Page 53 of Malice and Surrender
A light smashed, sending little shards flying, and I covered my head as the pieces rained down. Some of the guys dressed in black pushed their way through the throngs of people still shoving their way out of the exits. They held up guns, and at that moment, the fear that had remained dormant due to shock took hold. Pushing away from the wall, I slipped under arms and dodged around the next group of people. Spotting the door I came through, which wasn’t marked with a big red Exit sign, I peeled away from the group and ran for it.
When I pulled it open, and the light from the stairwell poured in, I could see people turn my way and break away from the group.
Where the hell was Kai in all this? Was he okay? Did he already get out? Please don’t let him be one of the people being shot at.
I pushed away from the door and darted up the stairs, breathing hard as I took them two at a time. A hand landed on the rail beside me, and my heart leaped as I stared at the same tattoo Kai had gotten just a few weeks ago. Looking back, I stared up at the tall figure wearing a black hoodie. I couldn’t see his face, and there was no time. It could wait until we were outside.
The door slammed open as I hit it, and as soon as we were outside, I turned to speak to Kai, but he was running along the back of the buildings away from Oracle.
“Kai!” I yelled and ran after him. “Kai, it’s me. Wait up.” I could hear sirens in the distance and pushed my tired legs harder.
Rounding the corner to the dark shadows where I’d seen Kai turn, I called out again. “Kai, stop! It’s me.”
I hadn’t gone very far when someone in a hood stepped out of the shadows. I tried to stop, but it did no good as I ran straight into them. Bouncing back, I landed hard on my ass and stared up at the person I’d hit. I tried to see inside the dark hood, but the thumb hooked into the pocket showed off the back of his hand, and there was the tattoo.
“Kai, thank God. It’s me,” I said, looking around as two more people stepped into the alley. I couldn’t tell what they looked like with the only light at their backs. I swallowed hard as I stared up at the three men. None of them spoke.
“Get her up,” a gruff voice barked out.
“No, don’t touch me.” I tried to jerk away from the vise grip that wrapped around my biceps. “Ow! Let go,” I yelled and tugged on my arm.
“Shut her up.”
A hard hit to my stomach came out of nowhere, and I doubled over. Tears sprang to my eyes, and my knees buckled as I tried to breathe past the sharp pain.
“Better than nothing. Actually, this may work out even better.” The same man sneered. He stepped in close and bent low to my side, but I still couldn’t see his face in the dark. I caught the strong stench of alcohol and cigarettes. My foster dad smoked all the time, and it reminded me of that scent. “Bag her.”
Black material was placed over my head by the second guy who had stepped into the alley, and everything in me screamed that I needed to fight or I was going to die. I had no idea why Kai was doing this and listening to this jerk, but how he’d said it “may work out better” sent a cold dread racing down my back. Kicking out hard, I didn’t care what I hit as long as they let me go. I opened my mouth to scream at the top of my lungs when something hard hit my face. Then all I saw was black and little dots behind my eyelids.
The lights came back on, and as they did, my mind was pulled back to the present. I screamed and jumped back as a cat darted toward me and hit the stack of boxes at the end of the row. The boxes swayed dangerously.
I watched the grey cat disappear up the stairs and slumped against the wall, laying a hand over my eyes.
“Fuck,” I swore and pulled at my shirt as my heart fluttered so hard that I thought I would pass out. “You know what? Screw this. Inventory can wait until tomorrow,” I mumbled, every part of my body shaking with the adrenaline and lingering fear that always accompanied the memory.
I raced up the stairs and closed the door, so my furry little intruder couldn’t run back down. I needed to finish up a few odds and ends, and then I was getting the hell out of here. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and my fear wasn’t going to disappear overnight.
I rarely asked for anything, but I would happily trade my tattered soul to be rid of the memory of Kai and his friends.
Raine
Damn this storm. I tried waiting it out, but instead of getting better, it only got worse. Digging around in my wallet, I pulled out the money to give to the nice lady who had risked life and limb to drive in the torrential downpour to bring me home.
“Thanks again. Here, take this for your trouble,” I said, handing over double the Uber fee.
“You don’t have to do that,” she said, smiling, but still took the money and stuffed it into her pocket.
I’d been very frugal over the years and had money put away in case I needed it, for what, I had no idea. It wasn’t like I spent money on lavish items, clothes, or even had a car, but you just never knew what was around the next corner.
Grabbing my bag, I jumped out of the Uber and sprinted for the front door. I was used to Avro driving me home and waiting till I got inside, but not this woman. She was gone before I reached the bottom step.
“I should’ve just taken today off,” I mumbled as I tried to get my key into the door, but it wouldn’t go in. “Why the hell is it so dark?”
Reaching over, I tapped my outside light, but it wouldn’t turn on. Great, just great. Digging my phone out of my pocket, I tucked myself close to the door to keep it from getting wet and hit the flashlight option. Of course, I’d been trying the wrong key. It really had been one of those days. I got the stray cat out of the club, but in the process, it knocked over five hundred dollars’ worth of bottles in the main bar, and I had to clean all that up. Then once I managed to get a hold of him, my arm got scratched up for my effort. I made it to the hospital to have it cleaned and wrapped and get a tetanus shot. All in all, it had been a day I wished I’d just stayed in bed.
Picking out the right key, I slipped it into the lock and pushed open the door as the thunder rumbled outside. I’d lived here my whole life and had never gotten used to the way the storms hit, and even though it wasn’t a hurricane, it still felt like one.
I was soaked to the bone and shivering, as if the water had seeped right into my marrow. Locking the door behind me, I dropped my bag and hit the light switch, but it didn’t want to turn on either. Glancing out the window, I saw the house across the street had light peeking through the closed drapes. It must be the breaker.
