Chen

September 21st 1992

Vanguard

The muffled shouts from his parents made their way up to Chen's room. He sat on his bed, knees to his chest and holding a pillow over his ears to ward of all the loud arguing but it wasn't of much help. Grunting in frustration Chen throws the pillow across the room. His parents were always fighting, always swearing at each other and telling one another how annoying and worthless they were; sometimes they even got physical. All of it used to make Chen scared and sad, now it just made him angry and annoyed. They never payed any attention to him, it was like he was living on his own with two constantly yelling strangers.

Chen jumps off his dinosaur covered sheets that he refused to acknowledge as childish for a first year in highschool. He pulled open his bedroom door and as he neared the top of the stairs the shouting grew in octaves.

"YOU WORTHLESS , WHO PAYS THE BILLS AROUND HERE!?" he heard his dad shout. 

"SO NOW YOU THINK YOU OWN ANYTHING IN HERE BECAUSE YOU PAY BILLS? YOU ING DOUCHE BAG, WHO BOUGHT THE HOUSE?" his mom countered back. 

Chen bounded down when steps in a rush going straight for the kitchen where his parents stood facing each other; both fuming red and pushing into each others space. Chen huffed and ran straight for them and forcefully pushed them apart. They both look at him annoyed and he glared right back. 

"Shut up! Just shut the up, both of you! All you ever do is yell and fight!" Chen shouted. "You're not the only two who live here!".

The blow came quick and painful. His cheek burned as he looked to the right to where his head had been pushed by the force. Chen was shocked as he brought his hand up to his cheek and looked at his dad who's eyes were anything but regretful. "You incompetent brat!" he grabbed a fistful of the boys shirt. "How dare you shout at us like that, who feeds you in this house, who puts clothes on your back!?" 

Chen pulls himself out of his grip and frowns at him "to with that, do you even remember you have a kid!? You both just care about yourselves! You're both pieces of trash!".

"Why you-" his dad starts reaching forward to grab him but Chen ducks and rushes past him. "I wish I didn't have ups for parents!" Chen yelled before running out the front door. 

The sun was going down and Chen still didn't want to go home, he was sure they were still arguing. The boy sat on a bench in a nearby park. Chen hated the way his life was, he didn't have any friends and no one took him seriously; he was just the kid that was too loud and dumb and was the offspring of two middle school dropouts. He brought his knees close to him and hugged them, looking like a tiny ball on the long bench. Why was he stuck with such uncaring parents? They never once remembered his birthday or said they loved him. 

His thoughts were soon interrupted by unexpected laughter. He lifted his head to look a few feet in front of him. Tall body's stood in a group kicking at something in the dirt ground near a garbage can and Chen raises and eyebrow? They all looked to be a year or two older than him. His eyes fall to where their feets thrashed and saw a lump curled up and it took Chen a minute to realise it was a person, he pushed his feet to the ground and sat up straighter, what the hell were they doing? Without thinking Chen got up and walked over,

"Hey!" he yelled. The group stopped their onslaught to look at the fast approaching boy but they then turned back around and resumed their assault. Chen frowned, "hey!" he shouted again but louder, not caring that it was already dark. 

They stopped again and this time they all turned fully to acknowledge him. "What do you want, punk!?" one of them snarled. They all looked intimidating as Chen stopped a few spaces away last, they wore all black attire with a lone patch of blue on the right arms of their leather jackets. Who were these guys?

"What are guys doing to him?" Chen pointed to the now visible male who was still curled up in a ball, bruises evident on his exposed skin. "Oh, we're just showing him a little lesson is all" the tallest one of the group smirked down at Chen. He knew these guys were bad news "I'll call the cops!" he exclaimed seeing the male now roll onto his back, groaning slightly, "you'll be charged with assault. You all look old enough to get arrested".

The group of males burst into laughter. The tallest one walks slowly over to Chen in a menacing way that had the boy backing up slightly with each step. The tall boy gripped onto Chen's shoulder and took a place behind him. "Call the cops? That's a nice joke" he says lowly. 

 Chen's heart was thumping, the others also circled him; the battered boy on the ground, forgotten. "It's not a joke, I'll seriously do it. What are you? Some type of gang?" he mustered up a bit of confidence he always stored away for when he felt small, vulnerable. 

