Who: Charly Burke and Zari Tarazi What: Random Encounter (Match-Up) When: Friday Night Where: Verdant Warnings: Language, Unwanted Advances, Violence Status: Incomplete
The holidays were over, though the new semester had yet to begin at Hanover College. Charly wasn't sorry to see the end of the holidays. For the most part she'd accepted her exile to Madison, and to the twenty-first century. It beat dying, after all. But it was much harder to accept that she'd never see her friends or family again, when all around her families were celebrating Christmas and New Years. She had friends here, Nancy chief among them. But she missed her family and the huge gatherings in Texas for the holidays.
Charly had turned in all the grades for the past semester, and wasn't preparing for the next one just yet. So tonight seemed a good night to go out drinking, maybe dance a little. If she met someone, she wasn't averse to a one-night stand. To that end, she'd dressed nicely, in a blouse that showed off a little cleavage, and worn more make-up than she usually did.
She was rethinking that decision now. She'd had a few guys make a run at her tonight, and though she'd talked to a couple of them, she'd turned them down. And they'd smiled and saluted her with a raised glass before moving away. And then this guy had pulled out the chair opposite her at the tiny table and dropped into it without so much as a howdy-do.
"What say you and me go somewhere quiet, girl?" he said. He was tall, probably over six feet, heavyset, with a protruding stomach and thinning hair for which he compensated with a walrus mustache. It didn't disguise the red drinker's nose. His suit wasn't cheap, but it had seen a lot of wear.
"No, thank you," Charly said. She glanced around. Despite his use of his outdoor voice, she doubted anyone else had heard him over the music and the noisy buzz of conversation. No one seemed to be paying any attention.
"Aw, c'mon, don't be like that," he said. "We can have a real good time together. Whaddaya say?"
Charly shook her head. "I'm not interested. Please go." She shifted in her seat, setting her feet so she could leap to her feet if she had to, her heart racing. He was twice her weight, and much stronger. She had basic combat training, but she didn't like her odds if things went pear-shaped.
He scowled at her, silent for long enough that she hoped he'd gotten the hint and would leave her alone. "Bitch," he said, finally using his inside voice. Or maybe didn't want to be overheard this time. "Don't think didn't see you flirting with all those other guys. Letting them buy you drinks. But you sent 'em packing, didn't you?" He got louder with every word, face flushing even darker than before. "I know what you are, girl--"
Charly gave up hope of reasoning with him. She stood, ready to abandon her table to him. He reached out and grabbed her wrist in a bruising grip, and she reacted as she'd been trained--turning her body and pulling with her trapped wrist to extend his arm, then applying her other hand to his elbow to lock it and force it against the table.
It worked. He let go of her wrist. Charley glanced down to spot her purse--and then the world spun as a huge right hand struck her hard across the side of the face in an open-handed blow that rang her bell. She fell to the floor, stunned and gasping, her ears ringing and her cheek burning.