CHAIN

prelude, one year ago.

"Hey, pretty lady, why don'cha c'mon over here." The speaker had obviously intended for it to sound attractive, exaggerating any deepness that his voice may have had. It had the opposite effect on Elise, who immediately began walking briskly in the opposite direction, to the left. Why did I stay so late at Rachel's? Now I have to walk in this darkness. It was only 4:00 PM, but the sun had long since vanished behind the mountains – lack of daylight in the winter was just one of those things about living in Alaska.

"Yeah, girlie, don'tchu want a little fun?" Another voice drawled, this time from the left. Shit. A figure stepped out in front of her, a scraggly man who had to be at least thirty years old, but the grime and dirt aged him considerably, so he looked more like forty.

"No thanks." She said firmly, taking a slow step back, and then another. Why did I decide not to buy fricking pepper spray? She had chosen not to because it would cost her as much as lunch would, and she had been ravenous at the time. Now, however, she was sure she could have skipped that particular meal.

"Aww, c'mon now, don't be such a tease." The playful voice was a startling contrast to the malicious glint in the second man, a much beefier, albeit shorter, one. Suddenly, they both lunged for her at the same time, and all she could think was that they were going to... Oh my god, they are going to rape me! No, no, no, no!! I am not going to be on Channel 2 as the latest victim, damn it! No!

"No!" She cried out, her eyes burning with tears, blurring her vision most inconveniently.

One of them managed to grab her arm as she tried to leap away. Anger pooled within her like pure, molten heat, and she felt horribly jittery for a second. As the stocky man went to pin her against the wall of a nearby building, throwing his weight against her much lighter frame, her mind went completely blank. She was blind for a split-second, squeezing her eyes shut, a split-second that felt more like an eternity. She was ripped out of the trance as the cold brick of the wall behind her was unforgiving as her head slammed back, her spine flattened against it as the first man began to advance on her. She opened her eyes, seeing in perfect clarity for the briefest of instants, looking at her attackers with such hatred that they hesitated.

Then, with an inhuman snarl, she exploded right out of her own skin.