"That's exactly what we are" the tall boy, Chen now assumed was the leader, talked close to his ear sending chills down his spine, "and we'd soon kill you before you could even take your phone out" he snarled before pushing the short boy to the ground.  His bare arms scrape against the dirt as he tries to break his fall. He pushes himself up shakily and turns around to look up at the group of males; Chen's eyes widen at the open holes of a weapon he's only ever seen on TV action movies pointed directly at him. The open end of the guns looked dark and sinister as Chen sat there with fear gripping his chest. Where were his parents? Did they not notice he was still gone? Were they not even worried? Hurt and anger replaced the fear, did they really not love him at all?

"You're not running?" he heard the tall male ask and Chen looks up at him, the males gun still cocked. As they stared at each other, the taller male lowered his gun and signaled for the others to do the same. His stern features were replaced with a small smirk as he crouched down to Chen's level. He has never felt so small in his life, he's always made sure he's carried himself with confidence and maturity, standing as tall as any of those 6ft kids in his class. 

"Let me guess" the tall leader started "deadbeat parents?" Chen looked at him and a smile broke against the males fast making him less scary to Chen and giving the tall male a younger look. "How did-" Chen started only to be cut off, "Because we all have been part of dysfunctional families, we are all victims of drug addicts, alcoholics and constantly bickering parents" the tall male spoke. 

"You were?" Chen questioned now looking around at the other males faces that still stood around him watching the interaction. The tallest male nodded "yes, we all met each other doing random crap to break the law and decided to become our own family" he informed. 

Chen didn't know what to say, how could a bunch of kids just make their own family? Looking at all of them, kids having never felt their parents love just like him, kids who consider themselves to be alone and took it upon themselves to find something close to a bond to share. They all had something in common they could relish in, they were dysfunctional; they had no one, alone. Suddenly the group of males looked anything but intimating to Chen, they looked almost like soldiers coming to save him from the rubble that was now his parents and home. 

"What's your name, kid?" the tall male asked. "Chen" he answered sitting up straighter, now eye level with the fluffy haired leader. 

"Well, Chen. I'm Taekwoon but the group just calls me Tae" he held his hand out to Chen and the boy stared at if for a while before grabbing it. "If you ever feel like you want out, you can join us. We will welcome you with open arms".

Chen didn't need to think much about it, nothing changed. His parents still acted like he didn't exist and kids at school still talked about him behind his back. He sought the group out, Tae had let him know where he could find them and now he was standing in front of an abandoned garage area, it was behind to buildings in a grungy area that resembled and alleyway but there were termite eaten homes scattering about. 

He knocked against the aluminium door and winced at the loud noise it made against the silent space. Was this really it? Just then the garage door opened and a face dressed in a black masked looked at him. The gun appeared quickly, aiming at Chen and he backed up fearfully but luckily at that time the familiar face of Tae appeared and he signaled for the boy to lower his gun.  Tae smiled at Chen and gesture to him to come inside "welcome to the family, kid".

 From then on, Chen spent every waking minute with his new group of friends, his family. He rarely ever went home and he was sure his parents didn't even bat an eye. The gang always went out to wreck havoc among the city, breaking rules and being the outcasted, dysfunctional kids they were. They even had run ins with the police but always somehow out ran them. Chen loved it, he loved the thrill of not knowing what will come, the thrill of letting go. Tae took him under his wing and taught him how to shoot a gun, how to use a knife he was like an older brother to the younger. Chen never knew why they had these weapons when all they did was vandalize places and break store windows or other stuff of the sort. But that was until Chen learned that they weren't the only gang in the area. 

It happened one night when the whole group was chilling in the garage a loud crash halted everyone's action and their heads turned towards the aluminum grlarage door. Another loud crash came and Tae soon stood. "Graitors" he said and with just that one word everyone was in action. Weapons being prepped as Chen still sat confused. 

"What's a Graitor?" Chen asked as more bangs came and he saw the garage door denting. "An enemy" Tae said simply, loading his guns. He then turned to Chen. "You're going to have to fight kid" more bangs sounded and the garage door was denting in more. Chen's chest was hammering, he didn't know what was going on. "What do you mean?" Chen asked incredulously. 

