The Rescue

Here is an excerpt from a short story I'm working on, tentatively entitled "The Rescue."

Noon and the sun's glare burned through me while I walked through the parking lot on my way into Smile's Donuts. Sweat dripped off my head and my t-shirt stuck to my overheated body. I always hated muggy August days like this and I cursed not having the money to get out of town to someplace cooler.

I stumbled as a foot cut in front of me. I crumpled as a knee slammed into my groin and a fist hit my jaw.

I didn't even see the pavement as my vision went supernova with stars and fireworks exploding in my head.

I squeezed my eyes shut and the fireworks just got brighter, so I just lay there face down on the pavement, the kicks and the punches crashing down on me.

This really was it. Nothing to do now.

Sweat poured off me, yet I shivered. Cold numbness spread itself over me like that blanket they threw over Dad after the car had hit him that morning in January years ago when the roads were so icy and nobody could stop...

"What the hell's going on here?"

That old guy who owned the big house out on the lake road was here. I knew his voice. He came around the doughnut shop a lot. But he must've been close to sixty. How the hell could he stand up to creeps like Kevin and his idiot friends?

The cold receded and pinpricks of warmth stuck into my arms and legs. I was coming back. Maybe.

Shouts and screams. Was that a thunderclap? Or a gunshot?

The fireworks went off and the blows and explosions of red spiked agony all over my body stopped.

The cold blanket lifted. Warmth was returning to me. Within minutes, I would be boiling again.

I didn't complain. At least that meant I was still alive.

"What the hell did those guys want with you?" a voice asked.

The old guy was speaking to me.

I couldn't answer. Hands reached under my arms and my feet dragged on the pavement.

He was taking me somewhere.

Blurred shapes spun around. I told myself to focus, try to see what's going on.

My stomach churned. Puke rose up in my throat.

The blurred shapes loomed larger again and I had to close my eyes. My God, my whole body ached now. I just wanted to get out of there.

Then all the pain went away and everything was quiet.