*WARNING, THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL SITUATIONS*
{I do not own characters from Buffy, Charmed, Angel, Underworld or X-Men}
Judy Darlang walked down the sunlit path absentmindedly watching the light dance on the sidewalk in patterns of swaying leaves painted by the leaves of the mighty elm trees that lined the streets of Summerset Lane.
Everything since the Track and Field tryouts she had been forced to participate in was a hazy yet pleasant blur of events. She had lunch with stacey, gossipped and giggled about the boys in the wrestling match with some new acquaintances who had found her suddenly more compelling, been asked to take an impromptu physical with a blood and urine test which Stacey pointed out was probably to test for drugs or steroids, and throughout the series of unprecedented events she had maintained a state of altered and heightened awareness that left her feeling like she was viewing the world through some sort of new lens that made everything clearer and more significant yet left her feeling somewhat detached, like an observer in her own body.
She kicked a pebble and watched as it embedded itself in a fire hydrant which began to spray out of the dent it made as she walked past. Turning down Mordier Drive she took a shortcut through an alley that led to a creek crossing which ran under the outer-wall of a cemetery.
She ran her hands across the smooth surface of the marble inlay and concentrated on the sensation, surprised by the detail her mind perceived.
A voice from behind her said something she didn't register, but she turned around to greet the anomaly.
CRACK!
A piece of something hard snapped over the back of her head and she fell to the ground, face first into mud alongside the creek.
She pushed herself up slowly spitting blood onto the ground and turned, looking up at her assailant.
A blond boy near her age stood holding a wooden plank, his short straight hair hung loosely on his forehead and he stared at her with compelling blue eyes. The boy raised the plank defensively, his upper arms flexing bulging muscles, his torso rippling with youthful strength under a tight white t-shirt.
"Jake?" Judy managed to sputter.
Other images came into focus, the boy was surrounded by a small cadre of friends, most from the wrestling team she noted. They sneered at her, one of them had a hungry look in his eyes. Jake stared at her without saying anything for a moment as his eyes traveled up her bare leg to taking in what her loose skirt revealed upon flipping up as she fell.
"I said, what the fuck do you think you are doing!?" repeated Jake.
"I... was just walking.." Judy reached up to the side of her head, feeling a sudden pain, something hot and sticky was matting her hair.
"He means at school you dumb whore" jeered one of his companions.
"What are you some kind of Dyke now?" continued Jake. "I should have guessed, you're fat enough to be one."
The small hunting party chuckled first nervously then laughed maliciously throwing random insults, encouraged by each-other.
Jake also looked more confident, he moved forward and put a hand on Judy's exposed thigh.
"You stay out of our way you fat freak!" called someone from behind him as he moved his hand upward and inward.
Judy just stared in shock, tears began to blur her vision, her head was ringing.
"I think you need to remember how to be a woman... " Jake called over his shoulder to the others "Maybe we should help her remember?"
The looks of loathing and malice became tainted with lecherousness as the group closed in.
"That's right." said Jake now talking to himself as much as anyone. "You need to remember how to be a girl... you never had a man did you? That's why your so... confused... " he leaned down closer, his body now inches from her. "But we can help you... no it's our job to help you right? You should be 're going to make you into a woma..."
Thud!
Jake went flying at a 45 degree angle into the air clearing at least 6 feet before landing heavily against the trunk of a mighty elm and falling limp to the ground.
There was a yell of surprise from the group as the girl on the ground was no longer on the ground either.
Judy watched as if outside of her body, she was in the air, she had lept from lying flat on her back, and now the world was spinning because she was flipping two feet above the head of the nearest boy.
She landed behind him then kicked backward hard, she heard a crack and new he had fallen.
A long piece of wood was swinging at her from behind and to her left, her fist met it and it splintered into a hundred pieces. The assailant who had wielded the crude weapon stepped back in shock clutching his arm.
From her right came another body, this one had it's arms wide and lept at her in an attempt to tackle her to the ground. She grabbed him by the neck mid flight and followed his motion over her head and let him go, peripherally aware of him speeding like a dart to the wall and flattening against it with thump.
Two more, the first turned and ran, the second swung his right fist at her. The world spun again as she flipped backward kicking a rather large rock up into his face. He fell to his knees, mouth bloodied as she turned mid leap and kicked the rock with her other foot sending it flying at the retreating figure. Two boys fell, face first, to the ground as she landed, one arm out stretched for balance, the other pointing downward to center her.
She breathed heavily, not with exhaustion but with adrenaline. Everything was hazy, and some part of her was telling her to run, so she did, she ran straight at the wall and cleared it in a single jump, fleeing into the Cemetery, instinctively searching for a strategic place to recuperate or set up an ambush if she was pursued.
Inside of her somewhere a voice was screaming, but the cries of shock, fear and anguish wouldn't escape her throat, so she let them flow out in her tears.