Falling With Grace

My lungs wheezed.

Sarah let out a piercing scream as Jorge seized a thick branch and swung it like a baseball bat against one of the approaching men.

He flew backward, and my feet cemented in place.

“Go, Grace. Run.” Jorge swung again in a steep uppercut, snapping the man’s neck backward.

My skin flushed, sweat dribbled down my brow, my legs ignoring my silent commands to flee.

Sarah’s high-pitched screams dragged my attention away from the fight at hand.

“Let’s go, little girl.”He wrapped his arm around her and tossed her over his dirt bike. “Don’t give me any problems.”

Sarah growled and sunk her teeth into his arm, tearing at his flesh with a savage yank. The man released her and clutched his bleeding forearm as she rushed toward the ledge.

“I won’t go back.”

Sarah turned her back towards the ledge and glanced at me with a tortured smile. Stretching out her arms, she tipped backward over the cliff.

“Sarah.”

I screamed. My voice carried through the air as her body vanished with a crack and a resounding thud, colliding with the unforgiving boulders below.

Tears blurred my vision and adrenaline shot through my veins.

Jorge hit another man out of my periphery.

Arms wrapped around my chest, pinning my arms at my sides, eliciting another useless scream.

My feet flew into the air as I kicked. My bare heel collided with his solid shin.

The man grunted, and his grip tightened, pinning my lungs flat in my chest.

I gasped, the air difficult to pull in.

Jorge spun, his knuckles white as he squeezed the branch, then swung.

Thunk.

The man who held onto me grunted as the branch slammed into his side, our bodies jerking to the left. He loosened his grip but only growled his disdain. “Eres un maldito estúpido, chico.” You’re fucking stupid, boy.

Jorge grinned and hit him again with the branch, then again until he released me.

I collapsed to the ground, my knees breaking twigs beneath me.

“Run, Grace.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

He stepped up to me, dug his hand in his pocket, and slapped his rosary into my palm. “I’ll meet up with you. Now go.”

I stood stark still as he wrapped his hand over my shoulder.

“Understand me?”

“Yeah.” My head bobbed. “Okay.”

A shot rang out, and my spine stiffened.