Chapter 3

Kal finally woke up around ten in the morning. He stretched his arms out to either side and realized he was alone in his bed.

Sitting up, he slipped the ring onto his finger and reached for the note Liz had left for him. After reading it silently he read the last two words aloud again. Yours, Liz.

You're damn right your mine," he growled out loud. "Now where the hell did you run off to." Apparently, when a Kryptonian mated it meant more then just casual sex. Because he sure was feeling awfully possessive over a girl whose last name he didn't even know.

He super sped through his shower and got dressed, then headed back to the alley where he'd met her. He didn't see her anywhere, so he walked in the direction she had come from the night before, when she'd brought his ring back to him. The alley was mostly empty with the exception of a few bums sleeping in doorways. He used his x-ray to peer into the buildings on either side of him as he made his way further down the alley, looking for any sign of her.

Finally he rounded a corner and came to a building with most of its windows busted out. It was clearly abandoned, but when he scanned the walls he saw a group of kids gathered together in a makeshift living room. He looked deeper inside and saw more kids spread out through the entire building, apparently still in their rooms.

He was about to go inside to ask if anyone had heard of Liz when a guy came out of the main entrance and saw Kal immediately. "Hey, you don't belong here. Beat it, man."

"I go anywhere I damn well please," Kal shot back. "I'm looking for a girl named Liz; short, dark hair. You seen her?"

"Oh you must be the guy she took off with last night." Kal just stared at him with a blank expression. "You better get the hell outta here before Billy comes back or he's liable to stab your ass for stealing his girl."

"Where is she?" Kal was right in his face, backing him through the doorway with anger flashing in his eyes.

"She...took off man...they got into it pretty good when she came back... I got him to leave her alone but..."

"But what?" Kal shouted.

"Not before he gave her a black eye."

"Where did he go?" He slammed the kid against the doorjamb, then jerked him off his feet by his collar.

"I don't know man! He took off, too. And look… you look like you can take care of yourself and all, but I still wouldn't mess with Billy if I were you."

"Well it's a good thing you're not me then, isn't it? You tell that fuck I'm looking for him. Got it?"

The kid gulped a couple of times before he stammered out, "Y-yeah."

Kal dropped him back down to his feet. "And if you see Liz, tell her she knows where she can find me."

"Sure man. But I don't think she'll be back. I checked her room earlier and all her stuff was gone."

"You don't have any idea where she might be headed?"

"No, but she could be anywhere by now." Kal finally unwound his hands from the boy's shirt and walked off down the alley without another word.

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Instead of going down the fire escape, Liz had climbed up to the roof. There were several planks of wood connecting the surrounding buildings by rooftops so she figured she would go as far as she could before returning to street level. Knowing that Billy was scared of heights made her feel like she had a good chance of sneaking away unnoticed. She, on the other hand, had always loved heights and spent as much time as she could on the roof of their building just staring up at the sky and wishing she could fly.

With her destination in mind, she headed out across the wooden plank that was attached to the building to the east. She knew she could get as far as the docks before she would have to go back down to ground level, which was as far as she needed anyway because she was headed for the bridge there.

On her walk across the rooftops her mind drifted back to her amazing night with Kal. She had thought about going back to his place, but just because they'd spent one night together didn't mean he'd be okay with her showing up at his door, bag in hand and waiting to be invited in. As much as she missed him already, she just wouldn't put her problems on him. He seemed to have enough of his own to deal with, without adding her worries on top of them. If they ran into each other again and he offered that would be one thing. But she wasn't about to go asking a near stranger for help when she could take care of herself.

She had made it to the last building and was climbing down the fire escape when her stomach started to grumble loudly. "Well you're just gonna have to wait," she said out loud to her stomach as she let go of the last rung of the ladder and dropped to the ground. There was a teen shelter about a block from here but it only took kids in from 6pm until 8am, and then everyone had to leave for the day while volunteers cleaned and prepared food for the next batch of kids. She would wait for it to open in one of her favorite places in the whole city.

