Saving Calen

13.

Calen's POV

Aylah is silent the entire ride home.

Silence engulfs the car in an uncomfortable silence.

"See that?" Archer says, motioning to the car behind us.

I nod.

"Yup, there's one up there too." I reply.

We both shift in our seats, business taking over.

"What did you say?" Dorian butts in.

Archer clenches his jaw before answering. "There's two black Escalades blocking us in, sir. I think you guys should duck below the seat."

Dorian snorts. "I'm not afraid of some cars." He looks at Aylah who swallows her obvious disgust at his bravado.

"Sir, I really think you should." Archer says. Dorian starts to argue.

I train my eyes on the rear view mirror and see nothing but black masks. The movement's are obviously that of people getting ready for something.

Dorian still argues with Archer.

"Sir-" Archer starts.

"Get the fuck down." I snap. Aylah's face looks shocked. Dorians turns a crimson shade as he starts to yell, but I cut him off.

"Shut up. Your life is directly tied to ours, therefore, we are going to do everything to keep you safe. Now duck." I say, not an inch of leeway in my words.

He rolls his eyes and ducks below the seat.

"Calen!" Aylah screams.

My eyes snap back to the road as screeching tires fill the air. The car in front of us slams on the breaks. I look back to see if I have room to back up, but the people in the rear car are already filing out, guns in hand.

Archer and I look at each other, coming to a silent agreement.

"Stay in here." I say before getting out of the car, manually locking the doors behind me. Before I have time to survey my surroundings, they're on me. One man throws a punch that cracks me in the jaw.

As he does this, I feel my brain sink into the comfortable autopilot state that has been trained into me.

He slams me into the side of the jeep. He goes to throw a punch, but I catch his fist. I pull a knife out of my pocket and jam it deep into the side of his neck. He stumbles to the ground.

More men file after him. I take the knife out of his neck and punch the first man I see so hard that he hits the deck, giving me enough time to take my gun out.

I start firing and picking them off one by one.

My mind is so far gone at this point, I genuinely start to enjoy it.

Like a game.

Before I know it, I'm covered in blood and punch drunk. The men stop coming.

As reality slowly starts to come back into focus, I realize that I need to start searching for Archer.

I round the corner of the car and see him on top of someone absolutely punching their lights out.

He gets off and looks at me. Blood drips down my forearms and is splattered across my face.

"Yup," he says, "you're a Riot alright."

"We need to go." The adrenaline coursing through my body keeps me mission focused.

We run back into the car. I look back at Aylah, "Everyone okay?"

Her and Dorian sit there with shocked expressions.