Jude lept and bounded through the manic streets, jostling with the droves of people making for the sanctuary of shelter before the night closed in. In front of him, Zuri was setting the pace. She ran exquisitely, nimbly navigating through the crowds with relative ease. Everything about her was athletic – her legs long and powerful, her frame lean but strong. As she ran, her braided raven hair billowed behind her in the harsh wind. He caught her up. Neither of them broke stride.

“We'll turn right before we get to Arnero’s and go round. It’s too dangerous to pass that way now. I’d rather be back late and alive than not at all.”

“You’re right,” panted Zuri, “and we don’t want to deprive Winston of his meal.”

They swung right and ran side by side along the canal. The rain intensified, lashing hard and sideways directly into their faces. The last of the light finally faded, signifying an unspoken decree, a change in the air and the energy about the city.

Anything goes after dark.

Their path along the canal was lit now by dim yellow street lights and metal drums filled with flame. Neon signs buzzed outside the dive bars and brothels. The constant hammering of the rain on the ground was joined by the blasting engines of cars and motorcycles tearing around the streets. Gunshots and whoops sounded from howling men on the prowl, hunting like packs of hungry wolves.

Together, they reached a junction in their path. “Left here,” called Jude over the driving rain.

Zuri hit the left, followed by Jude. As he turned the corner, out of the corner of his eye came a black shape flying at him through the rain. His head flashed and cracked. Stars whizzed around his eyes, and he staggered to his knees. A thick stream of blood gushed from his forehead and over his eyes. He spat red from his mouth to the rain-soaked floor beside him and saw the rock that had clattered him. He felt sick.

“Jude!” screamed Zuri, dropping to her knees next to him, her hands clasping at the crack in his head. It was bad. Wide, deep, and pouring blood.

“Toss the bag over, girl. Do it now, and you might go on your way unspoiled.”

Zuri looked up at three Crocheads. The man who spoke was standing a foot closer than the others staring at her. More starving dogs than men. The speaker’s face was gaunt and waxy, his single dark eye pouring over her body greedily. The other was just a scaly recess in his skull. Filthy black hair hung down to his shoulders, dripping in the rain.

“Give them the bag,” groaned Jude, dropping out of consciousness. Zuri took the bag from Jude’s back and stepped forward with a thunderous scowl and a simmering fury.

The second man stepped in to meet her. He was big for a Crochead, with a bald head and a scraggly orange beard. He snatched the bag greedily and tossed it back to One Eye.

As she turned back, she felt a clammy hand grasp her wrist, and it yanked backwards into the big Crochead’s arms. One Eye jeered and laughed. The third man began walking toward Jude with a flick-knife drawn.

Fire erupted in her belly. Her head thumped isn’t one with her heart and her jaw ached. She was aware of her grinding teeth. She snapped her head backwards, splattering the big man’s nose across his face. Dropping to a knee, she drove her elbow into his groin. A scream of anguish erupted from his foul face as he hit the floor. Leaping up from her knee, she dove onto the knifeman’s back, sinking her nails into his neck and wrapping her legs around his knife-wielding arm. He writhed and bucked like a panicked horse, unable to throw her off until, desperate to alleviate the searing pain in his neck, he threw himself to the ground.

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She landed on her back. The knifeman landed on top of her but sprang up quickly. She kicked her leg into his ankles, sweeping him from his feet. The knife slipped from his hand as he clattered the concrete. She swept it up instantly and, without hesitation, slammed it into his chest. Her muscles protested. Aching arms and legs and a shaking, nervous tension willed her to collapse in a heap. She pushed herself up from his body. A fist crunched into her jaw, spinning her back down to the floor.

One Eye stepped over her, malice all over his grim face. He stooped down and gripped her neck. Slowly and firmly, he squeezed. Zuri wretched and gasped for air. She felt herself drifting away, so tired. If she could just close her eyes for a second, she could get the energy to fight back. Her eyelids drooped.

An arrow suddenly exploded through One Eye’s good eye. The force of it jolted his body back, and he collapsed in a heap on the sodden ground. Zuri sat up.

Jude staggered towards her, swaying on his legs with bow in hand. He looked straight past her. He tried to speak, words unwilling to form. He slipped and dropped to his knees once more, notching an arrow as he went. Lazily, he raised his bow. His eyes narrowed. His teeth clenched. He searched deep for strength. For focus. Eyes finally locked to Zuri, he found it.

He ripped an arrow through the air. It zipped past Zuri’s face and thudded into the big man’s neck. With a loud groan, he toppled to the floor like a felled tree.

Zuri raced over to Jude, clasping her hands over his cheeks. She kissed him and wiped the blood from his eyes. “You saved me,” she said, furiously wiping blood from his face, sweat and tears from her own.

“Are you kidding? You saved yourself! Remind me never to piss you off.”

Zuri laughed through tears. “Tell me you’re ok?”

“I’m fine,” he replied, pushing himself to his feet.

“Disgusting scum. I hate them, Jude. I’m sorry, but I do,” snapped Zuri with feeling as she stomped over to One Eye’s body. As she arrived, she booted it with venom before she retrieved the bag and passed it back to Jude. “I hate them and I hate this city and I hate this life.”

“How can you say that to me after what I told you earlier? You know how I feel. It’s not their fault.”

“Open your eyes, Jude! They’re a plague. They were scum before they were Crocheads, and they’re scum now they are Crocheads,” Zuri fumed, amber eyes flashing red in the firelight. “They’ve just nearly killed us both, and you’re defending them.”

“So my dad was scum, then, was he? That’s what you think!” Jude’s blood boiled. He could feel it, like fire thumping through his arms. His knuckles throbbed, ready to burst through his skin. He jabbed his bow at her furiously. “And who are you to talk? The daughter of a Shanty Lord! Who shots gear to kids and murders any who cross him?”

“Maybe your dad was scum! Maybe if he was the good man you say he was, he wouldn’t have picked that shit over his own family!”

Her eyes softened. Tears pooling on the lower lid. The fire fizzled out, and her shoulders dropped. Her lips relaxed. “I’m sorry.”

“Leave me alone,” replied Jude. He turned away from her and walked back the way they had come from. Head down. Staggering. Stumbling on the cobbles.

“Jude! Come back! You’re hurt. I didn’t mean it,” Zuri sobbed after him.

He swung around, anger pulsing through him, his head pounding. Like a demon, bloody and battered in the rain. “Leave me alone,” he snarled through gritted teeth, and with that, he walked away through the wild night.