We Were Born Sick

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina froze as she saw the man she’d been avoiding for weeks. His arm was still in a sling, and she felt a vicious sort of satisfaction at the fact, but the creepy smile he’d sent her way set her on edge. Shit. Ego, both hers and his, had gotten them to this point. She needed to get out of here. Selina saw the four others he had with him and absently wondered if he went everywhere with them or if she was just incredibly unlucky.


    Groups of five. Always the best number to keep the odds in your favor when committing a crime. The question she had to figure out was which crime they had in mind. He looked sober this time, so he was likely looking for a way to gain back whatever influence he’d lost for being beaten by a girl. His end goal would most likely be sexual violence and humiliation. He wouldn’t take this so far as to kill her, but she wasn’t willing to endure whatever he had in mind either. Selina needed to get away until she could figure out some way to deal with him that wouldn’t further escalate the situation.


    Selina wondered if they were bold enough to make their move on a crowded street. Probably not. She needed to stay in an area with lots of people, but she simultaneously really wanted to just make a break for it and run. Shit. The way back to the school involved a stretch of road that would give them way too much opportunity. She’d have to stay in town for now. The police wouldn’t be any help against them either. Maybe if she called… who the hell would she contact? Nico had already gotten in trouble with the law, and she wouldn’t put him through anything further for her sake.


    Was there anyone at that damn school she trusted? The simple answer was no. Spencer… she almost paused as she thought about trying to contact him. He was strong and could probably scare them away with a look, but she also wouldn’t depend on him to solve her petty problems. Besides, even if Spencer was willing to help, this boy would probably just try again another time. This was her mess, no one else’s. She’d deal with it like she always had before. Alone.


    Taking on five of them at once would be pure stupidity, but if she could somehow find a way to force them to face her one at a time… Selina still hated her odds. If she ran and lost them, she could always transfer elsewhere. She doubted he was the extreme type to follow her outside the country… she was so lost in her own thoughts she accidentally slammed into a guy walking the other way. “Shit sorry,” she murmured before glancing back and swearing again under her breath as she saw the group getting closer. She quickly turned and started walking at a slightly faster pace. She needed to figure out something quickly.

Isaac Monroe

[Isaac Monroe]

Isaac was out doing what he often found himself doing whenever given the chance. He was simply wandering around, debating whether or not it would be worth the hassle to just keep walking straight out of Kalispell to return to his former life. It was a tempting prospect, to be sure, though Isaac really didn't know if he wanted to find out how a 'rogue mutant' would end up being handled by the Academy. He was old enough to leave and found it utter bullshit that he was considered a 'danger' to himself and others and couldn't get his release. It was probably only because they wanted to poke and prod at him some more.

The feel of someone bumping into him brought Isaac back to the present. He stumbled back a few steps before regaining his balance and looking to the dark haired girl who had been the culprit. Even though he hadn't even been paying attention to where he was going and could've easily been at fault, his mouth opened with the intent of ripping in to the girl for being a clumsy shit. No words came out, though, as his eyes snapped to the group stalking closer. They looked a bloodthirsty lot with only the girl in mind. Isaac had seen this scenario far more times than he cared to admit. Instantly his power kicked in dumping a surge of adrenaline into his system. If there was a fight to be had he didn't give a damn who had started it. Five on one wasn't how you handled your business.

"You got about five seconds to tell me what the fuck is going on here lady." Isaac growled, turning to look back to the girl. His bright, blue eyes had already begun to gleam with the promise of violence. "Are these guys with you?" He asked, jerking a thumb at the rapidly approaching group, not seeming rattled in one bit about what could possibly be seconds away from happening.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina wasn’t even paying attention to the boy anymore, as she’d already moved on, looking down into each alley she passed for something that could give her the advantage she needed to even things out as much as she possibly could. When she heard him speaking she glanced over her shoulder in confusion. What the hell was he doing? This didn’t involve him, and she didn’t have time for macho bullshit. But his eyes… he’d done this sort of thing before. Selina almost laughed at his question and kept walking at a fast pace, “No, and it’ll be dangerous. But if you really want to join in, I certainly won’t stop you.” Not that she really could anyway. She had enough to worry about as it was. And yes, she was worried, scared, and more than a bit tense, but she swallowed it, because right now she couldn’t afford to get distracted.


    Normally she’d just ignore him or tell him to fuck off as it wasn’t his business, but he didn’t look like someone who could be brought down with a single blow, and frankly, she needed all the leverage she could get. Two against five doubled her odds, and that was better than anything else she could hope for right now. If nothing else, he’d slow the group down. She just needed to find a place that people would be unlikely to wander into. She finally found what she was looking for and darted into a nearby alley, not taking care to notice whether or not he’d followed her. A nice long dumpster bin, about six feet long and three feet wide in an alley with a width of roughly ten feet. It wasn’t much, but she’d take what she could get.


    Anything between her and them was a plus in her mind and she had to move fast. “By the way, if you have any suggestions, or brilliant ideas, I’m open, because otherwise this is where we fight,” she offered. If she shoved the partly empty garbage bin into the middle of the alley lengthwise, it would restrict the group's immediate access to the two foot margins on either side of the dumpster and provide a three or four foot high barrier across the majority of the little street. It was temporary, but every second she gained to her advantage she’d take, as underestimating them would end up costing her a far higher price than she was willing to pay. Besides, if the boy took one side and she took the other, splitting up the group’s forces might be to their advantage.


    The guy with the sling on his arm most likely wouldn’t enter the fray, so it was really two on four. If the group split up like she hoped, it would one on two for each of them. Even if something unexpected happened, she’d still have gained herself some time, which was all she could really hope for as the new guy was a completely unknown variable. If all else failed, the alley was open ended on the other side and she could still make a run for it.

