Jessica dragged the back of her hand across her mouth, smearing red over her pale skin, and she turned around. Her knuckles were bruised and cut, blood dripped from a slice on her forehead to gum her eyelashes together, and her teeth are stained red from one-too-many punches in the mouth, but her opponents are down, and they are not getting up any time soon.

She turns around to the girl she heard screaming, the reason she ducked into this alley in the first place, only to have the teenager shrink away, eyes wide and terrified, and Jessica can't help but smile bitterly - what else did she expect?