The moon was almost directly above her when Hunter stepped outside the apartment building. It was late, and only the lonely were still milling the streets. She hitched her overnight bag higher on her shoulder, stuck her hands in her pockets and moved east, eager to get away from home before Joshua raced after her.
As she stalked through the frosty street, her energy still buzzing and fear clouding her mind, she wondered where to go. Her first thought was to get some cigarettes, which she’d forgotten to pack. It was easier to focus on cigarettes than the thousand other thoughts rushing through her mind, so she headed in the direction of the 24-hour mini mart. Maybe the walk would calm her down.
Concentrating on her breathing, Hunter watched her feet as she walked, thinking of the warm shopping mart. She turned a corner into a quiet alley that she usually took as a shortcut. There, she found two homeless men standing around a rusty iron barrel, trying to light a fire.
It was too late to turn back. They were close, their attention drawn by the sound of her footsteps. She could pretend they weren’t there and walk past them, but the alley was small. And the hunger on their faces made her heart pound.
Despite living in New York all her life, Hunter had never come across a situation quite like this. Though she’d never been out this late, and usually when she came upon this alleyway it was empty, she knew it was dumb to walk around on her own in such a dangerous city.
The sight of the two men - one large and beefy with dark, black skin and the other scrawny with a rugged beard - sent Hunter’s hyper emotions into a scared frenzy and she found herself frozen on the spot.
The beefy guy elbowed the skinny guy and kinked his head in her direction. Abandoning the fire, they turned toward her.
“You got any money on you girl?” beefy guy snarled, the whites of his eyes wide and terrifying in the dark.
Hunter turned around, finding feeling in her legs again, but the scrawny one was right behind her. He snatched the back of her coat and yanked her toward him.
“Let go of me!” She looked up into his hollow face and felt a stab of fear. He was so ravenous, it was almost animalistic.
“I said,” he repeated slower and took her by the collar. “Where’s your money?”
The beefy one took Hunter’s other arm and ran his hands down her body, either searching for her cash or just for his own pleasure. Hunter felt a rippling sensation course through her body that had nothing to do with the homeless man’s hands sliding under her coat.
She knew without a doubt that it was the fire.
“Please,” she begged, turning her eyes on the beefy man and wriggling furiously. “You don’t want to do that.”
The scrawny one laughed and grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her head back. Hunter sucked in a breath and her entire jaw shook. “Come on, sweet-cheeks. A pretty girl like you should know better than to walk around this neighborhood by yourself.”
“Maybe she’s lonely,” said the beefy guy and Hunter felt a stab of cold shoot at her hip, knowing it was his fingers on her skin.
The touch sent an electric shock through Hunter and she shoved them away, the force much stronger than a normal girl of her age. They stumbled, but then their faces turned hungrier and their grins widened. They advanced on her, sending her toppling against the alley wall where she tripped on the curb and fell to the concrete. They were on her in seconds, ripping through her clothes, a dirty, gloved hand covering her mouth, their bodies weighing down on her so she couldn’t move and all Hunter could do was beg herself not to lose control. She could feel it now; the fire, surging beneath her skin, boiling from her inner core. Not angry like that morning in the school corridor, but scared. Terrified.
She was screaming. The men laughed, pinning her down, bruising her skin, their hands burying themselves under her clothes, the stench of alcohol and filthy body-odor so strong that she started choking. Their fingers were like stiff blocks of ice on her skin.
But she wasn’t cold. Hunter was burning, burning with so much strength that she felt as though she could burst like a balloon –
And suddenly she exploded. Fire blasted from her hands as if from the mouth of a dragon, brighter than the sun and hotter than hell. She ripped her arms free and shoved the two men away from her with all her might, the power in her body so great, she wasn’t sure it was even her body anymore. Her attackers soared across the alleyway and hit the wall with such a force that the ground shook. Smoke steamed from their bodies and from Hunter’s clothes. The beefy man had landed in a pile of trash and was groaning, on the brink of passing out. The other wasn’t moving at all, lying awkwardly on the concrete.
The fire vanished from within her as if doused by water, and after the ten seconds it took her to pull herself together, she stumbled to the pile of trash. The beefy man scampered to his feet, his wide eyes completely horrified. He backed away from her and limped toward the next street.
“Wh-what are you?” he stammered. “Get away from me! Please!”
Hunter wanted to say she was sorry, but she couldn’t find words to speak. Maybe it was because he didn’t deserve an apology. Within moments, the beefy man had sprinted from the alleyway, slipping on the wet concrete.
Hunter turned to the scrawny man sprawled against the alley wall. A lump of terror lodged itself in her throat. Please God no, she begged. Don’t let him be …
Hunter saw the death in his empty eyes and the pool of blood around his head and felt instantly sick. She turned away to escape it, but the man’s dead face was everywhere. She looked down at her hands and singed sleeves. She could still sense the fire within her, but there was no anger. Only the remnants of fear.
Tears welled in her eyes as she turned back to the body. She didn’t know this man, and he had been so close to raping her, but he didn’t deserve to die. Her shoulders shook and suddenly she broke down in sobs, sinking to the snowy concrete ground, her hands reaching out for the man in a silent plea for his life. She was sure someone would hear her wailing, but no one came. No one.
Unable to push the fire or the nausea away, Hunter stumbled to her feet and ran.
YOU ARE READING
Rouge
Science Fiction*AVAILABLE ON AMAZON* The first in the ROUGE series ... Hunter Harrison is no superhero. She doesn't wear a cape, or a lycra suit, or prance around dark alleyways looking for punk-ass kids to torment. But Hunter has a power; the power to control f...
