Survivors of the Z’s- Graham Jackson, Nottingham, UK 

THEN-

It was either lose one thing

OR…

Lose it all

I nodded to him and he threw his arms into the air and smiled a sinister smile. 

   “That was easy,” he said, “I’ve never had it any easier…” he came in close, I gave him a deadly gaze, “you don’t look like the type of person to give shit up that easy… well?”

   “I’m not,” I said, “never have, never will be”

He flashed his eyebrows

Stepped back

I was frozen

TORMENTED

And he knew that

He knew that there wasn’t shite I could do about it

   I Looked outside again and there were more people now, “do you really need that many people here?” I asked

   “You never know my friend, you never know”

   “You scared I’ll kick your little teeth in?”

   He put his hands up, “woh woh woh, hold on a second, you need to be careful, you should be feeling all great and everything, you’ve just helped reunite a family”

I stood there with clenched fists. I felt the pressure of my fists growing tighter and tighter.

I had to control myself 

Think long and hard about the odds. It was a losing bet. No way was I going to step into a brawl with him because his pal’s would’ve jumped me

I had to be smart 

Go with the flow and let him think KNOW

That he was going to get out of there with his head intact 

   “You want a fight don’t you?” He asked, “you wanna kick my ass don’t you?” 

   “Aye, I do, but I’m not stupid, people like you’re nothing but shite on the side of a dark shitty road, if I wanted to, I could squash you, but I’m not going to, because all your little bitches are waiting for that to happen, I may be old, but I’m not Fucking blind”

He took the insult badly. 

I sensed it

I sensed his heart go from slow to fast in a second as soon as my words shot him in his tiny little fucking balls.

I wanted to kill the little prick 

Grab him by the neck and crush it with my bear fucking hands

BUT…

I couldn’t 

The only way I was going to keep my sanity was to stay sane. My family’s life was in jeopardy and everything was in my court.

I had to stand my ground, but not stand too hard

   “You’re smart, so I could slap you, punch you, kick you, do anything to you and you won’t lift a finger?”

I didn’t say a word

   “Wow, this ain’t half bad, it’s like my birthday, christmas and valentines day all come at once”

STILL…

I didn’t speak a word

   “Marcus!” He shouted, “get in here!”

He came through. His Face still badly damaged. I looked and saw Evelyn, the kids, Jessie and Elvis standing at the door. Evelyn looked like she was going to explode. I gazed her way  and tried to communicate without speaking a word.

   I looked at the dogs, “stay”

And they did

   “Is your family going to watch?” He asked

   “Go upstairs,” I told

   “No, they can watch”

   “You don’t have to do this Aaron,” Preston spoke 

   “Oh, but I do brother, in this life, in this world, people pay for their crimes, not like the old world where people got away with murder,” he said, “look at what you did to him,” he grabbed an angry Marcus by the face and pulled him toward me, we were now face to face, “look at what you did to his face!”

   “I know what I did,” I looked at Marcus, “and you fucking deserved it”

Marcus swung for me and caught me hard in the face. I looked back and smiled.

   “Is that all you’ve got?” 

   “Try this on for size,” he said

Again

He swung hard and caught me. My head turned from the impact and I looked back again

And again…

I smiled

   I spat blood out onto his scruffy shirt, “you’re as weak as you look, call yourself a man”

Again 

He hit me

And this time I took a step back

He was on me in no time. Punches repeatedly coming my way.

   “Dad!” I heard, “stop!”

   “When I say so,” Aaron told, “come any closer and he dies”

I felt it all now

Every hit

Pulverising my face

But all I could hear were the cries of my family and my dogs barking. 

   “Marcus!” Aaron spoke, “enough”

Marcus rose to his feet and spat at me. I was in a haze

A blur

Nothing but pain greeted me whilst I moved

   “That was fun,” he said, “unfortunately, it’s time to go, come on brother”

My hearing and vision became impossible to control

Then 

I blacked out

Preston shouting my name, my dogs barking and my family crying were the last things I heard
NOW-
Time had died under my feet

My face had now recovered

A LITTLE

From the heavy load of punches, but all I could do was sit there and think about it all. 

I had been battered

Bloodied

Bruised

Embarrassed 

In my own home and my family saw everything

AND

To top it all off. They took Preston away from me. The only son I ever had. Sometimes I thought about it. How I could’ve done something, but then I realised. I couldn’t have done nothing and that sickened me.

I felt my old mind ticking

And it had been ticking ever since that day

That’s all I did was think. I wasn’t the kind of man to take a beating and let it slide

No sir

   I sat on the bench

Elvis sat to the left of me

A desolate kid’s park surrounded me. The wind picked up and the swings moved slightly whilst the rest were unmoved. I had walked for miles and was now far out. It was a little misty and it was building up fast, but I didn’t give two shites.

I had to calm my mind

   I spotted a figure coming toward me, it looked drunk, so I guessed it was one of them, “arrrgh,” I grumbled

Elvis noticed to. I raised my hand and he sat back down.

   “If I need you, I’ll call you,” I told, “now stay”

I rose to my feet

Cracked my knuckles and neck and walked over. I was in no fucking mood for company. Especially for something that was trying to kill me. It didn’t take me long to reach and when I did.

Well

I unloaded everything I had on to it. It’s face was already fucked, so what ever I did to it was a fucking improvement. 

I bashed it’s dead brains in

Every hit as I sat on top of it was like a canon hitting a building. Each hit boomed and echoed until I felt the concrete 

Until

There was nothing left

   I looked at my hands and stared at the blood with dreaded eyes, “I’ll find you Preston and your fucking brother to…”

Filed under: Season Three