Mallory couldn’t remember moving, but suddenly she was standing on top of the bed, pressed against the wall, wielding a pillow threateningly at the three of them. “What the hell?!” she shrieked, uncertain if she was yelling at the sudden reappearing act or the pillow weapon. Just in case the message hadn’t been received, she repeated herself, even louder, “What the hell?!”

“Mallory… please calm down. And stop shouting,” Isaac had his hands up, gesturing that he meant no harm. Mallory dropped the pillow, and for a moment he looked relieved, until she bent to pick up the bedside phone instead. “Mallory…!” he started, but his words cut off as she threw the phone at him. Isaac gasped and jumped back at the same time Sampson moved to protect him. Both actions turned out to be pointless as the cord on the phone pulled it short of hitting Isaac, but Sampson’s lunge forward cleared the path to the door. Mallory instantly jumped off the bed and ran to it, slamming it open. She felt Samanda’s fingers brush the back of her shirt as she started her sprint across the parking lot.

She could hear Isaac calling her name, but that only made her run faster. She rounded the corner on the sidewalk, twirling to dodge a woman walking down the street. The woman dropped her cellphone, and was screaming at her, but Mallory ignored it, focusing only on her mad dash back to her car.

Mallory fumbled her key fob out and hit the button to unlock the door and had just started pulling it open when another set of hands slammed the door shut again. Making a strangled throaty sound of frustration, Mallory turned, a little surprised that someone had caught up to her – she wasn’t the fastest runner in school, but was physically fit enough that she hadn’t expected to have been caught so quickly. It was Samanda. Mallory shoved forcefully into the other girl’s shoulders, but Samanda took a quick step back and grabbed her wrists with shocking speed. Mallory kicked out, exactly as her father used to teach her, and Samanda quickly dropped her wrists to move out of reach.

Sampson and Isaac had caught up and were standing just behind Samanda. Mallory felt surrounded. “Let me go,” she said. She shifted her weight back and moved her keys between her fingers, curling her hand into a fist. She watched as Samanda smiled, tilting her head to regard her curiously while watching her. Mallory’s mind buzzed, trying to decide whether it would be better to let them make the first move or to go on the attack, decisions buzzing through her brain… Isaac opened his mouth to speak again.

“Hey! What the hell’s going on out here?” They all turned to look at the pizza parlor, where an employee still wearing his apron had stepped out to intervene. He was an older man, massive, but not tall – fat, but not pure fat. He stood just outside the door, trying to figure out what the situation was. Behind him, a burly teenage boy that Mallory recognized as being from the school’s football team looked ready to leap into action as well, and several customers were peering out the glass curiously.

Changing tactics, Mallory pressed against the car, acting terrified (though truthfully, it wasn’t that much of an act) and shouted, “Help!” The man started pulling his apron off to approach, and Sampson and Isaac backed away a few steps. Undaunted, Samanda pointed at Mallory and said, “She stole my brother’s wallet, and just started running!” This statement made the man stop short, and now he peered at Mallory, squinting his eyes slightly.

Mallory narrowed her eyes at Samanda and spoke loud enough for the man to hear. “If I’m a thief, you can call the cops. I’m willing to wait for them to sort this out. What about you?” It was a gamble, but Mallory felt certain they wouldn’t want to involve the police.

“You know. Never mind,” Samanda grinned as she backed away. Mallory tensed, watching her every movement.  Her voice lowered so only Mallory could hear her. “We’ll deal with it later.”

The guy from the parlor finally decided to settle on a course of action that kept him out of whatever the hell was going on. “I want all of you to get out of here,” he said. “If any of you are still near this lot when I’m back in that store, I am calling the cops.” Without needing to be told twice, Mallory pulled her car door open, slipped inside, and drove away. She watched Samanda, Isaac, and Sampson in her mirrors as she drove away and they started walking back to their motel. They stared at her car until she was out of sight.