Cause a Riot

Chapter 4

A man went crashing against a wall, blood spluttering out of his head and he crumpled down to the ground where his comrades joined him, one by one. Soon, there was a pile of dead bodies and a pond of blood pooling around Cuzo's feet. He wore a devil's smirk as he elbowed a man coming up behind him with a knife. The man coughed as Cuzo turned around, placing his gun on the man's temple and pressing the trigger faster than a bolt of lightning. Blood gushed out of the man's head, and he fell to the ground. Cuzo chuckled strangely as he walked forward, footsteps echoing in the hall as he left the room of dead bodies. He descended a flight of stairs that led to the basement. A dungeon of a sort, it smelled like rot and dried blood. Cuzo was quite familiar with the smell. His home in the streets wreaked of the same odor.

He walked down the length of the corridor to the end, where a cell had been locked shut. Cuzo aimed his gun at the lock and shot, blasting it to splinters. The metal bars creaked open and Cuzo pushed them aside. He glanced at the family inside – an old couple and their son in his late teens or early adulthood. He growled at Cuzo and crouched in front of his parents, being his only way of shielding them. His face was bruised terribly, and his white t-shirt was patched with stains of his own blood. He breathed raggedly as his eyes glowed with a deathly hatred. Cuzo shook his head mentally. In your condition, he thought. You wouldn't last a second against me. But your courage is admirable, anyway. Cuzo moved to the side and leaned on the edge of the cell door. "Are you going to come out or what?"

The boy narrowed his eyes, threateningly.

"Do you like it in there? I sure don't. It wreaks. Come on."

The boy narrowed his eyes more, unsure of whether to trust Cuzo. He raised an eyebrow.

Cuzo smiled and walked inside. The boy tensed and held his arms out, again, to shield his parents, who were hugging one another. They didn't look too injured, so it appeared their son had gotten most of the beating. Cuzo bent in front of the boy with a warm smile. "I'm here to help," he said, extending his arm. "You're hurt badly. I'll get you to a hospital. Oh, and here," Cuzo went in his pocket and took out a gold necklace, handing it to the boy. "This is yours, right? A present from your aunt before she went to Dubai? You treasure it, don't you?" The boy hesitantly took it and looked up at Cuzo with weak eyes, dropping the tough guy act. He looked even worse when he did.

"You- you're not one of them?"

"Does it look like I am? My name is Cuzo Cunning. I've destroyed the men who did this to you. You didn't deserve this; an honorable man you and your parents are. But you did well to protect them. I like your guts, man. Come now. Let's hurry before the police get here and see the mess I made." The boy put the necklace around him and let it hang down his chest before he slowly took Cuzo's hand. Cuzo wrapped the boy's arm around his shoulder and lifted him to his feet. His parents stood up too and followed Cuzo as he led them out of the cell.

As they walked up the steps, Cuzo looked back at the boy's father. "You are Aoi Fielder?" he asked. The old man nodded. "You used to work as a science teacher at Whistler High over a decade back, right?"

"Yes," the old man responded.

"Did you know a man named Dian?"

The man was quiet for a while as they reached the top stair and proceeded out of the hall. Cuzo purposefully took a route that would prevent the family from seeing the gory mess of the killer group he had left.

"He was a colleague of mine," the man responded finally.

"What happened to him, do you know?"

They reached the exit. "He went missing one day. No one knowns what happened to him."