Taken By Surprise

by Jessica Frances

  Chapter Thirty-Four – The Goodbye

  “Crap. Everyone split. Meet at the University Park by the Tech Center at noon tomorrow. Be safe!” Rose hisses and then she sprints off down the street. I notice two men approaching from that direction and I call out just as Charlie grabs hold of my arm and pulls me down the opposite way to her. Will has run in the same direction Rose has gone down and already Joel has disappeared into the darkness. Charlie keeps tight hold of my arm and I nearly trip on the uneven pavement several times.

  As we turn the next corner, we find ourselves running straight into two men. They’re like brick walls and I’m dizzy as I fall backwards in shock from the impact. Charlie loses his grip on my arm and I’m immediately being grabbed up by one of the men we’ve run into. Charlie, who is far stronger than I am, has knocked his guy on the ground and, since my guy is holding me, he has a clear shot to get out of here.

  “Go!” I yell at him, not able to bear the thought of him being taken. I struggle against the guy’s arms and only feel them getting tighter around me. I gasp as he holds on so tightly that I can’t breathe and I see black spots appearing in front of my eyes as Charlie jumps onto his back.

  I’m unceremoniously dropped to the ground as my guy turns and punches Charlie hard in the chest. Charlie gasps for breath and holds his chest as I kick out at the guy from the ground, hoping to give Charlie more time to recover. It only seems to annoy him more.

  The guy Charlie has knocked over has recovered and moves over to Charlie while the other guy grabs my arm and drags me to my feet and along the pavement back towards the coffee shop, leaving Charlie and his guy behind. I watch Charlie take a swing at the guy as he tries to knock him out again and miss, leaving the guy open to punch him hard in the face.

  I kick out again, stamping my foot down and this time I know I hurt my guy because I’m pretty sure I broke a couple of toes just from the impact.

  He lets go of my arm and I take the opportunity to run towards Charlie right as he manages to knock his guy to the ground by swiping out his leg. I see he’s going in for another punch, but there is no time. I grab hold of his hand which is balled into a fist and pull it.

  “Quick, we have to go!” I yell at him, fearful more people will be coming our way.

  Charlie shoots up and is soon overtaking me while pulling me along. We run as fast as we can until my lungs burn as I breathe in the cold air and my clothes are uncomfortably sticking to me.

  We move down an alleyway and hide behind a bin while trying to catch our breath.

  “How did they find us?” Charlie gasps out and I shrug, unable to speak.