The night air was surprisingly dry considering the recent damp weather.  Further more, the chill had begun to wane and was replaced with a subtle warmth; such a change can be expected during the months when winter transitions into spring.

Barney was glad for the change in the weather; the few belongings he had with him would not survive another drenching.

The warming trend that seemed to make its way up from the south and into the city was a relief to his old joints.

At fifty-seven Barney knew all too well that he was certainly too old to be living on the street.  Long ago, by choice as much as by circumstance, living as one of the Homeless became easier to do than to try and assimilate a semblance of normality.  With no family, no history to speak of and the realization that his lot in life was to be precisely where he is now made the becoming Homeless the best path for him to follow.

After nearly a decade he had become somewhat of a fixture among the Homeless community.  Others that were veteran homeless deferred to him on weighty topics that affected them and their way of life.  Things like the latest city ordinances or the upcoming hot spots where the police would be stepping up patrol to prevent anyone from bedding down for the night were topics of interest for all Homeless, and the East Side Pope was the man who always knew the skinny of it all.

Barney initially resisted the title bestowed on him by his peers.  And as with most things Barney eventually accepted the title, to the point that he responded to it more so than his name. 

Most shortened the name to just “Pope” when addressing him; it was a way of conveying an endearment as well as a sign of respect.

 

The latest camp was under the northeast side of the downtown district under the Central Expressway intersection: a massive underpass with a divider wall on one side that afforded protection against all but the strongest wind.  Rain rarely made in very far, too.

A few safety lights were installed into the underpass to keep the shadowed recesses from becoming a haven for the inevitable addicts that were always on the look out for such hideaways.

The lighting provided the perfect place for the Homeless to make their camps.  Among them were a few ingenious individuals that had rigged one of the light fixtures with a series of extension cords so that those with a radio or other electric gadgetry could partake of the free electricity.

For whatever reason known only to the city’s administration this particular underpass was among the least patrolled by the police.  Thus, it was regarded as a true sanctuary among the Homeless.

Within the community of the homeless guidelines and rules of behavior were observed and enforced by its denizens.

Transients and other homeless that were passing through were promptly introduced to the rules.  Those that ignored them quickly found themselves on the wrong end of beating, but usually most were smart enough to avoid too big a violation.

Overall, things were pretty quiet, peaceful.

 

Barney had been making his way to the Central Expressway camp from the business district on located on the west side of downtown; it was a quick thirty minute walk, one he had made countless times before.

He had his own spot there at the underpass.  No one ever tried to usurp it out of simple respect for him.  For that he was quietly grateful.

One thing did worry him, though.  In fact it had been on his mind for several days now.  Homeless had been saying that a group of young thugs have been harassing some of them, taking their money, what little they might have on them or flat out beating them for no reason other than to satisfy their sadistic tendencies.

The last tidbit of news he had received earlier that day was that the violence was escalating.  Morty, a kind-hearted fellow who always managed to find things in the landfill south of town worth selling was seen beaten by those thugs to the point he was hardly recognizable; he died a day later at Parkland hospital.  The death of such a harmless person evoked such feelings of helplessness and anger among the Homeless.  Still, with such violent and uncaring bastards like these four, not many would be willing to face off against them.

Barney was so lost in thought that the muffled cries of anguish did not register with him.  A single cry that was promptly cut off pulled him out of his reverie.

From an alley entrance twenty feet ahead Barney heard scuffling and curses; then the small cry of someone resisting.  The voice belonged to a female.  From the sounds he heard she was putting up a fight especially when he heard a male voice curse in response to her resistance.

“**** bitch! Grab her **** legs, Jay!  She likes to kick…”

Barney neared the entrance of the alley, stealing himself against the instinct to simply get away from there.  He stepped past the edge of the building and into the alley.  It was dark; shadows within shadows.  Still, even as his eyes began to adjust to the lack of light he could see forms moving just past a small dumpster.  Taking a few tentative steps into the alley, Barney thought furiously; what was he to do?

As if in answer to his unspoken question he saw a discarded metal tube of about two feet in length, one that appeared to have been part of a dress display.  It was light and did not have the weight and heft he was hoping for but it would do.  It had to do.

With the metal tube in hand he took a few steps farther into the alley.  His eyes had adjusted to the gloom and there before him were four men struggling with a smaller individual; a young woman, Barney guessed.  And she was putting up on hell of a fight against her attackers.  To Barney it was obvious that this was a losing struggle for the young woman.

Two of the thugs had her hands pinned down over her head.  The third and fourth were trying to grab her legs which she kicked and kicked trying to avoid their reaching hands.