There was a huge steel bridge that spanned the river, its belly was a mass of steel re-bar that was easy to climb through if you weren't afraid of heights. She climbed out to the center of the bridge and settled into the metal using her backpack as a pillow, and then she pulled out her bottle of vodka and began drinking as she watched boats pass on the water beneath her. In less than an hour she drank herself to sleep, lulled by the traffic overhead.

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Kal had searched everywhere he could think of, but he hadn't found her. Even with his super speed and x-ray vision he still couldn't get a trace of her that would lead him to wherever she'd gone. "She must have found one damn good hiding spot," he muttered to himself as he entered the diner at the corner of the street he lived on. It was late afternoon now and he was starving.

"Hey, Kal. What would you like, hon?" the plump waitress behind the counter asked as she poured him a cup of black coffee.

"Hey, Rosie. I'll have a roast beef sandwich with fries."

"Coming right up, cutie." She wrote his order on a ticket and stuck it on the wheel for the cook, then turned back to Kal. "You doing alright today, hon? You seem a little down."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just lost something, that's all."

"Well I'm sure you'll find it, whatever it is."

"Thanks."

Rosie moved off to take another order, and left Kal alone while he waited for his food. He ate in silence as he thought about where he should check next, then left a fifty on the counter and headed for the door.

"Good luck in your search Kal," Rosie called out. "Have you checked down by the docks yet? Everything lost seems to end up there."

"Thanks Rosie, but I've already looked there."

"Well, check again. You might have missed something the first time."

He shrugged his shoulders as he backed out the door. "Okay, it couldn't hurt," he muttered.

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When Liz awoke she could tell it was late in the afternoon, but she had no way of telling what time it was because she didn't own a watch. Her face was still throbbing from where Billy had hit her, so she took a few more swigs from her bottle and settled back against her backpack once again. She didn't want to have to wait around in front of the shelter for it to open so she decided to wait awhile longer before climbing down from the bridge. The last thing she wanted was for Billy to spot her before she had a chance to get inside the building. She knew he'd be looking for her by now and hoped he hadn't gone by Kal's place. Billy was a dangerous guy and she didn't want anything bad to happen to Kal.

She finished her bottle as she watched the sun set lower in the sky. It had to be 6 o'clock by now, so she pulled her backpack back on and began climbing down toward the base of the bridge on wobbly legs.

"Way to go Liz, maybe you should drink some more then go climb around on bridges," she said out loud to herself as she struggled to find footing through her blurred vision.

She was stuck, suddenly. Everything around her was spinning and she couldn't go forward or backwards for fear she would fall. "Dammit! Now what the fuck are you gonna do?" she yelled at herself. "Calm down just breathe. You've done this a thousand times. You could do this blindfolded." She tried giving herself a pep talk but that didn't stop the spinning either. "Well, looks like I'll be up here a little while longer." She hooked her arms through the bars and let her body relax into the metal, prepared to wait out her intoxication before she tried to go anywhere.

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Kal approached the shelter near the docks and saw a group of teens waiting outside to be let in. He scanned the group but he didn't see Liz among those waiting. He walked up to a few kids standing off to the side. "Hey. I'm looking for a girl, her name is Liz. She's short with dark hair. Have any of you seen her?"

"If she's the Liz I'm thinking of you won't find her at a shelter. Her crew's got their own spread. She hangs out with a guy named Billy right?"

Kal nodded. "She did, but she took off this morning by herself. I think she may wind up at a shelter since she's alone."

"Well I'll keep an eye out for ya, man."

"Thanks. I'll make it worth your while if you find her."

Kal continued on his search, making random patterns throughout the city and stopping in at different shelters as he went. So far none of the guys he had talked to had seen her. He was beginning to think he wouldn't ever find her. It was well after dark now and most of the shelters where already full for the night. The funny thing was he wasn't tired of looking for her. He was worried that she wouldn't have a safe place to stay tonight. "Dude, get a grip," he told himself. "She's just a chick. She left you, remember? Why are you even looking for her? Just go to the club and get a new one," he said aloud to his reflection in the window of a closed store front he'd stopped in front of.

"You have to keep looking. She belongs to us now. We have to take care of her."

It was Clark , begging Kal to keep looking. "I know, you're right," Kal said to him. "One more hour," he said. "But then I'm taking a break."

