The Guardian

stomach. The Guardian tossed the beam to the side. As Jack raised himself up on his hands and knees, he was suddenly met with a full, snapping front kick to the ribs. The blow forced him down and across the floor.
    “Stay down you dumb bastard” The Guardian warned.
    Jack was too proud and too stupid to listen to any reason at this point. He was up on his feet, holding his ribs, pain searing inside of him. He was charging at the Guardian like a mad banshee out of his mind.
    He was met with a rapid fire combination flourish of full knuckle strikes, back knuckle strikes, elbow strikes and ridge hand strikes that started at his ribs, up to his shoulders, down his solar plexus, into his stomach back to his rib and up to a final elbow strike to the side of the head. The Guardian had landed almost forty blows in the matter of seconds. The final blow rendered him unconscious. He landed in a heap at the Guardians feet. “I told you to stay down you dumb bastard.”
    The Guardian quickly went to the three remaining rooms. These were locked. His blood ran cold, fearing what he would find inside. Trying each key, he found the one that worked. He unlocked the first room, swung the door open. There, crouched on the small bed tightly curled into a ball, the first girl, her eyes wide with fear. He quickly went to the other two rooms, finding the other two girls in the same condition. He thought he was going to be sick. The stench of each room overwhelmed him. How could anyone force another human being to live this way?
    One by one, he gathered the girls into the open area. Kneeling down he checked each one for any serious injuries. Then he took the girls in his arms and hugged them. “You’re safe now. He won’t be able to hurt you anymore.” They were all looking at him. This strange man was all in black, even the hood that covered his head. But the eyes, they were so soft, understanding and trusting. His voice was more comforting than anything they could remember.
    The girls were sobbing now, “Oh God, thank you”, “Oh God, where’s my parents?” “Can we go home now?” “Thank you.” The bombarded him with their questions as they released all their pent up fears and emotions.
    “Where are your clothes? Do you know?” He asked them.
    They were shaking their heads. “Where are our parents?” They wanted to know.
    “They’ll be coming very soon, but first we need to get some clothes on you. We can’t have them finding you like this now can we?
    “Do you know where your clothes are?” He asked them again.
    “We don’t know. He took them from us when he brought us here. We’ve been in these since then.”
    The Guardian was thoroughly disgusted.He had to do something. He went from room to room, searching for anything that resembled clothes but found nothing. Frustrated, he started yanking the sheets off of each bed. He went out to where the girls were standing, handed one to each of them.
    “Here, wrap these around you, wear them like a toga, you know what a toga is right? Just like the Romans used to wear?”
    They all nodded and took the sheets wrapping themselves in the white material.
    “Look, nobody knows we’re here, understand? I have to call some people, let them know where we are. I have to do something before they get here though. I need you girls where you’ll be safe and out of the way. Is that okay?” He said looking at them.
    They were looking at each other, trying to understand why they had to wait.
    “You don’t have to stay in here. It’s better that you wait in the house where it’s more comfortable.”
    He led the girls out of the cold, dank dungeon that they had been living in. Like a small parade, they went to the house. Of course, it was locked. He fumbled with the ring of keys he still held in his hand, found the one that fit and opened the house.
    Turning to the girls he said, “You’re out very far away from anything. It will take them awhile to get here. They don’t know where we are and it may be a few minutes is all I’m saying. I just want you to stay in here where it’s safe. You need to know that I can’t take you with me. I won’t leave you alone until they get here, Okay. I promise you’ll be safe now.”
    They all nodded in agreement. Once he was sure that they would be all right. He told them to raid the kitchen. He instructed them help themselves to what ever they wanted. He told them to lock the door behind him and not to let anyone in except himself or