Chapter Text
When the manager saw me today instead of the colleague I swapped with, she wasn't happy.
"Ada, what are you doing here... Are you crazy? You're underage! You can't take PM shifts! It's illegal," Jessica, the shift manager worried. I normally never work afternoon shifts; this was an exception, I only did it because my colleague literally begged everyone to do it, spamming Messenger all day with pleads and thousands of emotes. Apparently, it was her boyfriend's mom's death anniversary, and she wanted to cheer him up a bit and just be for him that evening. And I get this since I am an orphan myself, and my auntie Alice is always there for me. I think it was sweet that my colleague wanted to do it for her boyfriend I am sure he will appreciate it.
"Sorry, Jess," I said to the now irritated twenty-seven-year-old woman, who was ten years older than me. "I didn't think about it," I added honestly. In fact, it completely slipped my mind. I wonder if the girl who asked me to swap remembered either? Well, never mind.
The bar paid so little that it would be hard to find people to work without employing minors, foreigners, or both. That was just the reality of most businesses these days; like, half of our chefs couldn't even speak the language most of the time (although they learned fast!). What actually really sucked because even though I had foreign language lessons at school, apparently it wasn't the right one... So we had lots of foreign people both in the back and front of the house, plus some local students, including minors like myself. And Jessica and other managers simply had to set the rota so that everything was somehow working and, most of all, was ‘legally’ okay.
Unlike my working till close tonight...
“Damn Ada…” Jessica sighed. “I really should send you home, but it’s Friday night... Okay, but remember that I could lose my job for something like this; please don’t do it again.” She said, but I saw that she was still not convinced about her own decision.
"Sure, Jess, I’m sorry again,” I said, I really didn’t want to cause anyone any trouble, At work, we were all friends and usually forgot that some of us were only sixteen, while some of the cooks were even three times that age.
The shift went by completely normally; of course, as a minor, I didn’t serve alcohol, but that was nothing new. Not like anyone would notice I was already seventeen, not twelve or something. And I was a tough girl. After my parents died and Alice took me under her wings she helped me channel my sorrow into something she had expertise in: martial arts and weights training. That helped a lot, actually, and also gave me great self-confidence. On the flip side, paradoxically, because I am rather fit-looking, I have no boyfriend. The ones I would like to date were always too shy and nervous to approach me; the ones who would, were jerks!
What was really a new thing for me that shift was the evening cleaning because it was my first time doing it, so it took me a while, and in the end, it was just me and Jessica, who as a manager had to settle the shift, fill out some paperwork, and so on. And then she needed to check how I closed a bar and help me to actually do it correctly. Jess was cool; I even tried to convince her to go to the gym once, but this was just not her thing, really.
After leaving work, I realized that I would never have known how poorly lit the area around the bar was at night, and today must have been still brighter than usual because of the full moon. I immediately regretted taking that shift; the area wasn't particularly dangerous, although there were some reports of muggings on the news and some women missing, I normally didn't pay much attention since it was a big city after all. But usually, I was never outside so late so now my self-confidence has deteriorated a bit.
"Whatsup kido?" Jessica called to me as she finished arming the alarm and closed the door to the premises while I was waiting for her outside.
"Not much," I said "So... you always walk back alone?
"Hell no!" Jessica laughed. "Normally some I walk to the bus with some kitchen guys, but today 'someone' took so long to close the bar that I couldn't hold them any longer. They have their own families too, and it is not fair."
"Sorry, Jess," I said. Jessica just waved her hand and urged me to follow her. So I did.
