The Dragon's Daughter

Chapter 4

My head nodded rapidly. "Yeah. Ok. Fair enough." I heaved a sigh that he was at least in one piece. "Let's get out of here."

"Jeremiah Dobbs flies," he said as we moved quickly to the exit.

I glanced back at him. "I know."

"He told me where to find you. I've never been so happy to see that stoner in my God damn life."

"Sy."

"What?"

"Never mind." There was too much there to unpack right now.

We hustled to the exit.

"Why are you so dirty?" He reached out and brushed some dust off my side. There was literally a dust bunny clinging to my shirt hem.

"I dropped to the floor when I heard the explosion."

"That why you're limping too?"

I wasn't limping. I didn't bother responding. Instead, I focused on getting the hell out of there—fast. A moment later, I spotted the metal detectors in the distance. Almost there!

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" came a deep voice that I couldn't yet see.

Oh God, what now?

"MOTHER...!" Came another baritone barreling towards us.

There was a huge crash.

Two guys in their early, maybe mid-twenties appeared, wheeling around the corner. One crashed into a metal bin of $5.00 movies and skidded across the floor. He only had one shoe on. Perhaps that was why he fell. I didn't even know anymore.

The second guy, the one with the striped hoodie, jumped over the first guy as he skidded and just kept heading our way. His eyes were narrowed and looking right at Sy. I screamed and moved quickly to shove at him when bro-dude jumped on Sy. My shove was a pitiful attempt. His forward momentum and sheer body mass meant my panic did nothing to assist, and they both hit the floor with a loud thump. I stumbled backward with the glancing impact but managed to stay upright.

"SHIT!" I heard Sy holler as he whooshed past me on his way to the tile. The first guy was getting up by now and headed our way.

"Don't let him get away again," he yelled to his friend, who had Sy on the ground.

"You guys are crazy," Sy yelled frantically, his arms flailing around.

At 5'11", Sy wasn't small. He was wiry built, though, his muscles more compact compared to both of these guys who had pounds and muscle mass on him. One Shoe had a fair bit of height on him, too. He was much taller than either Sy or Striped Hoodie.

I watched in horror as Sy back-fisted Striped Hoodie—connecting directly to his face. He tried to use the shock of the punch to roll out from under him, but the guy pinned his other shoulder and one leg with sheer tonnage. Grabbing fistfuls of shirt, the big guy pulled Sy's shoulders off of the floor and slammed him back down. There was a sick thud as Sy's head connected with the tile.

I screamed, eyes wide in panic, as Sy brought down both of his arms from overhead hitting Striped Hoodie's elbows, forcing his arms to fold. Once his face was close enough, Sy bit his nose. Things pretty much went sideways from there.

One Shoe was moving around now like he wanted in on the beat down. He shoved me aside like I was nothing and tried to maneuver into where Striped Hoodie and Sy were wallering around on that nasty floor, still pulling hair and God knows what else. But with the two of them squirming like that, he would have had to literally kick Sy while he was down. Which would have been hard, balancing on his sock, while I frisbeed five dollar movies at him from the bin. The lightbulb over my head finally lit to life, and I went into action.