One of the four, the leader Barney presumed from the constant orders he kept giving the other three, smashed a fist into the girl’s stomach.

This gave them the opening they needed to trap her legs.

“Oh yeah, sweet bitch, you’re gonna be our party tonight!”

Their intent made clear, Barney felt a wave of righteous anger well in his chest.

With a shout of surprise Barney swung the metal tube at the thugs hitting the first on the back of his head and then immediately swinging the tube into the face of a second.

The sudden shouts of pain and surprised confusion gave the girl the opportunity to free herself of their hands and stood.  She saw the old man trying to recover from the last swing of the metal pipe and managed to grab his arm as she bolted from the alley pulling him along.

Within moments the four thugs had recovered from the confusion.  Now with newfound anger that someone had not only attacked them but had helped their victim escape they were giving chase.

The girl had Barney’s arm in an iron grip as she ran.  Barney for the moment ran hard but the adrenaline could only carry him so far.  Already he felt his heart slamming into his ribs; his lungs felt on fire as he forced them to suck in more air, blow it out, and suck in yet more.  Even so, it felt to him like none of the needed oxygen was making it to his legs; they burned and felt that at any moment they would fold under him.  The two had run a couple of blocks with the four thugs in tow.  It struck Barney that they were headed in the direction of the underpass camp.  This gave him a sliver of hope as they rushed headlong down the street.  The shouts of the four men following and the threats of what they intended to do to them gave Barney the boost he sorely needed to keep up with the young woman pulling him along.

Between wheezing breaths Barney managed to tell the girl which way they need to go to get to safety.

“Next...corner…left…eight blocks.  Safety..”

The girl glanced back at him then past him and her eyes grew wider.  With renewed urgency she put everything into running and pulling Barney with her.

They rounded the corner and ran.

The four young men were hot on the heels of the girl and the old man.

“Can’t believe the old bastard got me!” said Manny

“I told you to be looking out for **** like that.  Now you got your head busted”

“**** you, Tim.  You wanted to **** that bitch so bad you didn’t see the guy either”

“Both o’you, shut the **** up” ordered Jack.

The four ran on in silence gaining on the old man and the girl.

“They turned that corner”

Without acknowledging the obvious comment the four rounded the corner.  A half block ahead of them ran Barney and the girl.  The four thugs saw that Barney was having difficulty keeping up with the girl.  In fact it seemed he was starting to slow down.

Seeing that their victims were closer within reach the four ran harder after them.

On they ran.  The girl with Barney in tow, the four young men bent on catching them. The two or three happenstance witnesses that saw the chase happening chose oblivious ignorance rather then get involved.

An eternity seemed to have passed since the chase had begun for Barney.  In reality mere minutes had transpired.  In that time the two, Barney and the girl, managed to cover a good distance; two more blocks and a right turn would put them within view of the underpass camp.  There would be people walking outside and see them, come to their help.

By now it was all Barney could do to keep running.  He felt he was on the verge of collapsing from sheer exhaustion.

They neared the last corner. In Barney’s mind he could almost see the sprawling open space of old concrete with weeds growing up through the cracks and the shanty like compartments where people bedded for the night.

A sudden impact half way up his back made him stumble.  He managed to take two, three faltering steps then he pitched forward and hit the ground as he found himself struggling to breathe.

Strangely, the girl never released his arm.  This was a saving grace, otherwise his face would have made first contact when he fell.

In moments the four were upon them, circling them.

“D’you see that?  I got him on the first try!” bragged one of the thugs.

“Next time you throw a brick aim for the head.  It’ll make it easier…” said another.

A brick.  They had thrown a brick at him and hit their target.

Barney was struggling to sit up and catch his breath at the same time.

He tried to pry his forearm from the girl so he could sit then stand up.  She, likely in her panic, still had him in a death grip.

“Let go of me, honey. I need my hand free!”

She looked at him for a moment and released his arm.

Just then a shadow fell across Barney’s face.  He looked up and found himself starting up at one of the thugs.

“Old ****.  You interrupted my **** back there…”

With a sudden movement the thug smashed his fist into Barney’s upturned face.

Barney’s vision blurred instantly.  A sensation of vertigo washed over him as he reeled from the punch.

And here I thought it was gonna hurt.

The other three had cornered the girl.  One of them slapped her repeatedly.  Hard.  She slumped to the ground where they promptly pinned her arms down while the one doing the slapping straddled her.

“Whadda ya say, Tim, wanna do her right here?”

