Dog Fights

Chapter 28; Stress Fracture

"Leon, where are you?" Ezra demands, holding his phone to his ear with both hands, "what are you doing outside?"

"I-I, I got a location," Leon stutters out, "she's there. I need to go or they're gonna kill her."

"Who gave you a location?" Ezra pushes, not bothering to look over as Alexandra and Amelia exit the room. Threats from Orgon spew out of the opening as they lock the door, rattling his bones with the volume.

Even through the walls he can hear 'I'm gonna get you kid! I'll get you myself!'

"I don't know! It popped up on my phone!" Leon exclaims frantically, "but I tracked the address and it's just on the other side of the bridge. I'm going there now."

"Leon wait!" Ezra glances back at the two witches, darting down the hallway as Alexandra points. They follow him as fast as they can. "Where are you now?"

"I'm almost on the bridge by the big Nightlife Park. Do you know where that is?"

"No," Ezra says, "but I'll GET there, alright? Wait for me on the bridge- and I'll take you the rest of the way. Can you send me the address you got?"

"I-I will."

"Alright, I'll be there as fast as I can. Stay safe."

"Okay."

The speaker goes silent.

Ezra pulls the phone from his ear, waiting anxiously by the main door before a message pops up of the screen. The numbers aren't anything he recognizes.

"Can you meet us here?" Ezra asks as he holds out his phone to the two women waiting behind him. Amelia leans down to see, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"Why would he go there?" she asks, making the other woman look as well. She has the same reaction.

"Ezra, are you sure that's right?" Alexandra asks, confusion clear on her face. "That's a strip club."

-:*:-

Ezra pulls off his glasses, letting them dangle from the chain around his neck as he stalks through the city. At this point he doesn't care if a police officer sees him walk by; they don't possess the effort to pull out of traffic and make a scene. Hunters still pose a threat, but they probably don't believe he's dumb enough to walk the sidewalks after last time. Boy, are they wrong.

It started raining not long before the three of them departed, having been brought on by the sunny week. Ezra had insisted Amelia and Alexandra take the umbrella when they offered. He doesn't need it, and with the speed he had been running it would have been flipped inside out and torn anyway.

With every step he takes water sloshes into his shoes, making his white socks soak up puddles and hold the lingering dirt. Even with his hood up rain gets in his eyes, pulling his hair into his face and plastering it to his forehead in twists of black.

Ezra steps onto the bridge, looking over the decorative railing at the murky water below. It's just a thin canal, but in the beginning of a summer storm it looks eerie and deep.

Another rail separates the street from the sidewalk, the only thing breaking up the smooth cement being a bench facing the water. Despite the rain, someone sits with their arms around their knees, watching the water roll in silence.