Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh, I kinda died there for a while. I've been resurrected and now I give you a long flashback with violence and stuff. Yay for violence!
A disheveled girl leaned up against the wall of a restaurant slash bar in a bad part of town, giving the sad puppy eyes to every person that walked by.
Sunshine could eat just about anything, but she really needed a good decent meal. She had been going through a rough patch for the past week, nearly getting herself killed almost three times a day, mostly due to her little 'rescue missions'.
She saved a lot of stray animals in all kinds of situations: stuck in a tree, fights, people who abuse the animal, injured, and so on. But earlier that day she had saved a little girl whom almost got herself hit by a truck.
The child's' mother had not seen what had happened, only saw Sunshine in the middle of the street holding her daughter. Yanking the girl out of her arms, the mother had smacked Sunshine and called her a molester and a freak, then walked away in a huff.
Grimacing at the sour memory, she sighed and went around the back, hoping she might find something to eat in their dumpster. The backdoor was open and led into a rather lavish kitchen, which seemed odd for such a grease pit.
"Must be expecting the health inspector," she muttered to herself, making sure the coast was clear before slipping inside, instantly spotting several bowls of dinner rolls sitting atop the counter ahead of her. There was a sink to the right where a man was washing dishes, and she wondered if she still wanted to go for it.
Holding her breath, she eased herself in and quietly crept up to the counter and just about got a bowl, when the man spotted her and started yelling at her in Spanish, wielding a knife. Screaming, she grabbed blindly to a bowl and ran out of there.
When she was far enough away, she caught her breath and looked down at her prize. Most of the bread had fallen out, only two rolls remained. "Just my luck," she heaved, although she was grateful she had been able to snag a snack and swallowed them whole.
"I thought I told you to stay off our turf," a voice came from behind her and she barely turned her head before she was slammed into a few trashcans. Groggy, she looked up to see it was the gang that had been pestering her lately.
The only face she could make though was the leader. A huge dark guy, well over six feet tall, with a jagged scar over his left eye and his head shaved, wearing a big red sweatshirt and a pair baggy black pants.
He reached down to grab her, but she threw the empty bowl at his head, then scrambled to her feet, running as fast as she could. She could run fast if she ever needed to, but because of her short legs and baggy jeans she could only go so far before tiring.
She pushed over garbage cans, mailboxes and anything else in her sights that would hopefully slow the thugs down, giving her the chance to distance herself from them. She didn't want to fight. Not today. She was so tired of fighting. She just wanted to curl up and hide.
Making a sharp left around a corner, she spotted a parked car and literally dove under, digging her nails into the ice so she wouldn't slide out from under it. Her heart was racing and her throat was burning as indistinct shouting could be heard and she saw their feet come trudging right past the car.
When the stomping and shouting faded, she figured she was safe and was about to slide herself out, when she saw a pair of feet coming up to the car and held her breath. They stopped right in front of the car and the sound of jingling keys caught her attention.
"Oh no…" the owner of the car got in and started up the engine and Sunshine panicked and rolled over on her back, then took hold of whatever she could attached to the car as it started to go. She hung on for dear life, thanking the heavens the road was icy since her bottom half was being dragged because she couldn't wrap her legs around anything.
The road was awfully bumpy and car rattled violently, she started to feel nauseous and finally let go after holding on for about two blocks or so, skidding across the street in an X position and reminded her of the movie Bambi.
"Well, that was fun!" she said to herself with obvious sarcasm when she came to a stop, sitting on the icy road and feeling like an idiot. "Hey, there she is!" snapping her head to the side, the gang members were running towards her and she jumped to her feet, slipped, then got up again and fled.
Several more cars parked ahead of her and, without a second thought, hopped up on one and ran across, then hopped on the one in front of that one, and so on and so on. When there were no more, she saw the streetlight, and jumped as high as she could to grab onto it.
Thud!
