The tall guy stood rooted to the spot, wide-eyed, mouth unhinged. He recovered, his eyes narrowed, his mouth moved into a thin sneer and he charged forward.
I threw him upwards. Peripherally, I could see the big nose man had regained his feet. I sent the taller guy threw the air. He hit the other man like two baseball bats connecting. He let out a startled cry as they both hit the ground, hard. But not hard enough, they staggered to their feet.
Forty yards to get to the car. Could I run? No. Even if I made it to the car first, they’d grab me before I could get in.
There was a soft thud from behind.
Keep all your senses alert. Eyes, hearing, feeling, Amy. Don’t just focus on your attacker. Always act like there are more.’
There were more. His footsteps pounded toward me.
I swung my leg around as hard as I could, my shin connected with his knee. It popped sideways out of its joint.
He roared, buckled, and dropped.
Once they go down, attack again, don’t hesitate.
I didn’t.
I slammed the sole of my foot into his nose.
Crunch. The sound was like a beetle being stomped on.
He cried out and his hands flew to his broken nose, blood gushed between his fingers. At best, his nose was broke. At worst, it was smashed. At the same time, I heard more heavy, footsteps behind me. I swung to see a large-framed, hulk of a man, just as his body slammed into mine. He hit me like a tsunami. I flew to the ground, landing on my stomach, he landed on me in a full-on tackle.
Pain bloomed around my chest. The breath jerked from my lungs. I couldn’t breathe. One arm was crushed under my body, the other was pinned by the weight of his chest. I flailed and tried to buck wildly. A hot flash of panic and pure terror rolled over my skull and disabled rational thought. My right hand pumped backwards, there was no power in it. Either kinetically or physically. My fingers snapped against something hard on his belt. A knife or gun, I wasn’t sure. My fingers fumbled for it, I couldn’t grab hold. Then practical thought stormed back, and I willed it into the palm of my hand.
It landed with a thump. It was wooden and thick. A knife. I clutched it tightly and drove my wrist back. The knife sank into flesh. The man bellowed. Warm blood seeped over my hand and lower back.
He rolled off, clutching at his side. “You fucking bitch, I’m going to kill you.”
I scrambled to get up. I made it to my knees but now my arms were being yanked back and twisted up behind me. Pain flared through my shoulder blades, it felt as if they were being torn from their sockets. I cried out. The knife fell out of my hand, clattering to the ground. I was hauled roughly to my feet.
The man I’d stabbed rounded to the front. Blood drooled down over his rolling stomach onto the waist band of his mid-wash denim jeans, turning it claret red. I didn’t know how much I’d injured him—perhaps it was just a nick, or maybe he was tough. Either way, it wasn’t enough. He sucked in rapid breaths. His eyes read like a dire omen, and I knew things were about to get much, much, worse.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion. He gritted his teeth. He clenched his fists. Cocked his arm and slammed it into the left side of my face. The pain was explosive. The world left for a long moment and, when it came back, my face throbbed and felt numb at the same time. My ears rung. My vision wasblack snow. He hadn’t hit me with all of his force, if he had my face would have been shattered, but it was hard enough that he intended to do some damage. Amongst a brain of soup, I felt myself being dragged backward. My wrists were clamped together behind me painfully tight. An arm was hooked under one arm and around my chest. The heels of my sneakers grated along the asphalt, leaving a white wake like a pallid skid mark. He was limping heavily, grunting with each step.
I let my body remain soft for a long beat, head hung, mouth ajar, fighting to collect my senses. Through my hair and a vision of black dots I could see pocket-face. He loomed behind, getting closer. He bowed forward, getting ready to grab my feet. If he got hold of them, I’d never break free.
I didn’t know where the other two were. I couldn’t worry about them now.
With my hands pinned all I had left to use was my legs. I came to life in one fluid movement. I planted one foot, bucked my body up, and slammed my other foot into his balls. His mouth sprung open. His face dropped to the color of death. Hands clutched at his groin as he crumbled to his knees, tumbled to his side, knees folded, and rocked back and forth. A squeak leaked out of his mouth.
He'd be down for a while.
The man who held me let go of my chest and yanked back on my arms with such force, I heard something pop, the muscles in my shoulders screamed.
Rather than pulling away, abruptly I flew back in his direction. My head flew back, slamming into his face.
He roared, the impact of the force on an already broken nose was enough for him to loosen his grip on my arms.
I struggled with everything I had. My right arm came free. I swung to face him and snapped my hand up. My energies drove like a baseball bat into his windpipe. He let out an audible gasp.Both hands clutched at his throat. His eyes bulged like squidgy balls. He couldn’t draw breath. He folded, and I was free.
Survey your surroundings.
A black van was parked not even twenty yards away. Big nose and the man I’d stabbed jumped out of the back, swearing. It was the kind of van people were abducted in and never seen again. Four men, plus a driver. A shudder rocketed down my spine. The van was between me and my car. They thundered toward me.
I pivoted in the direction of the supermarket. I ran, legs pounding against the pavement, arms pumping, heart thumping. I didn’t need to glance back to know they were in pursuit, I could hear the footsteps behind me. I wouldn’t have time to stop to bang on the locked supermarket door, they’d be on me and have me in the van before anyone came to see what the fuss was about.
