Less than dirt

The sun rose over Axcell village's fences and went through the glassless window of Leon's cabin. The sun's rays traveled the one-room shack to hit Leon's face and wake him up. This unfriendly sun brought Leon back to reality and forced him to open his eyes. As Leon managed to shake off the torpor of his sleep reality came back to him, reminiscing to Leon the reality of his condition.

"Forget the dreams, forget the act of bravery, you're just a farm boy" he thought. Leon, accompanied by his dark thoughts, stood up from his bed and went on to do his morning routine, take a bath, get dressed and have his breakfast.

Just as the day before, and the days before that, Leon walked across the village. He saluted the few people that were kind enough to him to give him food for his and ignored the others, especially the blacksmith and Mr. Duncan. "Those two assholes can't even educate properly their children and instill the respect of other into their beings. Why should I show them respect?" thought Leon.

Leon reached the village's main entrance and took a deep breath, relaxing his muscles and dropping the matters that were weighing on his shoulders, namely the three hoodlums that are Blum, Pol and Mak and the certainty that he would suffer another beating today.

Once all the oxygen in his lungs was expulsed from his body, Leon realized that today was a bright day. As bright as usual, but something was in the air, an unidentifiable speck that made him believe that maybe today wouldn't be as bad as usual. The sun was rising, bringing the fields and the crops to life. It is with such an impression that Leon started walking again.

"Whose field do I have to take care of today again?" he thought. "Oh, right, today is the Spout family's day, isn't it? Hum, quite an easy task I have today. I just need to remove the weeds from the field and I'll be done. With some luck, I might even catch a break and avoid those three fuckers."

As his mind was trailing away, Leon went on towards his destination, the field of the spout family. He could already see the crops with the weeds in between. As his mind wandered away he casually checked if he had the appropriate tool with him and, indeed, he did.

Leon, after a 30-minute walk, finally reached the Spout family's field. And, as he entered the field, he heard some noise before even seeing anything. It was loud, some yelling and hushing, some barking as well. It seemed as if a beast was being hunted by humans. Alerted by the noise, Leon ran in the direction it came from.

He could finally put an image on the noise. Leon saw the three assholes, that are Blum, Pol, and Mak running after a small white blur.

"Catch it" yelled Blum.

"I'm trying, you fucker! What are you waiting for Mak? Surround him god damn it! Move your ass!"

"Shut it, Pol! Can't you see that's what I'm trying to do."

As he said so, Mak went to the left of the blur as Blum went on his right. Pol was behind it, chasing as fast as he could.

Noticing the circus, Leon moved slowly towards them. He did one step after another carefully, as he didn't want to be noticed by any of the boys.

Finally, the three boys managed to cut any path of retreat for the blur. From a distance, Leon realized that the white blur was none other than a small dog with long hair. The closer he got to the three boys and the dog, the more the dog appeared to be old and pitiful. With, for unique notable trait its golden eyes, which were looking with some kind of disdain at the three boys. As if the dog was pitying them.

"Haha, we finally caught it boys!" said Blum. "What do you think we should do with it?"

"Let's play with it for a while. I don't know, maybe we could catch it, tie its rear legs to each other and watch it crawl on the floor. What do you say guys?" suggested Mak.

"Nah, that's twisted, fucked up and it would take too much time" said Pol. "What do you think Blum, should we just beat it a bit before the village's idiot come to this field?"

"Oh, that's an idea and a good one at that"

"Yeah, I almost forgot the orphan" interjected Mak.

"Yeah, let's beat it into a pulp and then prepare our ambush for the farm boy" conclude Blum.

Their decision taken, the three boys got closer and closer to the dog. Leon, who heard everything and saw such scene, knew what to do, even though he didn't want to act yet, he had no choice.

Surreptitiously, Leon got closer and closer to the dog and the three boys. He walked slowly avoiding as much as possible to make any kind of sound. Finally, and while the three hoodlums were making much noise in order to afraid the dog and force it into submission, Leon managed to reach Pol. Leon was right behind his back, ready to act.

As Leon was about to act, the dog barked at him. Such behavior, which did not occur before, made the three muggers turn their head in Leon's direction. As they noticed him, a mocking rictus appeared on Blum's face.

"Haha Leon, what were you trying to do? Rebelling, maybe?" he asked.

Leon didn't answer. Instead, he seized Pol's shoulder with his left hand and Pol's waist with his right one and tossed him on Blum. The two boys, Pol and Blum, collided with each other, Pol dragged Blum in his fall. As the two boys hit the ground, Leon sent his right foot at Mak hitting him in the stomach. The pain cut Mak's breathing and made him fell to his knees.

The three boys on the ground, Leon went toward the dog stroked it and then turned around, his back facing the dog and his front facing the three hoodlums.

"What are you trying to do orphan?" asked Blum

"I'm preventing you from hurting this poor beast. What did it do to you anyway? Except for existing"

"Well that's just it, it exists within our field of vision. Look at that little shit, full of flea and probably sick as hell" answered Pol.

"Let us beat it or we will beat you up instead" added Mak.

"Haha, didn't you plan to beat me up anyway? Stop your bullshit"

"You're right we did plan to beat you up today, as we did yesterday and as we will do today" said Blum. "You're ready fucker? Boys let's go!"

Pol went to Leon's right as Mak went to his left. Mak sent his fist targeting Leon's face. Mak, with a kick, target his waist. Leon took a step back avoiding the both of them and seized Mak's Achilles heel with his left hand. He sent it in the direction of Pol, surprising the two boys and bring closer to him Mak. He sent his left fist towards Mak's cheekbone. The poor boy was sent flying away by this simple punch. As, prior to Leon's punch, Mak's leg was finishing its course, it hit pol in the pit of his stomach. And while it was not powerful enough to neutralize him, it stunned him for a couple of second, which allowed Leon to take his time, aim his right fist and target Pol's solar plexus. Leon's fist reached Pol's solar plexus. After the shock, Pol took three steps back and fell to his knee, his breath cut then very shallow and short. As he managed to breathe again, Pol felt his stomach's bile going up his throat and soon after, it spilled all over the field's ground.

First stunned by his actions and his own abilities to fight and defend himself, Leon soon felt the satisfaction of winning and squashing his opponent under his feet. However, he forgot one of the three hoodlums and while he was basking into his own glory, he received a strike on his head.

Blum armed with a thick three branch hit Leon on the top of his head. After the first hit, Leon fell, a second hit came as fast as the first one then a third, a fourth and a fifth.

"You're not so strong now are you?" yelled Blum at Leon.

As Leon was being repeatedly hit by Blum, Pol and Mak stood up from the ground and the both of them went to pick up a tree branch as well to finally join Blum and beat Leon with it.

"You still feel like a hero dog shit?" Asked Pol screaming

"Here is for the punch you gave, you cocksucker!" exclaimed Mak

The three boys then took turn to beat and beat again the poor Leon. Finally, as the three were exhausted and no more strength was left in their arms they stopped and decided to leave Leon bath in his own blood. "And if he were to die? Well, it would be his destiny" thought the three boys.

"Next time, don't forget your place. Don't forget that you are less than dirt" said Blum leaving.

As he heard those words, a blur appeared in Leon's field of vision, before falling unconscious.