Worrying feels absurd when I text it out. Nothing could possibly happen in my fifteen minute walk home through a residential area. I’ve done this walk countless times. I turn off the main road down a street with crumbling sidewalks and dark row houses. I take my earbuds out to listen for any suspicious sounds but I just hear my own anxious breathing.
And rustling. I gasp and look in the direction of the rustling to see an enormous rat scrambling out of a trash can with what looks like a half-eaten glazed donut between its teeth. The rat squeaks a few times and a few smaller rats follow it out of the trash can as they spread across the sidewalk.
No thank you!!
I walk faster, hoping not to attract the rat’s attention and activate its rabid side — or however it works.
I get to the cross street fully distracted by the gross rat breeding situation, when I hear footsteps. Thud. Thud. Thud. Three fast feet plant on the ground and I whip around quickly to catch the direction of the sound only to slam my face directly into a solid form.
A person.
I stumble backwards, about to apologize for accidentally running into them, when I look up and see… nothing. No face. Just a black balaclava pulled over what seems like a gargantuan head. I suck in air to scream, but no sound comes out. My body reacts without prompting and with no air or common sense, I turn around in an effort to run.
The masked stranger grabs onto my purse and yanks my body back against theirs. No. Holy fuck, no. Large arms wrap around me and I scream into nothing as the guy trying to robme buries my face in their large chest. I can’t even just let go of the purse and run anymore. He takes away any chance I have to escape.
The scream forces its way out successfully this time, as if screaming could do me any good against a person who can pluck me off the street like it’s nothing. Fighting for my life turns me into an animal. I didn’t know I had it in me, but my scream arms me with force I didn’t realize I had. I push against my captor’s chest just enough to expose his arm. I thrash my body around, loosening his grip on me and when I feel hair from his arm tickling my face – I bite. Hard.
He cries out and calls me a series of names before readjusting his hold on me. It’s enough clumsiness for me to throw out a hard kick at his chest. He groans. I kick again and scratch as he throws my back hard against the side of a car. My hair cushions my head against the car enough that I can feel it absorbing the shock. My legs kick out again and I hit something soft.Very soft.The man stumbles backwards.
I got his balls.His hands rush to his crotch as he stumbles over, covering his family jewels. Even if it’s dark out, the street lamps reflect something metal in a holster. I don’t know what the fuck comes over me, but I jump for the gun while he freaks the fuck out. The man realizes what I’m doing and grabs my hand as I reach for his weapon.
Insanity and panic drive me to kick him and bite him again while I twist my arm backwards and free it from his grasp. I swipe at his legs and then rush him just enough to throw him off while I keep my gaze on his holster. My hand follows my eye and I grab it. I pull the gun out and point it at him. I don’t even know if it’s loaded.
“BACK UP!” I scream. “BACK UP RIGHT NOW!”
He raises his hands and takes a step back.
“It’s not loaded.”
We’re in the middle of a residential street. I don’t know where we are. I don’t know how the hell I’m going to get out of here and I definitely don’t know what to do with this gun. Do I believe him? Does it matter?
“It doesn’t matter. I know how to use it.”
My voice shakes so much that there’s no way he believes me. My finger hovers over the trigger. I only mean to threaten him.
“You don’t know a fucking thing about what you’re getting into.”
“I don’t care. Back up, turn around… get out of here.”
“I’m a federal agent.”
“Then take your mask off and prove it.”
He slowly reaches one hand behind his back. Sudden panic courses through me. What if he has another weapon? What if he– I flinch and my finger only taps the trigger. I didn’t realize that you didn’t actually have topull.I scream and the handgun falls out of my hands, firing again as it hits the ground. I scream again as the man stumbles backward, clutching his stomach.
I shot him. Holy fuck, I shot him.
My breath heaves as I try to get a hold of myself. I’m frozen in place as I watch the man stumble to his knees.
“Get… help…”
He moves his hand to brace his fall. There’s blood everywhere. More blood than I’ve ever seen in my life. I take my phone out, knowing I should call 911, but I don’t.
“Don’t worry,” I answer, my voice still shaking. “I’ll call someone.”
Chapter Seven
Zeb