An Uber at this hour on Friday would have cost me a fortune! and would ruin the whole point of earning if I spent so much on commuting. Of course, I could call Alice... and in retrospect, that's exactly what I should have done, but Alice would have been furious that I was working evenings. She would maybe even go full Karen-mode and get Jessica fired, aunt Alice was not the person to cross with. She was the only family I had after my parents died. She paid for my dorm and school. She wasn't particularly happy that I worked but tolerated it as long as I didn't neglect my studies. She wasn't happy that I worked where I did; she offered me to work for her, but I wanted to be independent, working for her felt just like getting pocket money (probably higher than my actual wage here...), and owed her so much already, Auntie respected my choice. But if she found out that I had taken the evening shift at the bar… she would be disappointed, and I didn’t want to disappoint her.
“The worst part is to walk past the park,” said Jess. Who was a bit nervous about the last news about attacks. There were homeless people camping in the park, and obviously many people blamed attacks on them. I wasn't so quick to draw this type of conclusion, but on the other hand, I didn't feel like trying my luck, so we sped up as we walked past the park, which at that hour wasn’t lit at all.
Seeing the silhouettes of some homeless people, Jess suggested that we avoid them by simply crossing to the other side of the street.
“Better safe than sorry,” she said, directing us towards the nearest pedestrian tunnel.
As soon as we noticed a group of young men drinking beer there, I felt that we just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.
“Hey there, babe!?” One of them shouted, clearly drunk, or high, probably both... “Wanna party, hm?” he suggested, smiling wickedly, accompanied by whistles and stupid laughter from his buddies.
“No, thanks; we have to go,” said Jessica nervously, grabbing my hand. My manager lowered her head and tried to simply walk past the noisy men, but one of them blocked our way.
“Hey, stop being such a stiff.” He laughed.
“Sorry, we really have to go,” said a really stressed Jessica, who was really trying to control the tremors in her voice. “Don’t touch me,” she groaned when the guy tried to grab her ass.
The other two, who were trying the same with me, never got that chance.
My aunt is Alice Anvil, one of the best stunt performers in the industry. When you see superheroines doing these amazing things on TV, instead of famous actresses you actually often see Alice. In the movies, it’s all fake, of course, but it’s probably obvious that to be able to do nice tricks in front of the cameras, you really had to have skills to pull it off. Ever since Alice took care of me when my parents died five years ago, I had the opportunity to train under her watchful eye—under the watchful eye of a woman who was skilled in wrestling, aikido, and kendo, to name a few. At this stressful moment, my training, charged with adrenaline, just kicked in. I could deal with a few jerks, right?
I grabbed the filthy hand that wanted to grope me and twisted it. The surprised guy groaned in pain, forced to lean forward. I wanted to kick him in the face, but at that moment, his buddy punched me in the nose. I felt the taste of my own blood, but I managed to kick that jerk from a jump. I aimed for his fucking head but hit asshole's chest instead. Still, it sent him flying backward at the wall of the underpass. I was already about to charge again when a baseball bat whistled before my eyes.
Suddenly, everything went out.
I woke up to a pulsing pain in my skull and female screams echoing in my ears. a terrible female scream, and male laughter. My mouth was filled with the metallic taste of blood. I opened one eye. Lying face down on the pavement, I saw Jess. One of the guys was lying on her. He... was doing 'it'! while the rest were cheering him on, laughing, and drinking. Someone was even filming it on their phone. My head was spinning; did I get hit in the head with a baseball bat? I probably have a concussion or worse. I tried to move, but I couldn't. Only then did I realize that someone had a shoe on my neck.
"Smile, bitch!" I noticed the flash of a phone camera; the guy who was standing on my neck had just taken a picture of me.
"I told you she was fine," one said. I felt horny hands on my ass; someone was trying to pull my jeans down.
"Let's see which whore is the loudest!" one suggested.
"Fuck yeah! Competision! I'm in!" another laughed. I tried to move, but I couldn't; they were pressing me to the ground too hard.
Another flash blinded me as I tried to pull away. The owner of the phone was brutally pressing my neck down so hard that I started to suffocate.
"Calm down, bitch! Be good, whore,” he growled.
