Super Avenged: Only Human

“Thank God the art gallery director told me I could go casual this time,” I told Jimmy as I stood in the bathroom applying a thin layer of makeup around my eyes. “I really am not in the mood for a dress this evening.”

“Well, that one you wore on our date a couple of weeks ago was pretty hot,” Jimmy replied, leaning against the door frame and watching me with mild curiosity. He always told me that a woman’s routine before she could go out in public never ceased to fascinate him.

“Jimmy, I want these people to be checking out my art, not my ass,” I answered calmly, sweeping eyeliner across my top eyelid. I leaned away from the mirror and decided that it looked okay before doing the exact same thing to my other eye. I applied a little bit of lip gloss to my lips to make them shimmer and not look so dull before putting my makeup away and turning towards Jimmy.

“Ready?” he asked, holding a hand out for mine. I nodded and slipped my hand into his. We walked out into the living room, I grabbed my purse, and then we headed out the front door.

It was a couple of weeks since our date, and I hadn’t been attacked yet. Every day that went by, though, Jimmy got slightly more and more nervous. We both knew that I would get attacked again sometime, and that alone made Jimmy nervous because he couldn’t be sure that he would be able to save me this time. More than a few times I had to grab Jimmy’s face and demand that he calm down. I wasn’t attacked yet. We shouldn’t spend our time fretting about something that hasn’t happened yet.

((*****))

“This is very interesting,” a woman who introduced herself as Naomi said, pointing at a painting of mine. It featured a realistic background of Central Park at night, but then I’d put in a flying saucer and some green aliens. I’d been in a good mood when I painted that. “It has a very realistic feel.”

“I was hoping it would,” I said with a smile. A piece of paper beneath it let everyone know the title of the painting: Touchdown in Central Park. Naomi nodded absentmindedly before turning and walking away. As I stood studying the painting further, I felt someone pinch my ass. I whirled around, not planning on letting anyone do that to me, in time to see Jimmy’s arm quickly retract away from me. I put my hands on my hips and shook my head at him from where he stood across the room. He shrugged back before turning and concentrating on a photograph of mine. I shook my head in exasperation and turned back towards the painting.

Something heavy rolled into my foot. I looked down to see what it was and with a gasp, I quickly took several steps back from it. It looked like a grenade, but I’d never seen a grenade in real life before. Before I could say anything, it exploded with a white flash, and smoke instantly poured out of it. Now I realized that it wasn’t an exploding grenade, but a smoke bomb. Suddenly, several more white flashes went off, prompting many people to scream and start running around searching for exits. The whole art gallery filled with smoke.

I couldn’t see a thing. Something else must’ve been in the smoke—tear gas, or something—because I began to feel extremely light-headed and nauseous. I coughed as I inhaled some of the smoke and fell down, trying to find Jimmy through the smoke even though it burned my eyes. Then, through the smoky whiteness, a face loomed above me, hidden behind a gas mask. I scrambled back away from him, but my back presently hit a wall.

“JIMMY!” I screamed around a cough, scrambling along the wall. I couldn’t concentrate. The man with the gas mask grabbed a handful of my hair and dragged me to my feet. “Jim...my!” I choked out around a cough. The guy with the gas mask pushed a damp white cloth to my mouth and nose. I breathed in, and everything spun downward into darkness.

The last thing I heard before I totally blacked out was Jimmy’s panicked voice yelling my name to a woman who couldn’t answer back.