The Falconer's Sentinel

Chapter 4: Chocolate Muffins

 "Do you need anything else or are you just going to stare at your phone all day like a mindless zombie?" I gripped the basket filled with our "necessities". Apparently that included chocolate muffins.

"Why don't you mind your own business!" Suzi shouted back.

I stifled a laugh as I realized how good of a bratty teenager Suzi made. I just hoped I could be a good dad... Living in the forest away from civilization had it's benefits but we still needed food and supplies. Our disguises were a teenage girl and her father. Something that wouldn't appear out of the ordinary.

I pulled Suzi away from the chocolates that she was obsessing over and went to go pay for our groceries. Sure we needed the bread, and the milk and other things but did we really need chocolate muffins? They were pretty pricey. I grabbed our few bags and grabbed a muffin out of the box as we walked toward our old car. We had gotten it cheap at a dealer's who used to be friends with my dad.

"Yes. We did need the muffins" I thought as I took a bite out of one.

With the groceries loaded in the car we set off for the woods once again. The trip was uneventful, like it usually was, until the car broke down. It didn't surprise me, as the car was really old, but I was still cautious. After I had pulled over to the side of the road I told Suzi to keep a lookout and went to go examine the engine. I noticed that the alternator wasn't connected, so the battery wasn't getting charged. Something wasn't right about this whole situation, I could feel it. As I reconnected the alternator, I saw Owlet look towards her left warily.

"Hey, Watchdog," She said, using her code name for me. "Careful,"

"I know..." I finally took this moment to look up. I saw a dark shadowed group inching it's way towards us. All of a sudden their numbers started growing from the alleyway and they began to move faster towards us. It was an ambush!

"Behind you!" Suzi screamed as one of the men fired a pistol in their direction.

Thank goodness for my reflexes, as I ducked just in time, my heart pounding as I did so. I retaliated by grabbing a loose brick and hurling it at their direction as easily as if it was a dodgeball. It stroke the man who fired the pistol in the chest and he fell backwards. But more were coming. The rest of the men attacked us from all sides enveloping Owlet and I, and one other guy in a tight ring. I attempted to attack the man, thinking he was with the assaulting group.

"Hey I'm on your side!" The man shouted as he sucker punched one of the attackers right in the face.

I'm not normally someone who trusts people so easily, but right now we needed all the help that we could get. I took a quick glance at the guy, who looked to be in his late thirties, or early forties. He was slightly balding and had some rough hair on his face. But the most surprising thing about him was the thin scar that ran from the top of his head, to the left of his jaw. Focusing my attention back to the mob of angry people trying to kill us I saw something so stupid and frightening that I nearly began to panic.

Owlet, bold as ever attempted to take on three opponents at once. She can barely handle me, but she had never taken on three grown men before, I had to do something! Unfortunately she had moved to the other side of the vehicle, and there was a group blocking me from her. With all the strength I could handle I punched, kicked, and threw my way through the crowd. They began to close in on me. There was one way to go, and that was over. I jumped up, grabbed the top of the car and threw myself over to the other side of the car. I began running towards Owlet as fast as I could.

As I was running I saw that two of the men had managed to pin Owlet against the ground and she was struggling greatly. I was almost there when I saw the third pull out a large serrated knife from his coat and raised in the air.

I shouted no right as Owlet screamed a high, blood curdling scream that sent chills through my bones. I sprinted the last few feet and knocked the man with the knife out of the way.

"AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!" An excruciating pain rang through my side and I looked down to realize that I had been cut. Dark red blood poured out along the six inch gash, soaking through my shirt, warm and sticky. I bit my tongue to continue.

One hand gripping my side I drew the other arm up and knocked that guy out with one punch, straight in the jaw. I turned and ripped Owlet out of the two men's grasp, pulling her behind me. She fell back and landed on the ground. Clutching my wounded side I kicked one of the men in the ribs and the other got hit in the chest. I couldn't think of why I was doing any of it. It just kind of happened as a natural instinct to me getting hurt and to protect Owlet. I glanced around and noticed that we had subconsciously defeated all of the attackers.

Owlet immediately ran to me and threw my big arm over her tiny shoulder and tried to carry me back to the car. She may be small, but that didn't mean she wasn't strong. I struggled to stay conscious as my side kept bleeding profusely. It was no longer just my side, the blood soaked through my shirt and was trailing down my leg, and it kept going. I didn't know I had so much blood. It hurt like, well like a stab wound. We made it to the car and she leaned me up against the car and I breathed deeply. She fumbled around, tried to get a good look at where the wound actually was, and how large it was. I could sense her holding back her tears and averting her eyes as she kept trying to stop the bleeding from the wound that would have been hers. However, I can handle a little stab wound, whereas she would probably have died. I saw the man with the scar approach Owlet and tried to jump up to stop him but Owlet pushed me back down again.

"Is he alright?" He stated.

"He needs some care, I just need some space to take care of it, I know what to do..." She was struggling not to cry. "But I don't think he'll be much of a help if we get ambushed again. I need to get him back home."

"Perfect." And then a laugh.

One of the attackers had risen to their feet and shoved the man out of the way, knocking him down. He reached his hand up and struck Owlet hard across the face and then threw her down to the ground with a sickening thud. This all happened too fast for her to react and so she lied there, helpless on the ground. The attacker raised his fist and hit her in the side of the face. She struggled to get up but he hit her again.

"NO!!!" I shouted. Before he could hit her again he was met by my fist to the back of his head.

Though I was injured, and losing consciousness, the sight of Owlet getting hurt was enough to throw me into an indescribable fury. With a bellow of anger I threw blow after blow upon the poor man. He staggered backwards into a daze and without thinking I grabbed him by the collar and threw him into the side of the car. Knocking him unconscious and denting the door in the process.

"Owlet!" I managed to groan out. I made my way to her and helped her up.

"Watchdog...." She grumbled.

This was the second time I had defended her today and I was paying for it. I had lost a lot of blood and felt the ground rock underneath my feet. I grabbed her arm and she grabbed mine as together we slowly made our way back to the car.