And I shrieked this just as a huge wolf came flying out of the shadows.

It was heading toward Chen.

It didn’t make it to him.

This was because Chen leaped incredibly high at the last second and grabbed hold of a pipe sticking straight out of the brick of the building. He did a loop-di-loop like he was a male gymnast on the horizontal bar, flew off, then fell, aiming and connecting a vicious kick into the wolf’s jaw before he landed. The wolf let out a canine howl and scuttled back three feet.

Chen didn’t waste even a second in recovery. Having landed in a deep squat with one leg out, both hands to the tarmac, he whirled in a flash to standing. Using his legs and clearly martial arts moves, he beat the wolf back with brutal kicks, even turning full around to get his momentum going, connecting, and the wolf flew to his side, cheek-first in the asphalt, and skidded away.

“Holy shitoly,” I whispered.

“Chen!” Abel bellowed, still defending himself and scarily retreating under the onslaught of three swords. “Get her to safety!”

“Kinda busy here, brother,” Chen replied, still kicking at the wolf.

“Get her…” Abel roared, rounding his pipe and connecting savagely up the side of one of his attacker’s heads, blood flowing out in a spray. The man fell down on a knee with one hand to the ground. “To safety!”

It occurred to me I was standing there, staring at this lunacy, and not doing anything.

So I did something.

But that something was not running away.

No.

That something was looking around for a weapon so I could help.

I hadn’t found anything when Abel thundered, “Move!”

Instinctively, I sensed he was talking to me and leaped out of the way, toward the wall of a building.

I did it in the nick of time. Two crotch rockets rounded into the alley and they did it fast.

And they did not stop.

One fell to its side, the rider rolling off, the motorcycle skidding uncontrollably, bowling over two of Abel’s attackers.

The other one stopped on a rear-end-whipping-around brake. The guy on it pulled out one of the two swords crisscrossed in a scabbard at his back, whipped it around, and lopped off the third attacker’s head, the one who was still knee to the ground.

I pressed into the wall.

The guy who did the skid was running toward Chen. He leaped, going high, hitch-kicking in the air like a long jumper, landed on top of the wolf, and started raining what could only be described as karate chops all over the wolf’s head and neck as Chen kept kicking the beast.