School Days: Anthology

Through tears and sweat, Katrina steeled herself as she looked upon Matthew Alexandrov and his broken state: his eyes were swollen, one of them dripping blood, his body covered in bruises… Katrina's stomach dropped, she began to panic, her hands shaking. The leader of the enemy gang crouched by her with a large smile. “Look at what we have here," he began with a low, husky voice that sent shivers down her spine.

"Quelqu'un va les trouver à la fois assez tôt, donc nous devons faire le meilleur de la situation et obtenir rapidement quelques informations." It’s days like these that she wished she hadn’t dropped french class as she couldn’t really understand what they’re saying, but she knew an interrogation was coming. She didn't bat an eye, her eyes were on Matthew as the other mob members began pushing him on the ground. The leader slapped Katrina across the face and became irritated. "Petit putain, look at me you uncultured swine, we're gonna have a talk."

The french bastard cupped her chin, tilting it up. "We remember you from french class, imbécile." The leader laughed as he ripped off Katrina's hat and threw it on the ground. They all laughed at her expense. The muffled protest yells of Matt could be heard as one of the members place a hard stomp on his back. "Voici le deal, plain and simple petit chat. I see how you're staring at the injun there, whatever lie you tell us..." He didn’t finish his words, but she soon understood the threat as one of the gangers kicked into Matt’s sides, his breathing is laboured as they were short raspy breaths, she winced from the brutality.

She remained silent, afraid to upset the leader any further, until he slapped her again even harder across the face, sending her flying into the cold, hard floor. "Silence est pas une réponse," he barked. The leader picked Katrina back up and forced her onto her knees.

He gave a slow nod, bringing a satisfying smile to the man's nasty lips. "Kat...don't," Matt attempted to say, a large boot smashing into his ribs as he cried out in pain.

"Why are you in our turf? Which faction are you a part of?" As time slowed down for Katrina, all of her thought processes shut down. She was essentially thinking like a scared little girl, who had done more harm than good. What do I do, say?

I...don't know what to do.

If I give away others' position they could be captured, maybe brutally beaten if not killed.

Yet if I say nothing… Matthew.

The leader got fed up and punched Katrina in the stomach, and her mind went blank. She rolled on the ground as all the air escaped her lips. Matt again tried to stand, but she saw the small bits of blood flinging into the air as he was punched in the face. "Il ne va pas le faire si nous gardant de le battre." The leader sighed as he stood up. The man left Katrina, and walked over to one of his lackeys by the broken warrior, and pulled out a sharp blade from one of his subordinate’s pockets. “Nous pourrions avoir à le mettre hors de sa misère.” The french man’s face was devoid of emotion as he walked over to where Matt laid, and ordered his men to force him up. Another member grabbed Katrina from the hair and forced her to stare at Matt’s limp body. The knife was placed on his neck, and tears began to run down her face. "Now I will ask one more time, or the bushnigger goes to hell."

"We’re from room 031 at the high school building within the tech wing." Katrina screeched. "Our leader of the day sent us on a job to locate nearby gangs." The leader chuckled and lifted the blade from Matthew's neck.

"Voir, that wasn't hard, but we still have that other question unanswered." He strolled over to Katrina as he pointed the tip at her neck.

"Please stop." Katrina had shut down, she couldn't control her emotions anymore. The senseless torture of Matt has taken a toll on her.

"How many more of you are there?"

"Listen you bastard, she doesn't have to answer anything!" Matt managed to yell to her surprise, but was quickly kicked back onto the floor. She could tell that he was in great pain, her thoughts bouncing around as she tried to focus on Matthew and their immediate danger. She was realistic however, and knew there was nothing she could do, their only hope was their fellow allies.

"Sir, we’re getting nothing out of this, and gym class will be starting soon. We should just leave." One of his goons said, pointing a dagger at Matt.

"Step back, I'll deal with him."

"No! You can’t do this! STOP!" Katrina yelled. The leader walked over to Matthew and kicked him onto his back against the ground. The afternoon sun flooded into the room as the screams of Katrina filled the room. The blade was about to come down, until a single punch struck the man’s jaw, and knocked the frenchie out as he fell onto the floor with a thud.

Another fight broke out as Katrina dove behind a desk, and soon caught sight of Matthew up and able despite his injuries with a look of fury. The man was overtaken by anger as he plowed through many of the Hornec members without too much trouble. He was running off pure adrenaline as he shouldn't be able to move without falling over from the pain.

Matthew dodged as much of the knife strikes he could, but occasionally the blade would connect with his arms. He quickly rolled over to an unconscious french man, and looted a crowbar from the downed man. She gripped the desk as she watched the man she previously thought broken, to be kicking ass.

Silence reigned in the room as Matthew won the battle. There were several knocked out men in the room, and many others awake laying on the floor in pain. What was left of their fighting force retreated from the room, and Katrina was able to calm down after walking up to the downed leader, and kicked him in the ribs. Surely these men are in better condition than Matthew, but she felt that they got what they deserved.

As they both walked out of the room she stayed by Matt's side. Despite wanting to she did not hold his hand, finding herself unworthy of such an action. She wasn’t able to participate in the fight, to support the man that have brought them out of that room with their lives. There wasn’t the usual quips and smart aleck remarks from the man, only a somber walk as she helped him walk back to their classroom.

Her tears had dried up long ago, and she cursed herself for her impotence.

A few minutes went by and students, and teachers of the school all around them both stared at them, occasionally checking on them to see if they’re okay, and gathering up the knocked out french students to be taken in by the school’s security. Security didn’t bother them as they probably viewed them both as victims of the Hornec gang.

He soon had her make an agreement, a silent one, on not to tell anyone about the incident. Not entirely anyways as Matthew didn’t want to worry his companion; Patricia, and that Katrina didn’t want to get in trouble with Miss Tanaka and Mr Popescu. Matthew had to keep up appearances, not letting word spread of that Pat’s attack dog can be beaten.

As much as Katrina wanted to, she couldn’t find the will in herself to verbally thank her savior, as she’s still recovering from the incident. As much as she hates not telling the truth about this, she felt that going against Matthew’s request was wrong. He’s the one that saved her, the one who taken most of the punches for her.

He said he regrets not being able to prevent them from harming her, but he promises he’ll do his best to not let something like this happen to her again. She should feel grateful that someone is watching out for her, but instead she felt guilty. Somehow she has to repay Matt for this.