I followed the three men for quite a while as they marched behind all the attractions. It was hard to keep up at times because of the cords on the ground that were masked by the darkness, causing me to stumble over them. When the three men in front of me stopped I stopped as well, hiding behind the edge of the Ferris wheel’s support frame.
Voices were carried back to me and I held my breath tightly, trying to distinguish what they were saying. I strained my ears, listening as hard as I could, but I still couldn’t make out a word. They started moving again, but this time into the woods.
For a second I debated whether or not I should go after them, but when I started to lose sight of them, I threw all caution to the wind and hurried to catch up to them. I matched my steps in time with theirs, so I could cover the sounds of crunching leaves I made with each footfall. There was this weird feeling in my stomach— just like the kind of nervous feeling I got before going on a terrifying ride.
We continued traversing through the forest for at least ten minutes. I began to grow uneasy and I kept looking all around me nervously. What if we ended up getting lost? Of if some animal came out of nowhere and attacked me? I swallowed, wanting to close the distance between the trio and myself, but knowing I couldn’t afford to do that. If I was caught… I didn’t want to think about what would happen. I had no idea who these people were.
The man with blonde hair looked over his shoulder and I froze, staring wide-eyed at him, holding my breath tightly. He made no sign of alarm, so I figured he hadn’t noticed me. He turned back to the front and shoved Mr. Heywood in front of him roughly. Then the same man put his head near the brunette’s head and I hazarded a guess he was saying something he didn’t want Mr. Heywood to hear.
The brunette nodded to the blonde and suddenly started going to the left, leaving Mr. Heywood alone with the blonde. The one leaving crashed through the forest, seemingly uncaring about the amount of noise he was making. My gaze stayed on him until he was out of sight. When he was, I returned my attention back to Mr. Heywood and the other guy, realizing they were almost out of sight. I hurried after them, going through the woods as fast as I could without tripping.
Mr. Heywood and the other man entered a large clearing, and I stopped at the edge of it, hiding behind a conveniently placed tree. Its’ trunk was big enough to cover me and it had Y-shaped branches, so if I stood on the tips of my toes I could just barely see through the small hole it made. My eyes widened when I realized there were now two other men in the clearing along with Mr. Heywood and the first. The other two men stood in rigid positions, as if ready to attack. One of the men was completely bald, and the other hand long, shaggy red hair.
The blonde one holding onto Mr. Heywood led him over to the other two, both of which were shooting daggers at Mr. Heywood. Mr. Heywood still looked calm however, his shoulders relaxed, a bored expression on his face. An idea suddenly hit me. Were these guys his old gang members? I took in a sharp inhale of breath. I thought he was joking when he said he was an ex-gangster! He had been telling the truth? He had seriously been in a gang?
“You can’t leave just like that!” the bald guy suddenly shouted, making me jump in fright.
I held my breath and shut my eyes, straining to hear everything that they were saying. Mr. Heywood’s voice was a lot quieter and harder to make out. Whatever he was saying was incoherent to me.
“The boss will be here soon, do you really want to deal with him?” the red head demanded, sounding amused.
I opened my eyes and stared in disbelief at him. The boss? Did that mean the gang leader? Were they going to attack Mr. Heywood in the woods? Is that why they brought him all the way out here?
Mr. Heywood laughed loudly, the sound echoing slightly. “He couldn’t beat me up in his dreams.”
My hands tightened on the tree bark. What was Mr. Heywood doing? Did he want to be killed? I stared at the four men, unable to pull my gaze away. How could Mr. Heywood stay so calm when the other three men were putting up such threatening fronts?
“I wouldn’t be so cocky,” the other gangster warned, cracking his knuckles threateningly. “We dragged you out here for a reason, you know.”
“If it was to assault me, I know,” Mr. Heywood responded calmly. “That’s why I came— because I was sure I could handle Twinkies like you.”
I snorted. Had he really just used the word Twinkies as an insult? The smile disappeared from my mouth when one of the gangsters swung towards Mr. Heywood without warning. Mr. Heywood took a step back, avoiding it was ease. A breath of relief left my lips.
The blonde scowled. “What did I say about being cocky?”
