​     At first, it was merely a matter of navigating around people.​

     People stayed planted, they didn't budge, but they didn't actually get in Trevor and Niki's way, either.

     Then. they turned a corner around a ramshackle house and...

     a barrier of villagers allowed no further passage.

     "Shit," Niki muttered.

     She scoped out who she figured was the weakest among them.

     "Excuse me," she said, then head butted the guy in the chest to get him to step back. It worked. The guy gave Trevor and Niki just enough room to get past him.

     Then, another guy got in their way, stepped into their way.

     And this guy was no wimp. He stood a head taller than Trevor and two heads taller than Niki, and he was nothing but muscle from head to toe.

     He smiled as Niki came at him.

     He figured to enjoy his tangle with her.

     This was the guy, in other words, that Niki planned to use as an example.

     She smacked him a couple of good, hard ones, then palmed his nose to cause blood to come spurting out of his nostrils and to wipe that fucking grin off his face.

     Trevor never took his eyes off the others in the group. He wanted them to know, with his expression and body language, that he would immediately endeavor to  hurt anyone who got anywhere near the man and Niki while they fought.

     Niki power kicked the guy in the balls, then bopped him twenty times in half as many seconds, bap, bap, bap, every blow strategically placed. 

     Niki drew blood, but she continued to punch.

     She heard snapping bone, but she continued to strike.

     The guy turned from her. One last kick in the ass, and the guy half-stumbled, half-crawled away.

     The others, for those few moments, stood frozen. Intimidated, or merely observing Niki's technique? Impossible to know.

​     Niki's message, however, was unmistakable.

     It was, see what I'm capable of? Do you really want to fuck with me?

​     Their response?

     They drew closer...

     a couple of them even smiled...

     and then the clubs started swinging.

CONTINUE