Haven's Army

Chapter 2

We ran along the streets, trying to find where the scream had come from. Finally, we heard voices around a corner. I nodded to Nathan and he went around the other side of the alley.

I stepped out. In the dark alley, there was a single lamp, illuminating the scene in eerie light. A group of scruffy-looking men were standing over someone huddled against the wall. One of the men was touching their face and speaking to them in slurred speech.

"Now, pretty lady, you gotta give us what we want," he said. The lady whimpered.

"Hey!" I yelled. All the men turned, looking dazed.

One of the men chuckled fuzzily. "It's a little girlie."

"She pretty fine too," one of the men commented. "Should we? Two in one night?"

"Let's do it."

A few started moving towards me. I flicked out my daggers.

"Lookie, those knives just appeared outta nowheres," a man commented.

"You're jus' seein' things," another man said.

They came closer and tried to make a grab for me. I ducked and punched one in the stomach. He fell back, knocking over a few of his comrades. What was with these men? They were stumbling around like idiots. A strong, stale stench came off their breath.

A man flicked out a switchblade. "I migh' hafta carve 'er up a bit a'fore we do anythin' to 'er, 'wise she'll fight us." Was that even English? He jumped forward, dodging my kick, and stabbed at me. I blocked with my dagger, barely. I kicked him in the head and he fell away but then I had two others hanging onto me. I couldn't move as one of the men threw a punch at my face. I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact.

Nothing happened. I opened my eyes. Nathan had stopped the punch with his hand, grasping the man's closed fist.

"You wanted her because she's beautiful?" he growled. "If you go punching her, you'll mess up her pretty face." He threw the man to the side, slamming him to the brick wall. The man fell to the ground.

Nathan turned and tore one of the men off me. With my free arm, I punched the other one in the face, forcing him to fall back, clutching his now bleeding nose.

The other men had left the woman to fight us. Nathan and I went back to back and fought them. When only a few of them were left that weren't injured, they all ran, running into each other and tripping as they went along.

"You can go back," I told Nathan. "I'll take care of her."

He shook his head. "They could come back."

I looked to the ground. "I can take care of myself."

He put his hand on my shoulder and I looked up into his dark eyes. They looked black in the little light we had.

"I know you can," he said. "But you'll also be protecting her, not just yourself. Besides, you slipped up back there. Do you really want that to happen again?"

I shuffled my feet. "You don't trust me."

His hand slipped off my shoulder. "It's not that."

I shrugged it off and left him.

I approached the woman. She had collapsed on the ground and was curled up, weeping into her hands. I put a hand on her shoulder and she scrambled away from me, her eyes wild. She winced in pain.

"It's okay," I said gently. "They're gone. Do you need medical attention?"

The woman took a shuddering breath. Then she nodded. "I need an ambulance," she managed.