watched them disappear around a corner. Looking back, I could see Murphy and the others were already halfway down the street. They hugged the sides of the buildings. Just three dark silhouettes moving unnoticed through the night.
We had started heading up Fifth Street, which would eventually merge into Front, when our luck went out the window. For a brief while we thought the darkness would keep us from being spotted, we were wrong. As we passed by River Street a set of headlights flicked on lighting us up. They were the super-bright halogen kind, the ones that blind even if you shield your eyes in time. As the lights flicked off, I blinked hard allowing my vision to adjust. That’s when I saw them. There had to have been at least eight with bats, chains and knives.
For what seemed like a minute or two, but was likely only a few seconds, we stared back.
“Holy shit,” Luke muttered before we made a break for it. The sound of hollering and boots pounding asphalt behind us was enough to make my blood run cold.
“Go, go, go.” I don’t know why I was saying it, as the others were running as fast as they could. I cast a glance over my shoulder to see them catching up.
“I’m thinking we could have used that Glock about now,” Edgar hollered.
Mount Pleasant Library was the closest building to us. Fifteen large concrete steps led up to a set of dark brown wood doors. Murphy smashed his foot against one but it didn’t give way.
He tried again but it was too late. On the ground the skinheads prowled around the lower steps looking devilish.
“Stay the fuck back!” Luke said swiping the air with a thick chair leg.
“Brave, are we?” One of them stepped forward slapping his baseball bat in his hand in a taunting manner. I had seen him before. He was one of the skinheads being handcuffed by the two officers earlier. My eyes scanned the rest of their faces, hoping to see at least one member that I knew. They were all from out of town.
“And look at this fucker,” he pointed his bat towards me. “What are you doing running with them?”
“Look, man, we don’t want no trouble.”
He cocked his head and got this grin.
“A shit-eating turncoat,” another one said.
That was the extent of the conversation. The guy gestured with his finger and the others rushed the stairs. Four against eight wasn’t exactly good odds but then again they didn’t have someone who was a SEAL, or a mechanic who looked as if he had swung that wrench a few times.
As a chain wrapped itself around my one leg, I kicked a guy in the face with the other and he fell back down the stairs into two others like dominoes collapsing. We had the advantage of high ground. The fifteen steps were steep and there was only one way they could get at us and that was by coming up. Murphy obviously didn’t see it that way as he hopped over the side down onto the green in an attempt to draw a couple of them away. I might have enjoyed seeing him go ape shit on the two guys but I was in the process of unwrapping the thick chain from my leg. I turned to see Edgar bring his wrench down on one guy’s skull so hard, it caved in. A spray of red mist hit my face as the skinhead dropped making it harder for the next guy behind him to get up the steps. Luke wielded a wooden chair leg like it was Thor’s axe, clobbering one skinhead so hard around the face that I was sure he had killed the guy. I didn’t even have a chance to get that chain off before another was up and on me. He knocked me back towards the ground and was trying to force a machete down on my face. With my back pressed against the concrete I felt the carving knife in my waistband dig into my flesh. There was no way I could get at it as the guy above me was using his full body weight to try and push this sideways blade down on my face. It felt like I was bench pressing two people at the same time. If it hadn’t been for Luke kicking the guy in the gut, I was pretty sure he would have jammed that
We had started heading up Fifth Street, which would eventually merge into Front, when our luck went out the window. For a brief while we thought the darkness would keep us from being spotted, we were wrong. As we passed by River Street a set of headlights flicked on lighting us up. They were the super-bright halogen kind, the ones that blind even if you shield your eyes in time. As the lights flicked off, I blinked hard allowing my vision to adjust. That’s when I saw them. There had to have been at least eight with bats, chains and knives.
For what seemed like a minute or two, but was likely only a few seconds, we stared back.
“Holy shit,” Luke muttered before we made a break for it. The sound of hollering and boots pounding asphalt behind us was enough to make my blood run cold.
“Go, go, go.” I don’t know why I was saying it, as the others were running as fast as they could. I cast a glance over my shoulder to see them catching up.
“I’m thinking we could have used that Glock about now,” Edgar hollered.
Mount Pleasant Library was the closest building to us. Fifteen large concrete steps led up to a set of dark brown wood doors. Murphy smashed his foot against one but it didn’t give way.
He tried again but it was too late. On the ground the skinheads prowled around the lower steps looking devilish.
“Stay the fuck back!” Luke said swiping the air with a thick chair leg.
“Brave, are we?” One of them stepped forward slapping his baseball bat in his hand in a taunting manner. I had seen him before. He was one of the skinheads being handcuffed by the two officers earlier. My eyes scanned the rest of their faces, hoping to see at least one member that I knew. They were all from out of town.
“And look at this fucker,” he pointed his bat towards me. “What are you doing running with them?”
“Look, man, we don’t want no trouble.”
He cocked his head and got this grin.
“A shit-eating turncoat,” another one said.
That was the extent of the conversation. The guy gestured with his finger and the others rushed the stairs. Four against eight wasn’t exactly good odds but then again they didn’t have someone who was a SEAL, or a mechanic who looked as if he had swung that wrench a few times.
As a chain wrapped itself around my one leg, I kicked a guy in the face with the other and he fell back down the stairs into two others like dominoes collapsing. We had the advantage of high ground. The fifteen steps were steep and there was only one way they could get at us and that was by coming up. Murphy obviously didn’t see it that way as he hopped over the side down onto the green in an attempt to draw a couple of them away. I might have enjoyed seeing him go ape shit on the two guys but I was in the process of unwrapping the thick chain from my leg. I turned to see Edgar bring his wrench down on one guy’s skull so hard, it caved in. A spray of red mist hit my face as the skinhead dropped making it harder for the next guy behind him to get up the steps. Luke wielded a wooden chair leg like it was Thor’s axe, clobbering one skinhead so hard around the face that I was sure he had killed the guy. I didn’t even have a chance to get that chain off before another was up and on me. He knocked me back towards the ground and was trying to force a machete down on my face. With my back pressed against the concrete I felt the carving knife in my waistband dig into my flesh. There was no way I could get at it as the guy above me was using his full body weight to try and push this sideways blade down on my face. It felt like I was bench pressing two people at the same time. If it hadn’t been for Luke kicking the guy in the gut, I was pretty sure he would have jammed that
Similar Books
