Gin Palace 01 - The Poisoned Rose

part of me that didn’t doubt it, that heard it well and knew just what it meant.
    A car passed down Main Street behind me, and I could hear very little over it till it was gone. Then silence returned to the open parking lot and I waited in it, not making a move, my eyes fixed on the tiny-fenced in park behind the library.
    Then my ears found something, a rustling sound from near the center of that small park, the unmistakable sound of a struggle.
    I heard murmured words, male voices giving hurried and hushed commands. Then finally I heard it, another shriek, or half a shriek, for it was cut off midway through just like the one before, cut off before it could rise and carry, before it could reach above the dense trees that surrounded that park.
    It was all I needed to hear. My heart burst and sent a terrible ache through me, and I broke into an all-out run.
    I reached the fence and cleared it as quickly and quietly as I could. Then I moved forward through the border trees. This park was significantly darker than the open lot was, but still I spotted them almost instantly. They were on the other end of the enclosure, in a patch of open ground that was only slightly better lighted than the ground under the crowding trees.
    There were three of them, three boys in lettermen jackets. And there was Tina, in the middle of it. I could see her well enough. She was in their arms, not one part of her touching the ground. She was kicking and bucking and trying with all she had to get free of them. It looked like a feeding frenzy.
    I could hear her murmuring. One of the boys had his hand over her mouth. They were all talking at once in voices that weren’t all that hushed but still quiet. They didn’t hear my approach.
    The three boys were busy with Tina, busy keeping her still, busy yelling at each other, busy tearing Tina’s T-shirt open, pulling at her white bra, trying to peel down her jeans. They had no idea I was even there till I was upon them.
    The first boy I reached had shoulder length hair, thick. I came up beside him and grabbed a handful of that hair and gave a good yank, pulling it like I was ringing a church bell, bending my knees and tugging him almost head first to the ground. I used all my body weight and hung onto him till he was flat out on his back. I couldn’t have him getting back up right away, the fall he had taken wasn’t hard enough to stun him, so the instant he hit the ground I let my legs buckle and dropped down on him, landing my right knee, with all my body weight behind it, onto his ribs. I heard a quick crack and a deep grunt.
    I left him there and stood fast. I caught Tina from the corner of my eye. Her T-shirt was torn up the middle, her bra around her neck. Her breasts were exposed. I didn’t want to see them but there was nothing I could do about that. Her jeans were unbuttoned and had been pulled almost past her hips, her panties with them.
    The other two boys still had her. They were aware of me but hadn’t had time to drop her yet. The second boy had one hand over her mouth and the other hand around her waist. The third had his hands hooked under her knees. I saw that Tina’s eyes were closed tight, her face contorted with anger and concentration. She was still bucking with all she had.
    I moved without hesitation to the boy nearest to me, the one with her legs in his arms. I rushed him, crouching like a peek-a-boo boxer, like Frazier or Tyson, and spiraled with my whole body and being and drove a fast open-handed uppercut between his muscular legs. It landed with a loud slap. He dropped Tina’s legs, drawing his arms fast to his crotch as if to catch something about to fall. He fell to a heap on the ground and immediately began to heave his dinner.
    The third boy had dropped Tina by then and was rushing toward me, moving like a linesman after the quarterback. Tina lay flat out on the ground, her eyes wide open. She had no clue what was happening. The third boy came in for a low tackle. I let him, and the first blow I landed was a sharp knee thrust to his face. It slowed him a little. A second blow stunned him. I was able then to grab hold of his head with both hands. I hugged it close to me like it was a basketball I didn’t want to lose and wailed at it again with my knee. It took two more blows before the third boy caved and lost momentum and stumbled facedown to the ground.
    My mind was racing now. I know I should have grabbed Tina and gotten out of there. I had done what