"Fine. I could look, you know. I'd probably have better luck anyway. You just scare anyone you talk to," Clark told him.

"Oh like I give a shit!" Kal yelled at the glass. "And you're crazy if you think I'm ever letting you out without a fight."

"I'm crazy? You're the one talking to your reflection, jackass."

"God, I hate you."

"The feeling's mutual," Clark replied solemnly.

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The sound of an air horn from an eighteen-wheeler above her head woke Liz. She had fallen back to sleep waiting for her buzz to wear off.

It was dark out now, so getting down would be harder then in the daylight but at least she could see straight. Slowly but surely she made her way down to the ground below. She was tempted to just stay the night since she was sure the shelter would be full by now, but she was hungry so her stomach made up her mind for her.

Sticking to the shadows, she made her way to the shelter. The main door was still open behind the barred door so she held out hope that she could get in. As she approached the steps a couple of guys ran past her and up to the door in front of her.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, assholes. I'm walkin' here."

"Yeah. Sorry, whatever."

Shut your mouth Liz. Nobody's got your back anymore, she thought to herself as she lowered her head so her hair would fall forward and cover the bruise on her face as she made her way up the steps.

"Sorry sweetie, they were the last two in for the night."

"But they cut in front of me!" Liz argued with the middle- aged women behind the barred door.

"You know the rules; first come first serve."

"Well could I at least get some food? I don't remember the last time I ate." She unconsciously tucked her hair behind her ear as she put on her most pitiful face for the volunteer, exposing her large bruise for her to see.

"Oh my goodness, what happened to you dear?"

"Oh, it's nothing, it'll heal. But I'm really hungry and would love to get cleaned up, then I'll leave, I promise."

"You know I'm not supposed to."

"Can't you make an exception just this once? I promise I won't tell anyone."

The woman looked at once put out and sympathetic, but she finally agreed. "I'll bring you some food and some wet paper towels to clean your face up with, but that's all I can do. Got it?"

"Thanks," Liz whispered, and then she leaned against the door and waited while she watched the two guys who had butted in front of her settle in on two cots. Looks like I'm sleeping on the roof tonight.

"Hey, you! You're Liz, right?" Her head popped up at the sound of her name and she was ready to take off but she recognized the guy from around… Johnny, she thought his name was, so she stayed put.

"Who wants to know?"

"Sorry If I scared you, but I've been looking for you all night."

"Me? Why?"

"This guy came by earlier looking for you."

"It wasn't Billy was it?"

"No, some really tall guy with dark hair. He looked too rich to be looking for you but whatever... Damn, girl! Did Billy do that to your eye?"

"Yeah, I haven't actually gotten to look at it yet. Is it really that bad?"

"Totally. I'm surprised you can even see out of it."

"I can't believe it. Kal's actually looking for me!" she murmured, more to herself than the guy on the other side of the door. "Oh God, I can't let him see me like this. I'll just have to wait a couple of days, then go to his place."

"He doesn't seem like the type of guy you should keep waiting for a couple of days," Johnny said. "He looks like he's probably got a temper on him to match Billy's. You sure know how to pick 'em."

The volunteer interrupted them, stepping in front of Johnny. "Okay dear. Here's a sandwich and some paper towels. Now it's time for you to move on for the night. Good luck, and come back earlier tomorrow so you can actually get in."

"Thanks, I will," Liz replied.

She put the sandwich in her backpack and held the wet paper towel to her eye as she moved down the steps and back toward the shadows of the alley. When she pulled the paper towel away from her eye she could see blood on it in the dim light. Great. I've probably got dried blood all over my face. She scrubbed her face as best she could with no mirror as she walked down the alley toward the ladder suspended in the air a few feet above her head.

She was moving a trash can under the ladder to use as a step when she heard chuckling coming from behind her. She instantly froze. She'd know that laugh anywhere.

It was Billy.

"So predictable. I knew you'd come out to this damn bridge. You always come here when you're upset."

"Well, since you're the one that usually upsets me, I guess you should know," she smarted back.

He leered at her with that same old mean gleam in his eyes.