“I don’t remember,” Mr. Heywood responded mockingly, a fake frown on his face. “I’m sorry.”
Suddenly I felt a hand over my mouth. My eyes almost bulged out of their sockets and I took a sharp inhale of breath through my nose, my heart rate increasing significantly. I struggled in the grasp of whoever had me as an arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer to my captor. By the feeling of the chest it was either a very flat and bulky female, or a male. I struggled harder, terror filling my veins.
“What do we have here?” a husky voice whispered in my ear. “A spectator?”
I froze up, my breath shaky. Was this one of the gangsters as well? I looked over my shoulder slightly, recognizing the brunette man from before— the one who had been with Mr. Heywood at first, then went off his own way. I tried to say something, but his strong hand muffled my words. The man yanked me away from the tree. My fingernails scraped against the bark, getting it stuck between the nail and skin as I tried to keep my grasp on the tree. I winced in pain.
“It would really be bad if I let you loose and you told someone about what was going on here,” the thug commented, resting his chin on my shoulder. “We wouldn’t want that.”
I tried to bite his hand, but only managed to lick it. I made a face as he chuckled. “How did you know I enjoyed that kind of thing?”
I almost gagged. His hand moved to my stomach and my muscles tightened as he rubbed it gently. “You have such a flat stomach. And you’re pretty good looking too,” the thug commented in a thoughtful voice. “I bet we could have some fun with you.”
That’s when I snapped. I bought my head back as hard as I could, smashing it into his. He groaned in pain and I quickly shoved my legs against the ground, throwing us both off balance. The thug toppled over backwards and I fell with him. To save himself from hitting the ground full force, he let go of me, and I quickly rolled to the side and was on my feet in a matter of seconds. Thank god for adrenaline.
The thug flung out his arm, in aim for my feet, but I quickly dodged, stepping out from behind the tree. I made to run through the woods and back to the fair, but my eyes roamed to the clearing and I gasped. The bald man was creeping up behind Mr. Heywood, a bat raised high in his hand. The other two men were holding onto Mr. Heywood’s arms, keeping him faced away from the man with the baseball bat.
“Mr. Heywood!” I screamed, throwing all caution to the wind.
All four men in the clearing turned to me. My eyes met Mr. Heywood’s. He stared at me, half in horror and half in shock. The bald man moved in again.
“Behind y— ah!” Something hard slammed into my side, cutting me off, and knocking me to the ground. I fell hard, and my breath was knocked out of me. My head landed on its side, facing towards the clearing. I watched as Mr. Heywood avoided the bat by an inch. I let out a sigh of relief, but it turned into a grunt as I suddenly felt pressure on my head.
“Next time you try that, I’ll break your neck,” the brunette whispered, pressing my head into the ground.
Mr. Heywood looked at me for a split second, his face in a tight line. The thug with the bat raised it again while Mr. Heywood was still focused on me.
“Mr. Heywood!” I screamed again, half in a panic and half in annoyance of how he kept looking away from the enemy. He couldn’t be that stupid.
A fist collided with the side of my head, and a groan escaped my lips. My vision went black for a moment, but before I could panic it returned. Mr. Heywood ripped his arms out of the two gangster’s grasps, thrusting his elbow into the bald man with the bat’s face. The thug dropped the bat and raised his hands to his face, swearing loudly. Mr. Heywood turned and swung his right fist at his head, striking him down.
My head throbbed as I watched Mr. Heywood turn to the other two gangsters, who were in fighting stances. Mr. Heywood swung towards the one on the right, who avoided it with a block and the one on the left swung at Mr. Heywood. Mr. Heywood dodged, spinning, and sending his fist into the right one’s face. I watched slightly impressed, slightly awed, and slightly afraid as Mr. Heywood proceeded to pummel the two gangsters.
The one pinning me to the ground clicked his tongue and loosened his grasp on me, starting to push himself onto his feet. I took the moment to my advantage. With my head still slightly spinning, I rolled out from under him, and swung my leg out hitting him where the sun didn’t shine. He groaned and fell back to the ground. I kicked him in the side hard.
