Outlive (The Baggers Trilogy, #1) by Chad Leito Page A

his weight down again and again, slamming his massive fists into the side of the man’s head, his face, his chest and his stomach. Angry tears were streaming down his face.
                  I’ll be the feral animal you treat me like! You pig!
                  He was grunting, punching until red leaked over his forearms and he thought that he might kill the man.
                  Maybe I will. Why not? I’ll die anyways! My family will die anyways! What punishment could the authorities bring on me?
                  Later, Baggs would be ashamed of himself for thinking such thoughts, but in his white-hot angry state he fed on them.
                  He felt the officer’s nose break under his knuckles. He punched until his hands were numb. The officer wouldn’t be standing anymore if Baggs weren’t punching him relentlessly; the man’s back was to the wall and Baggs kept punching, supporting him with fast-moving fists.
                  And then, he felt the muscles in his legs contract and jitter and he was on the ground, looking up at the officer. The officer’s face was a bloody, broken mess. Somehow, in his semiconscious stupor, the officer had had the mind to grab his taser while Baggs was punching him.
                  “Stay on the ground!” he yelled, brandishing the taser at him.
                  Baggs did so, breathing heavily through his nose. He was distantly aware that more people had piled into the room behind the receptionist’s desk.
                  The officer came around, picked up his gun, and pointed it at Baggs’s face. He smiled, showing the gaps in his teeth that Baggs had just created and put a bloody finger over the trigger. “You’re in trouble, now!”
                  Someone else came into the room. “What’s going on here? Don’t shoot him! Somebody answer me, what’s going on here?”
                  Baggs could hear breath whistling in and out of the officer’s broken nose. “Mr. Tratuga,” he said. He spat blood on the floor. “This vagrant attacked me. He yelled at Julie and then he attacked me. I feel threatened for my life, I think that I should shoot him.”
                  “You’ll do no such thing! Holster your weapon, Jimmy. What’s wrong with you?”
                  A side door opened, and a man in a nice suit walked into the bloody foyer. He was tall and graying. His face had the smooth look all of the wealthy had; his teeth were impeccably white. “Your face is a mess, Jimmy. And I told you to holster your weapon!” the man shouted.
                  “Sorry, Mr. Tartuga,” Jimmy said, and holstered the gun.
                  “Now what the hell happened here, huh? I want the whole story!” Tartuga demanded.
                  Does this guy own the studio or something? Baggs wondered, looking at the expensive shoes Tartuga was wearing.
                  Jimmy started; “This guy came in here, yelling and raving about his daughters…”
                  Tartuga waved his hand impatiently. “Not from you, from him. I want the big guy to talk.” His blue eyes were on Baggs.
                  Baggs remained where he was lying on the bloody floor. Now that he had had a moment to calm down, he felt embarrassed that he had resorted to violence. Hot blood still beat through his face, though. His hands were throbbing from throwing so many punches. “I…uhhh…I want to sign up for Outlive. I came in here to sign up, and I was talking to Julie about it, and this guy—Jimmy—he hit me with a nightstick.”
                  “That is not true!” Jimmy cried.
                  “Don’t talk, Jimmy,” Tartuga said quietly, but with authority. “Julie, what did you tell him when he said he wanted to sign