"Yeah, get ready, bitch, it is about to get hardcore!” The guy on top of me was promising, as he was trying to squeeze his dirty fingers between my legs as I tried to squeeze them tight with all my might.
My jeans finally gave way, I felt a strong slap on my buttocks.
“Fuck yeah!” Excited vulgar cheers rang out from horny, probably high attackers who were now checking out my teenage bare ass.
I managed to cough and catch some breath.
"Oh Yeah! The bitch is howling!"
I got some really brutal slaps on the buttocks.
The 'cameraman' spat on my face (and a bit of his shoe on my neck).
"Fucking whore," he said, and with his free hand, he started to unzip his fly,
"Keep barking, bitch, you will get it hard..."
"Yeah! extra hard!"
"Fuck, the bitch is tight!" The outraged assailant grunted as he couldn't spread my legs when I kept them together with all my strength. "No problem, I'll loosen you up..." he said, and I felt his dirty finger trying brutally push into my asshole.
"Still barking, bitch? You will howl soon!"
I tried to pull away, to clear my throat, at least to catch my breath again.
“Howl!” they mocked.
My pain was replaced by terror.
“Howl! Bark!” they laughed drunkenly. Somewhere nearby, I heard Jessica crying pitifully.
Greedy hands spread my buttocks.
“Bark, bitch! It is about to happen,” he promised lustfully.
Terror filled my thoughts, but even more so, determination, the will to survive, the fight for breath. I managed to clear my throat and grasp some air, but only briefly.
“Choke that bitch some more; I can’t get a grip,” swore my to-be-rapist, the first of them in the line…
“Cause you have a small dick,” the ‘cameraman’ laughed, but he complied and stamped my neck even more.
“You think yourself tough, bitch, don't you? I'll give it to you hard then." He promised, but I couldn't breathe, and my consciousness began to fade. Maybe it was a mercy of fate? I wouldn't have to feel the rape if they strangled me? I already have a concussion; those monsters probably won't even notice when I'm dead for a long time.
Terror, is this going to be my last thought?
Terror and anger.
As when the light was fading for me, I felt rage building up; I just couldn't go gently into the rape.
"Rage!" I heard an inner voice, my mom's voice, or at least the voice that for years I imagined sounded like my mom's voice. When my parents died, I often 'talked' to my mom. My invisible childhood friend was my own mother. Such a good fairy-mom. I never grew out of it; of course, the older I got, the more ‘edgy’ my imaginary mother became. Her voice encouraged me to train at the gym and helped with all my teen struggles. My own superhero mother, Gaia Abdank.
Yeah, I know my mother had a hippie name, but at least she didn't call me Daenerys! or something like that.
"Rise! Rise, daughter of Gaia!" my supermom's voice said in my head.
"Flesh shall be ripped! bones splintered!" Mom's voice commanded, filling me with supernatural anger and rage.
"Rage, rage!" rage now! Rage for vengeance! Rise now! Rise and bask in the blood-red full moon!"
I would fucking murder those motherfuckers if I could only stand up!
But...
But I can!
They wanted me to bark and howl?
I did.
I howl!
I rose and looked at the cruel men. Small men. I grabbed the first one; he was so slow.
So small.
Like a maggot.
Like a maggot to be squashed!
He was so fragile, as if he was made of wet cardboard.
I tore him up in my hands.
No... not in my hands, in my claws !
I bathed in the gore fountain of his fluids as they sprayed at my face...
My maw !
The others spineless rapist-scum started to run away. But they were so slow...
So small...
I grabbed another one when he was cowering in front of me by the wall, as if he wanted to soak into it, just as his piss soaked into his pants.
I helped him with that, I 'soaked' him into the concrete behind him, rubbed him into it like a red, wet crayon on the blackboard, until there was nothing left.
The rest ran outside, into the park, among the trees.
So slow, so small...
"Rage now, rage, daughter of Gaia!" my mom encouraged.
I did, and I howled to the full moon.