Fighting Four

July 2019

"So this is Brightville." Miles stepped out of the train and saw the city.

It was more modern from his hometown, Cladville. There were tall buildings and huge infrastructures around Brightville that his hometown didn't have.

He exited the station and took out his phone. The Brightville University was a fifteen minute walk from his position.

Miles easily got into the university and after a brief instruction from the university personnel, he went straight to his dorm.

There he saw the three men already unpacking their luggage.

"Hi." Miles greeted with a smile.

"Oh! The last one is here!" a man with a baseball cap shouted. "David Stones."

"Miles O'Connor." The two shook hands.

The other two also stood up and introduced themselves to Miles.

"Jason McLay." The tall man who wears a loose black shirt gave Miles a fistbump.

"I'm Samuel Dune. Nice to meet you, Miles."

"Nice to meet you guys." Miles smiled and he looked around the room.

There were four loft beds in the room. Under the bed was a small wardrobe, a study table and a chair. At the other end of the room was the bathroom.

"This is yours." Samuel patted the loft nearest to the door.

"Oh, thanks." Miles put down his luggage and backpack.

The four began chatting as they worked on their things. They quickly became close and comfortable with each other.

"Let's get lunch together." Samuel said as wore his shirt.

"Is the cafeteria here good?" David asked.

"Cafeteria? We should eat outside as our first meeting celebratory meal." Samuel said.

"Huh? Is that a thing?" David tilted his head and asked.

"Uhhh, dunno." Samuel shrugged.

"Whatever, let's just eat in a restaurant. You're in, right Miles?" David said.

Miles nodded. "Of course."

They went out and walked around searching for a restaurant while still getting to know each other.

Once they found a good restaurant, the four ordered some good food and continued chatting while eating.

All of them were in the same course, year, and section, Mechanical Engineering 1E.

Samuel was the oldest among the four, twenty years old, while the others were all eighteen years old. He worked for two years before entering college and because of this, he was treated like an old brother in the group.

David and Jason were both from the same town but didn't know each other.

The former was a huge baseball fan and an athlete in school while the latter was a motorcycle enthusiast, racing in the track or trailing the mountains during the weekends.

After their lunch, the four went out of the restaurant.

"So where are we going? It's still early." David asked. It was just 2pm and he still didn't want to get back to the dorm.

"How about we continue walking around the city?" Samuel suggested.

"Sure."

The others agreed and they roamed around the city happily. All of them were not from Brightville after all.

While walking, Samuel saw an 'internet cafe' sign in a building.

"You guys play games?" he asked the others.

"Not so much but I do play League." David said.

"Oh. That's the only game I play when I have nothing to do." Jason replied.

"I also play that." Miles smiled.

"That's good then. We almost have a full team here." Samuel smiled.

"Play?" David asked.

The others nodded and went to the cafe. They found four seats in a row and logged in into their accounts.

"What are your ranks? I'm still Platinum 2." Samuel said.

David sighed. "I'm stuck at Gold 1."

"Well, I'm at Gold 3." Jason said.

They turned to Miles and Samuel, who was seated beside him exclaimed.

"Oh you're Diamond 2, Miles. That's quite high."

"This is my second account. My main account is Challenger rank." Miles smiled.

"What?!"

"Really?"

"You're lying."

"It's true!" Miles laughed. He logged in into his main account and indeed, it was Challenger rank. "I just reached it last week. I didn't sleep for two days."

The three laughed.

"You're really a hard gamer, Miles." Samuel said.

"Well, I played a few games." Miles said.

"Ahem..can you play ranked duo with me later?" David asked.

"Sure." Miles logged back to his Diamond account.

They began playing and surely, they won overwhelmingly.

Miles carried the game but he noticed that the three were good too.

"Woah. That feels nice." Samuel said after the game.

"Let's queue again!" David excitedly said.

They played a few more games and won all of them.

It was already dark when they left the internet cafe.

They began walking back to the dorm while still excitedly recalling their games.

"Man, you're really good." Samuel put his arms around Miles' shoulders.

"Thanks." Miles said.

While walking on the sidewalk, a group of men was walking towards them. They, too, were chatting to each other happily.

Seeing that they were coming, Samuel and his group walked slightly to the side to give way to them.

However, the man on the side of the group was not paying attention to his front and was focused on talking to his friend on the side, he didn't see Miles on the side and bumped into him hard.

Miles was pushed to the side and the man turned to him.

"Tsk. Why are you blocking the way?" the blonde man asked annoyingly.

Miles stayed silent and lightly smiled before saying sorry.

Samuel and the two frowned and moved closer to Miles.

"It's not your fault so why are you the one apologizing?" Samuel asked.

"Are you saying it's my fault?" The blonde man came forward and behind him, his friends followed.

Samuel locked eyes with him and nodded. "Yes, it's your fault. We even gave way to your group and then you still bumped into him. And instead of apologizing, you asked him why he is blocking your way?"

The opposite group had seven people with them. Looking at how they look, Samuel knew that they were almost that same age as Miles.

"Yes, he is blocking my way. Honestly, you're all blocking our ways so why don't you go fuck off." The blonde man shooed the group like dogs.

There was a little silence and tension was slowly rising up. David pulled his cap back and Jason took out his hands from his pockets.

Miles tugged Samuel's shoulder and smiled. "It's fine Samuel. Let's go."

"Yeah. Return to your homes and fuck the pigs just like how you fucked your sister." the blonde man said and laughed with his friends.