Tim had been punching Barney over and over in the face.  Breathing hard he turned to his buddies.

“Strip this bitch” Tim commanded.

With whoops of perverted glee the three went to work on tearing the girls clothing off.

Barney tried to move.  His left eye wasn’t working and his right eye could only manage blurry shapes.  But he could still identify the four, still see the girl now pinned down and see pieces of her clothes being torn from her.

Despite his injuries, the overwhelming weakness that had set into his body, Barney struggled and with great effort managed to sit up.

Barney tried weakly to blink his vision clear; he saw what could only be a trick of his remaining good eye.

Across the street the side of the building was in shadow.  Barney saw a darker shadow appear.  Then, with fluid movement the shadow stepped away from the building.  Barney was sure his right eye was just not seeing things right and that this was obviously someone coming to help, he hoped.

Tim was still standing over Barney and his back was to the approaching dark shape.

It came closer until it stopped just behind Tim.  It regarded Tim for moment then turned its head and regarded the other three.

Barney followed as best he could and looked over to the three thugs and the girl still pinned underneath.  He noted the flash of pale bare skin of the girl’s midriff. He also saw that her jeans were pulled down to her knees.  He looked at her face, her eyes.  They were no longer registering the thugs and what they were doing to her.  She was looking directly at the dark figure standing behind the thug leader.

Her mouth seemed to be working, moving, trying to say something?

The dark figure standing behind Tim reached around and touched him lightly across the right cheek.

Tim had a moment to react to the touch and began to turn around.  As he did a spasm racked him utterly.  He managed a surprised and frightened scream of pain as his back convulsed.  His back continued to arch to an impossible degree.

With loud wet popping sounds Tim’s back broke as it continued to convulse and arch into itself.

Tim fell in a heap on the ground and lay there convulsing and shuddering for a few moments then grew still.

Without hesitation the dark shape stepped toward the other three who were still in the act of turning to see who had screamed.

They saw the dark shape at the same time and stood.  With deft quickness two of them produced mean looking knives.  The third brought out a length of chain.

“What the ****!” said one of them as they regarded the lifeless form of their leader.

As if on cue the three thugs advanced on the dark figure, bent on pay-back.

The dark shape regarded them without apparent reaction.

Manny lunged with his knife, aiming to slice at the neck.  His knife sliced true exactly where he wanted it to.

The dark shape did not even register Manny’s attack and simply reached out and caressed Manny’s face.

Manny immediately let out a cry of anguish and pain.  His knife dropped with a muted clang to the ground.
Manny reached up to his face with trembling hands.  He turned to his two companions and opened his mouth to plead for help.  A bright frothy gout of blood came from it.  His nose, his eyes, his ears, every orifice suddenly bled with a vengeance.

Manny’s knees folded under him as he, too, collapsed. The remaining blood in him continued to empty itself into the growing puddle under his body.

The remaining two stood frozen in sheer shock at the impossibility of what they were seeing.

The stood, still, as the dark shape made a gesture with his hand over Tim’s body; a flick of the wrist, it seemed.

Instantly Tim’s body jerked and after a moment began to move trying to sit itself upright.

It did so, Tim’s lifeless neck and head dangled as the rest of him managed to stand.

The dark shape repeated the movement over the second lifeless body that had been Manny.  It, too, went through the same motions.

The remaining two thugs broke from the mesmerized state and broke into an all out dash for their lives.  The dark shape pointed a black featureless finger in the direction the two thugs ran.  The now lifeless bodies jerked this way then that way, orienting on the direction given by the dark figure, then began a shambling headlong run; their lifeless heads lolling and bouncing on their necks.

The dark figure turned and regarded the girl then Barney.  In that moment approaching voices were heard.

The dark figure turned and walked calmly back to the side of the building and the shadows, there.  Barney and the girl followed the dark shape’s movement to the side of the building.  They saw it simply lose definition, become the shadows, there.  It was gone.

Barney felt a wave of nausea wash over him.  He turned to look at the girl.  She in turn was looking right at him.  People appeared and were promptly rushing to the girl’s aid, covering up her exposed body.  Others came to Barney, their gasps audible above the din in recognition for who he was and the injuries he had received.  Her eyes did not turn away from his remaining good eye.  She saw.  She knew.  This was not his injuries causing a hallucination. He saw this…thing.  He saw what it did.  And though its actions saved his life and that of the girl Barney could not deny the one thing that now stirred in his heart.

Barney now knew the face of true dread and fear.  So did the girl. 

Barney also knew that it would come back.