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The Fallout

Win Some, Lose Some

Tom's P.O.V

“Okay, since I'm refereeing this shindig, here’s the rules…no fatal blows, obviously.” I paused as the three shared an awkward laugh; the tension in the street was thick as they stood in a triangle of sorts, waiting for me to match them up.

“Other than that, if someone says stop, you stop; and ill come rushing over so don’t hurt me please…uh anyways, I can't think of a way to come up with the first match. So rock paper scissors?” I mentally slapped myself at my reasoning, but really I had no way of knowing who was the strongest of the lot. I had seen their skills before but they had all been equally terrifying. I only hoped Austin wouldn’t make my brother or Matt explode; the three men nodded their heads before meeting in the center.

“Uh, go!” I called out awkwardly as the lads giggled before chanting the childish game, Austin was the victor of the first match.

“Okay, Austin you’re in match one, Oli, Matt, go again.” Austin stepped aside and let the two finish up the game, I felt my stomach drop when Oli won. He cast a nervous glance at Austin who looked absolutely appalled at the fact that he had to fight his love interest; I couldn’t say I blamed him.

“Okay…Matt come here, Oli…Austin, begin whenever you feel comfortable.” I shook my head when Matt came close enough to me that he could snake his arms around my waist and hold me to his chest.

“They will be fine Tommy, so will I; I'm just glad you don’t have to get involved in this…” he shakily pointed to Austin and Oli who were hugging each other desperately; after some time they pulled apart and stood about twenty feet away from each other.

“Ready?” I asked warily, they closed their eyes simultaneously whilst nodding their heads.

“Okay…go.” I bit my lip and sunk back further into Matt's arms which were shaking heavily whether he knew it or not, before I could so much as blink, Austin and Oli were a tangled mess on the ground; both of them successfully protecting themselves and delivering what would normally be considered bone crushing blows. The ground shook when Austin regained his footing, he sent a small smile towards my brother before slamming his foot onto the ground; it cracked and began to crumble as if it was falling apart. Without warning the ground caved in, Matt pulled me back about ten feet even though the ground around us was perfectly stable, Oli on the other hand, flipped off the falling pavement, and I literally mean flipped; until he was once again on solid ground.

“Damn, this is intense…and kind of awesome!” Matt cheered as he squeezed me tighter, part of me agreed with him. It certainly wasn’t everyday you say a fight of supernatural proportions, but yet again…this was horrifying. The next few seconds happened so fast that I couldn’t even begin to tell what happened, the next thing I knew Austin was standing over Oli who was bleeding profusely on the pavement.

“Stop,” he choked out as he grabbed hold of his neck which I could now see was gaping open, Matt darted towards Austin and made sure he was contained while I rushed to my brother’s aide. I forced his hands to his sides and accessed the damage as quickly as I could, without much warning I stuck my hands atop of his wounds which earned a shrill scream from him. Austin and Matt were beside us now, Austin holding Oli down while Matt held me upright for when I surely would fall over. I bit my lip as I hardened my focus, it was like I had a computer in my mind, I could zoom in on certain bits that were deeper than others; while maintaining a steady focus on every other part of the wound. When I sealed up the last incision I smiled, but instantaneously my eyes screwed shut as I began to choke on seemingly nothing. Matt collected me in his arms at some point and rubbed up and down my back as I desperately gasped for air, that’s when the pain hit me like a tidal wave. It was the most horrendous thing I had ever felt in my life, surely it had not hurt this bad for him; because it felt like my head had been spit in two, literally. I screamed as I gripped onto my neck for dear life, silently praying it would stop; but I had signed up for this job, and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. After what felt like an eternity of writhing around and sobbing, it suddenly stopped. I gasped one last time as I felt the air rush back into my lungs, Matt continued to rub my back and murmur that I was going to be okay, and I knew then that It was gone for good.

“Tom, are you okay?” Oli choked out as he came beside me and wiped the sweat from my forehead, I nodded my head tiredly.

“Yes, can we please get this over with though? I'm going to need to rest after this…” I groaned as Austin helped me to my feet, Oli helping up the drummer.

“No problem, I think getting this over with is a good idea.” Austin mumbled, while he leaned down and pecked my brother on the lips, I turned my head in embarrassment, Matt cackled before taking me by surprise. He scooped me up in his arms so that I was laying bridal style before leaning down and planting a huge kiss on my mouth, I didn’t have time to react before he sat me back down and ran to hide behind Austin who was laughing hysterically. I blushed something fierce while Oli came to stand beside me,

“Oh cheer up Tommy, you’ve only had a crush on him since you were little!” Oli joked as he slapped me on the back playfully,

“OLIVER!” I roared while I slugged him in the shoulder, he shrugged as he shot me a toothy grin.

“C’mon, you act like you all haven’t kissed before! It’s just in front of me and Austin, not like it’s the end of the world!” as soon as the words came out of his mouth he shook his head in realization, we all got quiet as we let that sink in.

“Heh, guess that wasn’t the end of the world; but yeah, it kind of is, Oli.” I replied solemnly before returning my attention to Austin and Matt.

