Chapter 2
Walker didn’t even take the time to utter a curse as the youth flung himself off the edge. He propelled himself forward, knowing that he was too far away but unable, not to speak of unwilling, to prevent himself from trying. He barged into the steel barrier with enough force that he just knew he’d have some impressive bruises come morning, and, reaching over, just managed to grab the omega by one arm halting him with a sudden, and painful, jolt.
A hauntingly furious cry of ‘No!’ ripped through the air as the omega swung in the air, knocking into the bridge as his own momentum caused his body to swing in a pendulum-like motion.
“Please! Please just let me go.” Begged the youth, his free hand scrabbling for purchase on the bridge as he tried to use the leverage to tug his captive hand away. “Please!”
Walker grunted through the strain as all of the youth’s weight hung from his one hand. He tried to get his second arm into position where he could get a better grip, but the omega’s struggles only made it impossible to hang on. His palm slipped once, made greasy by sweat beginning to gather in the creases. Twice. A third time.
“Damn it, kid!” All he could do was just watch as the omega slipped through the tips of his fingers. A fucking smile resting on his lips.
‘Please! Please just let me go.’
The young man closed his eyes as he fell, a misplaced look of serenity the only thing visible on the man’s features replacing the terror that ought to have been there. That expression jarred at something deep within Walker. That expression belonged on a man sixty years senior to this young lad. A man who had lived a full life. A man who had had a family. Friends. A man who was resting in his casket having accomplished his life’s dreams and goals. That closed off look of hideous serenity did not deserve to be seen on this free-falling youth who life had so drastically turned her back on.
Dual grunts of pain tore Walker from his ruminations. King! James was leaning dangerously far over the barrier, one leg already half-way over the barrier even, with the omega’s flailing arm firmly gripped between his two hands. Damn Rookie! Walker’s own failed attempt to grasp the youth must have enabled his damned fool of a partner to manoeuvre himself into the precarious position in order to catch the kid.
“Secure his legs!” snapped Walker at the pair who had made the initial call. If his Goddamned Idiot of a partner was going to risk his life to save the kid, then Walker wasn’t going to allow his attempt to fail. Walker bent over the barrier as far he could reach, the pressure of the metal bar pushing deep into his stomach as he managed to grab hold of the youth’s other flailing hand despite his best efforts.
The omega let loose an almost animalistic wail of despair as he kicked with both legs, desperate to tug himself free, but both Walker and King grimly hung on despite his best efforts. “No! Let go! Let go! L’t go!” The repeated words began to elide into each other with the speed and distress that the young man was bellowing them.
“Easy, lad. Easy.” Walker grunted as he and his partner began to heave the fighting omega up and over the barrier. Sweat pricked at the base of his spine from the force he was exerting as the unwilling, fighting and struggling frame was tugged up and over the metal barrier and onto the combination of concrete and gravel of the sidewalk.
One last howl of pure frustration ripped through the night-time air as Walker immediately pressed the thin frame into the ground, using his own body weight to prevent him from getting up again. A near impossible task that was! All the serenity that the omega’s expression had previously contained was wiped away as he swiftly turned into a biting, clawing wild thing. It was as though the young man’s skin was slicked with oil rather than sweat which was pouring off him. He wriggled, and writhed. Kicked and bit. Clawed and scratched with far more energy than Walker would have ever believed possible.
“Cuffs!” The belaboured officer eventually snapped out at his partner who was trying desperately to restrain the man’s legs so as to prevent all of them from further injury. King promptly followed instruction, releasing the flailing legs long enough to grasp said cuffs from his waist.
Walker let out a further grunt of pain as a knee slammed into his ribs, the force of which nearly rocked his body off of the thrashing eel beneath him and did managed to send the air whooshing from his lungs. “Kid!” he growled breathlessly as he flipped the omega over, allowing King to snap one cuff over a flailing wrist.
As soon as the metal cuff encircled the skinny wrist, it was as if all life within the man was suddenly cut loose. His every muscle suddenly seemed to turn to liquid as he slumped bonelessly to the ground, every last sign of resistance gone as his shoulders heaved in an attempt to catch a breath.
The unexpectedly sudden stillness would have sent Officer Walker careening to the ground in a move that would have sent his jaw smashing into the rather unforgiving concrete if he hadn’t caught himself.
A silence fell over the trio, broken only by the harsh pants that filled the night-time air as all three tried to catch their breaths and by the sound of water rushing below.