"To Never Be" - Dilemma

       The three of us were silent now. We have been sitting in this uncomfortable silence, looking shyly back and forth at each other for a few minutes now. Occasionally I would glance at the ground where the puddles of blood had been; however, now it was just an odd coloured mixture of wet sand and decaying brick. I could feel Nicene breathing in my arms. She had stopped shaking now and was starting to breathe more normally. Her breathing was still slightly irregular, gasping for air from time to time, but I could tell that she was starting to calm down. Suddenly I felt her fill her chest with air, and then she spoke.

       “Ummm, I’m sorry to be the one to break the silence,” she paused, pushing her back into my chest and arms, “but we really need to get out of here.”

       “Nicene, we still haven’t decided where we are going, or what we are doing.” I said.

       “I don’t care where we go, we just have to leave here, now.”

       I looked towards Stephanie for a moment then asked, “Any ideas Stephanie?”

       “I think we should listen to what Nicene says.”

       “Okay, so let’s get to the car, and we will decide what to do then.”

       “Does anyone remember where the car is from here?” Asked Nicene.

       “It is about five blocks that way,” I said, pointing towards a row of late night establishments, “right around the corner from that bar.”

       We all started to stand up, being careful of our surroundings and each other. After what had happened so far tonight, I don’t think any of us wanted more trouble. I started moving towards the sidewalk, walking slowly so that the two of them could keep up. Stephanie was still clutching her hand, and Nicene’s breathing was still erratic, but other than that, they both seemed to be physically all right. We started back, slowing backtracking along the path I had run only a few minutes before. It wasn’t too long, when the shadow of a large building was covering us and the ground around, that we heard people talking. Cautiously and almost automatically, we all seemed to steer clear, putting distance between us and the voices in the darkness. We had moved only a little further beneath the building’s shadow, when a figure moved from the darkness to block our path. Nicene tugged at my arm, and motioned towards another avenue, a small side street that seemed to be free of people or voices.

       I shook my head disapprovingly, thinking to myself that we wouldn’t want to get cornered in such a small place, and that we had a greater chance in the middle of a public street. As we walked close towards the single standing figure, I noticed the voices from earlier were quiet now, but replaced with the sound of steady footsteps.

       Just then I heard Stephanie whisper my name, “Tobias.”

       To which I replied, “I know, I think we should turn around.”

       Silently we agreed, and started our path back to the church, when we saw two new figures blocking that exit. With that sight I stopped, as did the two women now standing even closer to me than before. No one seemed to be moving, and the only sounds were some distance, until on of the figures spoke.

       “There’s no need to get hurt.” The figure behind us was speaking. Almost as if being forced to read from a script he continued, “The smartest thing you can do, is leave the knife, leave the girl, and quickly walk away.”

       We stood still, not knowing what to say or do, I just stood in the dark silence. Suddenly, the left figure of the duo in front of us spoke.

       “Leave!” He roared, almost choking in the sound of the growl.

       I stood up straight, raising my shoulders to a sturdy stance, and with all the strength I could manage, sounded back in an intimidating sound, “No.”

       Quietly the man behind us spoke again, “Then let it be.” and all three men charged forward.

       The single man from behind reached us first. I lunged to the side, pushing Nicene to the ground and threw my elbow into his face. Before I could gather what else was happening around me I felt an open hand strike the center of my face. The force of the blow had sent me airborne, and back several feet before landing on my side. Trying to get back up, I heard Nicene scream as the man who had just hit me bent her forearm with a might cracking sound. Before I could come to her aid, Stephanie rammed the man with her shoulder sending him flying even farther than he had sent me. I watched in amazement as she blocked a punch from the third man, maneuvered to his side and planted a kick directly to his throat. Unable to take my eyes off her swift movements, I had forgotten about the first man I hit, who had snuck up from behind me and grabbed at the knife in my pocket. I tried to come down on his arms with my elbow many times, but to no avail. He managed to finally free the knife from my coat’s pocket, but before he could shift his weight to use it against me, I grabbed his hands around the blade’s handle, and jabbed the crooked blade into his right knee. The force of the blow pushed him to the ground, and the blade’s odd construct made sure he wouldn’t get up as it came back out.

       Turning my attention from him, I looked back at Nicene who was still on the ground cradling her arm. Above her stood Stephanie and the other two men, still exchanging blows as she protected Nicene. Stephanie’s face seemed to be bleeding, four fine lines of blood as if one of the men had scratched her across her face. Stephanie pushed one clear off his heals, and far enough back to concentrate on just one man for a moment. As I ran towards the battle, the standing man hit Stephanie across the side of her face. The blow dropped her back, but she managed to catch herself on the ground and come up with an open palm striking the man from beneath his nose. She continued to move the force of her hand upward as the man’s body rose with it. He went almost straight up in the air, paused for a moment, and came back down in front of Stephanie’s feet. The man’s face was bleeding, and he seemed to be unconscious. I had managed to move myself between Stephanie’s back and the man she had pushed away moments ago. Almost simultaneously Stephanie turned around, and we both stared down the now lone man. Getting up, he kept his distance, as his companion with the leg wound tried to sulk back into the darkness as well.

       I turned quickly, keeping my eyes moving back and forth between the three men while trying to help Nicene to her feet. She was crying hard, tears of pain rolling down her face while she clutched her arm tightly. It was very obviously broken, looking almost as if she had an extra joint between her elbow and wrist. Stephanie turned to look over Nicene’s injuries because she had been too busy protecting her to pay any attention to them.

       Seeing the extent of her injury, Stephanie spoke softly in my ear, “I can’t believe they attacked Nicene. Creatures like this would only risk such close contact if they wanted her dead.”

       I looked at her, questioning the look in her eyes before looking back down at Nicene, and then resumed my scan of the three men. The two left conscious had retreated back into the darkness, opening our path back to the car. I tugged on Nicene, and pulled the girls deeper into the shadowy darkness, hoping soon to be back at the car and on our way out of this town.