I looked around one last time, taking in the scenery, and was about to hop on the back of my bike when a soft childish grunt came out.
I frowned and looked up, trying to determine where the noise had come from.
Some scuffling came out from my left, and then another grunt, followed by the sound I had heard a million times before.
The fucking sound of a slap.
A child cried out, and I felt all the blood in my body roar to life.
What the fuck?
I quickly followed the sound and came up to a small cliff I had been at no more than twenty minutes prior.
The afternoon sun beat down on the back of my neck, and I squinted around, trying to get my eyes to focus.
I found two figures underneath a large oak tree by the edge of the cliff. A man and a small child. I couldn’t see the man clearly since he was wearing a black cap that hid his face from my view, but I could see the girl.
Black, midnight hair tied in two braids that had long ago come apart, to big light-colored eyes that seemed to take too much from her face. A small set of elvish-like ears stuck out from her small, oval-shaped face, a prominent nose, and a slight figure.
“Shut it. Look what you made me do. I wouldn’t have hit you if you just listened,” the man grunted out.
My nostrils flared, and I took a few quiet steps closer.
The girl child was small. Too small to be facing off against the fucker, who had his filthy arms wrapped around her slender shoulders.
She struggled to get away, her eyes widening a bit in pain when I assumed the fucker tightened his hold around her.
At first glance, she looked all about ten, maybe twelve. I realized she was a little older than that the closer I got. Fourteen or fifteen, perhaps. But she was a tiny little thing.
And she was fucking terrified.
Her eyes seemed to have gotten even bigger, the blood draining from her face.
My fist clenched as I sized up my new opponent.
I had about fifty pounds on the fucker, and several inches in height. I’d tower over them, no doubt.
But the cliff they were at had me hesitating.
She didn’t want to be near this fucker. That much was obvious. And there was something deranged about him.
What if he saw me, got spooked, and pushed her off to save his ass?
I couldn’t risk the girl getting hurt.
There was something fragile about the child. Something vulnerable about her that called to me to protect. To ensure she made it back to her family, no matter what. I couldn’t fucking live with myself if the fucker hurt her, I just knew it.
I didn’t know why, or fuck, how, but it was there.
The undeniable connection that drew me to her.
“Come on, Ryleigh. You want to be an obedient girl, don’t you? Didn’t your father teach you that?”
She bristled, her arms coming up in her struggle. She got in one good shot. I felt my chest puff with pride. She was a fighter.
The man grunted and dropped his arms away, setting her free.
I moved quicker, trying to get to them before the fucker could grab hold of her again.