Hunted

Memories

"Hey, are you free Saturday night?" My best friend Sam asks, pausing 'R U Mine?' On his iPod. We're sitting at the back of the bus, sharing earphones and the remains of our lunches.
"Why?" I grin, already knowing the answer.
"Five words; Me, you, Netflix, sofa, junk-food?"
"That's six."
"Junk-food was hyphenated." He smirks. I laugh.
"I'd love to, Sammy," I beam at him. Saturday nights spent lounging on his living-room sofa, pigging out on pizza and chocolate and watching a variety of different movies on Netflix is our speciality.
"Ooh, isn't it horror movie night this week?"
"I believe so; don't get too scared, Samantha." I reach over and pinch his cheeks, cooing at him.
"Oh, shut up!" He grumbles, still grinning.
"Aw, I love you really."
"Eh, you're okay." He says, shrugging. I slap him lightly on the arm.
"Thanks!" I say sarcastically.
"Anytime, Sky, anytime." I roll my eyes as he winks at me. I put my earphone back in, and grab his iPod.
"What are you doing?"
"Shhh. Close your eyes and listen." I bite my lip to stop myself from smiling and scroll through his songs, trying to find one in particular. I click on it, and the first few familiar drum beats of 'Do I Wanna Know?' By the Arctic Monkeys pound through my ears, and Sam smiles. This song is our symbol of friendship, the song that we bonded over all those years ago. I grin, and start to sing. He joins in, and soon we're bellowing out the chorus, laughing. The other inhabitants of the bus look at us with the same disapproving stare, but we just smile and wave at them, laughing at their rolling eyes.
***********************
"Oi! Hurry up with the popcorn; the movie's starting!" Sam yells from the living room, rattling his pizza box.
"Okay, okay, don't get your knickers in a twist!" I laugh, grabbing the massive bowl of popcorn and padding across the hallway. I set the popcorn down on the coffee table and leap onto the sofa, yanking some duvet over my lap. We're both wearing our pyjamas; me in my cherished checked pink, white and blue checked pyjama bottoms, a soft, pale blue tank-top, and some stripy teal fluffy bed-socks; Sam in a t-shirt and some red-and-white checked bottoms.
"Pass me my pizza!" I demand, reaching out.
"Okay, bossy-boots." He laughs. I dig in pigishly, not caring about my full mouth and tomato sauce smeared around my face.
"You're such a pig, Skyler Bloom."
"Says you!" I say, my mouth bulging. I tuck my legs up underneath me, and swallow my mouthful of heaven. Tonight, we've chosen 'Scream', a film neither of us have seen before. Sam's parents have just popped out to get some dinner for themselves; they should be back in around half an hour.
"Scared yet, Sam?"
"Nope, you?"
"No." I say truthfully. When the first people die, an obnoxious blonde girl and her thick jock boyfriend, I laugh, stuffing my mouth with popcorn.
"You're so horrible, Sky." He laughs, and I throw a handful of popcorn at him.
"I know; it's one of my many charms." I say proudly, turning my nose up into the air.
"Yeah, and being a cow is one of them!" He mutters.
"Oi!" I gasp, smirking.

We get about ten more minutes into the movie before we both need to pee.
"I bags the downstairs toilet!" Sam exclaims, racing towards the loo.
"Aww, you meanie!" I pout childishly, but he's gone in a flash. Sighing, I stomp up the stairs, making as much noise as I can.
"SHUT UP!" He yells, and I laugh. I go to the loo, and when I come out, Sam yells at me from downstairs.
"Skyler?"
"Yes?"
"Can you be a darling and grab me my duvet from my bed, please? You keep stealing it from me!" He whines.
"Sure!" I laugh, and walk into his room, switching the light on. Yanking his duvet off his bed, I take a quick glance out of his window. Sam's got the best view of the house; that's for sure. He can see beyond his back garden, and out into the streets and houses below. It's massive, and I can remember summery days where we just spent time sitting on the windowsill and talking. I spot a flash of movement from the corner of my eye, and look back outside. My hand flies up to my mouth, and my eyes widen to the extent that I think I might burst a vessel. I start to shake.

There's a man standing in the backyard.

