#1 La Mara Salvatrucha

On the streets of Soyapango, the sun was at its peak and the heat enveloped the passers-by, including Alexander, better known as "La Santa Muerte". He was a gang member who belonged to La Mara Salvatrucha, an international gang originally from El Salvador.

As he walked through his territory as usually, adults and elders observed him with fear, while some children looked on with admiration.

Suddenly the gang member heard some shouting coming from the shopping area so he decided to go closer to see what was happening, several people ran past him.

He kept moving forward, the smell of blood was present.

With every step he took, a fallen comrade appeared. He didn't lose his cool even though he knew his territory was under attack.

For someone to attack Alexander's territory was unusual, the other gangs knew better than to get involved with "La Santa muerte", not even the authorities dared to enter, it was clear that the individual who had transgressed the boundaries of his territory was either very arrogant or...didn't belong in the city.

Alexander's heart rate suddenly increased, his body began to sweat, his arms trembled, his pupils dilated, and he felt a storm of nails raging in his belly, all these sensations and reactions were caused by the adrenaline he released when he sensed that a confrontation was approaching.

When he arrived, everything was chaos and wounded people, a couple of individuals who appeared to be foreigners, both wearing suits, albeit of different colours, where the perpetrators. The individual in the White Suit was standing in front of a little girl who was protecting her fainting mother.

—Don't you dare touch my mother again, you bastards! —shouted the girl as she held a stake in her hands.

—Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! That's the spirit, brat," scoffed the W. suit, "amuse me some more.

—We must keep looking for the target, stop fooling around, we lost enough time dealing with those gangsters from earlier," said the B. suit.

-If there's one thing we have plenty of, it's time," replied the W. Suit.

The girl ran towards the W. Suit and tried to stab him with the stake, but the attempt was futile, as there was a gulf of difference between them.

He grabbed the brat by the hair to throw her to the floor and then kicked her with all his strength, this caused that little body to go flying and crash into the wall, her left arm had broken and her head had split open, a stream of blood ran down the girl's face, that body no longer had the strength to stand up.

—Really pathetic JA! —mocked the W. Suit.

—No, she was actually pretty good for a brat," Alexander objected with a proud look on his face, "I'd like to face her when she matures.

—Ahh ¿who the fuck are you? —asked the W. Suit with a sadistic and mocking expression.

—I am the owner of everything you see, this is the territory of "La Santa Muerte" oseaseyo," answered Alexander as he formed a bird with his hands.

—Ju,Ju,Ju! So you are "La Santa Muerte", you look troubled, I understand your governor perfectly well," said the W. Suit.

—I should've known that maje would do something like this," Alexander thought aloud.

—Exactly, he needs you out of the area and we need a fighter," said the W. Suit.

—¿A fighter? -asked Alexander in confusion.

—You'll figure it out, now enough chitchat, show me why they gave you that ridiculous nickname," replied the W. Suit.

—Stay out of it," said the W. Suit to the B. Suit.

In the blink of an eye the W. Suit approached Alexander to hit his temple, that blow sent the gang member flying, he crashed into the wall and fell unconscious next to the little girl.

Alexander always loved to fight, it made him feel free, so he decided to join the MS (Mara Salvatrucha) he thought he would have the opportunity to fight with lots of people.

He endured the initiation ritual and officially became a mara, in the ritual the other male members had to beat him up for 13 seconds straight.

He started with simple jobs like selling drugs and extortion. Whenever he could he fought with members of other gangs, he had a lot of fun, he was really enjoying life. And one night when he was only 14 years old he experienced what it was like to take the life of another human being, of course he was already used to committing actions that society considered evil or morally wrong, but this was on another level.

Fighting was like a sport to him, a sport where he could ram his ram's horns into others and then go on his way. He was never capable of killing anyone, he didn't think it made any sense, after all he just wanted to enjoy life, not take it away from others.

In the middle of a quarrel over territories Alexander would meet a member of the opposing gang, he was so wild that he looked like an uncontrollable beast, the young mara did not hesitate and challenged him, in seconds that beast knocked him out and began to hit with murderous intentions his unconscious body without stopping, each blow sounded like a drum.

Suddenly the boy's body was completely naked floating in an unknown space, the boy understood instantly that he was no longer in the physical plane, in the distance he saw how a woman with hair as black as coal and eyes as green as emeralds, wearing a crimson robe approached him, finally when he had her in front of him she grabbed his head and kissed him on the forehead.

He woke up immediately and tried to gouge the beast's eye out, it noticed that the boy it had effortlessly knocked down had changed, his eyes were now crimson and a bloodlust surrounded his body.

Alexander lunged at the beast and bit off its nose, the exchange of blows that followed was so incredible that the other gang members stopped fighting each other to stop and watch, it was as if they were hypnotised or perhaps too terrified to move?

Alexander caught one of the beast's blows and climbed onto its body, biting off chunks of skin from different parts of its body.

The pain consumed the beast's fighting spirit, for the first time it felt like prey, like a "rooster being hunted by a bird of prey".

The mob gouged out his eyes, slowly and painfully, and then ate them, that day he earned the nickname of "La Santa muerte".

Back to the fight with the foreigners.

Alexander woke up, now with his eyes crimson, that hadn't happened since the fight with the beast, the W. Suit knew he had to get serious, he took off his suit and shoes.

The two propelled themselves and collided.

The next thing Alexander saw was the ceiling of an unfamiliar room, the whole room was yellow and the equipment looked like science fiction, he was disoriented, suddenly his head filled with questions.

Where were the foreigners?

What had happened to his neighbourhood and his companions?

Had he lost?

—Well, never mind, I'll figure it all out like I always do," he said as he got out of bed and headed for the door.

TO BE CONTINUED