“Blayne,” she whispered, “Mama C.”
He looked her direction and then back at the trouble in front of them. “What do you want?” His voice carried to all four of the intruders.
A shorter guy slapped a tire iron against his hand and stepped forward, the other two flanking him. “We want whatever you got. This looks like a real nice place, too. Protection from the wind, cover from the rain and snow, a nice barrel for fires. Real nice. So, we’re gonna take over here for you, too.”
“They have food and a coupla’ nice sleeping bags over here,” yelled the man standing over Mama C.
“We don’t want any trouble from you boys.” Mama C pushed herself up off the bucket she sat on. “You can have it all. We’ll just be on our way.” Her voice remained steady with a touch of resignation—as if she was getting tired of the game. As if this had happened too many times to count. “Come on Blayne. Kaylee. Let’s leave these boys to it.”
The guy with the tire iron perked up and leaned around Blayne. He raised his eyebrows and licked his lips when he saw Kaylee huddled behind him. Blayne’s hands curled into fists at his sides and he stepped sideways, blocking the guy’s view. “Go collect your spoils. We’re leaving,” he growled.
Blayne reached behind him and grabbed Kaylee’s hand, pulling her after him. Keeping his body between hers and the viaduct pirates. She held tight as her adrenaline kicked in and her pulse skyrocketed.
“Now wait a minute.” The guy shoved the tip of the tire iron in Blayne’s chest. “What do we have here?”
Blayne stood his ground. One of the guy’s cohorts rushed around and grabbed Kaylee’s coat, pulling her away from Blayne. The scent of body odor, urine, and alcohol attacked as she drew in a sharp, frightened breath. Fight or flight, she thought. She twisted away from his grip on her coat and came face-to-face with the third guy. She slammed her knee into his groin and backed up as he buckled over in pain. Blayne had somehow taken control of the tire iron and wielded it out in front of him.
“Just let us go and you can have everything,” Mama C shouted.
“Shut up old lady!” the guy facing off with Blayne yelled. “We found something else we want.”
Blayne’s eyes flashed anger and his grip tightened on the iron. He swung but didn’t connect as the mouthy pig jumped back just in time.
An arm wrapped around Kaylee’s neck and a body pressed up against hers from behind. A glint of light reflected off a rusty blade as her assailant pushed the knife against her cheek. “Better back off, Romeo. Drop the tire iron.” His rancid breath brushed her face, and she gagged.
Kaylee’s eyes met Blayne’s for a split second and she knew he wasn’t going to drop it. Blayne swung up, catching the shorter man right across the jaw with a crunching blow. In the same motion he slammed the weapon down on the shoulders of the man Kaylee had kneed as he tried to stand. Taking her cue from Blayne, Kaylee pulled down on the arm around her neck with both hands, using all her weight and twisting out of his grasp in time avoid the brunt of Blayne’s tackle. The tire iron flew out of his hand and skittered across the gravel as both Blayne and the knife-wielding man crashed to the ground. The blade plunged into Blayne’s left shoulder. He grunted and Kaylee’s hands flew to her mouth. “Blayne!”
Blayne sat up, straddling the man, and slammed a fist into his face. The knife dropped from his now limp hand and clattered to the ground.
“Blayne!” Mama C shouted.
Guy number four rushed toward them with his bat up and ready to swing. Kaylee jumped and grabbed the tire iron, tripping the man with a swing at his knees. “Let’s go! My car!” She held tight to the tire iron in one hand, grabbing Blayne’s arm with the other as she urged him to stand. The three of them, Mama C clutching a small duffle bag, hurried to Kaylee’s car parked behind a dumpster a dozen yards away. As they neared it, she handed the tire iron to Blayne and reached into her coat pocket for the keys. She pushed the door unlock button twice and risked a glance behind her as she reached for the driver’s door handle. The only pursuer was the guy with the bat, but she must have knocked his knee a good one, because he limped along at a much slower pace than even Mama C. Blayne opened the back door and ushered Mama inside, slamming it before running around to the passenger side. He slid in with a grunt and closed the door. Kaylee hit the lock button and tangled with the keys, trying to get the right one in the ignition with her shaky hands.
She started her car and pulled away as the bat flew through the air and bounced off her trunk. She accelerated onto a main road and risked a glance at Blayne. The part of his face she could see between long bangs and facial hair was pale. He reached his hand around to his left shoulder and pulled bloody fingers away.
“I need to get you to the hospital,” Kaylee said.
“No.”
“But you’ve been stabbed!” Her stomach lurched.
“It’s not that deep. I’ll be fine.” Blayne leaned his head back.
“How do you know how deep it is?” She met Mama C’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “Mama C. Talk some sense into him.”
“Blayne,” Mama C leaned forward, “maybe she’s right.”
“I’m fine. No hospital. I don’t have insurance or an I.D. or money. We can just go somewhere and clean it up a little.”
“None of that matters,” Kaylee argued.