I open my mouth to scream, but no sound comes out. He must've noticed me, because he looks up at me, a knife glinting in his hand. He smiles and waves slowly, eyes narrowing to slits. I freeze in shock, my heart in my mouth. What do I do?
Another flash of movement. I glance to the right of the man, my whole body trembling. There's another guy there. With another knife. And a gun. And he's running to the back door. I scream, this time successful, and sprint down the stairs.
"Where's the key? Where's the key?" I cry, fear overwhelming my whole body. Sam runs into the kitchen.
"Sky? Skyler, what's going on? Are you okay?" He asks, touching my arm.
"No...Sam...there's...there's...."
"There's what?"
"There's someone in the garden." I manage to say, a bubble of hysteria catching in my throat.
"Oh my god!" He yells, and scrambles to the back door. He rummages around for the key, and just as I can see a silhouette outside the window, he finds it and shoves it in the lock, twisting it sharply.
"Oh my god." He hisses again, as there's a knock at the front door too. I grab his hand, my palms sweating. They knock again, this time more impatient. Sam looks at me for a second, in shock, and I stare into his sky-blue eyes, terrified. Another knock. Suddenly, there's a knock at the back door too, and both doors are being knocked in complete synchronisation. I'm just about to run up the stairs in terror when the knocking stops, leaving us in silence. The only thing I can hear is the irregularly fast beating of my heart, and maybe Sam's . Nothing can prepare us for what happens next. Both glass panels in the top of the doors smash at the exact same time...

Glass shards fly through the air, and I throw my hands up over my face instinctively, letting a piercing scream escape my throat. Sam tugs on my hand, hard, so I start to run with him, through the house and into a cupboard in his kitchen. His eyes dart left and right, and I hold up a finger to my lips. I see a glint of metal next to me, and I turn around to see a sharp butcher's knife, laying on its side. Next to it is a large, sharp metal skewer, and I grab both of them, poking Sam silently. He follows my gaze and I hand him the skewer. He nods, shaking. I stand as close as I can to him and press my body against his, wrapping my arms around him. He hugs me back, whispering into my hair.
"I'm terrified." He hisses.
"So am I." I say, and I let a single tear slide down my cheek. He presses his lips to my forehead, and I squeeze him tight. Suddenly, the movie starts playing in the background, and I jump violently, knocking over a glass. It smashes to the floor, and the movie is paused again. I can hear two sets of footsteps padding across the carpet and into the kitchen, stopping right outside our cupboard. I grip Sam's hand tightly, and take a step towards him, pressing my lips to his. His mouth moves in synch with mine, and I pull away quickly. "I'm sorry." I mouth, just as the door is kicked down and a bullet pierces through Sam's chest...

"Sam!" I scream, and rush to his side, tears gushing down my face. I scream as a knife is thrown at my head, and duck just in time. I clutch my own butcher's knife and stab it blindly in front of me. There's a squelching sound as my knife connects with flesh, and a yell of the person it hit. I stab again, but I'm greeted with thin air. There's a click of a trigger being pulled and a dull thud as it hits it's target: me. Surprisingly, I don't feel any pain, just a dull ache in my shoulder. I lunge forward again, grunting with effort, and stab, and stab, and stab as hard as I can. As I pull out my knife to catch my breath, somebody collapses to the floor.
"Marcus!" The other guy yells, rushing to his side. As he frantically searches for a pulse on Marcus' neck, I stumble to my feet, and push past him, rushing through the smashed back door. Shards of glass stab me in the sides, but I don't care. I just need to get out.
"You're gonna pay for that, you little..." He trails off as he grabs my waist, yanking me back inside. I fall heavily on my tailbone, and I cry out in pain. He pulls out his gun and points it at my head. Luckily, I throw up my leg and kick it out of his reach. I kick him in the crotch, as hard as I can, and scramble to my feet, trying to block out the pain which is finally taking it's toll on my left shoulder. He doubles over, and I attempt to escape again. He recovers quickly, though, and grabs my waist and yanks me back again, smashing my head into the corner of the sink. I scream in pain, and he whips me around and punches me repeatedly in the face. I yelp again, dropping my knife. He catches it and plunges it into my side. I scream and scream, and kick him in the face, causing him to drop my knife and fall backwards. I sit up quickly, and pick up his gun, scrambling to my feet. Then, I pull the trigger and shoot him in the head, the stomach, the heart, the leg, the head again, until the gun has run out of bullets. I stumble over to him, and kick him in the head. He's dead.
Sam.
I run over to Sam, collapsing on top of him.
"I love...love you..." I whisper, and then everything goes black.