Chapter 4 – Pocket Trinkets
Several hands grabbed each of her arms and slipped the backpack off of her shoulders before she could recover.
Grandfather was on the ground to her right as well. His backpack having been taken as well. Aurora leaped to her feet to give chase, but three of the large boys blocked her path. The other two, who had their backpacks, were already racing down the street to the corner.
Aurora leaped at the first boy in front of her and kicked him in the side. He blocked and grabbed her leg. While his arms were busy holding her foot, Aurora yanked her leg back down, which knocked him off balance. Meantime, she was already following through with an open plan to the side of his face. Aurora scored a solid blow just behind the jawbone below his ear.
The boy looked at her in stunned shock as he fell backward without a sound. Aurora leaped over him at the next boy in front of her. He glanced up at her in surprise, as if he hadn’t expected her to knock his friend out that easily.
Before Aurora could attack him, his friend standing to the side leaped forward to hit grandfather who had gotten to his feet on her left. Grandfather blocked the boy’s punch, and Aurora lashed out with a wicked sidekick that nailed him right where his midribs met his stomach. The air rushed out his lungs as he gave a loud groan.
She felt a crack under her feet as she followed through. A rib or two had broken. The boy screamed in pain as he fell to the ground at grandfather’s feet.
The third boy raised his palms toward them as looked from his friends to Aurora and then to grandfather. He turned to run, but Aurora leaped forward and kicked him just behind the knees with a hard push on his back to knock him forward.
He fell onto his knees and then pitched forward. His forehead and nose met the ground with a large crunch. As he slid forward and tried to roll over, Aurora slammed the heel of her foot down on the back of his calf.
“Argh! Please. I’m sorry,” the boy begged, as if pleading for his life.
The boys that had taken their bags were fast runners, and too much time had passed during the fight. Aurora knew that even with her speed, she wouldn’t be able to catch them. They were long gone. Aurora sighed and kneeled down beside the boy as he cowered away from her.
“Why did you take our backpacks? Where did your friends take them?” Aurora asked him with a smack to the face.
“Please, don’t hurt me,” the boy begged. “I don’t know. They just told me and my friends here to keep you from chasing them.”
“I don’t believe you,” Aurora spat. “Who are those boys? Who sent them?”
“I don’t know,” the boy whined. “I really don’t. I know these two here. We’re all neighbors a few streets over. But I’ve never seen those other two. They just asked us to help them take back something that you had stolen from them. But I didn’t know you were going to be just a…” the boy’s voice trailed off.
“What? An old man and a little girl who could kick your butts.” Aurora said.
The girl looked up at her grandfather. The old man shook his head and shrugged. He motioned for her to get up and follow him.
“We can’t just leave without our backpacks, Grandfather,” she said. “I packed all my best and most important life possessions in there.”
Grandfather put his arm around her and patted her arm comfortingly as he picked up his pace. “It’s okay. I will buy you more things to replace them. And I’ll let you choose even better things so you won’t remember them.”
“But it’s not fair. We can’t just let them get away with it. Those things are important to us? We need them.” Aurora complained.
“Hey, my little bird. We escaped with our lives. They already tried to kill me once, remember. They will try again once they realize that what they are looking for isn’t in either of those backpacks.”
Aurora looked at him in surprise. She had noticed back at the door that grandfather had been tapping his pocket from time to time. He smiled at her and winked.
Continue Reading Chapter 5 – Killing Intent
