The moment I landed, before I could even react, I felt Jamie's foot smash against my stomach, sending me cascading through the pile of empty bottles and old rotten food scattered around. In a daze, I gasped, both in pain and a need for oxygen, feeling as if I was a few seconds away from passing out. I opened my bleary eyes with a struggle to see the smug face of Jamie as he stalked towards me like a lion getting ready for the kill. As I struggled to stand, I quickly glanced around the alley at the others, remembering I wasn't the only person fighting and hoping that one of them might be able to help. Sadly, such a hope was quickly dashed.
Helen and Susan seemed to be having the easiest time out of the four of us, with the two of them against Cindy. Yet because of their clear lack of experience, they weren't really able to deal any actual damage, with the few punches they threw being light and ineffective. It was only thanks to the hold Susan had over her hair that kept Cindy under control and unable to truly fight back. Sam, on the other hand, while clearly having much more muscle, seemed to be struggling against Lewis's technique and brutality, something I still remembered from my last beatdown with startling clarity. Add to the fact that it was clear Sam was more focused on paying attention to what was happening to me than himself, shouting my name continuously as he failed to break past Lewis, and it wasn't a wonder that he was having trouble.
I let out a laboured sigh as I collapsed back onto the ground, unable to even pick myself back up, wincing at the pain such a small movement caused. It was then that my eyes drifted down to the trash-filled ground, whereupon seeing what was there, they widened almost comically. Whether it was divine intervention or pure dumb luck, I wasn't sure, but I had somehow managed to land directly next to the hidden metal pole I spotted before.
Not one to turn down such a chance, and hearing Jamie's guttural breaths not too far away, I threw my hand forward, grabbing the tip of the metal pole and clutching it firmly in my grip. With all my remaining strength, I wrenched it free from the surrounding trash before I twisted my body to face Jamie, a bewildered expression on his face as he observed me. An expression that quickly turned into one of shock as he saw the metal pole enclosed in my fist fly towards his leg at a frightening speed, making contact with his left knee before he could even react.
With a satisfied smile, I watched as his legs gave out and he collapsed into a ball on the floor, wrapping his arms protectively over his knee as he wailed in pain. Slowly, I got up, finally having regained a tiny portion of my strength, and made my way over to his prone body. His eyes stared up at me, burning in defiance and anger, an expression I ignored as I started to raise the pole above my head, ready to finally put this fight to an end with one last strike.
Yet the moment I did so, whether it was the movement itself or if all my good luck had finally disappeared, I wasn't sure, but suddenly I found myself convulsing into a massive coughing fit. One so bad I was forced forward with my hands on my knees as my head dropped towards the floor, blood and spit flying to the ground with every ragged cough I produced. Coughs that no matter how hard I tried, I was unable to stop.
It was only after what felt like an eternity later that I was finally able to take a shallow breath of air in reprieve, although I did so carefully in fear of setting off my lungs once more. When they didn't and I realised I was once again fine, I quickly opened my eyes that I had previously shut tight throughout the coughing, remembering my current situation. The moment I did so, I came to two terrifying discoveries. The first being that in the time it took for my coughing to subside, Jamie had managed to stand up from his prone position on the floor, now standing back to his full height with a menacing grin. The second was the lack of a metal pipe in my hand, having dropped it at some point during the coughing fit, and the addition of one in Jamie's.
"Well, well, well, it's only fair if I give you a taste of your own medicine, don't you think?" He chuckled maniacally as he struck the metal pole he was now holding against his palm.
A resounding thud drowned out the chaotic shouts and screams happening around us before, without even giving me a chance to respond, he swung the pole with terrifying ferocity, smashing it against the side of my chest. Instantly, I could feel my ribs creaking and groaning, feeling as if they were crushed into bits from the single blow as I flew like a ragged doll, rolling along against the dirty asphalt floor before landing in a motionless heap.
