A Lonely Road

Pretty Girls and Pointy Objects

Jace is knocked forcefully to the ground. His back aches, but Kaelie is on top of him, her red hair nearly orange in the sun as she shields him from the shockwave. Debris falls to the ground like rain sending chunks of dirt and grass flying.

"Get up," he heard her call in his ear and then her cool fingers are closing on his wrist again, pulling him off the ground and nearly dragging him behind her. Jace could hear his blood pounding in his veins and he tripped across the pavement as they ran across the street.

Kaelie, that had to be her name, skidded to a stop in front of an old SUV, with a dent in the door and a crack in the back glass. She opened the passenger door and shoved Jace into the seat unceremoniously.

"Don't get out of this fucking car, do you understand me?" she barked harshly. She slammed the door and then stood in front of the car, waiting. The others joined her, and Kaelie cocked her head. A large man came barreling from somewhere out of sight and Kaelie jumped carefully out of the way.

"Lilith, Sarah, now," he heard her shout faintly. Jace watched as first the girl with long dark hair and then the other girl moved quicker than he believed possible. The man was huge and lumbering as he whirled around, stumbling as the two girls grabbed his wrists. Jace's blood runs cold as he catches sight of a gun in the man's waistband and then he is cringing as Kaelie kicks the man's legs out from under him smoothly and he hits the asphalt on his knees.

The man gives Kaelie a hate filled look, eyes burning in contempt, and he spit at her. He saw a cold smile cross her lips, mean and sharp and she punched him hard in the jaw. She looks at Michael, giving a small nod, and Jace watches as Michael steps forward. Michael blocked Jace's view of the attacker, and Jace couldn't hear anything else and when Michael moved out of the way, Jace saw the man's body slump to the ground, and his head roll the other way. Jace couldn't move, he just stared, and no one else even acknowledged the body, the sound of doors slamming rang in his ears as the others climbed in behind him.

A hand was thrust in his face from the back seat and Jace turned his head and it felt like he was moving through tar. He met a pair of brown eyes under a short crop of brown hair. "Michael," he said with a grin on his face.

"Jace," he responded warily. "What-"

"Great, Jace. Good to meet you. You might wanna strap in and hold on tight, her driving is a bit awful.

"Yeah, fuck off Michael, enough with the pleasantries," Kaelie said. "There are people literally trying to kill us."

"You're always so angry," he heard Michael mumble from the back seat.

Kaelie's head whipped to the side so suddenly Jace was sure he heard her neck pop. "Oh for fuck's sake," she muttered angrily and she gripped Jace by the back of the neck forcing him down as a shot rang out and he heard the shatter of glass. He sat up and was immediately shoved back into the seat as Kaelie pulled a sharp knife out of her heavy boots and threw it out of the sharp window. Jace saw a dark figure tumble to the grass and then Kaelie was stomping on the gas.

The car lurched painfully away from the curb and Kaelie was careening through the streets. Her hands trembled against the steering wheel in her irritation. She takes a hard turn, and she hears Jace thud against the door of the car. "Let me go," she hears Jace say, and it's very quiet, but his voice is firm. She smiles, despite herself. "I won't do anything."

Sarah giggles in the background and Kaelie meets her eyes in the rearview mirror briefly before turning her gaze back to the road. She laughs out loud and rolls her eyes. "Love, can you shut the fuck up for a minute? Yeah?" she says calmly, and she catches Jace's incredulous eyebrow in the corner of her eye.

"Oh for the love of-" she starts, slamming on the breaks. A sleek black truck blocks her path forwards. She looks in her rear view mirror, and another truck is idling behind her. "This is really ruining my damn day."

"What do you want to do, Kaelie?" Lilith asks.

Kaelie turns to Jace. "Get out. Get out of the car, and follow the others. You will be safe. Trust me, and just do it." His grey eyes widen and he opens his mouth, but she shakes her head at him, pleading him in her thoughts. The back doors open and Sarah, Michael, and Lilith exit with a fluidity that Kaelie is used to, but still strikes her as unnatural. They're sprinting and Kaelie stares after them, and for a minute, she doesn't realize that Jace hasn't left.

She meets his eyes and they're wide, she sees fear, and she sees determination. She shakes her head, mostly to herself, more than at Jace, and then she contorts her face into an angry and frightening expression. He needed to get out of here. "What the fuck are you doing? Did you not just hear what I said? Do you actually want to die?" she shouted. She smacked her hands against the steering wheel and Jace flinches.

"I can't just leave you here," he said.

"You really think you can help me here?" she snaps. "I'm trying very hard to save your life, not end it, so do me a favor and listen to what I tell you from here on." She steps out of the car and she hears the quiet click of Jace's door as he shuts it. Kaelie grabs his wrist and shoves him behind her, widening her stance to try her best to hide Jace from view.

She rakes her eyes over the heavy man lumbering towards her, his greasy blonde hair, watery eyes, the gun in his left hand. She ducked as his fist went flying towards her face. She brings her knee up and drives it into his stomach and he sputters. She glances behind her, searching for Jace's eyes, making sure he is still there and it's a mistake. Pain explodes across her ribs as his boot collides solidly with her side. She gasps and no air is coming in, she forces herself to stand.

She swings again, aiming for the man's temple but he catches her wrist and his clammy fingers squeeze and she hears more than she feels the crack of the small bone in her wrist. Kaelie clamps her lips together to stop a scream and she turns to Jace. "Get out of here. Go get Michael," she calls out to him, and he whirls around, she can hear his feet slap against the pavement.

She turns back. "Kaelie, Kaelie, Kaelie," the man calls in a singsong.

"Aw, go to hell," she wheezes. She holds her injured wrist tight against her body and doesn't move as the man leans down to breath in her face. She smirks, and she spits in his face angrily, watching in satisfaction as it slides down his face.

"You little bitch," he snarls, and he hits her ribs again, sending her sprawling to the floor. Kaelie braces herself, holding her breath for the explosion of pain, but it doesn't come, and the man thuds to the ground. Michael stands over him, a sharp and bloodied knife clenched in his fist. Jace is behind him, eyes wild with a manic sort of energy.

"Can you get up?" Michael asks her and Kaelie nods gingerly, looping her arm over his shoulders and groaning in agony.

"Help me get her back," he says to Jace, and she feels Jace loop his arm around her waist, taking some of her weight and she wants to run from their touch. They shuffle awkwardly down the street and Michael pulls them up the path to a plain door, placing his hand on a panel next to the door knob.

The door bounces off the wall and Kaelie hears Sarah asking questions and Jace is fumbling over his words trying to answer and the black swirls up around her and then it's silent.