Prologue
I held my breath and went back around the corner, there were too many. He was here and others with him. I couldn’t use myself as bait against eight men that size. I also couldn’t be that close and not have all their thoughts slam inside my brain. I looked around and spotted the fire escape, it had a few missing sections, but as long as I stayed below that section, I should be okay. I’d watch from above and see how this played out.
Climbing it was scary, it wasn’t in the best condition even up to the parts hanging half off the building. To distract myself from thinking about plummeting to the ground I ran through the past months in my head. What was going on? Had there been some sort of solar flare or meteorological event that had caused so many strange things to take place? I didn’t know but things were getting really wacked and I was ready to go find some off the grid cave to live in. I hadn’t survived the epic bull crap I’d had the misfortune to live through to be stuck in some insane area where weird things were happening, and women kept going missing and no one—NO one noticed.
By the time I reached the half way point, I decided this was a far enough distance. Perching in the hidden corner of the platform, I looked out between the bars. There were four women, near to my age hanging out back of the old supermarket building. Were they intellectually challenged? It was the only reason I could think of why someone would be that stupid to hang out there in this neighborhood, without large numbers or large friends to keep them company and safe.
Safe. Why didn’t anyone think about that anymore?
I looked back to where the guys had been, I couldn’t see them. I looked to the other end of the alley. Where did they go? I studied the darkened areas trying to see if they were sneaking up on them. Eight men against four women. It was disgusting. I could say that without a doubt because one of their thoughts had almost made me scream when they’d popped into my head.
Standing up, I leaned over and looked further down the forgotten space. I still didn’t see them. I was just about to climb down and go tell those girls to get their butts home and stay there until they grew a brain when a guy came running out of the back of a building and headed toward them.
Big and blond was all I could think. Where were his buddies though? They had to be somewhere. Maybe they sent the pretty face in to distract the women. I’d seen that happen way too much. He was heading straight for them, holding his hand over his ear. Ugh. Just ugh. They were coordinating this abduction. What a slag.
Shaking my head, I’d had enough. I was so done with this city. Pulling my bag off my shoulders, I set it by my feet. As soon as I saved these clueless females, I was out of here. I’d rather live in a forest and take my chances with wild creatures then with human beings. They were disgusting.
Opening it I pulled out the two pieces of my bow. Quickly, while keeping an eye on the blond slag below, I locked the socket together and secured the string on the upper and lower limb. I tightened the riser, so I had good tension and flipped the sight slide out. Opening the quiver case, I hovered over which arrow to choose. Did I want to slow him down or stop him? I looked at him again as he moved closer, trying to appear like he wasn’t rushing toward them, he was looking all around him probably making sure no one was around. I was glad he couldn’t see me.
Nodding my head, I decided I wanted to stop him. I pulled out one of my bodkin point arrows. It wasn’t a blunt point, it was more of a nasty metal pike that stopped very thoroughly. It also wasn’t one of my cheap ones but stopping another woman from being taken was worth it.
I nocked the arrow and stood up, making sure my arms and bow cleared everything. Drawing back on it, I got him in the sight and then moved it down, I didn’t want to kill anyone, that I couldn’t live with, but leaving a mark on his backside I could do. Too bad it was a nice-looking backside was the last thought before I released it.
He went down, then mayhem happened. Four other guys came out of nowhere and a few women as well. These were not the pieces of dross I’d inadvertently heard in my head. The women went rushing toward those clueless females just ‘hanging out’ and a couple of the men went to my target.
Two dropped down where he lay—with my arrow sticking up in the air. One male with the brown hair was looking at the arrow sticking out of that nice butt and shaking his head. I think he was smiling.
Then I noticed the other two men, looking quite unhappy, as they looked all around them. I squatted back down. Probably a good time to get gone. I quickly disassembled my bow and put it back in my bag. I was just about to get up and climb to the top of the building when a tiny woman jumped down onto the landing with me.
She pulled the cable from her waist and turned to glare at me. “You shot my Rafael.”
At least twenty voices flooded into my head out of nowhere. I grimaced, I’d thought the building was abandoned. I focused to block them, then turned my attention back to her.
I was just about to defend my actions when a large, very scary redheaded man dropped down behind her. His icy pale eyes moved over me with loathsomeness. He reached toward me. I put my arm up to block his hand and then my head felt like it exploded into a thousand pieces.
I dropped to my knees and threw up. That’s when I noticed I was no longer on the fire escape.
