Chapter 5.16

Outside, another guard had noticed that his co-worker wasn't at his post and was coming over in our direction. Shadow was still gone, helping the other children get to Tommy, so I had to deal with it solo. I slowly lowered her to the ground, at first, her feet buckled, but then she regained her balance and used the wall for support. We only had a few seconds before he noticed us, and then there would be a fight on even footing. I didn't want that, so I decided to charge at him. I threw feint at his face then snuck one in underneath, he moved to block the first one but was too late for the second, my fist plunged into his stomach just under his solar plexus. He was winded, thankfully he couldn't call out. I grabbed him by the shoulders and bought my knee up to his face, smashing against his nose. He grunted, which seemed to have alerted the other two guards.

The first was closer than the second, but it wouldn't take long for the other to catch up, and I especially didn't want to be fighting two on one in the dark while trying to protect the girl. I felt for my connection with Shadow, he'd just given the three kids to Tommy, and I felt that he was on his way back. Then he was behind me, back to back, facing the other guy.

The closest guy levelled his gun, I couldn't let him shoot it no matter what. I rushed forward and hit the gun up with the palm of my hand. The gun knocked up out of the way, but he used this opportunity to grab my wrist and pull me off balance. I threw my elbow into his face just at his knee hit me in the stomach. He let go and I swung around behind him to regain my balance. My stomach ached with the blow, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

I threw my knee up ready to kick him in the side, his expression flashed with a grin, reading himself, but at the last moment, I drop my ankle and hooked it around the other way, hitting him on his alternative side. Before putting it down I flicked my ankle under his, causing him to buckle and his face to thrust into my oncoming fist. He fell forward and I waited a few moments before I was satisfied he was out cold.

At his point, the third guy was almost on top of us and the first guy was waking up, "raise the alarm, why haven't you done that already?" he yelled, shaking off the bloody nose I'd left him.

I felt for Shadow and in a second, our connection elevated, Shadow became as solid as I, and my vision deepened with both his vision and my own. The two men didn't have a chance to know what had hit them because we were immediately on them, pushing them back to their limits, dodging their attacks and hitting in our own. If they were surprised to see Shadow, they didn't let on.

My mind buzzed alongside his, and we fought perfectly in synch, each with perfect knowledge of how the other was moving. We weaved in and out of each other, swapping appointments to confuse them, and moved from close to mid-range combat intermittently so they couldn't adjust quick enough. Although it felt like we'd been fighting for an age, in reality, it was only a few minutes, but sharing Shadow's mind had a way of messing with my sense of time. Shadow's opponent fell first, just before mine. Then I was gasping for breath, my senses afire with an overload of information.

Then I looked back at the girl, at some point Sargent had come to our aid, and he was trying to convince the girl to come with him, but she was hugging the wall and shaking her head.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to calm my racing heart.

"You were too long, I thought something was wrong. I was coming to help, but it looks like you didn't need it." He eyed Shadow suspiciously. I swore inside my head; I didn't trust him, I knew that he would relay whatever he saw to Raven. Now that he knew what Shadow was capable of, she knew. God knows what she would choose to do with that information.

I looked back at Shadow, it seemed like the immediate danger had passed, but if we stayed there any longer, that wouldn't be the case. I loosened my connection with him, the buzz uncomfortably slipped away, and I was left breathless and tired.

"It's okay." I reassured her, "he isn't going to hurt you." She loosened her grip and allowed me to lift her onto my hip. I let Sargent lead the way to the fence, he let us both through first and then scaled it after us.

"What happened to you?" Tommy asked as we got through to the other side. I think my face was red with blood and a part of my shirt was ripped.

"Ran into some trouble. I think we have about two minutes, so lead the way." I replied although all I wanted to do was rest.