• All three guys rushed me at once. i ducked, and they all pretty much ran into each other. If there's one thing i know, its that fighting isn't just strength. It's speed and quick thinking, too.
    I decided to trip one of the guys. He had a knife, and with him down, I could concentrate. I spun around, taking his feet out from under him. He held the knife out in front of him, and as he fell, he sliced open my arm.
    It bled like hell. I slapped the man in question across the face. He spun around, because I can slap pretty hard if I want to.
    With that guy down for the count, I turned to the other two. One guy still had a bat, the other just stood there, looking at his fallen buddy. I went for the guy who wasn't paying attention, and took him down easily. A simple tackle left him breathless.
    I was about to turn toward the last guy, but of course I was a bit to slow. The bat connected with my head again, much harder then last time. I was thrown against a brick wall which I hadn't realized was there. I clutched my, arm, trying desperately to stop the bleeding, hoping that maybe if I stopped the blood, there would be less a chance of me fainting. From blood loss, anyway.
    I was still losing consciousness, which sucked big time, when I heard footsteps. They were loud, quick, and there was no chance that the person making the noise was trying to conceal their presence. Rapidly, I thought I was saved. But that was a fleeting hope that evaporated the moment I took into the account the numbers of the over-all fight. 3 against 1.
    Never the less, the person continued running, and I begged them to stop. In my head, at least, but considering I'm not telepathic, that didn't do much. Something came into view, and I realized my vision was hazy. It was something long, and it hit the strongest guy, the knife guy, in the chest. Needless to say, he got knocked into next week.
    That tall thing attacked the other two, who I'm happy to say were surprised by this new presence, and they were taken out in seconds. The three guys started running, tripping their way down the street. The person who had saved me stood there momentarily, watching them go. It chuckled darkly, and I realized it was a guy. Figures I'd be the only tough girl for miles around.
    The guy walked up to me, and squatted down right into my fading field of vision. The golden sunlight brought out the red in his otherwise straight brown hair. Even though I couldn't see very well, I could tell that this guy was kinda cute.
    He waved a hand in front of my face, checking to make sure that I was still conscious. I waved back lamely with my bloody hand. He looked down at my arm, then at a shiny thing on the ground. He picked up the shiny thing, held out the bottom of his shirt, and jabbed what I realized was the attacker's switchblade into his shirt, tearing off a piece. He cut off a long strip of the torn piece, balled up the other part, and pressed it to my arm. He then tied it up carefully.
    "How many fingers am I holding up?"
    I jabbed my index toward each finger, then said with a heavy tongue "15."
    He shook his head sadly, then leaned in a bit closer.
    "I was surprised," he whispered, as if a loud noise would hurt me, "at how strong you're being. Most girls I know would have screamed instead of fought back, and they definitely would be crying right now."
    I grinned, and said "well I guess I'm just not like other girls, now am I?"
    He chuckled, and then just before I lost consciousness, he slipped his arms underneath me, one under my knees and one under my back, and picked me up.

    I vaguely remember going into the police station, and him asking where I lived to Nick. Nick fussed over me, and said I should just stay at the police station. He blabbered on and on, asking about what happened, and who this guy was. The guy answered Caleb, and insisted that he take my home and clean me up, and that my parents would be worried. Nick explained that my parents were dead. Caleb just said "all the better I take care of her," and finally got Nick to tell him where I lived.
    I woke up feeling clean, like I'd had a bath. There was dirty water beside my bed, and I wondered what it was from. Then I thought back, and kinda remembered Caleb scrubbing off my arms, feet, face and neck, and then bandaging me up properly, neck and arm both. Lizzie had put my pajamas on, and Nick had turned around and shut his eyes. He was laying beside me on the bed, humming a sweet lullaby and running his fingers comfortingly through my hair. Just before I fell asleep to the sweet tune, I realized that like me, he was different. Most guys wouldn't have helped this much, or stayed this long. Most guys weren't this cute either. Maybe he's a freaky stalker, but at the moment I didn't care. I fell asleep listening to him, with his velvet smooth voice, and just thought about how nice it felt for him to be playing with my hair. I'd always liked it when people did that.