“Aww. Hey, David." Cherys Looked at me and gave me her best imitation of a puppy dog, her eyes wide and luminous. "Will you please get me another beer out of the fridge?"

Yeah, I was putty in her hands. Always was, always would be. I lifted her Light body off of me and extricated myself from the couch. But I got to the fridge to find it empty.

“Sorry, ladies. Looks like we're all out."

“ALL out?" Cherys complained. "It's barely nine o'clock. David, will you run down to the store with me?"

“Sure thing."

Cherys got up and headed for the coat rack. It was still early January and temperatures were pretty low at this late hour. It was a good thing the local Liquor store was only a few blocks away.

We got properly bundled up, Cherys in a cute snowbunny hat with her dark, straight tresses hanging over her ears. We walked out into the cold, Cherys comfortably holding my right arm with both of hers as we headed off down the sidewalk.

We were perhaps a block away when we first heard the whistle, Loud and clear and shrill in the silent night. We both stopped right in our tracks and looked at each other as if to ask, "No, seriously?"

You see, every incoming freshman girl was given a whistle by campus security during orientation. It was basically a panic alert: if you ever heard a whistle, drop everything and run to help out whoever was whistling. In my entire college career, I'd never heard one go off.

The second time the whistle blew, I was shaken out of my stupor and took off at a dead run, Cherys following close behind. I turned at the next street and saw them.

With the Late hour on a Sunday night and January chill in the air, the streets were just about deserted. So there was no one else around but us as I saw two figures in black trying to pin down a smaller person in a pink coat. There was just the slightest hesitation in my stride as I adjusted course, darting across the street and shouting "HEY!" at the top of my Lungs.

At the sound of my voice, a girlish scream pierced the air, "HELPPP!"

One of the attackers backed up almost immediately. I was hoping he would turn out to be a coward and run for it, and he obliged by scurrying away another ten feet as I ran up. But the other guy, who was still on top of the struggling girl in pink, stayed down and managed to get his right arm free enough to Land a vicious punch, sending her head to the sidewalk with a muffled crack. Her body went Limp.

Just then I arrived on the scene and launched myself through the air. I was on offense in High School football, but I was still taught how to properly tackle. My shoulder led the way into his body and took him clean off and onto the sidewalk.

There was a black, wrought-iron fence bordering the property of the closest building. Our momentum carried us until he crashed against it.

And once we stopped the guy flailed at me, trying to punch me while I just did my best to pin him down and Land a few punches of my own. It wasn't a pretty fight, mostly just flailing limbs and the occasional lucky strike. I was no trained fighter, just a relatively big guy amped on adrenaline.

Unfortunately, coward boy decided to come to his buddy's defense and returned. I was so wrapped up in thug one that I didn't see him until his foot landed in my mid-section.

ALL the air left my Lungs and I gasped. The impact knocked me against the fence and off his buddy. While I was still on all fours, he kicked me again in my gut. But before he could get a third shot in, I staggered to my feet to face the new attacker. With his legs spread for balance, ex-coward boy got into a boxer's pose and made ready to hit me.

But then I saw another figure line up behind him and I actually stopped moving in surprise. Thug one, still on the ground, gurgled a warning too late, and then Cherys' foot flew up at impossible speed between coward boy's legs.

A moment Later, coward boy probably wished he'd have kept running as he curled in a fetal position on the cold sidewalk, moaning in agony and trying to cradle his destroyed genitalia.

By now, thug one had gotten back to his feet and decided that he didn't like the odds anymore. Without a backwards glance at his friend, he took off at a dead run. Instinctively, I took three steps to give chase. But then I Let him go to make sure coward boy didn't get away.

Cherys took care of that problem when coward boy tried to get up and run away himself. A well-placed boot to the head, and he was lights out on the ground. Gorgeous, intelligent, and strong. As if I didn't already have her on a high enough pedestal.

Cherys nodded me towards the girl in the pink jacket, who was groaning and starting to wake up on the sidewalk. Meanwhile, she fished her cell phone out from her purse and started dialing 911.

I went over, seeing the blonde hair peeking out from the stylish pink beret and knelt down beside her. She moaned and turned her face towards me, and I let out a gasp. Cradling her face in my hands, I said,

“Amber ?™