Lesson 2 Writing Assignment

How did it come to this? Jason ran his hand through his stubby black hair to keep the sweat from running into his eyes. His chest heaved, a mixture of the drugs and adrenaline. He set the 9 mm on a shelf next to him and looked down at his shaking hands. The usual engine grease and metal cuts were hidden behind splotches of fresh blood.

It was Snake’s blood. He leaned back on the cool concrete wall of the basement and thought about his best friend. Snake got him into the club, and had taken care of him ever since. Jason didn’t know the rules. He didn’t know what was expected of him. Without Snake’s help, he would have gotten himself killed many times. He blinked hard and tried to adjust his eyes to his dim surroundings and rubbed his thin beard as he tried to clear his head.

He had to get out of here, but it didn’t seem anywhere was safe. The cops were swarming the streets in the area and the Knights would take a shot at anyone they saw wearing Diablo colors. Sweat ran down his back underneath the leather vest that bore his club colors. He knew he couldn’t take the vest off. If one of his brothers caught him running around out there, especially now, not flying his colors, they’d do the same thing to him as the Knights would. He was stuck.

He sunk to the floor and hung his head in his hands. He thought of his granddad, which he did often. He was the only person who ever understood him.

Or, maybe he was the only person who could keep your stupid shit straight. He swore under his breath. He needed to get out of there, but he didn’t know where to go. They’d look for him at Maria’s for sure. Jacko killed Snake, but he killed Jacko… and everyone saw it. For now he was stuck in the basement of this abandoned building. No one was around when he slipped down the street into the alley and through the basement window. He absentmindedly tried to wipe the blood off his black engineer boots, but it had started to dry and was caked with dust from the streets.

The turf war between the Diablos and the Knights started three months before. The two biker clubs usually steered clear of each other: the Diablos holding the south side, and the Knights content to stay on the north side. Jason was there the night that changed, too. Word went around that the Knights were planning on opening an old strip joint back up. That joint was on the south side.

After half an eight-ball of coke and a bottle of Jack, Jason went with Snake and Bear, the Sergeant at Arms of the club, to put an end to that idea on a Thursday night. The fist fight that ensued on the north side that night sent all of them except Bear to jail. Bear waited in the car with the guns. None of the Diablos carried any drugs with them, even if they were under the influence. They knew better. Unfortunately for the Knights, several of them went to jail on drug charges when a concerned citizen called the cops on the fight in front of the bar. It just got worse from that night on. It might not have been the biggest gang war in history, but it felt like it to Jason. Sometimes he wished he were still back in sleepy Vanceburg, but he knew he’d left that life far behind when he ran away as a kid. He could never turn back.