***
Gabriel arrived at Harbingers High School just as the annual bonfire was ending. The crowd had thinned to a small group of stragglers surrounding a smoking heap of scorched wood.
He quickly scanned the faces of those who remained and approached a small group of girls to ask where everyone had gone. They told him that most of students that had attended the bonfire had gone to the wooded area behind the school’s rear parking lot for a keg party. The girls even escorted him along the footpath that led to a clearing in the woods where the gathering was being held.
After thanking them for their help, he moved through clusters of drunken classmates. He examined every person he passed. He spotted Alexandra and Daniella at the edge of the clearing. They seemed to be gazing off into the darkened woodlands. Melissa was not among the party-goers. Neither was Kevin Anderson.
An immediate feeling compelled him to go off in search of Melissa. He could not explain it, but something deep inside of him, something primal sensed that she needed him.
Striding blindly into the thicket, he wandered slowly at first, allowing his superior vision to adjust to the blackened shadows of the forest. Stepping over copses and averting entanglement in various prickled shrubs, he ambled aimlessly until a feminine voice was heard in the distance.
Though muffled, the sound was distinct and urgent. He continued toward it, his feeling growing stronger.
His feet crossed the leaf-strewn forest floor soundlessly and with agility, responding stealthily to every obstacle that presented itself. He halted when he heard screams slash through the darkened canopies. The voice was unmistakable. It belonged to Melissa.
Though gatherers at the keg party on the outskirts of the woods would not have heard her cries as readily as he had, his enhanced hearing enabled him to do so. Her tone indicated distress and struggle. Adrenaline surged throughout his body, propelled him forward through undergrowth and brush and drove him at full speed toward her panicked screams.
Gabriel quickly arrived at a small clearing. In the distance, he could distinguish two figures, one was Melissa. And the other was Kevin Anderson.
Kevin was atop her. They were struggling. A hand was raised. A slapping sound followed.
Rage flashed through Gabriel like lightning slicing through a midnight sky. He thundered forward, fury storming within him, fueling him, until he reached the dell. Melissa was beneath Kevin. Dirt and blood streaked her fear-stricken face.
Running as quickly as his muscles permitted him, he heard a barely audible but distinct threat issued. Through the rush of wind in his face and the sound of his own blood pounding in his ears, he saw Kevin atop Melissa, clawing at her pants and issuing a string of ugly threats. But before Kevin could complete his venomous diatribe, Gabriel, never breaking stride, burst from the shadows and launched his body, slamming himself headlong into Kevin. The force of the impact sent both of them hurling to the leaf-covered ground.
Gabriel sprang to his feet effortlessly, unaffected by the collision. Kevin, however, slowly clambered to his feet, a look of shock and indignation plaguing his features as he saw Gabriel already standing, positioned and primed to fight.
“You just made a big mistake, brother,” Kevin said. “I’m gonna fuck you up!” He said raising his tightly clenched fists.
“C’mon!” Gabriel screamed with his arms outstretched, urging Kevin toward him.
Kevin needed little provocation. He swung at Gabriel. Gabriel swiftly sidestepped the intended hit. Bowing then rising deftly, Gabriel struck a quick jab followed by a powerful uppercut that landed evenly on Kevin’s jaw. The impact of the blow knocked Kevin to the ground on his backside.
Kevin’s facial expression quickly transformed from one of astonishment to one of utter confusion. His confusion rapidly morphed into indignation. He scrambled to his feet. Wiping blood from his lip with the back of his hand, he spoke.
“Sucker-punching bitch! Now you’re gonna pay!” Kevin exclaimed and charged at Gabriel, swinging blindly, fiercely.
Gabriel dodged the assault and delivered an effective shot to Kevin’s abdomen. He felt an overwhelming sense of satisfaction as Kevin dropped and gripped his stomach. As Kevin knelt in the dirt below, Gabriel landed another blow to his face just below his eye. Kevin tumbled into the underbrush on his side.
Trembling with wrath, Gabriel walked over to Kevin who remained in a prone position and spoke. With every ounce of restraint that he possessed, he managed to avoid striking Kevin again and again, pummeling him until every ounce of his anger was spent. Gabriel wanted Kevin to feel fear and pain, fear and pain like he had caused Melissa.
Swallowing the bile that filled him, Gabriel managed, “Just stay down, Kevin! This is over. I better never see you near her again,” he threatened.
“Fuck you!” Kevin spat as he raised himself to a crouched position. From his squatted stance, Gabriel watched as Kevin reached for a pointed, shiny object sheathed on a holster at his ankle. He hurriedly tried to conceal the knife under the cuff of his shirtsleeve before staggering to his feet once again.
Kevin lumbered toward Gabriel. Leaves and twigs littered his clothes. Blood and dirt caked his cheeks. Gabriel did not retreat from Kevin’s advance. Instead his feet remained planted, his fury-filled gaze trained on his adversary gauging and anticipating Kevin’s next move.
As Kevin moved closer and positioned himself at arm’s length from Gabriel, he lowered his eyes to the ground and put a hand up, palm facing outward, an implication of surrender of sorts while the other lay slack at his side. Gabriel, flooded with indignation and distrustful of Kevin’s false gesture of submission, remained, readied.
Instantaneously, Kevin lunged at Gabriel brandishing a dagger and stabbing at Gabriel.
“I’ll kill you!” Kevin shouted as he cut through the air at Gabriel.
Gabriel evaded having the weapon plunged into his torso. Instead the cutting edge grazed him, lacerating his forearm.
Incensed, Gabriel seized Kevin’s hand that held the weapon and struck his face as hard as he could with his free hand. The impact drew a snapping sound and an immediate gush of blood from Kevin’s nose.
Kevin fell to the ground. His blade lay at Gabriel’s feet.
“Fuck!” Kevin screamed with both hands at his nose. “You broke my nose, asshole!”
As he clambered to a standing position, he glared at Gabriel defiantly and warned, “This is not over!” before he plodded off into the surrounding woods.
Gabriel turned, half expecting Melissa to be gone. But she remained, transfixed, sitting with her knees cradled to her chest on the leaf covered earth. Tears streaked her dirt covered face.
Taking a deep breath to steady his insides that rattled with anger and adrenaline, he walked over to her with his palms facing her. “Melissa? Are you okay?”
Her voice quavered, “Just get me out of here. Please.”
Gabriel offered his hand to Melissa and she accepted it. He raised her to her feet and wrapped one arm around her waist. Together, they found their way out of the woods to the parking lot.
“Please, just take me home Gabriel,” Melissa said softly.
“What about Alexandra and Daniella. They’ll worry.”
“I’ll call them from home. I just need to get away from this place,” she said tearfully.
He did not say another word. He opened the passenger side door of his hunter-green Ford Explorer for her and helped her in, making sure to fasten her safety belt. After seating himself in the driver’s side and fastening his own seat belt, Gabriel and Melissa headed toward Blackstone Drive.