Chapter 26 - Puncture
Time seemed to slow after the words slipped out of his mouth.
Don't expect me to go easy on you because your daddy raped you, little girl.
Rae's body went rigid as the words played over again in her mind, a chill making its way up her spine, and it wasn't from the cold, post-rain wind or the dropping temperature. Her eyes widened. She stared at him in shock. When he saw her reaction, Bob's cynical smile grew wider, his perfectly straight, white teeth peeking out between his lips.
"You heard me right, greaseball," he said, his slimy, malicious voice slithering through her head, distracting her.
Distracting her.
She broke from her trance and clenched her teeth as she tried to regain her concentration. She pulled her hands into fists and dropped into the stance Dally had showed her. She'd have to deal with his words after she dealt with him.
"Let's go, little girl, if you think you can take me."
But she waited. Defense until there was no other choice. Rae watched him, breathing steadily, waiting for him to become impatient and throw the first punch. She tried to push his words out of her head. When the punch finally came, everything happened quickly.
He hurled his fist at her, but she lifted her arm and forced his hand past her head. The ring that had hurt Johnny so badly scraped her cheek. She forced his arm away and lifted her leg to kick him in the stomach. Bob caught it at the last millisecond with his free hand and pushed her foot away from his body. She stumbled backwards, struggling to free herself. When he finally released her, he didn't wait for her to regain her balance and propelled his fist towards her stomach. She turned slightly and he caught her in the side.
"Fuck," she hissed, backing away, trying not to fall on her ass. She pressed a hand over the spot he'd struck.
Bob didn't wait for the pain to ease before he came after her again. She saw him moving out of the corner of her eye and raised her arm in time to catch his hand again, but immediately shifted to her other side and smashed him in the cheek.
She wasn't supposed to go for the face, but it seemed like a missed opportunity with this one.
Rae sucked in a pained breath when her knuckles collided with his skull. He stopped for a moment, stunned. She'd have laughed if her hand didn't hurt so damn much.
"That's it," Bob growled. "Enough games."
While her guard was down, he grabbed her by the arm and threw her into the mud. Thankfully the earth was soft and the impact didn't hurt much but-
She moved quickly, trying to stand up before he could-
Bob put his foot down on the middle of her back. She could feel the wet dirt on his shoe seeping through her shirt. With all her strength, she tried to force herself up, tried to push his leg up, but her hands slipped in the ground as she was suddenly in the same position as that night.
The driveway at her father's house flashed before her eyes. The house. The porch light. Her backpack seemingly miles away from her reach with the glint of her switchblade handle peeking out of the pocket. Panic. Panic shot its way through her veins- but there was something else too. Something dark. Something that had been there all this time, but was now, finally free.
The flash faded and she was back in the empty lot behind the warehouse, covered in mud with a Soc holding her down with his foot.
"This is what you get for messin' with a Soc," Bob said, above her. Rae gritted her teeth.
"Save it," she ordered.
"I'm sorry, grease. What was that?" She felt his hold on her back ease up a little, thinking he'd won.
"Save it, you white, fucking trash!" she yelled and pushed against his leg with all her might. The sudden force and surprise made him pitch backwards.
"Whoa-shit!" He stumbled backwards, eventually losing his balance and dropped to the ground.
While Bob was down, she quickly pushed him back into the dirt, leaving a footprint on his chest. She realized it was a stupid, prideful mistake when he grabbed her foot and twisted it. She cried out in pain and anger, and with a knee-jerk reaction, kicked him in the chin, despite his best efforts to stop it.
The Soc dropped, his hands going limp and falling to his sides in the dirt. The darkness in her soul eased a little.
Rae blew out a heavy breath and looked towards Curly. His grinned, teeth covered in red. Blood was dripping from the corner of his mouth and he gave her a quick thumb's up before getting tackled. She shook her head. He was absolutely loving this.
But as soon as Rae had turned her back, someone jumped her from behind. She felt the sharp end of a cold knife press against the side her throat. She struggled, but he had a tight grip on her.
