Cherish pleaded for her assailant to stop. The bastard responded by ploughing her with more kicks.
‘She’s pregnant, you animal,’ Riddick called, diving into the alleyway.
The balaclava-wearing mugger was gripping the yellow backpack. Riddick was almost certain the tall, lanky individual was male.
Prize in hand, the mugger turned to run. Riddick skipped around the prone figure of Cherish and managed to kick out at his ankles, sending him stumbling into the brick wall and down to his knees.
Riddick reached for him—
Cherish screamed in agony.
Riddick swung. Cherish was doubled over on the floor, clutching her stomach. She screamed again, and Riddick fell to his knees.
‘Blood,’ she gasped.
‘Okay… I got you,’ Riddick said, seeing that there was lots of blood. He cradled her head—
He felt a sudden blow to the back of his skull, and everything flashed white. As he slumped sideways against the brick wall, he desperately tried to keep hold of the young woman’s head.
Riddick heard footsteps alongside him. ‘What the bloody hell are you doing?’
Anders!
Then, came the sound of scuffling.
Despite the pain in the back of his skull, Riddick could feel clarity returning, and he turned his face up to see what was happening.
Anders had his walking stick across the mugger’s throat, pinning him to the wall.
The big man may have had a bad back, but that was no barrier here. Adrenaline could be funny like that. While holding the walking stick against the mugger’s throat with one hand, he slammed his fist repeatedly into his stomach.
Riddick lowered Cherish’s head and rose to support his friend—
Anders backed away suddenly, crashing into Riddick. With the brick wall behind him, Riddick managed to keep his footing, but the wind was knocked from him. He desperately tried to catch his breath.
‘Put it down,’ Anders shouted. ‘Now!’
Riddick looked back up to see the mugger slicing the air with a knife. He’d already had some success with it, judging by the way Anders was clutching his shoulder.
Anders darted forward but jolted back again when the mugger jabbed the knife in his direction.
‘I’m going to break your bloody neck, son,’ Anders said.
The mugger slid along the brick wall, still holding the knife out to ward Anders off. When he’d opened enough space between them, he turned and sprinted away down the alley.
‘I’ll find you!’ Anders shouted after him, his voice laced with frustration. With his back issues, he’d not be able to chase down any youngster, so Riddick staggered forward to give chase instead, nearly losing his footing. It seemed he hadn’t actually recovered full control of his senses following the blow to his head.
‘Paul… stop,’ Anders said. He pointed down at a brick with his walking stick. ‘He clocked you quite hard.’
Riddick touched the back of his throbbing head and looked at his bloody fingers. A sudden wave of nausea followed.
Cherish was moaning in pain on the floor, still clutching her stomach. ‘Don’t worry, lassie,’ Anders said. ‘It’ll be okay.’ He hoisted out his mobile. ‘I’ll get us help.’