“That’s for punching a girl!” I told him, and turned to Mr. Heywood.
Only one gangster was still standing. I watched as the gangster picked up the bat the unconscious one had dropped. I stared incredulously. He was really going to bring a weapon into the fight again when Mr. Heywood didn’t have one?
“A bat won’t help you,” Mr. Heywood stated, rolling his eyes. “Hell, even if you had a gun, it still wouldn’t help you.”
The gangster swung at Mr. Heywood. I winced as I heard it collide with his arm. When I opened my eyes, I expected to see Mr. Heywood holding his arm in pain, but to my surprise he was smirking at the gangster.
“What did I tell you?”
Suddenly the bat was yanked from the other gangster and before I knew it, he was on the ground. Mr. Heywood cracked his knuckles and brushed off his hands before stretching. He turned towards me, and his smug face turned to shock.
I looked at him curiously. Did he forget I was here? He started sprinting towards me, his hands in fists again. I stared blankly at him. Why was he charging at me? He got closer and brought up his fist. I screamed, putting up my hands in defense.
To my surprise, his swinging fist missed. Or that’s what I thought at first. I heard it smashing against something, and looked over my shoulder to see the gangster I had kicked earlier falling to the ground behind me. I turned back to Mr. Heywood, my face white. He glared at me, putting his hand down on my shoulder, and squeezing it painfully.
“Ow!” I cried, pulling at his arm. “That hurts!”
“What are you doing here?” he demanded, his voice seething with anger.
“I saw you with those two suspicious men so I followed you!” I explained quickly, still pulling at his arm. “Mr. Heywood, that really hurts!”
He let go of my shoulder, shaking his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you.”
“What did I do?” I demanded angrily. “If I wasn’t here, you could have been killed!”
“I’m fine on my own!” Mr. Heywood snapped. “But look at you.” He raised a hand to my face and touched is gently.
I gave him a confused look and when he pulled his hand away, there was blood on it. Surprised, I raised my own hand to my cheek, and sure enough something warm and sticky was on it. Nausea washed over me, and I staggered forward, suddenly dizzy. Mr. Heywood quickly steadied me, putting his hands on my shoulder again— this time more gently.
“Are you okay?” he asked in a worried voice. “Did that bastard do anything else to you?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m just not good with blood.”
“Why did you follow us?” Mr. Heywood asked still supporting me. “Holly, you don’t follow quote, unquote, suspicious looking men.”
“I thought something bad was going to happen to you,” I responded in a small voice, dropping my gaze.
“That doesn’t give you reason to follow three men into the woods! Who knows what would have happened if you hadn’t came out from hiding when you did!”
“You would have been beaten by a baseball bat!”
“You could have been kidnapped!” Mr. Heywood cried, irritation dripping in his tone. “And worse, if you understand what I mean.”
I knew what he meant immediately and I bit my lip. Yeah, I knew it wasn’t a smart idea. But I didn’t want to let him just go alone. He could have been killed! “I didn’t know you were serious about being an ex-gangster,” I admitted, pushing Mr. Heywood’s arms off me. “I thought you were joking, so I would have never guessed something like this would happen.”
“Something like this happens all the time, Holly,” he responded, shaking his head. “It’s because I left so suddenly.”
“Left?”
“The gang,” he told me.
I frowned slightly. “Why were did you leave?”
“I’ll explain it later,” Mr. Heywood responded, looking around warily. “First let’s get out of here before any of these guys wake up.”
I nodded in agreement and Mr. Heywood started leading me back to the woods. I stepped over the body of the gangster who was trying to sneak attack me and made sure to tread on his face. Mr. Heywood chuckled slightly.
“You’re so immature.”
I ignored his comment and followed him as we made our way out of the woods. I looked behind us continuously, afraid someone would pop out. Mr. Heywood noticed after a few minutes. “Don’t worry,” he started, suddenly looking solemn. “If someone comes… I’ll protect you.” He turned back around, his back suddenly tensed.
I stared after him curiously for a few minutes, frowning the tiniest bit. My heart thudded in my chest— and it wasn’t due to lack of oxygen. Why did his words make my heart beat so fast?