Mile clenched his fist and frowned.

Obviously, he didn't like those words.

David noticed his expression and said to the blonde man, "We don't fuck pigs. We're not into your mothers."

"And don't say your fantasies out loud, you sister fuckers." Jason said and high fived David like they rehearsed for it.

The men stopped laughing and glared at the two. Even the people around made a low 'ooh' sound the moment they heard the rebuttal of David and Jason. This made the blonde man's group even more mad.

"Fuck you!" the blonde man punched David which he didn't dodge.

He was directly hit but he just smiled and shouted, "This is self defense!", before punching the blonde man straight into his face.

Bam!

The blonde man staggered but regained his footing and his companions checked on him. Blood dripped from his lips. He wiped it and glared at David.

"Beat them up!" the blonde man shouted.

His companions rushed to the four with their fists in the air and ready to pummel them the moment they got a hold of them.

Miles' heart began to beat faster. In his entire life, he had never been in a fight. He used most of his time playing games inside his room after all and going straight home right after school. The small circle of his friends were all very nice and they always hangout in each other's homes.

However, on his first night in Brightville, he was directly pushed into a street fight.

'Damn…'

He gritted his teeth as the seven approached them in just a few steps. Being outnumbered, he already saw his future being beaten up by them very badly.

Right then, David threw a punch and knocked out the first guy, before trading blows with another guy.

"Holy shit!" Miles shouted in surprise.

'Is there a chance that we could win?' his hope rose up.

However, reality was hard.

Beside David, Jason fought two guys that proved to be difficult, he exchanged punches with them but he still received more.

Samuel grabbed one man's face and headbutted his nose, breaking it as a result.

He wrapped his arm around the neck of one guy while punching the man in the guts. One ran behind him and threw a punch to Samuel's back.

Then the three went into a brawl and rolled to the ground a few times.

Meanwhile, the blonde man ran directly to Miles.

'What the shit?!' Miles cursed.

"Fuck you!" the blonde man shouted and threw a punch.

Miles could not dodge it and was hit in the face. He put his arms up to defend but still, he was hit, again and again.

He threw a punch but it didn't reach and in return, he was hit again.

The fight lasted for only a minute before a whistle from the police was heard from afar.

"Shit!" the blonde man shouted. "Let's get out of here!"

His companions retreated and carried their knocked out friend away as quickly as possible. He glared at Miles before disappearing into the streets.

Samuel grabbed Miles' arm and dragged him away.

"Let's go."

Then, the four fled in the opposite direction before the police arrived.

After running for some time and making sure that the police didn't follow them, they finally stopped and sat in the grassy area of a public park.

They lied on the cold grass and began catching their breath as they felt the pain on their bodies and the fast beating of their hearts.

Miles smiled and began laughing.

A few seconds later, the three joined him in laughter.

"You guys are insane." he shook his head.

"We're all insane." David smiled.

Samuel sat and asked, "Is this your first street fight, Miles?"

Miles also sat and nodded. "Yeah. How about you guys? I feel like you've been to many of these kinds of fights."

David waved his hand. "Not in the street but in the field when basebrawl occurs in some of our games."

"I also fight sometimes because of road rage. Ahem. I didn't start any of it, don't be mistaken." Jason admitted and cleared right away.

Samuel chuckled and said, "I've been to a few because my neighborhood has some bullies and I need to step up for my siblings."

Miles smiled and then turned serious. "Thank you for standing up for me."

Normally, he would just brush it off even when people pushed him to the side, stepped on his feet and didn't apologize, or cut him off in line. Miles saw it as a little thing that he could just ignore.

However, the feeling that someone stood up for him and didn't let him be a pushover struck him and made him feel fulfilled, knowing that someone was ready to stand with him.

Samuel then laid his hand on Miles' shoulder. "I know that we just met today and have not known each other that long but from now on, you can treat me as an older brother. Tell me if anyone bullies you and I'll give them a good scolding."

David also smiled and said, "That's right. We got your back. And don't worry about the trash talks. Me and Jason got those."

Jason nodded. "Right. I have plenty in store for them."

Miles laughed and nodded. "Thank you guys, really. Also, I'm not very good at physical stuff but please just ask me anything and I'll do it if I can."

"Then, we will count on you!" David gave him a thumbs up.

Samuel put his other hand on David. "Let's count on each other."

They held each other's shoulders and shouted. "Yes!"

"Aargh!" David screamed and complained. "Why squeeze hard Jason? I have a bruise on that spot!"

Jason laughed and pulled back his hand. "Sorry, sorry."

"But my body really hurts." Miles smiled bitterly and touched his face. "And my face too."

"We should buy some ice packs before heading back to the dorm." Samuel suggested.

"Yeah…" the others nodded.

"And band aids too." David added.

"And relief patches." Jason said.

Miles just smiled as he followed his new found brothers into the convenience store.

…

March 20, 2021, the fifth day of the apocalypse.

"You know them?" Miles asked Brian.

Brian nodded.

"Are they safe? How are they? Where can I find them?" Miles asked questions in a row.

"Y-yes, they are alive and they are in the Administrative building together with the others." Brran answered.

Miles sighed in relief to hear that his friends were fine.

"But.." Brian hesitated.

Miles frowned and stared at him. "But what?"

"Remember what I said that there are people getting beaten up for nothing?"

At that second, Miles' eyes instantly were filled with rage.