She ended up flat on her back on the concrete staring up at the gray sky, casting down snowflakes that fell lightly upon her face, sticking to her eyelashes and chapped lips. Dazed eyes fluttered shut as the thugs' dark figures surrounded her.
She could feel herself being dragged by her right arm to who-knows-where, but she didn't want to fight or open her eyes and the only thing she could concentrate on was the dull throbbing pain on her back.
After weakly beating on the hand of whomever was dragging her for what seemed like forever, she felt her feet touch the concrete and her head being lifted. Opening her eyes, she saw the leader looking right back at her with a malicious glint in his eyes. His hand curled around her throat, cutting off air-supply.
"You beat me last time mutant," the others let her go while the leader lifted the small teen off her feet, "but I got backup now." "This little thing beat you?!" most of the other guys were laughing at him and commenting on him.
This angered him more and he tightened his grip around Sunshine's neck, whose cheeks were blue from lack of oxygen. As black dots danced across her vision she kicked upward as hard as she could, hitting the guy in the jaw and knocking him down, but taking her with him.
She punched him repeatedly in the chest and once in the nose while sucking in air greedily, flailing wildly when they ripped her off of him, a fist striking her cheek, a boot smashing into her stomach and her knees buckled, the too familiar thick warm liquid that was blood in her mouth.
She spun on one foot while crouched, sweeping-kicking two of them then getting to her feet and punching every face she could see, nostrils flared and adrenaline surging through her veins. I'm a bit rusty, she thought as a knife came down and slashed her forearm.
The mutant bit back a cry of pain; blows rained down upon her and she blindly swung her limbs about, kicking and hitting without regard or strategy, getting herself stabbed several times in the legs and her clothes ripped.
The leader finally managed to get a hold on her and pinned her up against the wall, the end of her nose getting scraped by the coarse brick wall. "Now, you gonna stay off my turf, or do me and my crew have to negotiate even more, freak?"
He breathed in her ear, resting his chin on her shoulder. "You know, you're kinda cute fo' a Street Rat…" his big cold hand wandered under her shirt, caressing her stomach while the other gripped her inner thigh.
"N-no, please…" she tried to wriggle out of his grip, but she was too tired. She shivered at his touch when his hand rested on a rather odd lump on her backside, "Helloooo, what's this?" "It's nothing!" her energy quickly returned and she struggled with as much force as she could muster, finally breaking free of the leaders' grip.
"GO AWAY!" Sunshine then let out a loud and terrifying shriek that sounded more animal than human, freaking out the gang members. "Damn, let's get outta here!" there were gone in a flash, and she was left standing there, blood and saliva dripping off her quivering lips.
Tears welled in her eyes and she crumpled to the ground, convulsing rather violently as she hacked up about a handful of blood. The streets were completely empty, so there were no witnesses, and the small girl got on her side and into a fetal position.
Her tears flowed silently down her face as she hugged her knees to her chest, afraid to make a sound. She learned long ago back at the orphanage that if she let people hear her pain, she would only receive more pain.
After several minutes of lying there, she checked her wounds, most of them had stopped bleeding, though some only partly, and dragged her tired body into an alley. She found herself a small spot behind a few trashcans and sat there, thinking about nothing.
Nothing but dying thoughts.
"…And then you came. And, well, kinda saved me, sorta." Sunshine didn't look at Todd; she didn't want him to see the tears in her eyes. Pushing it all down, she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.
She reassured him with a smile, wordlessly telling him that she would be fine, confused to see that his eyes brimmed with tears as well. Todd was saddened by her story, yet also greatly angered by the fact that some people would actually gang up on someone for pretty much no reason.
A loud buzz snapped the two out of their gloomy mood. "Ooh, my clothes are now washed!" Sunshine opened the washer and reached in, feeling around for her clothes, but felt something damp and stringy.
She pulled out her clothes, and they were now nothing more than strips of thread, looking similar to shredded paper. "Aww, crap!"
I hate washing machines. They steal my socks. Next chapter up sometime! (Hopefully soon ;;;;)