"Look Billy, just leave me alone, okay?" and she hurriedly climbed up on top of the trash can lid and reached for the ladder rung above her head.

"That's not gonna happen and you know it. I'm not done with you yet."

Just the tone of his voice scared her into scrabbling faster for the ladder, but she couldn't quite grab it. She was still a little drunk so she was having a hard time balancing. He was getting closer so she jumped, trying desperately to reach the ladder. She managed to catch the bottom rung, but Billy was right in front of her now. Frantically she tried to pull herself up but he grabbed her legs and yanked her down to the ground. She landed with a thud on her back.

"You're mine now, bitch!" He towered over her and pulled out his pocket knife.

"No! she screamed. "Please, no!" She was trying to get to her feet but her back really hurt from the fall and her head was still spinning. Putting her hands on the ground by her sides she tried to sit up and scoot backward on her butt at the same time, putting as much distance between them as possible until she could get to her feet and make a run for it.

She wasn't looking behind her as she half crawled, half dragged herself on her hands and feet, and her right hand came down on a broken bottle and cut deeply into her palm. But she didn't let the pain show on her face. Instead she curled her fingers around the bottle and prepared to use it as a weapon.

"There's nobody out here to interrupt us this time," Billy said. "We're all alone."

Liz kept crawling, watching him as he kept coming, closer and closer and she knew he wasn't going to just walk away from her this time.

"You're the one who had to make things difficult," he almost yelled. "You knew how I felt about you and you just kept ignoring me anyway." He let out a low laugh. "Well, I'm done being ignored. If I can't have you then nobody else can, either."

Liz froze in the middle of the wet, filthy pavement, her hand bleeding and pounding and her heart stopped when he leaned down into her face and said, "But then again maybe I'll have you, and then I'll kill you." And he knelt down over her body, trapping her legs beneath him.

Her left hand came to his chest to try and push him away. She had scooted backwards the last few inches until she hit a brick wall, but she was still in too much pain to try and free her legs. He brought his knife up to her throat and she gasped as the cold metal touched her skin. His other hand came up to the collar of her shirt and he grabbed it, twisting it around his fist as he pulled her upper body off the wall and closer to him. He used his knife and cut her shirt in half from collar to waist in one swift motion, and licking his lips, he watched her chest rise and fall rapidly while she tried to catch her breath.

She didn't beg for her life as he expected; she just watched him intently, waiting for the right moment to strike. Her heavy breathing was the only thing giving away the fact that she was scared to death.

"Now where did we leave off?" Billy drawled in a rough whisper. "Right about here, I think." With one hand pressed to her throat he slit her skirt with his knife, and then did the same thing to her panties. "Now we're getting somewhere, baby."

And then it happened: He leaned in, closing his eyes as his lips made contact with the swell of her breast, his tongue darting out to taste her, his teeth biting her. She moaned in sick pain when she felt the tender skin of her nipple splitting, burning like fire, and she brought her right hand up, still clutching the broken piece of glass, and stabbed him as hard as she could in the side of his neck.

"A...A...HH!!" Billy tried to cry out in pain but the blood filling his throat was making it hard for him. The hand he had on her throat quickly fell away and he dropped the knife to the ground and slapped both hands over the gash in his neck, trying to stop the steady blood flow. And all Liz could think was that she'd missed his main artery because he didn't die right away. He just loomed over her, his blood pouring all over her bare chest, stomach, and thighs.

She shoved at his chest with both hands, sobbing in fear and hatred and revulsion, trying to push him off of her, but he was a lot bigger, so much heavier than she would have imagined, and he barely budged. His full weight bore down on her trembling arms for long minutes, their gasping breaths the only sounds Liz could hear as he grew heavier with every second, until she didn't think she could hold him up anymore.

They were nose to nose and he was looking her dead in the eye and he grinned a horrible, evil grin, his teeth and lips covered in blood, when he gave a gurgling laugh and thrust his pocket knife into her stomach, grunting with the effort, and then he slumped over, dead on top of her.

Liz let out a deep gasp and clutched at her stomach with both hands, watching the world go solid black. "Damn..."

TBC