into the ring. I'm neither nor incredible strong or fast. But I also knew that I didn't have to win. I just needed to draw this out. Wolf had clearly been hoping to do some damage to protect us from the worst of his father's rage. But his dad didn't seem slowed much by the previous round with his son.

He also didn't unload on me like he had on Wolf. He let me come in and throw a few jabs, and then contented himself with pounding my forearms raw as I brought them up to block his lightning fast counter attacks. It was painfully clear that he was trying to take my arms away from me so that he could punish me at his leisure, and as I tried to stay mobile and keep throwing enough blows to keep things going, I could feel the pain in my arms slowly becoming unmanageable.

Finally I couldn't keep my hands up anymore. And I let them drop. Immediately he moved in and threw several fast jabs, I managed to dodge them with footwork, but found myself almost at the back wall, and with no good place to move. Mr. Wolf pressed forward, and the second round of jabs hit me in the face and I lost of second or two before I could tell what was happening. I dragged my arms back into guard position and tried my best to weather the incoming storm.

I was having trouble thinking, every time my head started to clear, something slammed into it again, shaking my concentration. I think it hurt too, but I couldn't tell anymore, because everything hurt. I was vaguely aware of the fact that I was being punched, but I couldn't find my hands to block with them.

And then the hitting stopped and my mind steadied. I become slowly aware of somebody standing between me and the hitting.

I looked up and was surprised to recognize Wolf standing there.

"You've hurt my friend enough dad. My turn again."

"You're in no shape to tag in, let the loud one do it."

"I'm your opponent dad, worry about me."

"Whatever you want. I'll get to him eventually."

I dragged myself to side and Father and son began again. This wasn't a fight anymore though, this was a beat down. Wolf was already hurt and tired and Mr. Wolf didn't seem to care. He was more vicious against Wolf than he had been against me. And in the state Wolf was in after the first round, his father was simply too much for his Wolf to handle. It was painful to watch. Mr. Wolf simply pounded his son, while Wofl struggled to remain standing. I wanted to tag back in, but hadn't recovered enough to step in.

I looked at Owl, and saw raw terror in his eyes. There was no way Owl was getting into that ring in the state he was in. And Wolf needed a break if he was going to walk out of here. I tapped Owl on the shoulder and he swun his head sharply to look at me with wide eyes, before calming back down.

“I can't do it.” He said, “I shouldn't have pretended I could. He'll just beat us all to death.”

I thought about that for a moment, and then I answered, “He hasn't killed anyone that I know of, but you know who has? You have. You beat Mr. Pinchen to death. Wolf's dad is a soldier, but you are a proven killer. What did you think about when you killed Pinchen?”

I could see Owl focusing, “I just kept thinking about what he had done to my mother. It was really easy with that in mind. I wasn't there to fight him. I just wanted him dead.”

“Well,” I said, “Who do you think was responsible for putting Mr. Pinchen in that position and giving him the equipment and the opportunity to kill your mother? Mr. Pinchen was a weapon that somebody else pointed at your mom. Who do you think did that?”

Owl nodded, suddenly in control of himself and stood up.

"Okay, that's enough. Tag. I'm in." I could here a waver in Owl's voice, but he stepped into the ring, and Mr. Wolf let him tag Wolf, who retreated gratefully to the sidelines.

"The loudmouth finally steps up to take his medicine. I figured you we too much of coward to go toe to toe with me. All talk, that was what I figured. So you managed to impress me a little by finally stepping into the ring, but you're going to regret it."

“I regret every time I pretended to agree with you or like you or not offend you. But I don't regret this. Game on old man.”

Mr. Wolf was tired by this point, but nowhere near tired enough. Owl had to know this, because he was playing a defensive game like I had. The biggest danger for Owl was making a mistake. We had to hold on, and neither Wolf or myself could manage to get back into the ring. Owl struggled, he was faster than any of us, but he was also the smallest and even when he blocked, Mr. Wolf's hits would often stagger him back several steps. Mr. Wolf was working Owl even slower than he had me though, drawing things out, I think, to teach a lesson. Of course with Wolf's father the lesson was simple- don't disobey or cross Mr. Wolf.

Then one of Owl's jabs hit low, below the belt, but only just and Mr. Wolf actually winced momentarily. I noticed a flicker on something Owl's eyes when it happened though and suddenly Owl was moving less defensively and using more footwork to try and stay mobile. Owl's next blow was a low blow as well, only this time there was no way it was an accident. Mr. Wolf actually staggered when Owl landed the blow to his groin.

"You're cheating, you little turd!" Mr. Wolf spat angrily at Owl.

Owl grinned.

"Cheating is what the big guy calls it when the little guy fights in a way that doesn't favour the big guy. You're a full grown man. You're a moose compared to me. And wolves don't bring down a Moose by challenging it to one on one combat and playing by nice rules. Wolves gang up and they use every advantage they can find."

Mr. Wolf looked over at me and Wolf. Recognition of our plan flickered over his face, and then Owl stomped onto his knee from the side. I heard a strange pop, and Mr. Wolf dropped to one knee with a roar of pain.

"What are you little boys playing at?" He said and he pulled himself back to his feet. Owl let him get back up, playing for time.

"We're tired of you taking out your anger on Wolf. He our friend. He's our tribe. We will stand by him, we will fight beside him- even if it means fighting against his dad."

Mr. Wolf righted himself and threw a series of sharp jabs that penetrated Owl's guard and knock him back, almost into the ropes. Owl wasn't looking so good. I didn't know how much longer we needed to hold out. And I didn't know how much longer we could hold out.

Then we heard the explosion.

Mr. Wolf looked up in shock and turned to face the school. I could see the horror written in the lines of his face and he saw the flames leaping from where we all knew the school should be.

It was in that moment, with Mr. Wolf staring away in shock, that the risk of what we were doing sank in. His gun was on the table and there was nobody here. I wasn't ready to kill Mr. Wolf. Call me stupid, but I couldn't do it and don't think Owl or Wolf could either. We looked at each other, and understood our mutual danger.

I don't remember if we nodded or made any movement, but we knew, and so we turned as one and ran. Really, we shouldn't have been able to run at this point. We were in awful shape, but we didn't have a choice did we? So we ran. It was several moments after we had cleared the garage that we heard Mr. Wolf yell after us.

"What did you do?"

Owl grinned beside me.

"We destroyed you." He answered quietly under his breath.