"Chen, kid. You're going to have to use those lessons I gave you and shoot at these motherers, slice them if you have to. We don't have time for explanations. You joined us, you fight with us, you die with us" Tae says in a low tone, a serious look in his eyes. And Chen for the first time since he's come into the group was wallowing with fear, his hands trembled over the gun Tae put in his hand. How did it get to this? He still didn't know what was going on, were Graitors here to kill them? Chen realized he didn't know anything about the life he chose. He never once considered What the risks were.

"And you better hope and pray, you don't die, kid" just then the garage busted in and without a warning shots rung out. Chen saw two of their groups men fall to the round, blood pooling around them. Chen gasped but there was no time to take in the sight because to shots whizz past his ear and he recoils, ducking behind a table. 

"You guys are going to die today, it's finally time we became the only gang in the area. You s need to be offed!" Chen heard a gruff voice shout out. All around him Chen saw chaos of boys fighting, firing shots, stabbing one another. He's never seen so many blood and dead body's in one place. Some were even outside fighting. Chen cowered behind the table until he felt a hand around his neck. Chen feared for his life and started thrashing. He took the knife Tae told him to always keep in his waistband and lodged it into the side of his attackers throat. Blood spurted and Chen backed up in horror. What did he just do? Did he just stab someone? The persons body slumped to the ground.

All Chen heard was the loud shouts and gunshots along with his thumping heart. What did he get himself into? Why did he leave home? Why didn't he just go back? But the thought of his parent's came to his mind; arguing, yelling and ignoring him. Years and years of being set as some random block of stone in their house as they went at it day and night, not asking or caring if he was okay or if he had a good day at school, they probably didn't even know how old he was or what grade he was in. His chest burned, that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted a family, something to protect and feel welcomed in, a family where you don't worry about being ignored, he wanted something to fight for to feel pride for. He stopped and dislodged the knife from the dead guys throat. Watching the blood pool from his neck switched something in Chen. He no longer felt fearful. He looked back to the mass of bodies having at each other and he suddenly felt pride and thrill, he wanted to protect this place, he wanted to protect the people he's come to know, that has become his family. 

Chen walked out into the chaos and immediately men from the opposing gang lunged at him, only for the boy to slit their throats so deep, you can see the big slab of flesh peel back. Blood sprayed over his face but he didn't acknowledge it. His heart was thumping but for a different reason. He lodged his knife into the chest of another attacker stabbing him multiple times only to take it out swiftly and sticking it into the the eye of someone else. This was fun, he thought to himself. This was the thrill of feeling useful, being able to protect a family who welcomed him, treated him well, didn't cast him aside as a nobody because they were already nobodies. Yes, they were nobodies; no one would miss any of them, no one would care whether they died; they were on their own to protect each other. Chen soon felt nothing as he cut through bodies like a grass cutter. Helping his mates who he saw was struggling. 

But one shot rung out louder than any of the others. Chen saw, and he wished he had been blind, Chen heard and he wished he had been deaf. The scruffy leader of the opposing gang held his arm out, the cold weapon pointed and Tae's body going rigid as he stood still until he was falling back. To Chen it was in slow motion and Tae's body took too long to hit the concrete ground for him to ignore it and pretend it was a dream. Tae slumped slightly on to his side and his shocked filled eyes were staring right at Chen as the life drained from them rapidly. Chen stood frozen looking at the male, his blood running and somehow that snapped Chen back into reality. Chen looked at the man who shot the gun and without him knowing, he was rushing forward with speed he didn't know he could muster. His knife was gripped in his hand as he jumped on the scruffy male. He was surprised but Chen felt white hot in his chest, It burned to the ribs.

"You should've hoped and prayed, you didn't die"  Chen said in a dark tone.

"Wha-?" the male started but Chen couldn't hear, see or feel. Something completely snapped inside of him. And he stabbed the man in the face, his screams ringing out. Again and again he lodged and dislodged the knife into the now dead man's face. A bubbling laugh made its way out his mouth, slowly turning hysteric. Chen didn't know then, but this was the life his mind would become a slave to. This was the life he would continue with for Tae and the others; he prayed, everyday from then on, that he wouldn't die. Everyone else will.