CHAPTER 32

I pull back to see Heather's face afraid and confused before I step around her making sure not to touch her before grabbing my coat and rushing out of the mall. I'm on my bike and down the road in a matter of seconds before I check my rear view and see no cops behind me, either she didn't tell anyone what happened or nobody called the cops. The reality of what I'm riding hits me more than the cold and light rain do as I race half way across town to the stone field. I slow down enough to keep from wrecking my bike as I cut through the gas station parking lot and up the trail to the field. I get to the edge of the rock clearing and see movement in the middle which gets my hopes up a little. I kill the bike and drop my helmet in a mad dash to what I'm hoping is my Kori. As I get up close I can see more of Kori's skin exposed than I care for in this instance, her clothes have been torn open or off of her and her backpack with its contents have been scattered out by whoever did this to her. It's the blood that catches my eye first, not a lot of it like she's been stabbed but little pock marks across her back and some red strips to match them. I start to try to pick Kori up but as soon as I touch her an arm and a rock come swinging at me. The shot is easily deflected and I take Kori's face in my hand and turn her to see me but she can't, her eyes are swelling shut from getting punched in the face.

"Baby it's me, it's your Guy," I tell her trying to calm her down," Kori I'm here but we need to get you out of the cold and back somewhere safe."

Kori drops the rock when she hears my voice and I wait for the tears that don't fall, slowly Kori and I get her to her feet and I put my coat around her before slowly walking her back to my bike. As we walk I can see that save for her shoes and her panties the rest of her clothing including her jacket have been destroyed in the attack. I don't have any of the pained humor or whatever I was feeling in my body anymore as I get Kori back on my bike and our helmets on before taking care to get us back to my house safely. The whole trip Kori has her arms wrapped tightly around me like the world will end if she lets go. I don't bother to pull into the driveway at home. I bring my bike right up to the front step which gets my father's attention fast. Once the door is open and he can see the whole situation I watch my Dad go from slightly angry to calm and barking orders to Mom, Liz and Katy for everything from his first aid kits in the gym to contacting Kori's mom. We get Kori into the house and my dad and the girls take her to my room before my Mom backs me out so that they can help. I don't know what's going on as I go back into the living room but my head is swimming and I'm lost in the confusion of what's going on with Kori. At some point her Mom and Carl come over and neither of them really notices me as my Dad starts to explain to them what happened and how my Mom is patching Kori up and that all her injuries are superficial.

At some point that I don't remember I'm in the gym on my knees trying to piece together what happened. I don't know what time it is but I can feel someone shaking me lightly by the shoulder, I turn my head to see Mary trying to speak to me. I don't know what happened but all I could do when I wanted to speak was scream. Over and over again I sat there screaming so much that Mary got startled after the first one and backed off and nobody came back to talk to me. I screamed until I had no air left and I felt exhausted on the gym floor. Finally in the quiet I hear Mary again, this time with Mom coaxing me off the floor and onto a bench so they can see me. I'm hit with a barrage of questions about what happened. I keep from answering and just sit quietly until both women give up and finally my Father and Carl come in to take their places. Both men pull up a seat and wait for me to speak.

"Heather did this, she got a hold of Kori somehow and had her friends do… that," I choke on the words feeling pain in my chest," I got one of them to tell me where she was and when I found her I brought her here."

"Well the women want to call the authorities but your Dad and I are holding them off," Carl tells me solemnly," He and I have been discussing what's been going on with the school and the rash of bullying but this is too much."

"I don't want the police involved, Heather didn't give me up when I destroyed one of her people in the mall and she let the other's do it at all," I explained quietly.

"Guy, he never said to call the cops," Dad says, getting me to look up.

"Where I'm from kid someone comes at your family like this you make sure they know they're living on borrowed time," Carl says putting his hand on my shoulder," I want one thing from you in all of this, I want the kids who did this to be afraid of what happens when they even think about speaking my daughter's name."

I watch Carl get up and leave the gym before closing the door behind him. My Dad is sitting quietly before moving next to me on the bench.

"I'm sorry this happened to Kori," Dad tells me putting his arm around me," I can see where you're going in your head boy. Keep that black inside for now, the first thing is we let you ask your girl what she wants. After that I'll help you plan the next piece."

Dad helps me up and I walk out of the gym into the silence of the house, everyone is in the living room or dining room but all talking stops when they see me. I hold it together and make my way down the hall to my room where Katy and Liz are talking with Kori on my bed. Everyone stops when I get there and both girls leave me with Kori before closing the door behind them. My heart is heavy as I see that while they got the swelling down on Kori's eyes and she has all her teeth it's the wraps on her arms and the large bandages on her back and stomach that have me almost balling my eyes out. Kori sees my face and pulls me into her, quieting me down.

"I didn't cry baby, not once when they beat me with belts did I cry," Kori says holding me," Don't you start now."

"She told me that if I broke up with you she wouldn't hurt you," I told my battered Kori weakly," But I knew she was going to hurt you anyway, I knew she couldn't keep herself from it."

"When they stopped I heard them tell me he's coming," Kori says softly, turning my head to see her face," Just the thought of you coming for them scared them so bad that they got back into their van and ran."

I let her hold me and I finally calmed down enough to sit facing Kori on the bed. I explain the whole confrontation to Kori leaving out no details, including my laughter and how happy I felt. Kori smiles a little and takes my hand.

"You ready to use that again," Kori asks me, getting my attention," They hurt me but they didn't break me. Fucking useless assholes should have tried to rape me if they really wanted to scare me."

"I'd gut them and feed their fucking cocks to them before they died if they touched you like that," I growl getting angry.

"Yes baby, you would. Now we are going to do this," Kori says with a steely tone," Not just you, all of us are going to be a family and we're going to show them how dangerous we are. I don't just want violence for this, I want everyone who will follow behind our family to be together and understand that we're not going back until it's over."

"One thing, nobody touches Heather," I say, getting a questioning look from Kori," I want to tear everyone down around her till she's all alone again."

Kori smiles a little and pulls me into the bed with her so we can hold each other. I replay all of the events for today and come to one factor that makes my blood boil, Ben. He wasn't with us at all and when Kori gets grabbed he's nowhere to be found. First place to start tomorrow is his front doorstep, reckoning is coming.