Chapter 7
1618 Words
7
In thirty minutes she was in the Village, the oldest modernized part of the city. Jenny wasn’t wrong when she said there were blocks and blocks of housing. The oldest apartment buildings in the city, with their rickety fire escapes and chipped bricks, mixed with derelict Victorian mansions. Those ancient houses were surrounded by weed-covered lawns and scraggly trees that were starved for water.
“Why am I even doing this?” she mumbled as she tripped over another broken sidewalk.
Sarah stopped at one of the intersections and looked left and right. The blocks with their tall, dilapidated structures stretched for miles in both directions. In the distance the sun warned of its impending disappearance beneath the horizon of commercial buildings.
She pursed her lips and shook her head. “Where the hell is that i***t?”
Her thoughts wandered back to the hole in his chest. That hadn’t healed, only been closed by the dried blood. If it reopened and he staggered into one of the countless alleys then he’d-
Sarah clenched her fists at her sides and fought off the tears that sprang to her eyes. She marched down the road that led to her left. Her eyes flitted up and down the street. The dilapidated scenery of broken stoops and dark alleys drained her courage. Step-by-step her heart sank lower. Her sharp eyes caught every shadow and every flicker of movement.
An hour passed and still there was no sign of him. The base of the streetlights were rusted with urine and their bulbs flickered with light, if they cast any light at all. She stopped in the middle of a block and checked her watch. Nearly dinnertime. She pursed her lips and looked up at the empty street ahead of her.
“Where are you, you i***t?” she whispered
“Hey, sweety.”
She stiffened and glanced over her shoulder. A group of three men strode up to her. They were dressed in dark clothing with stains on them, and one of them wore a bandanna. Another wore a pair of heavy black boots with spikes on the toes.
The third one, the one who stood in the middle, leaned forward and studied her body. His eyes had an almost yellow glint to them as he grinned at her. “What’s a sweety like you doing in a place like this?”
She turned to face them and frowned. Her body tensed as they studied her like wolves. “Looking for my-um, my boyfriend. He should be around here somewhere.”
The man straightened and chuckled. “You hear that, guys? Her boyfriend should be around here. Whatta ya think of that?”
“I think we should help her,” the one with the bandanna suggested.
The other laughed and stepped forward. His boots clacked hard against the sidewalk as he jerked his head to their right. “Yeah. Let’s ‘help’ her into this alley.”
Sarah’s heart quickened as she stepped back and slipped her bag in front of her. “I-I’m fine. I’ll just get-”
The boot man leapt forward and grabbed her wrist. She yanked back her arm, but he held tight to her. “Just shut up and get-”
“Is that any way to treat another guy’s girlfriend?”
The men paused and everyone looked to the alley. A shadow stumbled from the darkness. In one hand was an umbrella. Sarah’s eyes widened as she beheld that familiar crooked smile.
“Adam!” she cried out.
He leaned his weight against the closed, upside down umbrella and grinned at her. “What’s up, girlfriend?”
She glared at him. “Stop being an i***t and-” Her words caught in her throat as her eyes wandered down his chest. His other hand clutched his stomach where a mess of bandages hung loosely around his chest. Fresh blood shown through his fingers. Her eyes flickered back up to his pale face. “What the hell are you doing? Get to a hospital!”
“And leave my girlfriend here with these thugs?” he returned as he shuffled along his support wall.
The leader of the three sneered at him. “What are you gonna do? Bleed on us?”
He raised his hand that clutched his stomach and studied the blood that stained his fingers. A sly smile slipped onto his lips. “That might not be a bad idea. Catch!”
Adam flung his hand at the leader. Blood splattered the man’s face and eyes. He cried out and staggered back as he clawed at his blinded eyes. “You sick f**k! You’re gonna pay for that!”
The bandanna-wearing man lunged at Adam. Adam stepped backward and the man collided into the wall. He grabbed the back of his attacker’s head and slammed his forehead into the bricks. There was a light crack as skull connected with wall, and the man slid limp to the ground.
Adam turned to Sarah and gave her a thumbs up. “One more to go.”
The boots man slid behind Sarah and wrapped his arm tightly around her neck. She gasped as he cut off some of her air passage. He pulled a knife from his pocket and held it up to her face. “Not another step, bro, or your girlfriend gets a free makeover!”
