Chapter 2: Gross Domestic Product.

  “Represents all the final prices of goods.”

  August 28th, 1988. Link II's 5th birthday.

  The blood-curled cries of men, women, and children flooded back.

  Hearing only the gunshots and the constant thump of the bodies falling to the concrete.

  But he could feel everything.

  The knife stabs grazing their skin.

  The bullets fired into their bodies.

  Everything felt like phantom pain turned real.

  Clutching his own head in pain that felt like Samuel's belt.

  Triggering the battlefield behind him to transform into different colors, different streets, different universes.

  Shooting directions changing with each shift.

  Aiming towards other people's homes, even towards his own.

  Slowly, more and more bullet holes showed in the walls of his home.

  Getting closer to him, going from the walls to the couch, where it made a small circle around Link II.

  Curling into a ball, trying to make enough space to buy some time.

  Crying less, becoming more numb to the pain and emotions he felt.

  Tears dripping down his face as the bullets closed in.

  Waiting for one bullet to finally hit his cranium and end his life.

  The bullets flying in…

  Closer.

  And closer.

  But nothing happened.

  No gunshots were heard anymore besides the sounds of groaning, pain, and pleas.

  Link II peered above the bullet-riddled couch, seeing the massacre leftover.

  Walking outside, unsure whether to get Samuel or not for his own safety.

  His tiny feet stepped from the porch, slow steps echoing throughout the empty neighborhood.

  As he walked by the driveway, someone grabbed him by the leg.

  A young man begging him, “Please, sir… don't let me-”

  Suddenly choking on his own blood, coughing loudly.

  Giving one last breath and…

  Falling back to the ground.

  Dying.

  Bleeding alone.

  Completely helpless.

  While Link II watched.

  Seeing the large hole between his ribs and stomach.

  Pulsing heavily as blood leaked out onto the concrete.

  Its body's internals looking unimaginably horrifying, like something out of a horror movie.

  Its smell even worse, comparable to rusty metal.

  Peering around the ground, all he saw was brutally injured people crawl to him like a savior.

  Blood leaking into the concrete and sewers.

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  All flowing towards him like rivers.

  Link II felt even more terrified of the wounds of the people.

  Some having deformed parts in their body.

  Gaping holes in their chest, head, even in their jaw.

  Bolting throughout bodied filled ground, running towards his home, trying not to lose feeling or numbness.

  Expressions of horror showed on his face, his body shivering in the air he ran in.

  Before tripping and falling on his face.

  Witnessing something horrifying when he looked up.

  A man.

  One single man.

  Brutally mutilated into a gross mess of guts, blood, and bone.

  His lungs hanging him on a tree branch.

  The bones dangling from his deformed body.

  His expression… being unrecognizable to Link II.

  But for him, the best way to summarize it…

  A stoic face.

  Huge hole on the side of its head.

  Almost smiling while tears drifted from it in the empty air.

  Looking like an abomination of nature that rivaled the devil himself.

  Getting back up quickly besides the pain on Link II's face.

  He rushed back inside and to Samuel's room to let him know of the incidents.

  Back in Samuel's room, Samuel fell asleep due to the amount of marijuana he smoked, making him pass out instantly.

  As soon as Link II rushed to the door, desperately banging on it.

  Samuel stepped out, completely ignorant to Link II.

  Blissfully blind to anything but the amnesia of waking up from sleep.

  Walking outside to the same thing that both he and Link II saw.

  Hell.

  Bodies bleeding out, pulsing as each person died.

  Blood stains the concrete in front of them.

  Each body groaning in pain, mumbling “Lord forgive me…” “I'm sorry, Mama…”

  “Pray for me when my time comes…”

  Children trembling in the arms of fathers and mothers, watching from their homes.

  All in fear.

  Samuel turned, checking on Link II.

  Watching his scarred son look numb and broken at the same time.

  Samuel hugged him, patting his back almost robotically.

  Trying to hide the sight of blood from the both of them.

  But at that point, Link II only felt empty arms patting him with nothing but standard introductions.

  Like a stranger you just met.

