Had this idea in my head for a while but lacked the intestinal fortitude to write it up. I must confess that I do not read *all* the fiction on the list so I am not sure how this one will stand up in comparison but here goes....
Love at First Sight We had gone to the newsagent to get the paper and were just coming around the corner to get back to the car. We heard a man cry out and some shouting…
That’s when I saw her. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. So tall and strong looking. She had dark brown eyes and long black hair. Her SLA patches stood out on her red jacket. There was big yellow one for KARMA as well. She had a knife in one hand and a chain in the other.
There were about three of them - the others that is the ones she was fighting. All men and they were even bigger than her. Two of them had baseball bats and the other one, he looked like the leader, had gun that he was pointing right at her. It looked like she didn’t care.
Then she spoke.
“That’s my friend you were beating up on.”
I hadn’t noticed the other man. He was on the ground behind the three guys. He looked like he was dead.
The leader took a step forward. There were a few other people around now watching what was going on. The man looked around at the crowd grinning. He looked at me and raised his lip. That frightened me a bit.
She looked over at me. I must have looked scared because she just gave me a little wink. I wanted to cheer!
The leader took a step forward.
“Well that’s what happens when you get in our way.”
She just raised her eyebrow at him and gave a little smile.
“Is that right” She was so cool.
“Yeah that’s right.” He sneered, “So why don’t you take your itty bitty knife and that little chain of yours and run back to base like a good girl”
The other two laughed at that. I was so angry. How dare they laugh at her!
“Sorry.” She said, “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“And why not?”
“You see that’s SLA property you have in your hand there and I have to take it off you”
They all laughed at her then but they shouldn’t have.
It was all so fast. The leader put his hand down because he was laughing and the gun wasn’t pointing at her anymore. She threw the knife and it hit him in the throat. Blood went everywhere. He fell on the ground trying to pull the knife out.
The other two lunged at her swinging the baseball bats. She reached behind her back and pulled out another knife. The first guy tried to hit her and missed. The chain wrapped around his wrist and he dropped the bat. She pulled down on the chain and kicked up under his armpit. He yelled and grabbed at his shoulder.
I don’t think she saw the other guy properly because he hit her. I think he was trying to hit her on the head but she was moving and he got her on the shoulder. She dropped her knife and bent over forwards. He went to hit her again and I thought he was going to kill her but she jumped up right at his stomach and knocked him back. When she got up she had another knife in her hand but it had blood all over it. The guy had blood on his clothes and he was holding his stomach. It was bleeding really badly.
She turned around as the guy that she kicked in the shoulder came at her again. He didn’t have the bat anymore and his right arm didn’t seem to work properly but he tried anyway. She just stepped to the side and stuck the knife in his side. He fell down screaming.
She just stood there and looked at him for a second and did not see the first guy. But I did.
“Look out” I yelled and pointed to the leader. He has the gun and was up on one elbow pointing at her.
“Take this bitch!”
The shot rang out. I did not even see where it came from. One second there was nothing in her hand then there was a gun. The leader slumped in a heap with a hole in his head.
I was so happy I cheered. Everyone else clapped too.
Lori looked down at the body and gave it a bit of a nudge with her boot just to make sure he was dead. The other two were on the ground. Shivers would get them in a minute.
“I believe this belongs to SLA Industries.,” she said as she picked up the FEN. “And this belongs to me” The knife had a lot of blood on it. She would clean it later.
She walked over to where Pete lay on the ground.
“Bastards” she muttered under her breath. He was dead. They had really done a number on him. She could only tell it was him from his clothes. His face was completely caved in and there were bends in his arms that just shouldn’t be there. On his right arm were the shattered remains of a KK20 brace. The gun was there alright but it wasn’t moving for anything
She remembered arguing with Pete that she didn’t need a KK20.
“It will save your life one day!” he had said, “That’s why I’ve got one”
“I’ll never use it!” she replied.
Well Pete was right. Pity she wasn’t going to be able to thank him. The irony of it…
There was someone she did need to thank though. That cute blonde that called out the warning. Lori searched the ground near the body and found the bullet. She picked it up and walked over.
The little girl looked up at her with wide eyes. She was holding her mother’s hand so tight her little knuckles were white. Lori squatted down in front of her.
“What’s your name hon?”
“Umm… Rachel.”
“Rachel! That’s a nice name. I’m Lori”
“Hello”
“And how old are you Rachel?
“Five”
“Rachel I have to thank you. If you hadn’t have called out to me I don’t think I would have seen that bad man shooting at me. You saved me today. You did a good thing”
Lori smiled as the little girl gazed at her adoringly with a grin from ear to ear.
“Would you like this as a souvenir?” Lori held out the spent bullet. Rachel gasped and looked up at her mother.
“Its OK Rachel,” her mother said ”You can take it if you want it.”
Rachel picked the bullet out of Lori’s hand
“What do you say?”
“Thank you Lori.”
Lori looked at Rachel. The girl was so excited she looked like she would burst. Lori stood up and looked at Rachel’s mother.
“You got a brave little girl there ma’am”
“Thank you.”
I held the bullet tightly. Tomorrow I would take it to school and show everyone. Mum looked down at me.
“Who’s been a lucky girl today?”
“Me!”
Mum held my hand as we crossed the road to the car.
“Mum.”
“Yes Rachel”
“When I grow up I’m going to be an Op just like Lori!”
Mum looked a bit sad when I said that but she smiled so I guess she was not really sad.
“Come on! In the car! It’s time to go home”
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