Adam stopped. His eyes narrowed as he glared at the man. “Don’t you lay a hand-”
“So this is where you’ve been.”
All eyes swiveled down the street behind Adam. A man in a plain black turtleneck sweater and black jeans stepped up beside the pale man and studied him. His soft, peculiar smile didn’t match the sharp look in his red eyes. “You look like hell.”
Adam managed a shaky grin. “I kind of feel like it.”
The newcomer looked ahead of them at Sarah and the man in boots. He nodded at the pair. “Who are they?”
Adam followed his gaze and frowned. “Trouble, and someone in trouble.” He shifted against the wall and winced.
The dark man glanced at Adam before he closed his eyes and shook his head. “Can’t I take my eyes off you for one night?”
Adam shrugged. “I guess not, but you think you could help her out?”
The man in boots stepped back a few paces. His hand with the knife shook as his pair of opponents turned their full attention to him. “S-stay back! Stay back or I’ll cut this b***h!” She gasped as he pressed the point of the knife against her throat.
The newcomer stepped forward and slipped his hands into his jeans pocket. His smile never left his face as his eyes met those of Sarah’s captor. “I don’t think you’re going to do that.”
The man froze. The blade was slowly removed from Sarah’s neck. She glanced over her shoulder and into his face. The man’s expression was blank, though his eyes were wide and stared straight ahead. There was a strange reddish color in their depths.
“Now why don’t you just release that young woman?” the newcomer suggested.
The man dropped his arm. Sarah rushed forward past the newcomer and over to Adam. She leaned his weight against her as she looked back at the confrontation. “What the hell’s going on?” she whispered to Adam.
“Just Ruthven’s specialty,” he replied.
The newcomer strode forward and pulled the knife from the man’s hand. He studied the blade and shook his head. “A simple switchblade. So few criminals have good taste in weapons.” He closed the blade and returned his attention to the frozen man. “You can leave now.”
The man turned around and shuffled down the street. The newcomer turned to the other two and smiled. “If you two are no longer indisposed, I would like-”
“You f***s aren’t going f*****g anywhere!” the leader screamed.
He stood in the middle of the road and wiped the last remnants of Adam’s blood off his face as he drew a gun from his pocket. Adam grimaced and drew Sarah behind him as the man pointed the barrel at them. The man’s finger pressed on the trigger.
The switchblade flew through the air and buried itself deep into his wrist. He let out a terrible scream as the gun clattered to the ground. The man clutched his impaled hand to his chest as the black-clad newcomer strode up to him. The newcomer grabbed the man by the neck and lifted him into the air. Their foe’s legs flailed a foot off the ground as he squirmed in the man’s grasp.
“Lemme go!” he yelped.
Ruthven sneered at him. “Pathetic. You shouldn’t be allowed to live.”
“Ruthven!” Adam called to his acquaintance.
Ruthven paused for a moment before he turned to them with his peculiar smile. “Only kidding.” He tossed the man to the side as though he were a rag doll. The thug scrambled to his feet and stumbled off into the night as the man in black turned to them. “You forget that I don’t often soil myself with such riffraff.”
Adam frowned. “It looked like you were going to make an exception this-” He clenched his teeth and clutched his stomach as his whole body shuddered.
Sarah grabbed his shoulders. “What’s wrong? Adam?”
Adam’s eyes slid closed and he dropped to the ground. The umbrella slipped from his loose hold and clattered to the sidewalk. She caught him before he hit the sidewalk, but all she could manage was to lay him on his back. “Adam!”
“Allow me.” Ruthven knelt down beside them and drew Adam’s hand away from the wound. His smile wavered as he studied the wound. “I see.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “See? See what?”
The newcomer lifted Adam into his arms as though he weighed as much as a baby and stood. He half-turned away from Sarah, though his bright eyes never left hers. “Do you really want to know and risk another attack, or do you want to return to your life of normalcy?”
Sarah’s eyebrows crashed down and pursed her lips. She stood and balled her hands into fists at her sides, but they shook a little. “I want to know what’s going on.”
Ruthven smiled and turned away. “Then follow me.”
- Writer
