.Introduction.

I couldn't decipher who threw the first punch; it was too dark, the faces were hidden. It was probably that short bitch, or the guy with all the tattoos. All I knew was one minute I was standing in front of a developing, frightening crowd, and the next, I was on the ground, coughing and trying to catch my breath and shove it back into my lungs. I was cornered, backed in between a chain-link fence and a solid concrete wall. The first blow was fast, but the pain made the aftershock like a small eternity as my body doubled over and arms instinctively clutched against my stomach to protect it, like I was holding my guts in.
I wanted this; This was the life I was looking forward to. I would be an urban warrior, a defender of what was my new families and mine; a family I would be officially apart of if I survived tonight. No, not 'if', when I survive tonight.
The blows came faster and faster, harder, more at a time. I couldn't differentiate punches from kicks after awhile, the pain was just constant all over my body only changed by harder blows that wracked my frame with a burn that stretched throughout me. I struggled to stand, bending or falling was weakness and I had to be strong. My hands were scraped from meeting the ground and when I gripped the hard concrete wall and wrapped my fingers around the fence, my flesh screamed.
I felt something clip my jaw, and my skin tear apart. Something was loose in my mouth, and I could taste metal. Something hard thrust against my stomach, the front of a steel-toed shoe. It shot my mouth open, causing me to spit out all the blood and the tooth from my lips. I had a molar missing. I had to stand again, I could hear the taunts, screams, and cheers fading away into the background as the rapid beating of my heart filled my ears.
I needed to stand, needed to get up and be strong. I couldn't let them turn me into a whimpering little pup. The flavor of blood stayed in my mouth and refilled my cheeks, leaking from my lips. I grabbed the wall again and lifted myself up...
Survive tonight...survive tonight and I could survive anything. This was my rebirth; my introduction...