"Now, now," Bob's voice said.
God damn. Would she ever be rid of this asshole?
"Can't let you best me, can I?" he whispered into her ear, causing her to violently jerk her head to the side. He moved the blade away from her throat- of course, he'd never intentionally kill her, he was still just a kid. She spun around to face him, but paused when she saw his face.
His eyes were wide, staring down at his hand.
She followed his gaze and saw her own knife sticking out of her shoulder, sunk in almost all the way to the shield. Well, that was alarming. Why-why couldn't she feel it?
Bob was still clutching the handle. She could feel his hand shaking. He slid it out of her body.
Okay, that she could feel. And it fucking hurt.
She let out a whimper as blood started pouring out, mixing with the mud on her shirt. Bob pushed her away from him, and stared down at the blood on his own hands. He looked just as shocked as she was. He looked...almost human.
He fucking- he fucking stabbed her with her own knife. When had he even taken it?
She stumbled backwards, and put a hand over the cut, but moved it away when she realized her hand was covered in mud.
"Dally?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Bob seemed to recover faster than her and plastered a smug grin on his face again. He sheathed the bloody knife in his hand, her knife, and dropped it into the chest pocket of his red and blue Madras.
"That your mighty protector?" he asked, looking towards her older brother. "He seems pretty tied-up right now, doesn't he?" She glanced toward Dally, his shock of blonde hair dancing fluidly around.
Bob opened his mouth to say something else but was bulldozed by Tim Shepard. The Soc fell to the ground with the greaser on top of him. Tim sat up and punched Bob clear in the nose. Rae heard an audible crack and saw a lot of blood.
"What do you fuckers not understand about 'no weapons'?" He asked, peering down, brown eyes crazy as hell. Bob squirmed under him. Tim looked around and saw the Socs retreating. "Next time, kid, it'll be your own blood on your hands." He wiped the mud on his hands down Bob's face, but let him up to join his friends, then made his way to Rae. "You okay?"
"No-he-," she started, looking at the blood soaking the arm of her shirt. Her other hand shakily hovered over the cut, but not quite touching. Tim hurried over to her, trying to take a closer look. He tore the sleeve from her shirt and let it slide down her arm.
"Fuck," he said, quietly, then turned, looking around. "Dally!"
Before he could make it to them, Curly showed up at his brother's side, wiping the blood from his lips with the back of his hand. He eyed her shoulder as well.
"Holy shit," he marvelled. "That looks deep."
"It-it was all the way in. Did it go all the way through?" Tim turned her, slightly, and blinked in surprise, his eyebrows high on his forehead.
"Yeah, it did. We might need to stitch you up." She looked down at the wound. It was clean-except for the blood dripping down her arm, of course. The pain she could deal with but seeing the cut in her body, it made her feel…
Rae's head swam and she was suddenly leaning heavily into the older Shepard brother. He snaked his arm around her waist to support her. Her body felt light.
"Whoa, whoa- okay." His voice sounded far away. "I'm gonna sit you down on the ground, okay? Don't pass out on me." He eased her back down into the dirt. She felt the cold mud seep into her jeans again, making her shiver.
"No promises," she breathed, unsure whether she actually said it aloud. Curly sat down next to her and Tim leaned her against his brother, then went off to find Dally. The younger Shepard wrapped his arm around her and she laid her head on his shoulder. He lifted his other hand and pressed the heel of his palm against a temple. "You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Just a headache. Some jackass kicked me in the head."
Dally finally appeared, sliding to a stop in front of her, Tim on his heels. He knelt down by her shoulder. He wiped his hands on his still relatively clean shirt and put his hand on her shoulder. She sucked in an audible breath and Curly held her still. Her brother took the sleeve still dangling from her wrist and went to wrap it around the cut. Rae turned her head to watch, but Curly lifted his arm and forced her to look at him instead.
"Don't-"
It didn't seem the matter. The movement- the pain-
"Rae?"
She slumped against him and everything went black.