Free Six by Hilary Storm

any of the other guys and through the door to the club, knowing they'll all follow.  I pull my knife from my waist and grip it with a fury, ready to slice anything that gets in my way. 
    I scan the room and don't see them.  Walking through the dance floor and toward the bathrooms, I shove at least three guys standing in my way.  I bust through the women's bathroom door and kick open each stall, finding nothing.  When I step back into the hall, I see Switch coming out of the men's.  Beast turns down the hall, walking through the back of the building, opening a door to the alley.  Once he opens the door, my heart explodes.  My mind blacks out and my inner demon takes over. 
    There are three men standing over the girls.  Both Piper and Tori are fighting them, but the guys are just so much bigger.  I take off running just as Tori is shoved to her knees and Piper manages to land a hit straight to one of their dicks. 
    Our steps are loud and they hear us coming before we reach them.  They turn in time to see us land our hits.  I have no problem stabbing the one I reach first and I watch the other two fall quickly before turning to see where the other one could be.  I know better than to turn my back on any risks out here.  Where the fuck are my two guys? 
    I see three bodies against the wall to the right and one out by the road. 
    I turn to look at my sister holding her shirt closed while her cries echo through the alley.  I pull her into my arms and hold her tight, knowing I can't erase what just happened, but hoping to provide her some sense of strength even though I'm dying inside.  The urge to gut and skin these mother fuckers is flowing through my veins. 
    "They knew who she was, Evan.  They were here for Tori.  There were eight of them."  Her words are frantic as she screams at me. 
    I turn to Beast, making sure he heard her.  "FIND THOSE FUCKERS."
    Tears are pouring down her face as she begins to tremble with the most terrified look on her face.  My body freezes when I look over Piper's shoulder and see Tori.
    She's in a fetal position against the wall.  Her legs are up against her chest and her head is buried against them as she tries to hide.  Just exactly like the girl I saw so many years ago.  The girl who was six years old.  Just like the fucking tattoo says on her back.
    It's her.  It has to be.  I instantly feel the adrenaline from that night so long ago rush straight through me.  It's the night every single thing in my life changed and the night I held a traumatized little girl knowing hers did too.  She looks just as broken today as she was then and that pisses me the fuck off.  
    Piper pulls away from me, running toward Tori and trying to hold her, but Tori doesn't hold her back.  I kneel in front of them both just as Switch walks up.  
    He leans over and says in my ear, "Our guys are dead." Then he lifts Piper into his arms, holding her while I watch Tori, trying to decide how to approach her.
    Flashbacks of that night begin to torment my head, so I just start replaying that night.  Sliding back to sit next to her against the wall, I light up a cigarette and lay my head against the concrete.  I exhale, letting the smoke rise above us and think of how to help her.     
     
    "Tori." She doesn't budge.  
    "Can you give me a thumbs up or something?  I need to know you can hear me.  Hell, I'll even take a middle finger."
    She moves her hands into the space between her body and her legs, before slowly moving each hand out.  She holds up one hand full, then a single fucking finger on the next.  Fuck.  It's most definitely her and she's reliving the past.  
    "Six."  I try to seem calm, but I'm getting angrier as time passes and she's falling apart through silence.  I think I'd rather her be hysterical because at least then I'd know she's here with me.  I glance at my sister with Switch and see her talking to him.
    "Do you remember me, Six?  I'm here to protect you.