As Chad ran, scenes from his childhood flashed in front of his eyes unbidden. He tried to tell himself this woman’s attack had nothing to do with his past, but the same adrenaline was surging through his system now as it had in his youth. He had the same sweaty tongue, the same hammering of his heart shooting blood through his system, the same sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Chad tried to clear his head of the vision, but all at once memories crashed into reality as he skidded around a corner and made out a pair of figures up ahead. A large man sat on top of a woman who seemed to be struggling with him even as the man brutally punched her. Without even breaking stride, he rushed forward to tackle the man and the two rolled several feet beyond the woman.
Coming up on top, Chad gained an instant advantage over his opponent due to the man’s complete surprise. The added strength of the blinding fury compelled his fists to pound the other man over and over again as the lines between cramped childhood apartment and echoing stadium hallway began to blur.
Somewhere in his mind he could hear the woman screaming at him to stop, but it was as if her voice were coming at him from across the years, blended with his mother’s. While in truth, the woman had somehow managed to crawl over to within feet of him. He stopped, realizing the body beneath him was no longer moving. The red, murderous haze clouding his vision rolled back. His lungs seared with each intake of breath as he tried to focus on bringing his heart rate down.