As my consciousness started to blur, having hit my head quite a few times during the roll, I heard a multitude of voices and sounds as I groaned in agony. The worried shouts of Sam, Helen and Susan, the delighted cackle coming from both Lewis and Cindy and the stomping of feet of what must have been Jamie coming closer and closer. Just as I started to feel utterly powerless, unable to even open my eyes or see even a glimmer of hope of escaping, let alone winning, out of nowhere, a voice could be heard. One that I wasn't prepared to hear in my current situation.
"You no good punks! Get the fuck away before I call the police!" Derek's voice raged in the background. Or at least who I thought was Derek. In the state I was in, I wasn't sure what was truly going on.
The sound of multiple people shouting and running soon followed, their voices getting quieter and quieter until I could no longer hear them. Once the alleyway was no longer immersed in the chaotic sounds it once held, I suddenly felt myself getting lifted off the ground by a pair of large, strong hands. Even though I had just heard Jamie and his cronies leave, in my dazed state, I still believed myself to be in danger, and so as best I could, I thrashed and wailed in an attempt to escape, further exacerbating my injuries in the process.
"Adam! It's me. You're Safe!" Sam shouted next to my ear, his familiar voice giving me pause. "It's Sam. You're alright. You're safe." He continuously repeated.
I released a sigh of relief as I processed his words. The tension flooding my systems disappeared, making me lose the last remaining strength I had in my limbs, momentarily dragging both Sam and me down to the floor before an additional pair of hands wrapped around my waist in support. I eventually managed to squeeze open my eyes, seeing Sam, Derek, Helen and Susan as they surrounded me, all looking at me with varied levels of worry. I looked towards Helen, noticing how her hair that had previously been neatly braided was now in disarray and how she sported a small cut on her bottom lip. At such a sight, I went to speak, but all that escaped was a quiet groan.
"Crap, he needs to get to the hospital now!" Sam hurriedly said before turning to Derek. "Do you have a car?"
"Yeah, follow me." And with that, Derek and Sam slowly ushered me through the alley with Susan and Helen following closely behind until we found ourselves in a car park not too far away.
"Right, lay him down in the back seat. Be careful not to worsen his injuries." Derek said as he opened the back door to his car, a large white Volkswagen, from what I was able to see. Sam gently placed me inside before quickly shutting the door. From my position, I couldn't see what was happening outside, but I heard Sam as he talked to Helen and Susan, telling them that he would go with me to the hospital and message them when we got there.
Soon after, both Sam and Derek jumped in the car, and in what must have been record time, started it up and began driving us to the hospital. As we drove, Sam, who was in the front passenger seat, continued to speak to me, constantly saying words of reassurance. Unfortunately, I heard very little of it as my eyelid began to grow heavy and I started to fade in and out of consciousness. The only thing that stopped me from fully passing out was the agonising pain in my chest and the debilitating cough that kept occurring every ten or so seconds. A cough that forced me into spraying droplets of blood onto the vinyl seats of the car.
After god knows how long, I felt the car come to a sudden stop, waking me momentarily as I watched as Sam all but leapt out of the car. Quickly, he opened the back door and helped me out of the car, bringing me to a stand and giving me a shoulder to lean on, allowing me to see the large hospital building before us. A place I was beginning to hate more and more with each visit.
"You're going to be fine Adam. Dorry worry." He quietly mumbled as he began all but dragging me towards the front door, sounding far too worried for me to believe a single word that he said.
The moment we stepped inside, Sam began shouting for help, no doubt scaring everyone in the reception room. In truth, I thought he was overreacting slightly, but before I could try and say anything, a rush of nurses immediately surrounded me, carrying and placing me on one of the beds on wheels not far away. As I lay on the bed, enjoying the feeling of the soft, comfy material beneath me, I heard Sam describe what had happened as well as my illness, which I realised was his biggest worry as he asked whether I would be alright because of it. Unfortunately, I never heard the answer, as that was the last thing I heard as I became unable to fight against my desire to sleep any longer and soon drifted off into unconsciousness for the umpteenth time.