This was the first time in Wyatt Thorne's life that he had ever been hit.
His head snapped to the side, a clear red handprint already forming on his left cheek.
He was in a panic, trying to get a clear look at his attacker, when a sudden pain flared on his right side. SLAP! He'd been slapped again.
Wyatt Thorne couldn't take it anymore. "What the hell is wrong with you!"
The moment Wyatt Thorne cursed, the punks in the alley were stunned.
'Did we get the wrong guy?' some of them wondered.
Several of them exchanged glances. One of the punks asked in a thuggish tone, "Hey, are you Wyatt Thorne, the campus beau from Emberfall University's computer science department?"
Only then did Wyatt Thorne get a clear look at the people in front of him.
About a dozen punks were gathered in the dim alley. Their hair was dyed like a set of traffic lights; they might as well have been standing on a corner directing traffic.