“Alright you two, let’s get this over with. Ready whenever you are,” I stated as Oli grabbed onto my shoulder for support, it was deathly silent for a few moments while they both collected themselves. Austin stood with his feet at shoulders length, his eyes cast downwards as he tapped his foot on the ground in a perfect rhythm, clearly trying to anticipate Matt’s movements. Matt on the other hand, was crouching down to the ground, with one hand on the pavement behind the gaping hole in the street. He stared at the concrete with careful yellow eyes as he watched the shadows of Austin, myself, Oli, and all the surrounding objects dissolve until they were traveling to him to form a mass the side of an exercise ball.

“This is nerve wracking.” Oli admitted as he squeezed my arm tighter, I nodded my head in agreement.

“Venit,” Matt purred as he tapped his finger patiently on the now growing mass of shadows, Austin rose up and cocked his head to the side. His eyes vibrantly glowing the crimson shade of red,

“Aggredior!” Matt roared as he swatted viciously at half of the sphere, part of it lurched forward before growing into a mass swarm of the predatory wolves that I had come to know; yet some shifted until they formed what I can only describe as a vulture. It took a sharp turn towards the sky and circled the two of them intently, clearly watching Austin's every move and I would bet, relaying the information back to Matt. The drummer waved his hand at the other half of the floating circle, mumbling “Munio.” An equally terrifying creature formed before our eyes as it slivered towards Matt in quick moments, it was none other than a gigantic snake.

“Whoa,” I murmured, while Oli gawked in awe, not once had I expected them both to bring out all the stops, hell I don’t even think they knew they were doing it. I watched Austin as he took a step forward, the ground shook beneath his feet while a low roaring sound seemingly came out of nowhere, in an instant a nearby water tower erupted, but that wasn’t the most fascinating part. The water suspended in mid air as what looked like a tidal wave loomed around the creature flying in the sky. Automatically, the wolves surged forward; rushing Austin as he swept his hands down in time to engulf them in a sea of water. Matt blinked several times as the large snake coiled in front of him and hissed loudly; ready for whatever else came its way. A loud crack of thunder sounded throughout the sky as a lone bolt of lightning struck the vulture, it squealed as it plummeted towards the earth and got swept up in the swarm of liquid. Austin was nowhere in sight and Matt was in full on defensive mode, as he was crouched lowly beside the serpent that opened its mouth wide enough to swallow several people whole. In the blink of an eye, Austin was storming through the water which parted with ease in his wake; what was most horrific was the large shadow wolf which he clutched in his hand by the neck. His hand was bleeding as he gripped harder on to the creature that was gnawing at his flesh, but Austin didn’t falter as he slammed the now screeching wolf into the mouth of the giant snake. The snake choked on it for several seconds before exploding into a large cloud of smoke that sunk back into the ground, before Matt could re-gather himself, Austin was on him. The two wrestled on the ground while the eldest desperately swung his harm on the ground as if to make the shadows reappear, they didn’t. a loud cracking noise emitted from the drummers body and within a moment he screamed “STOP!” at the top of his lungs, before growling lowly in what I presumed to be agony. Oli pried Austin off of him while I frantically searched him for damage, I was confused when I couldn’t find any bleeding or open wounds on his body, yet Matt was wailing as if he was in horrible pain.

“Matt, you have to tell me where it hurts!” I bellowed as I ripped his shirt off of him hastily, he shook his head as tears fell from his eyes.

“Matt, please!” I cried, but he shook his head again which only fueled my agitation.

“No. I'm not putting you through this…” he groaned as he twitched violently on the ground, I reluctantly put my ear to his chest and listened closely. Something seemed off, and for some reason I could hear a noise that I had never heard before; it was a dull snapping noise, as if something was clattering against another part of his body. Immediately my brain processed it for me, his spine was snapped in half. I frowned down at him as he spluttered out blood but despite the emotional pain I was in, I flipped him over harshly. He screamed as I touched his back, but I had to work quickly and didn’t have time to apologize. I laid my hands at the sight of the injury, then pressed hard into his skin; he shrieked and tried to swat my hands away but Oli and Austin got the hint and held him firmly in place. It took me well over twenty minutes to pin point the exact location of the severed bone since he refused to tell me anything, but after I found it, I didn’t mind the wait.

Once again a rush of nausea came over as my brother pulled me backwards and cradled me to his chest; I realized I lied to myself when I said the throat injury was horrific, no this was excruciating. After what seemed like forever, it subsided; and I had never been more thankful for anything.

“Well, glad that’s over.” I panted out, Oli and Austin laughed collectively as I spit on the ground and made Matt help me to my feet.

“So Austin, you’re the new boss man, okay?” the drummer slung his arm over my shoulders and pecked me on the cheek while Austin nodded his head and made a grab for Oli's hand.

“Yeah, and one more thing?” he asked as we strode back down the now torn apart street and back towards the church, we all made some sort of noise of acknowledgement.

“Let’s never do this again!”

Now that was something we could all agree on.