He and his buddies roared with laughter.
Anger bubbled up inside of me. No one used my blindness against me. I curled my hand into a fist, crumpling the bill even further. I brought my fist down onto the table, startling the three men.
“We had a deal!” I growled.
The man stepped closer. I could feel the heat rolling off of him. “It was all just fun and games. Now run along. Don’t walk into the door on your way out.”
“I want my money, dipshit!” I demanded.
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, because the next thing I knew, air rushed toward my face. I was so furious that I caught it too late. The man’s fist cracked across my jaw, and I went spiraling toward the table. I grabbed the edge to catch myself, but I couldn’t slow my momentum. The table crumbled beneath my weight, and I crashed to the floor. Bottles shattered, and liquid seeped into my jeans. The smell of beer hit my nose, but it barely registered. I was freaking pissed.
I took just a moment to process the assault. The whole bar was in an uproar, so much that I could barely hear the music. Chairs screeched across the hardwood, and people started yelling. The main asshole laughed with his buddies. He didn’t even realize when I pulled myself to my feet— must’ve thought a blind guy wouldn’t fight back or something. I knew exactly where he was by feeling the air around his form.
I launched myself at him and tackled him to the ground. My fist connected with his face three times, each one as satisfying as the last. Then a hand clamped around my wrist, dragging me backward.
It was one of his friends. He yelled obscenities at me, but my breath had grown so ragged they didn’t register. As I was being hauled to my feet, I reached my hands out and swiped the man’s wallet from his pocket, then slipped it into my jacket. He threw me backward, but I’d been so smooth about it he didn’t notice the wallet missing. I crashed into another table, but this one didn’t crumble beneath my weight.
“Get out of here!” the jerk shouted. “We’ll beat your ass!”
I was more than happy to oblige. I wiped blood from my lip, then held my hands up in surrender. “No need. I’ll show myself out.”
One of the men huffed, but at least he didn’t come at me. I turned and started toward the door. The bar had quieted, but I could feel the patrons’ eyes on me as I left.
Just as I reached the door, I heard, “Where the hell is it? He stole my wallet!”
That’s when I knew it was time to get the hell out of there. I took off, sprinting out the door, pumping my arms as fast as I could as I ran down the sidewalk. I sensed the air pressure around me, filling in the cracks between streetlights and cars, which allowed me to create a mental map of the street ahead. I dodged around someone heading my way, and I turned the corner. The sound of heavy footsteps and shouts followed me. They weren’t far behind.
Something made me slow. It was like running into a mental wall— something that just told me to dig in my heels and stop right there in the middle of the sidewalk.
I skidded to a halt. Someone coming from the opposite direction bumped into me. I stumbled sideways into an alley. The sound of car horns echoed off the brick buildings squeezing in around me, and the air felt damp and smelled of garbage.
I should’ve kept on moving, but I remained rooted in place. Call it intuition, but I could sense something ahead. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it wasn’t dangerous. It was more like a beacon calling me forward, offering me sanctuary.
That was saying a lot, considering sanctuary was tough to come by in my experience. I could barely make sense of the feeling.
I focused on the alleyway, trying to map it out in my mind using the sounds of the city and the air pressing in around me. The best I could tell, the alley was empty. I must’ve been imagining things.
“Where’d he go!?” one of the men from the bar shouted, snapping me out of my daze.
My heart leapt. I wished I could say I was in this for the thrill, but these things didn’t excite me anymore. Not after what happened to Marty.
“There he is!” someone shouted.
Hell.
I knew I wasn’t getting out the way I came without getting my ass kicked, so I turned and hightailed it in the opposite direction. I could make out the sound of cars on the street ahead, coming closer and closer as I ran—
Then something tangled around my legs, and I smashed to the ground. My face hit the asphalt so hard, I couldn’t make sense of which way was up and which was down. It took me a moment to realize someone had tackled me. Before I could react, a foot connected with the side of my ribs, and I grunted.
I didn’t stay down long. When you grew up the way I did, you learned pretty fast how to defend yourself. I swung my leg out and knocked one of the men on his ass. I jumped to my feet and kicked my elbow back into the second guy’s nose. He yelled as he went stumbling backward. I stood my ground, surveying the air for the next attack.
Heavy footsteps approached, and I forced my breathing to slow so I could listen carefully. A threatening laugh bubbled up from the man’s throat. It was the guy with the deep voice. Something smacked into his palm, like he was carrying a weapon and was showing it off. A baseball bat, perhaps? No, I realized. It was one of the legs of the table I’d broken back at the bar.
“Normally, I wouldn’t hurt a blind guy,” he said sardonically. “But I’m going to get real pleasure beating you—”
He cut off as a deep growl came out of the shadows. Air rushed past me as a large figure leapt toward the man. I didn’t know what it was at first, until my attacker began to scream. Angry barks and the snapping of jaws echoed down the alleyway. It was a dog.
I was so dumbstruck at its sudden appearance that I took a few steps back. The other two men scrambled forward, trying to save their friend from the canine attack. The dog snarled, and one of the men screamed like he’d been bitten.
“Get the fuck off of me!” the man with the deep voice yelled.
I heard a loud smack, then a whimper from the dog. Best I could tell, the man had used his weapon against the creature. The air knocked out of my lungs, as if he’d just swung the weapon straight into my abdomen, though I hadn’t been touched.
My hands curled into tight fists, and my arms shook in rage. I couldn’t explain the primal instinct that took over me in that moment. All I knew was I had to protect that creature— or die trying.
I jumped forward. “Leave him alone!” I shouted.
A second smack came as the dog slammed into the side of the building. Another whimper escaped the poor creature’s throat, and my stomach plummeted to the asphalt.
“Or what?” one of the men threatened.
He took a step forward, and I threw myself in front of the dog. “You don’t want to know the answer,” I growled. I reached into my pocket for my knife and flicked it open. “Get out of here while you still have the chance.”
The man laughed. “Your little switchblade doesn’t scare me. Three men against one blind guy and his dog? Who do you think is going to win?”
Me, I thought instantly.
The man stepped forward and swung the table leg at me. It connected with my hand before I could pull away, and my knife went flying across the alley. He took another step, but I was so enraged I wasn’t willing to let him get any closer.