The Origin (Book 1 Of The Series 21)

oh shit!

James POV

The man led us to a dark alley and then stopped abruptly when we got to the middle. He turned around to reveal a knife in his hand, and from behind him, five more men approached. I sprung straight into action. I dove my fists at his face, and he charged his knife at my throat. I stepped back, moving so fast that my vision blurred.

I grabbed his hand with the knife and redirected his jab away from Nina, who was so in shock, she stood frozen. I needed her to snap out of it and run away towards Kevin and my dad, where she would be safe. He starts to unscrew his hand from my grip, squirming and kicking at my legs, so I press on his hands as hard as I can manage, and I hear a crack and shriek of pain quickly followed by a scream of fear: Nina.

I look over, and I see that two of the five men have made their way to Nina. I jump towards her but am pulled back by the man I was just fighting. He grabs my hair and pulls me down, now repeatedly kicking at my side. I taste a coppery tang of blood in my mouth. I need to get up. I need to get to Nina. I hear her screaming my name in fear... panic... I can't tell; my vision blurs, and that's when I hear footsteps...

More men? Seriously? Did they really think it was going to be this hard to kill a girl? I looked to my left and saw that it wasn't more men; it was actually Kevin and my dad. Thank god. The man stops kicking for a second to look at them, and I take my chance. I pull his leg, trip him, grab his knife, and jab at the first thing I can. His shoulder. He screams and cries in pain.

I pick myself up, dizzy and swinging left and right, unable to walk straight. I get up with heavy breathing and sore muscles; I can't think straight, but I don't need to think to fight. I run straight for Nina and the man holding her and jab, but instead, I am welcomed with a knife to my side by one of the other men.

I feel the warm blood oozing out, but I don't have enough time to react to the pain. The man goes for a punch, but my dad gets to him first. I take this opportunity to grab the guy holding Nina, who is much taller and wider than me, and I stab him with my knife. He merely flinches at the pain and punches me in the face, causing me to lose my balance and fall down.

I try and get back up, but I'm spared the effort when he grabs for my throat and pulls me up, choking me. I take the knife and stab his arm. He drops me. I lunge at him, and he falls. As quickly and as powerfully as I can, I start punching his face until it's deformed, and I'm sure that he's unconscious while dad and Kevin take care of the other three.

I attempt standing up to check on Nina but can't bring myself to it, so I lie on the floor, holding my side, smelling the sweat and the blood from the fight. I feel faint. And then I hear a familiar voice. Tom. "What's going on here? Darling, this isn't a scene for you. Call the ambulance and wait for me by the entrance," he tells Emily, who exclaims while dialling 911. "Kevin? Simpson? And is that James who's that on the floor?"

He ran up to me and said, "It's ok, dude; the ambulance is on its way. What happened here?" Dad was erasing Nina's memories of what just happened, so she doesn't know that they were aiming at her. All eyes were on me, so no one saw one of the men stand up and aim his gun at Nina.

I try to mouth the words 'look out, but I have no energy left in me. Tears start streaming down my face as I feel helpless. This grabs Nina's attention, pulling her out of her trance as the man shoots. He misses. No, he hit someone, but Nina looks fine.

I look around; dad has been shot in the stomach. He loses his balance and falls face-first onto the concrete floor. He turns over, wincing, and holds at his wound. I hear the ambulance and the police approaching, but everything has slowed down, voices have deepened, and then everything goes black and I hear nothing.