Chapter 82: Powder Keg
Equality conflicts continued to tear America apart, and Felton was no exception.
The tension had built for months, manifesting in every aspect of daily life. But it reached a breaking point after one particular football game.
The Free Fighters defeated the Southern Knights!
Woodson Memorial High School crushed Jackson High School!
A black team from a black school had demolished a white team from a white school!
This was the second-to-last regular season game, and the Free Fighters used it to deliver a brutal rout against their opponents. They needed just one more victory to qualify for the playoffs, the first time since the establishment of the Felton High School Football League that a black team had earned that chance.
Black communities across Felton erupted in celebration.
That same night, attackers hospitalised seventeen coaches and key players from the Southern Knights. Over thirty per cent of Jackson High School's student body dropped out, transferring to other schools.
Jackson High and its Southern Knights became the laughingstock of all Felton.
While people mocked the fallen Knights, they began placing desperate hopes on the Conquerors from Oak Grove Manor High School, praying they could restore the "natural order."
The Conquerors' starting quarterback declared in a newspaper interview that he would prevent the Free Fighters from scoring a single point and tell them to "go back to picking cotton."
He had reason for such confidence. Despite authorities imprisoning their offensive coordinator, despite scandals involving banned substances and their head coach's departure, despite morale so low that the school board nearly abandoned the season, they had pulled through.
Now they sat first in their division.
White gangs like the KKK issued threats: if the Free Fighters won, they would retaliate against all players and coaches from both teams.
A day later, black gangs responded with their own ultimatum: if the Conquerors won, they would kill the players' and coaches' entire families.
Within hours, both sides engaged in several street shootouts. Police made over a hundred arrests.
Council members like Howard publicly announced their support for the Conquerors and promised to attend the game personally.
The atmosphere was already explosive, and the game hadn't even begun.
On the day of the final regular season matchup, at least ten thousand people flooded Oak Grove Manor High School. Black supporters poured in from every direction, but security barred them from entering the stadium.
Instead, they gathered outside the sports complex, cheering for their team through the chain-link fence.
Soon, authorities expelled them from the entire campus and ordered them to stay away from Oak Grove Manor property.
The forced evacuation triggered a significant riot.
Council members Howard and Carter kept their word, attending the game alongside school board officials. They positioned their seats directly next to the Conquerors' coaching bench, a deliberate show of support.
At 3 PM, both teams took the field.
The Conquerors entered like conquering heroes, with thousands of voices cheering them. When the Free Fighters emerged from the tunnel, a wall of boos met them that seemed to shake the stadium itself.
After kickoff, the Conquerors played with excellent form and crushing momentum. The Free Fighters appeared hesitant, rattled. In the third quarter, they even had an internal conflict that nearly broke into a fistfight on the sideline.
The crowd in the stands sang and danced, constantly chanting players' names. They believed the outcome was already decided; this was how things were supposed to go.
How could a team that finished last every year possibly beat the regular season's top squad?
This confidence peaked at the start of the final quarter when word spread through the stands: the Free Fighters' head coach was missing!
Even the most cautious spectators felt it was time to pop champagne and celebrate.
But the fourth quarter didn't unfold as anyone anticipated.
The Free Fighters began to surge, fighting back point by point, yard by yard. With seconds remaining, they completed a desperate Hail Mary pass that reversed the entire game.
Final score: 16-18.
The stadium fell silent except for the Free Fighters' players roaring in triumph.
After a moment of stunned quiet, the silence shattered. Objects rained down from the stands, bottles, food, programs, anything within reach. The entire sports complex became a cauldron of fury, filled with curses and threats.
A thrown bottle struck quarterback "Rocket" Leroy Davis, blood streaming down his forehead. With crimson running into his eyes, he turned toward the stands and roared at Howard, demanding to know why they wouldn't give them simple fairness.
Howard stood up and walked out without expression.
Wide receiver "Phantom" Nathaniel Green ran over to embrace his bloodied quarterback. The two clasped hands, spread their arms wide, and welcomed the rain of debris. The more frantically the crowd threw objects, the louder they roared back in defiance.
Other players and coaches joined them, standing together and shouting at the airborne projectiles.
Some spectators, driven beyond reason, began vaulting over the railings onto the field. The security guards made a token effort to stop them, then retreated to safer positions.
The mob quickly overwhelmed the Free Fighters.
Only then did the black supporters who had been forced outside the school learn what had happened on the field. Gang members organized them, and they quickly broke through the understaffed school security and rushed toward the sports complex.
The West District Branch had prepared extensively for this game.
Chief Weideke remained stationed at headquarters while Deputy Inspector Burton took personal command in the field. All detectives had their leave canceled and the department placed them on standby.
At the first sign of the riot, Burton deployed the entire West District force to disperse and suppress the violence.
Despite their preparation, the riot still resulted in hundreds of injuries. Paramedics carried away at least ten members of the Free Fighters' coaching staff and players on stretchers.
Most of Felton's hospitals refused to admit black patients, forcing the injured to seek treatment at the few medical facilities specifically established for the black community.
The department also dispatched homicide detectives to help maintain order, including Theodore and Bernie. But Deputy Inspector Burton assigned them to transport duty rather than crowd control.
During the preceding four hours of suppression efforts, both men remained in a patrol car with Burton, monitoring radio chatter and watching the chaos unfold from a distance. They only entered the scene after officers restored initial order.
After two more hours of evacuation and search operations, it was well past midnight when the riot finally subsided. Small groups from both sides still refused to leave, making obscene gestures and shouting curses across the line of police cars that separated them.
Following indiscriminate baton strikes from the officers, both groups exchanged final threats and finally dispersed.
Oak Grove Manor's principal invited Deputy Inspector Burton, along with detectives Cahill and Wenner, to the administration building, while the remaining officers conducted final cleanup operations.
They needed to cooperate with campus security for one last sweep of the grounds, ensuring no dangerous individuals or overlooked injured remained.
The department assigned Theodore and Bernie to the sports complex, the main conflict zone that officers had already searched multiple times.
Starting from the stands, they worked their way across the garbage-strewn field and finally entered the locker rooms. The home team facility was a disaster area, with equipment scattered everywhere, but it was empty.
The visiting team locker room was even more cramped and narrow than the home facility. Standing at the entrance, the overwhelming stench of mold and urine hit them.
The chaos had shattered the overhead bulbs. Each gust of wind sent something creaking and groaning in the darkness.
The two men switched on their flashlights and moved carefully through the debris-filled space. In the innermost stall of the restroom, they found a body.
__________________
Check out more than 65+ chapters right now! 🔥
👉 patreon.com/Mr UmU
https://www.patreon.com/Mr_UmU
__________________