I, Death

Sin Eater: Chapter 8

The ambush on Peter started off as a regular mugging.

A man in a business suit was walking down the street after dark and a tall blond thug about six feet tall and with shoulders at least three feet wide jumped out from the shadows with a knife in hand and forced him to duck into a nearby alley with him.

Peter, watching from across the street, an apparent homeless bum sitting in a pile of filth, and looking oblivious to the rest of the world, had become quite proficient with this scenario. He waited until the blond meaty mugger pushed the guy into the alley before he rose to his feet and quickly ran across the street.

He figured it would be only fair to give the bad guy a chance to live before taking him out, so he shouted as he ran.

"Hey, leave him alone!"

In following to the standard script Peter had become used to, the mugger reacted surprised to see the prone bum from across the street that he'd thought was not going to be a problem witness suddenly on the attack, and turned the knife toward Peter.

Again, Peter thought it only fair to give him one last chance.

"Drop the knife and I’ll let you live!"

The large blond man with the knife kept the blade trained on Peter and let out a short laugh. "Let me live? Fuck off and die!" Large gobs of spittle flew through the air as he shouted.

"That's where you're wrong," Peter laughed. "You're the only one who'll be dying tonight."

As Peter reached up to pull his sunglasses off and deliver quick death to this man, something hit him fast and hard from the left side. His sunglasses flew through the air as Peter was tackled sideways and bounced off the brick wall to his right. Peter couldn't believe it. Someone else had been lurking in the alley and had attacked him.

He whirled to face the attacker who was still close to his body, but he couldn't make eye contact with him. The man's shoulder pressed up under Peter's armpit as he rained multiple punches to his ribs and stomach. Peter folded into the punches.

While he was still being pummeled, a third man joined from out of nowhere, landing a few punches to the right side of Peter's head and face. Lashing out with his right hand, Peter was able to ward off at least one punch while the blond mugger stepped forward and thrust his knife into Peter's shoulder. Peter looked back toward him, eyes glaring and meeting his gaze full on. The man's head flipped back as if being punched by an invisible fist. Blood poured from his nose and mouth as he staggered back, dropping the knife.

Peter saw the man in the suit scramble for the knife before another punch stuck him in the right eye and a white burst of pain clouded his vision.

He felt himself stumble as fists, knees and feet repeatedly hit him from both sides. The two unseen assailants delivered piercing blows to his face, stomach and sides. Peter felt his ribs break from a well-delivered series of kicks, and blood poured from a gash in his forehead. The blood ran down his face and mostly obscured the vision from his left eye. By that point, his right cheek and brow were swollen from repeated blows to the side of his head. Surrounded in a growing whirlpool of pain, he managed to watch as the man in the suit picked up the knife the blond mugger had dropped and a brief sense of hope filled him.

Funny, he thought, that the man Peter had been about to save from a mugging might actually turn out to save Peter's life.

The unseen assailant who'd first surprised Peter grabbed both of Peter’s arms and pulled them tight across his back while lifting Peter up to his feet. The move was startling, because, through the explosions of pain Peter hadn't even been aware that he'd stumbled and fallen to his knees. The intensity of the pain, of the sudden assault prevented him from even realizing that fact. The man on his right grabbed him roughly by the hair and yanked his head up, exposing his throat.

Through blurred vision, Peter managed to spot the man in the suit approaching, holding the knife. But he wasn't looking at the attackers, he was looking directly at Peter — and grinning an evil, twisted grin.

This was a complete ambush, Peter realized, as the knife carved an arc through the air toward his throat.

The blade was halfway toward Peter's exposed flesh when a high pitched cry boomed through the alley and a blur knocked the knife out of the man's hand. Peter couldn't really see what was happening, but felt his arms being released.

No longer supported, Peter toppled forward, heard the sound of flesh striking flesh, of bones cracking, cries of pain, shouts of alarm, and, more than anything, the victorious battle cry of some additional unseen person who appeared out of nowhere.

The whole thing was surreal.

Supporting himself on hands and knees, Peter tried to get up but the throbbing pain in his head and body were too much. He kept listening, helplessly, while the sounds of a ruthless and vicious fight raged all around him.

His consciousness winked in and out several times during the scuffle, but the only thing that remained constant was the high pitched cry echoing off the alley walls. As the fight continued, his arms finally gave way and Peter crumpled to his side on the alley floor.

When Peter cracked his one eye not swollen completely shut, he looked up to see, through a thin film of blood, a figure standing above him, silhouetted from behind by a single street light. He appeared to Peter like an angel.

"It's okay, Peter," a voice said, as a hand reached out and took his. "You're safe now. I'll take care of you."

[The rest of this novel will continue to be rolled out on a regular basis here on Wattpad, but if you can't wait to read it, the print and eBook versions are available through all major online retailers. Publisher Atomic Fez's page (with links) is here:  http://www.atomicfez.com/book-catalogue/9781927609033.html]