[Isaac Monroe]

Violence was very much a part of Isaac's life. It had been for as long as he could remember. He'd fought every day just to keep some semblance of an existence from being torn away by the jackals and vultures that were waiting to pounce upon the weak and infirm. He'd received precious little formal training in any of the arts of violence, yet a certain unhinged brutality had always served him well. And even through all that, Isaac wasn't stupid enough to fight someone else's battles while they ran off into an alley.

With an eerie calm settling over him, Isaac gave chase and jogged after the dark haired girl. Curiosity now mingled with the promise of the sweet, brutal bloodshed that made him feel so alive. "Suggestions?" Isaac's head tilted as his arms came to fold across his chest. The girl was scrambling, looking around at a bunch of shit around them as if she was forming some sort of plan. "The fuck you mean, 'suggestions'?" He snorted, head shaking. "If there's going to be a fight, what the hell is there to think about?" Yes, Isaac was having this conversation right now and the absolute worst possible time. And, no, it was obviously apparent he didn't give a single rat's ass about the five guys who were rapidly approaching from behind him.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina always looked for every advantage and fought with her head as she’d been rigorously trained to. She wasn’t about to take any time explaining anything to him though. When she turned to see the group of boys already in the alley, she knew that anything she’d thought of in her brief time was useless anyway. Time was up. “Fucking hell. Nevermind,” she swore as she watched them. Two on five. Well. That was going to be so much fun. Selina waited patiently for them, as she wasn’t one to instigate, and watched the new boy out of the corner of her eye.


    She was almost as interested in how he’d react as she was in the people approaching. What was he going to do? Rush them all at once on his own? Wait? Run? When the leader started talking, she absently wondered if he enjoyed listening to the sounds of his own voice. He offered to go “easy” if she’d just give in peacefully and Selina snorted in disbelief before shaking her head in the negative. This wasn’t going to be pretty. Besides, the kid next to her… she had no idea what he was doing here. In all probability he would most likely end up running in the other direction.


    As the leader turned to the new kid and gestured to her, Selina felt a fear she hadn’t yet, “You two just met right? If you help us out, you can have sloppy seconds,” he offered the boy with an ugly sneer. Selina glared at the leader with a hatred she hadn’t felt previously and eyed the new kid warily, while wondering if he’d turn on her. Shit. She hadn’t thought about this possibility, though she should have. She could still run…

[Isaac Monroe]

Isaac was ready to walk away and let nature take its course. He'd seen too much of this shit to want to get involved in some stupid argument turned violent. People got killed over the dumbest shit by letting their idiot pride get in the way. He wasn't going to have any part of it. That was, at least, until the proposition was leveled. That caused his eyes to narrow as he shifted, head turning to look at the group as they filtered in through the mouth of the alley.

Isaac was no hero and only a fighter out of necessity. Above all else, he had survived. The streets were ugly and littered with peril. It was no place for a young boy coming up in the world but it had been the only life he'd ever known. He'd bore witness to some of the most egregious and despicable acts humanity could possibly inflict upon itself. One usually didn't find themselves living long, healthy lives by sticking their nose in business it didn't belong.

And yet, he felt the flash of rage welling up inside. Isaac had lied, cheated, stolen, begged and fought. He'd spilled enough blood for it to haunt his dreams. Whatever it took to ensure he would see another tomorrow. A saint he was not but even he couldn't walk away from what he was now certain would happen if the girl was left alone. While she looked scrappy and more than capable in a fight, survivors had a tendency to be able to sense their own, the odds were heavily stacked against her.

Slowly Isaac turned his back to the girl and began approaching the young man who'd issued the despicable offer. An eerie calm had settled over the boy. It was the quiet before the storm as he sauntered directly up too the one who'd shown to be the leader. "That's a hell of a tempting offer." Isaac admitted, though as soon as he was close enough his body exploded forward, driving his forehead into the bridge of the leader's nose with a sharp crack and a spurt of blood.

[Selina Taylor]

    Selina glared at Isaac’s back as he went to the men. Damnit, seriously? She dropped her jacket on the ground, just happy she hadn’t worn earrings today. She honestly felt like vomiting because this situation was so repulsive, but she didn’t have the luxury of time. Selina took a step back out of sheer disgust at the boy’s response, before jolting in surprise as she heard bone crack. Clever child.

    She could have used the boy’s distraction to get away, but the idea was easily ignored. Selina’s mind went cold and almost mechanical as she attacked the man nearest her, who was still paying more attention to the blood coming from his leader than he was to her. She quickly slammed a kick into the pit of his stomach. When he reacted by sending a punch towards her face, she flipped the first boy onto his back, taking an extra second to break his wrist and came up to face the other.

    He was quicker than she’d thought he’d be, and he got in a hard kick to her gut and a punch that she barely noticed in time. She couldn’t dodge but she moved with it and avoided the full force of the blunt impact. His ring still cut open a gash underneath her left eye, and she staggered back while finding it more difficult to breathe.

    It had been over a year since she’d fought like this, and she had so quickly forgotten what it was to fight outside of a dojo. She’d had live practice with her teachers, but it was nothing like this. Her eyes hardened further as she started to remember what it was to hold nothing back. Selina simultaneously realized that these boys were nothing like the seasoned fighters she’d had to deal with in Chile. These boys had been relying on numbers and strength, not experience, and her energy came back with intensity as the boy quickly followed up with a second attack and a smile, thinking he’d already won.

    She easily deflected his kick and used his second punch to manipulate his strength against him, dropping him to the pavement. She heard his head crack against the concrete and noticed he didn’t make a move to get back up. It was likely just a concussion, but she didn’t have time to think about that.