Part Three of How Not to Get Mugged in College: How to Get Away

Society does not survive because we enforce the laws. Society survives because we choose to live by them. The unwritten laws of social interplay and personal space weave the fabric of our lives. And while this programming makes us good neighbors and upright citizens, it can cripple us in times of a primal emergency.

An attack by another human being is a primal emergency, and requires the cunning and lawlessness of our primal ancestors to survive. I'm not necessarily talking about extremes, although everyone can agree that killing in self defense or the defense of another is justifiable. This third part of How Not to Get Mugged aims at exploring the small rules and preconceptions that can hamper you in your escape, and how you can learn to dispose of them temporarily when it becomes necessary.

My third brush with muggers was the most violent and ugly of them all. I was standing at a city train station close to my college. The station consisted of a platform raised five or six feet over the expanse of gravel and railroad tracks below, like a small floating island. The only entrance or exit to the platform was a door that led underground and came out of the side of a hill nearby. If you have read parts one and two, available under my CP page, you will already know that this is a terrible setup in terms of safety.

With me on the platform was another college student. He was obviously not expecting the violence of city life, as he stood near the door, earphones blasting away his audio perception while his interest in his book destroyed his visual perception. And so, when the three muggers emerged from the door he did not see them. He paid no attention as the walked directly up to him, and clubbed him over the head with some sort of object.

I watched these events as though in slow motion. I am a more paranoid person, and I knew what was happening, although I waited for the violence before I reacted. I didn't see the victim hit the ground, because as soon as the muggers arm came down on his head my body had turned and I was leaping from the platform like a gazelle.