Salvage

Eleven - Part 2

Adam's body stiffened against hers, and her frozen mind registered a glimmer of motion at the corner of her right eye. She turned to look, and her eyes flew open as she saw a man in what looked like some kind of black body armor. He was running towards her swiftly, silently, and would have swept her over sideways and had her in his grasp in the next instant. Instinctively, she threw all her weight into her left leg and dropped into as low a crouch as she could, then rolled back away from Adam. 

Her heart raced, and her brain shifted focus, dropping every concern outside this moment. All she heard now were the shouts from her self defense instructor. Get distance. Stay back. Be loud. Go for the head, crotch, or knees. Don't show fear. The man continued running towards her, but she had a few seconds. She sprung to her feet as her eyes flicked around the clearing.

A small, slim woman dressed in the same black body armor had wrapped herself around Adam. She had brown hair buzzed tight to her scalp and a soft, rounded face with large, dark eyes. Her lips were pinched together tight, and she had one arm locked tight around Adam's neck, clinging to his back like some kind of tiny vicious monkey. They were locked in silent struggle, as Adam could not cry out, and the woman had her eyes fixed on Aurora. All of her muscles were straining, locked, completely devoted to controlling Adam's flailing limbs. He reached back, trying to pull her from him, trying to grab for her hair, clothes, anything, but his palms slipped from her, or he grasped and pulled futilely.

Aurora inhaled deeply, eyes flitting around. Nobody else in the clearing that she could see. The man was almost on her, now. A strange calm had fallen over her.

"Stop! Get back." Her voice emerged steady, and loud.

She wasn't expecting a response, so it wasn't a surprise that he continued rushing towards her. She just had time to draw in a deep breath and scream out as loud as she could, trying to draw any attention possible, before he was on her.

He was quick, but she was quicker. He feinted left, then swept around the right with a clenched fist. She glimpsed the glint of silver in his fist - a knife. No gun. She jumped back again, keeping as much distance as she could, and spotted an opening. She couldn't reach the groin, but his leg was twisted towards her. She jabbed her foot out in a swift kick, her heel cracking into his kneecap.

He cried out, giving his own scream. She'd been taking self defense and hand combat classes for years, now, and her thigh muscles were well developed. 

He swept the leg out of her reach, limping backwards and scowling. Reaching towards his belt, his hand grabbed for the handle of a black pistol with a thin, elongated barrel. It looked like a silencer she'd seen in movies, though she'd never handled a gun herself. Her heart kicked into high gear.

"Wait! I'm Aurora. My name is Aurora. I don't know what's going on. I'm just here for a walk with my boyfriend." She knew her flat voice wasn't convincing, she'd never been a good liar. She risked a glance at Adam, who had now gone limp. The woman leapt free of him as his body tumbled down to the ground, but it looked like he was still breathing. She began dragging his arms and legs together and cuffing them efficiently.

"Josie?" The guy held up the gun and looked to the smaller woman.

She dusted off her palms and straightened. "Oh, for fuck's sake, shoot her already."

Aurora sucked in another breath for a last minute scream, and tensed all her muscles to run. She could at least make a moving target. Just as she released the buildup of energy and burst into action, there was a strange, muffled whizzing sound, and a high pitched whine. Aurora flinched and threw herself low, into a roll, across the ground towards the nearest tree. She clutched it and scrambled around it, panting, trying to ascertain where the shot had come from.