It was a Friday night when Lei was walking home. She was sober, unlike her friends who decided to get themselves blasted. The only reason she stuck around as long as she did was so they wouldn't do anything stupid. She was told by her parents that being drunk made you more of a fool than you already were, and after what she just saw, she now believed it. Finally, they all fell asleep, and that was Lei's cue to leave. She wondered how things will be when they all wake up with mass hangovers, then was thankful she won't be around when that happened. Meanwhile, she was on her way home by herself, and it was nearing one o'clock early Saturday morning.

She saw a group of boys who were just standing around smoking. She thought nothing of it, until she heard one of them whisper, "Hey, that chick is pretty hot."

She smiled inwardly at the compliment. She's been told she was nice to look at by friends and other boys alike. The sixteen-year-old Chinese-American was 5'4" and slim with a nice figure. She looked rather attractive in her outfit, consisting of a tube top that shown her belly, and hip-hugging flared jeans. Her flat lower stomach was tanned, displaying her 24' waist. She was carrying her light blue Roxy flip-flops because she liked to walk barefoot. It was much more comfortable, and it excited her a little, feeling her surroundings.

She had already forgotten the remark until she walked past them. One of them tapped her on the shoulder, a burly teenager with brown hair, and asked, "Hey, you wanna smoke up some with us?"

"No thank you," Lei replied, and kept walking.

Suddenly he tripped her, catching her painfully around her bare ankle. Without thinking, Lei tucked herself in, landing on her shoulder, and using the momentum to roll to a sitting position without injury.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, listen up," the boy said, as he brought his heavy boot with rough grip down on the soles of her feet. It hurt, but because her soles had been toughened from years of walking without shoes, not that much. She did find herself in more pain however, as the boy pulled her up by her hair.

"Ow! Please, I'm sorry," she pleaded, trying to defuse the situation. The group consisted of five boys aged eighteen, and at least five inches taller than Lei.

Another boy with a gruff voice said, "Let's teach her a lesson."

"Yeah, I think she deserves it," said another boy.

Yet another boy grabbed Lei's arms and pinned them from behind. He lifted her off the ground, and this stretched her belly taut. The burly boy then gave her a hard punch into the center of her bare belly, right above the navel.

They expected her to fall down into a fetal position, crying and gasping for air. Instead, a slight "oof" came from her lips, but that was it.

A quick flashback ran through Lei's mind, memories of hours spent in the backyard and basement of her parents' house, developing her core muscles along with her brothers and sisters.

"If your core is strong, so are you," her father said.

One day while they were practicing chin na, she complained, "Why do we have to do this, mom?"

"To keep in shape," her dad said. "The world is a cruel place, and you can better face it when you're at your best, body and spirit. When both are in good shape, you'll be able to complete your task, leaving nothing half finished."

Her mother, who led them through the chin na techniques, added, "And we won't always be around to protect you or the others, as much as we would like to. When someone is threatening you with any type of bodily harm, you are to strike fast and without mercy."

"Mother, I can't do that," Lei complained.

Her mother just smiled and patter her shoulder. "You'd be surprised at what you could do, given the right circumstances."

The boy holding Lei released her, and said, "Barry, what happened? You barely touched the girl."

Barry knew his punch was more than a love tap. Instead, he said, "Let's go have some fun with her someplace private."

The boy behind Lei grabbed her by the hair again. This time, Lei placed a hand on his hand holding the hair, and then spun around facing him. This time, it was the boy's turn to fall to the ground in a ball and cry, as he cradled his broken wrist.

Lei took advantage of the momentary confusion to charge Barry. As she approached him, she looped her right leg around his and stooped down and pushed. Barry fell down with a blood-curdling scream as he fell. His leg was broken at the knee.

She reached for her flip-flops that were dropped when she was tripped. With a backhand swing a tennis coach would be proud of, she slapped an approaching boy across the cheek with one of them, reddening his cheek. She tried to make a break for it, but one of the boys blocked her way.

"You're not going anywhere," he said, opening a switchblade.

She stepped forward, causing him to lunge forward with the knife. Using her flip-flops again, she deflected the knife with a slap on the wrist. Lei then grabs that same wrist, turning it counterclockwise. When he wouldn't drop the knife, she kicked him in the groin, then grabbed him by the hair and rammed her knee into his face. Blood started dripping on the ground, but he still wouldn't let go. Increasing the pressure, she powered him down to the ground, where she kicked him in the face. He finally dropped the knife, but she broke his wrist anyway.

The two remaining boys weren't sure what to make of it. This little girl took down three of his mates. They really were confused when Lei turned and attacked one of them. She kicked the boys' left rear knee joint, paralyzing the leg. Lei then wrapped one arm around the neck, while the other wrapped around the back of the head. Using the boy as a shield, she fended off the remaining boy.

"Stay back, I'm warning you!" She warned.

"You're choking Rod! He's turning blue!" The last boy said.

She kept backing away mindful of avoiding the three other boys she injured, lest they try to somehow grab her.

"If you hurt Rod, I'll kill you!" He yelled.

"If you come any closer, I'll kill him now!" Lei replied. After she backed away a good distance, she threw him down and ran off.

The last boy approached Rod, who was wheezing and gasping for air. He - Matt was his name - was torn between chasing the girl down and tending to his wounded friends. Barry's call for help changed his mind. He pulled out his cell phone, dialed 911, and made up some story about how a group of thugs came from the other side of town and beat up his friends. He was the only one who escaped. When they told him an ambulance was on the way, he thanked them and hung up. Then he pulled out his knife.

"Help is on the way," he told them. "But don't worry, I'll make her pay."

Matt set out in the direction the girl fled, which was in the opposite direction of where she was going; she couldn't have gone too far. After he spent five minutes searching, he started to face the fact she escaped, and turned to return to his friends, when his world exploded in a white light. The heavy blow to the head stunned him, but he managed to turn his head to see Lei standing before him. In response, he thrust his knife to stab her.

Lei intercepted the knife hand, and twisted it so the boy's own momentum caused him to stab himself. Matt formed an O with his lips as he saw the knife enter his side. To finish him off, Lei clamped her fingers on his windpipe and squeezed. Matt put up some resistance, but not enough because of the lack of air and the stab wound as Lei choked him out.

The advice Lei's parents told her to do her best, do not leave anything half-finished, and to strike fast and without mercy, ran through her mind like a mantra. While Matt looked for her, she doubled back and dealt with two of the boys with broken wrists by kicking one in the head and choking the other out. Rod received a blow across his already wounded throat. They boy with the broken leg wasn't too much of a threat, but she kicked and stomped him into submission so he wouldn't cause an alarm. As long as the last boy was able, she was still in danger, so she had to take care of him.

Lei originally didn't want to hurt any of them, but they were going to beat her up and possibly rape her. She would rather die than lose her virtue that way. She contemplated pulling Matt's knife out, but decided against it, the ambulance was coming anyway, so they'll take care of him. She quickly looked around, then ran over and picked up one last thing, her blue flip-flops. She wanted no evidence she was here. They should have no problem believing that boy's story about them being attacked by another gang of toughs.

Lei ran into the darkness, just out of range as the ambulance pulled up. She should still be able to sneak back into her house and into her bedroom without anyone knowing.

If you enjoyed this story, perhaps you may want to read other stories from the Barefoot Heroines collection. There are a variety of stories to choose from. They can be found at http://www.thevalkyrie.com/stories/mongoose/index.htm.

For suggestions, comments, or story ideas, email the author at shrewsberry@juno.com.

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