Forlorn_A Young Adult Dark Urban Fantasy by JJ Krzemien

Author:JJ Krzemien [Krzemien, JJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wednesday Ink, LLC
Published: 2019-03-19T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Early afternoon found me walking through the deserted streets. No businesses were open. Every once in a while a bus would go by with a few passengers. Even the cars were few and far between. The crunch of freshly fallen snow under my boots was the loudest sound in the city.

Walking alone in an eerily quiet city turned out to be a great distraction. My introspection was replaced with a general sense of disquiet. Whether or not that was an improvement…who could say.

My wandering had taken me south across Burnside and into the Park Blocks. Pigeons picked at food through the snow covered grass. Puffing up their feathers as if that would shield them against the cold. I pulled my hood up as new snow began to fall.

My inner voice nagged at me that I shouldn’t be out here. Wandering the city was dangerous, especially for me. But I refused to live my life in fear. I kept repeating one fact to myself, hoping someday I’d believe it: I would always heal. Beat up, shot, probably even chopped into little bits—I would always heal. As long as no one cut off my head.

Was that how the Amigis killed hybrids—decapitation? I shuddered. The snow fall turned heavier.

When I was about to turn back to the dhampirs’ place, a muffled thumping sound caught my attention. It came from between two rundown apartment buildings. The locket at my throat vibrated. Warning noted. Still, an impulse made me step in that direction.

As the alley came into view, I saw two street people harassing an old homeless man. He lay on the ground in a sleeping bag as one person kicked him and the other searched through his bags.

I hollered at them. “Hey. Leave him alone.”

The two glared at me. A man and a woman probably in their thirties, but their hard faces made them appear older. As if a silent cue had passed between them, they fanned out, each coming at me from a different side. It reminded me of that Velociraptor scene in Jurassic Park. They kind of moved like raptors, too.

I extended my arms in a defensive gesture. “Don’t come any closer.”

“Give me your bag,” the woman said.

I shook my head. She took another step forward. The anger in my gut surged through me. I would not let them take my things and beat me. Images of the three guys mugging me flashed in my mind.

“Stay back!”

The man rushed me. I extended my hands at him, palms out. The anger exploded from my body, just like it had at the bookstore. The force hit him so hard that it knocked him to the ground. He writhed on his back trying to breathe.

The woman doubled over, screaming.

He was the one I’d been focused on, why was she screaming?

The woman straightened and shrieked, “You bitch!”

She swiped at my face with her nails. My fury doubled and I let it flow from me. She screamed and fell in the snow. The man clutched his sides and screamed with her.

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