Page 4 of Run Omega Run
"I know what day it is," I said, stepping between him and the building where the children huddled. "We're a little short this month. Donations have been—"
He raised one perfectly manicured hand, cutting me off mid-sentence. "Not my concern. You know our terms. Protection forthis little sanctuary of yours costs money. Money, or we take what you own."
His gaze slid past me toward the windows where little faces had been peeking out, and his smile widened. There was something hungry in that expression, something that made my skin crawl.
"We don't have anything else," I said, hating how my voice shook. "The children need—"
"The children," he rolled the words around his tongue like he was tasting wine. "Yes, let's talk about the children. Some of them are getting older, aren't they? More... valuable."
The brick-wall enforcer chuckled, a sound like rocks grinding together. "Boss is right. That red-headed one looked about ready to me."
"Mark the older girls," the leader instructed, never taking his eyes off me. "They'll be ready soon enough."
Before I could move, before I could think, the wiry enforcer brushed past me like I was made of paper. His hand shot out and grabbed Susie's arm as she tried to slip past the courtyard entrance. She'd probably been trying to get to the kitchen, to help with the little ones, and walked right into his reach.
"Let go of me!" Susie screamed, her voice cracking with terror and rage. She kicked at his leg, her sneaker connecting with his shin hard enough to make him grunt.
"Feisty," he said, grinning. "I like that."
Something roared to life in my chest, a fury so hot and bright it made everything else fade to white noise. I launched myself forward, putting my body between Susie and the man who still held her arm.
"Leave her be," I snarled, my hands curled into fists at my sides. "She isn't of age yet."
The leader's eyebrows rose in mock surprise. "Isn't she? She looks old enough to me." He took a step closer, invading myspace until his gasoline scent coiled around me, making my nose burn. "Tell me, girl... do you bleed?"
Susie's face went scarlet, but her voice was steady when she answered. "No."
The leader's expression darkened like storm clouds rolling in. For a moment I thought he might hit her, or me, or both of us. The air crackled with the kind of tension that came right before lightning struck.
Then he smiled again, but this time there was no warmth in it at all. "Well then. I suppose we'll have to wait." He nodded to his enforcer, who released Susie with a little shove that sent her stumbling toward me. "But we will be back when she reaches her womanhood. Won't we, sweetheart?"
Susie wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stop the trembling that had taken hold of her whole body. But her chin stayed up, defiant even in her terror.
"You have one week," the leader continued, his attention back on me. "Find the money, or we'll start taking inventory of your... assets." His gaze swept over the building, the courtyard, the windows where I knew children were watching. "This could be a nice place. It would be a shame if it burned down."
The fury in my chest was so intense I could taste copper on my tongue. Every muscle in my body screamed at me to lunge at him, to rake my fingernails across his perfect face, to hurt him the way he was hurting us. I wanted to tear down walls, to scream until my throat was raw, to fight with everything I had.
But I couldn't. Because if I did, if I gave in to that rage, they wouldn't just take the money we didn't have. They'd take the building. They'd take the children. They'd scatter my family to the winds and leave nothing but ash and regret in their wake.
So I stood there, trembling with suppressed violence, and watched them walk away. The leader's cruel laughter echoing offthe courtyard walls long after his footsteps faded, and I knew that sound would haunt my dreams for days to come.
Susie pressed closer to me, still shaking, and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders. "It's okay," I whispered, the lie bitter on my tongue. "I won't let them hurt you."
But even as I said the words, I wondered how many more promises I could make that I might not be able to keep.
The silence after they left was heavier than rubble, thick and suffocating and full of things that couldn't be unsaid. It pressed down on the courtyard like a storm, turning the air itself into something that had to be fought through with each breath.
I stayed frozen in place for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes, Susie still tucked under my arm, both of us listening to the echo of those polished shoes fading into the distance. The leader's laughter had died away, but it left something poisonous behind, a kind of contamination that clung to the stones and the walls and the space between heartbeats.
Slowly, carefully, the children began to emerge from their hiding places. Denson crept out from behind the old water barrel, picking up his collection of smooth pebbles, which he clutched in one fist. Macey appeared at the kitchen window, her sketch stick forgotten, her wide eyes darting between me and the gate as if those men might materialize again at any moment.
They moved like deer after gunshots, every step tentative, ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. Loubie Lou had her thumb jammed so far into her mouth I was surprised she could breathe around it. Manny dragged his broken truck behind him, the grinding sound of its wheels somehow mournful now instead of simply annoying.
One by one they gravitated toward me, drawn by some instinct older than language. Loubie Lou pressed herself against my legs, Bunny's remaining ear clutched in her tiny fist. Denson took my free hand, his fingers ice-cold despite the afternoonwarmth. Even Macey, who was usually shy around the others, moved shoulder to shoulder with Manny.
I crouched down, gathering as many of them as I could into my arms, breathing in the scent of their unwashed hair and the lingering sweetness of breakfast porridge. They felt so small, so breakable, like birds with hollow bones.
"It's okay," I whispered into the tangle of their heads. "I won't let anyone hurt you. I promise."
