My heart stammered nervously as I reached for my phone, then something solid hit my arm with a breathtaking crack.
I shouted and stumbled to my knees, my phone clattering uselessly on the ground. Pain ricocheted through my right arm, all the way to my neck, like electric ropes. Heat I'd never known followed. White stars broke across my vision as a vague, guttural yell followed the pain. Ben shouted, disappeared, and a scuffle of shoes on pavement began.
I tried to shove to my feet, but another whack slammed into my right side. The blow came just below my ribs, into the fleshy part of my side. I doubled over with another cry of pain, my breath gone. The sound of fists hitting flesh followed and screeches followed as I tumbled to the ground. Whoever shouted, it wasn't Ben.
A third whack followed, but this one glanced off my thigh.
A bat.
Someone had just hit me with a bat.
“Give me your money!” Amber cried. She hovered just over me, feral animosity in her wild eyes. “Your brother owes me and I'm going to get my money.”
Gasping, I tried to struggle off my back, but she shoved me with a foot. My teeth gritted as my right elbow slammed into the ground, and another round of fresh pain spiraled through my body. Nausea welled up in my stomach.
“Get it!” she screamed.
With a ringing sound in my eyes, I ripped the backpack strap off my left shoulder with that hand. My right arm, still pulsing, cradled uselessly against my stomach. I blinked to clear my vision. Benjamin stood before the larger of the two, arms high, body crouched. The man had a streak of blood from his nose across his cheek and a hideous glower darkening his expression. He seemed cautious now and unwilling to advance. The second already moaned on the ground, inert on his left side.
“Come on big guy,” Ben muttered. “I'm not even winded yet.”
“Where is your money?” Amber shouted and pulled my attention back. “Give it to me now.”
“Here.” Any attempt to be careful was lost. I extricated the backpack. My right arm jarred as I pulled the strap off. Another bolt of fire nearly took my breath away. “Take it. Call . . . them off.”
The words wheezed out of me as my breath slowly returned. The dull, throbbing ache on my side was no match for my broken arm, but now it tingled. My brain desperately tried to focus, but I could barely see. Benjamin filled my mind, a mere dark blur moving in the background now.
Amber stepped out of the shadows of the building again, bat held high.
“The bag already!” she screamed.
With a grunt, I threw the backpack away from me with my left arm. The desperate look in her eyes set my teeth on edge as she scrambled for the bag. Her hair spiraled around her in a crazy mass, her skin pale and splotchy. A thin tank top strap dropped down one bony, dirty shoulder.
“You took him from me!” she cried. “I loved him. I loved him!”
What drug was she on to cause such a freakish tirade? Her eyes were wide and dilated, like a frightened horse. She paced back and forth, the bat on her shoulder. She pointed it at me and let out a shrill scream as she reached for the bag. Behind us, Benjamin circled the bigger man. Every few steps, he'd lash out like a tiger, then retreat. The other guy could barely keep up. His confidence seemed to be waning, even as he attempted to advance with sheer brawn.
Amber snatched the bag when I heard the grunts of fighting resume. She skittered back the shadows. I fumbled for my phone on the ground nearby and tried to keep my eyes on her, but everything moved too strangely. The fighting darkness as Benjamin and the man grappled together in full fight mode. The long light of the street lamp so far away. My fingers seemed to take forever to dial 9-1-1.
Finally, a voice came over the earpiece.
“9-1-1, what's your emergency?”
“A-attacked,” I cried. “We're being attacked in the parking lot of the Frolicking Moose. There are three—”
A leg connecting with my stomach sent me onto my back with a grunt. Only a second passed before I understood that Amber had kicked me. The blow had barely been enough to overturn me, but I lost my breath again. She stomped on my phone, then kicked it away while I gasped for