"Okay." He nodded again as if to convince himself, speaking louder as the band started up again. "Okay, Allie. You got your phone?"
I rolled my eyes. "I have my phone. I have money. I'll avoid dark alleys, and men who offer me candy. I'll be fine, Jon. I promise."
He winced a little at the anger in my voice, but he just nodded again.
"Okay," he said.
He startled me then, leaning over to kiss me on the cheek.
"I love you, Allie," he said.
He hadn't said that to me in a long time. Maybe not since dad died.
My heart got stuck briefly in my throat. Nodding at least partly to avoid speaking, I patted Jon's arm, forcing a smile that I doubt was very convincing. Then I walked away from his stool, heading for the main door. I pushed my way through the group of people mashed up against the entrance and finally made it outside, to where I could almost breathe.
I was just standing there, taking in deep breaths, looking around at the different street signs to orient myself, or maybe just to give myself something else to think about...when it occurred to me I had no idea where I was going.
But that didn't matter either.
Picking a direction, I began to walk.
I made it about four blocks before the crowd thinned enough that I felt like I could breathe again. The street was still busy...I was on the southern edge of midtown, after all...but more like regular, New York busy, not teeming with a crowd trying to get into a sold-out show. The VR advertisements were distracting, but I'd slowly become used to those, too. Unfortunately, that also meant I blocked a lot of things out that I normally might have noticed. The extra sounds and VR people made it easy to avoid faces.
In fact, the easiest way to navigate that whole mess was to do what most New Yorkers did...just keep my head down, focus on my feet, and not look around too much.
Maybe that's why I didn't see the guy come up behind me until it was too late.
***
I felt him right as he reached for me. I started to turn, got a glimpse of blond hair pulled back from a blocky face, a faint smile on full lips, and then an arm slid around my throat from behind, completely cutting off my air.
It happened before I could yell. In fact, the shock of that first, violent pull on my neck nearly blacked me out. He was already bringing me towards a car on the curb when I'd recovered enough to fight back. Then I felt a sharp prick at my neck, and a harder pressure as liquid was forced through a needle and into my vein.