  Moments later, two police cars arrived.

  Both slightly crashing into each other, dents visible from afar, and out came stumbling two officers of the law.

  Their red eyes stating a sentence of their mentality.

  Staggering around, laughing at the dead and dying before them.

  Getting to the porch of Link II's home; blurting loudly.

  “Hello! We are officers of the law! Right? Yes, that's correct!” -speaking as the other officer poked a dead body with his baton

  “Anyway, you five people—no, wait, four people—you four need to clean up the mushrooms, okay? We don't want the dairy products coming after us, alright?”

  Then right after laughing again, tripping over a body.

  Landing on the floor with a loud thud that made even Samuel flinch.

  Dropping their gun in addition, going off from an angle, hitting a dead body's corpse.

  Stopping their laughter for a moment.

  Silence filling the already dead air.

  Going back to laughing amusingly, the officer picked up his gun again.

  Samuel, seeing the lack of trigger discipline intertwined with the safety being off on their revolvers.

  And with better judgment, Samuel agreed to help clean up the bodies of the dead.

  Thinking of ideas on how to clean it up so the officers could leave.

  Quickly moving towards the officers trunk and opening it, revealing a wheelbarrow that barely fit.

  And seeing a dumpster not too far away from the block.

  Finally coming up with a proper plan to keep himself and Link II safe.

  Meanwhile the officers messed around with their revolvers, dropping them occasionally on accident.

  Each shot, Link II and Samuel flinched.

  Each bullet fired hitting a dead person or somebody bleeding out.

  Samuel grabbed the wheelbarrow, lifting the bodies of the dead with relative ease.

  While Link II stood, unsure of where or what to do, Samuel instructed in a shy whisper:

  “Just help me pick up the… mess, okay?”

  He nodded, shaken by the gruesome corpses he had to smell and pick up like toys.

  Using his strength to drag the bodies over to Samuel at first, struggling to put them in the wheelbarrow.

  Each body variating in weight.

  Suddenly, Link II lifted an overweight man with ease, like a teddy bear.

  His hands sinking into the man's ribcage filled with blood as he lifted.

  Stunned, he silently yelled confidently; “Samuel, Look! I can-”

  Before interrupted with a gunshot that went off from another dropped gun.

  Reminding Samuel to hurry up before either of them got hurt.

  So Samuel whispered to Link II sternly: “Hey buddy, I know it's cool and all, but we need to hurry up now, okay?”

  Link II looked devastated, thinking that Samuel was going back to his old abusive self.

  But looking behind him, and seeing their happy faces when beating up an already dead black man…

  Realizing that Samuel was right, not angry nor regressing.

  Just trying to also survive in a world that neither of them had control of.

  As Link II and Samuel walked with the wheelbarrow full of carcasses, they glanced backwards to see the officers leaving.

  Stumbling around as they entered the cars, driving away with loud screeching noises of their tires.

  Stunned by them leaving anyways despite their initial response from before.

  Samuel quickly threw the wheelbarrow towards it, no longer caring for the specifics of dumping bodies.

  Carrying Link II in his arms, trying to make himself believe he saved the both of them.

  While Link II tried to get out of Samuel's grip, ignited by the same fear that he would hurt him.

  Rushing towards the house and slamming the door.

  Samuel let go of Link II, who had ran away to his room, the memories reignited in his mind.

  While he weeped out, crying and babbling random nonsense, falling onto the floor and curling into a ball.

  Just as Link II rushed into his room crying, his feet thumping as he ran.

  Lying on the wall, silently breaking down.

  Crying against a wall, trying to numb his emotions so that Samuel wouldn't yell again.

  Reminiscing on this entire day.

  Celebrating cake to cleaning up dead bodies of people who had too much pride in their DNA.

  Even when he carried the bodies, Link II heard the last words of men and women.

  Asking to “end their suffering” and “let them fall” into the garbage ridden, glass shattering, plastic trashed dump.

  All that Link II could do was ask…

  “What the fuck just happened?

  Why did they beg for death, why didn't I call anyone?

  Why didn't I defend them, or even us?”