Lord Of Beasts

Everyone turned to look at Mark after he volunteered to wake the man up.

For a brief moment, nobody said anything.

Whether he simply wanted to be useful or he wanted an excuse to vent the frustration that had been quietly building inside him...

None of them stopped him.

Without another word, Mark calmly rolled up his sleeves before walking across the dirt towards the unconscious man. His expression remained surprisingly composed, but there was a tightness around his jaw that hadn’t been there moments earlier.

He came to a stop over the gang member.

Then...

He slowly drew his arm back.

Smack!

The slap echoed across the entire property.

The young man jolted awake with a startled scream, his body convulsing as his eyes snapped open in confusion.

”Wha-”

His gaze darted wildly from side to side, trying to piece together what had happened.

Then, it landed on Mark.

Recognition never had the chance to fully settle in.

”You dirty black moth-”

He never finished.

Thud!

Mark’s fist buried itself squarely into his face.

Blood sprayed through the air.

The impact knocked the man flat onto his back before Mark immediately grabbed him by the front of his jacket and hauled him upright again as though he weighed nothing. The racist stared back through blurred vision, completely stunned.

”What the fuck’s your problem?”

Thud!

Another punch.

This one snapped his head violently to the side, and his entire attitude changed almost instantly.

”Wait!”

”P-Please!”

”I’ll talk!”

Mark kept hold of his collar for another second, staring directly into his eyes.

”So...”

There wasn’t any anger in his voice anymore, but that calmness was even more intimidating. The young man hurriedly began answering every question thrown at him, words tumbling out of his mouth as fast as he could manage.

Mark listened.

Then punched him again anyway, simply because he felt like it.

Thud!

The young man whimpered.

Nobody stopped Mark, and watching the racist repeatedly get punched in the face proved strangely satisfying. Even Kaela looked impressed, folding her arms before giving an approving nod.

”Didn’t know you had that in you.”

Mark merely shrugged, while Ethan laughed.

”Big Mark in his prime was even scarier than you.”

Within only a couple of minutes, the young man’s resistance had completely crumbled.

”We’ll leave Darren alone!”

”I swear!”

”We won’t come back!”

He looked desperately between everyone present, hoping someone would believe him.

Ethan simply waved the apology away dismissively.

”I don’t care about Darren.”

He’d already decided to solve that problem firsthand.

His interest lay elsewhere now.

”What I want to know is where your base of operations is.”

The young man’s eyes immediately flickered away.

His breathing became uneven.

”I...”

”I’m not sure I-”

Thud!

Mark punched him again before he could even finish the sentence.

The young man immediately yelped.

”Actually... I remember now.”

Ethan smiled.

”Funny how that works.”

Words poured out after that.

Apparently, there was a large compound outside town with several dozen members, storage buildings, weapons, and vehicles.

He held absolutely nothing back.

By the time he finished, Ethan gave a satisfied nod.

”Good.”

He stepped forward before grabbing the man firmly by the shoulder.

The young man flinched instinctively.

”You’re going to lead the way, fucker.”

He nodded so quickly it almost looked painful. His face had swollen considerably over the last few minutes, blood dripped steadily from his nose, and one of his front teeth had snapped clean in half.

He looked nothing like the loud, confident man who’d stepped out of the truck earlier.

Fear had replaced every ounce of arrogance.

That left one final problem: Who was staying behind?

”I’m coming.”

Kaela answered before anyone had even asked.

”So am I.”

Elara immediately added.

”Me too.”

Everyone turned.

Mark awkwardly scratched the back of his head before shrugging.

”I’ve come this far. Might as well see it through.”

Ethan couldn’t help laughing.

”Fair enough.”

That only left Darren and the Association worker.

”You two stay here and protect the house until we get rid of these assholes for good.”

Darren looked around at the pile of confiscated assault rifles now lying across the dirt before smiling. There was enough firepower scattered around the property to arm a small militia.

”I think we’ll manage.”

The Association worker nodded enthusiastically.

He was perfectly happy staying as far away as possible from whatever insanity Ethan intended to cause next.

But he did have another thought.

His eyes drifted towards the unconscious gang members lying all over the property.

”Shouldn’t we tie them up?”

Ethan glanced over.

”No need.”

Before anyone could ask what he meant, he casually walked over to the nearest unconscious man.

Crack!

A boot came down on the first man’s leg.

The bone snapped instantly, and the man shot awake with a blood-curdling scream.

Crack!

The second leg followed immediately afterwards.

Another scream echoed across the countryside.

Without the slightest change in expression, Ethan calmly walked over to the next man.

Then the next.

And the next.

One after another.

Every gang member woke to the sound of breaking bones before collapsing into the dirt, writhing in absolute agony as both legs were rendered completely useless. The countryside quickly filled with desperate screams, sobbing, and curses.

By the time Ethan finally finished, none of them was going anywhere.

He casually looked around at his handiwork.

”They can’t do much now.”

Darren and Mark weren’t sure whether to be pleased or disturbed, while Kaela and Elara were unfazed.

’I don’t want to kill them...’

His cold eyes swept across the broken men littering his old friend’s front yard.

’...but hurting these fuckers?’

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

’Now that’s fair game.’

Especially after they had tried to gun them down, tried to extort Darren, and insulted Mark. Ethan didn’t regret a single stomp, and if anything, felt like he had gone lightly on them.

’Scum like them are just a waste of space.’

With that settled, the group climbed into the two confiscated trucks.

Mark took the wheel of one without complaint.

Their thoroughly broken and terrified hostage was forced into the driver’s seat of the other, with Ethan climbing into the front passenger seat to ensure he didn’t get any clever ideas. Though the young man didn’t even consider trying anything after watching his friends get zapped unconscious and then have their legs snapped like dry twigs...

He’d become remarkably cooperative.

Neither truck lingered for long.

Engines rumbled to life before the small convoy rolled away from Darren’s house, leaving behind Darren, the bewildered Association employee, and the wailing racists as they headed straight towards one of their supposed strongest holds...