I race through the bathroom door and gasp. Rogan is bashing some guy's head into the wall. Pirate is practically chewing off another guy's leg. And at the very end of the room, the worst is happening.

Three more guys, who I recognize from the angry mob in front of Alicia's house, have Doyle. Two of them take turns hitting him, kicking him, while the third holds his arms behind his back.

"Stop!" I lunge toward them, grab one of the guy's shoulders, but he slaps me across the face, and I fall flat on my back.

My cheek stings, my eyes water, making my vision blurry. I hear a thud and Doyle grunts in pain. Rogan has finished bashing that first guy's head into the wall. He steps over me and grabs the guy who slapped me by the hair, slinging him into the sink. The guy falls to the floor, a small stream of blood trickling onto the white tile.

The other two guys let Doyle sink to the floor and engage Rogan, who shoves one of them into a stall and smacks him in the head with the door. The other guy gets him into a headlock, and Rogan backs into the wall, over and over, trying to get the guy to let go.

crawl over to Doyle, who lies on his stomach, breathing shakily.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" I ask softly, gently helping him roll onto his side. He moans as he changes positions. His nose and lips are gushing blood. A purple bruise stands out on his left cheek, and his eye looks like it's swelling shut. He clutches his side with his left hand.

"Ohhhh...I've been better....." He groans, his words sounding strangely warbled. He spits blood onto the floor.

"Who were they? Why did they do that?"

"Don't know 'em......they were mad about Seth......." He speaks slowly, every word laced with pain. With a huge effort and a loud groan he heaves himself into a sitting position. "I'm pretty sure they broke a rib or something important......."

He lifts his shirt to expose a nasty bruise on the right side of his ribcage. I gently touch it, and he winces, letting his shirt fall back into place.

I hear footsteps in the hall and look up. Izzy skids to a stop in the doorway.

Her eyes travel over the three unconscious guys, the one that Pirate it pretty much eating, and Rogan and the last one fighting. "Damn! I'm missing all the fun!" Her gaze falls on me and Doyle, and she rushes over to us. "Should I go get somebody? The doctor? That Ellie woman, maybe?"

Doyle shakes his head ever-so-slightly. "Just help me stand up."

"No," I say, my hand involuntarily clasping his arm, "You shouldn't move. You should stay here and let Izzy get somebody."

He shakes his head again. Rogan and his opponent's grunting fills the silence. "If I don't walk out of here......they'll think they've won......and they'll go after Seth."

I look over at Izzy, who shrugs and says, "He's kind of right."

There's a crunch, a cry of pain and the fighting noises stop. We all look over and see Rogan standing on the guy's hand, who is as pale as death with eyes wide with terror. Rogan lets off a few seconds later and goes over to Pirate and says, "Release." Pirate immediately backs away from the guy in the now blood-covered and shredded clothes.

Rogan doesn't say anything else. He shoots a quick glance in our direction, and once he sees that Doyle is alive, walks out of the bathroom and down the hall, with Pirate on his heels.

"Well, come on then, you," Izzy says, grabbing hold of Doyle's left arm. I get a hold on his right one. Izzy counts, "One...two...three!" and we hoist Doyle to his feet. His face is pale, and he wobbles, falling into me. I stumble backward, but manage to keep us both upright.

"All right, arms across our shoulders," Izzy says, and once we're all settled, we slowly but steadily make our way down the hall.

As we pass between the tables, people stare. Some with their mouths open. Others with triumphant eyes. Most look completely shocked at the sight of his blood-covered self.

Natalia is standing by the door, and opens it for us. But not because she wants to help.

She smiles snidely and says, "That's what you get for endangering an entire community."

Izzy, who is closest to her, stomps on her foot, then hurries through the door. But not fast enough. Natalia reaches out and grabs a fistful of Izzy's curly hair and yanks hard.

Izzy's head jerks back, her entire body with it. She whirls around, seething with anger. Natalia, hands on her hips, shoots Izzy a "whatcha gonna do about it?" look.

"This isn't my first cat fight, bitch!" Izzy thunders, and throws herself at Natalia, who is knocked back against the door and momentarily stunned. Izzy takes this brief opportunity to tell us to go ahead. "I've got some overdue karma to administer."

Doyle and I slowly make our way down the street. He's putting most of his weight on me. "How are you doing? Do we need to take a break?" I ask him.

"No......" He answers softly. His eyes are closed. "I'm so dizzy........"

"A blow or two to the head will do that," I say, trying to sound less worried than I really am.

"Or ten," He forces a smile that looks more like a grimace.

After an eternity of him painfully putting one foot in front of the other, we face the steps of Alicia's porch. She didn't come to Food City with us, but decided to whip up a little something for her and Seth out of the few food items she's allowed to keep in the house.

There are six steps. We climb three of them before his has to stop and breathe, which appears to be very painful. We conquer the last three and stumble over to the door.

I pound on it as Doyle presses his free hand against the wall, breathing out slowly, blood still trickling from his nose and busted lip.

Finally, Alicia opens the door. A shocked expression passes over her face and she gasps, "Dear Lord! What happened?"

"Stupidity," Doyle grunts as we help him over the threshold.