Mom gasps quietly, grabbing my shoulder and pulling me to her side. “Stay close, Mylo.”
“You should listen to your mother, kid.” The deep, masculine voice doesn’t sound kind.
I look up at the towering, broad man—way taller than Dad, and bigger than anyone I’ve ever seen back home. He smells weird, too. Strong and sour, like gasoline.
“I always listen to Mom,” I say defiantly.
“Honey,shhh.”
The man kneels, sniffing at me. “Ah… you take after your mother…”
She pulls me around behind her. “Don’t you touch him.”
He grabs her chin roughly. “Oh, I’ll enjoy watching the fight drain out of you.”
Mom just trembles as the strange man slowly pushes us back into a dark alley. Her grip on my wrist suddenly loosens.
“Honey, you need to run.”
The man chuckles. “Like I said, kid. Listen to your mom.”
I don’t know what’s happening, but I know it’s bad. “Leave her alone!” I jump out from behind Mom and swing my rolled-up poster at the man.
He grabs it out of the air, crushing it in his hand and throwing it aside.
“Mylo, run,” Mom pleads.
“Leave her alone!” I let out a shrill, piercing scream as only a child can, and launch myself at the man, aiming one of the strikes I learned in karate class at his crotch.
He grunts and grabs the back of my shirt, lifting me off the ground.
“Mylo, please stop, baby just run?—”
“Shut up, runt.”
I kick and scratch and scream and bite—until the strange man throws me against the alley wall. Pain floods my body, and my scream turns into a wail.
“I said,shut up.” The alpha’s bark steals my breath as he shoves Mom into the dirt.
I cower against the wall, lungs frozen, unable to make a sound.
The strange man prowls closer.
I tremble, terrified.
Then a voice, muffled: “I heard it from here!”
Footsteps pound on the street, and a bright lamp sweeps the alley. The strange man growls, turns, and takes off. A chain-link fence at the back of the alley rattles as he scales it, vaulting over the top and landing in a roll, then sprinting away.
Two more dark shapes follow him, and one stops in front of me.
I whimper, covering my head with my arms.
The bright light softens, illuminating another large man—but this one seems kind and calm. He kneels near me, but not close enough to touch me.
“It’s okay, buddy. You’re safe now. That man can’t bother you anymore.”
“He tried to hurt my mom,” I wail, lungs finally working again.
