In My Heart the Will

Ardin

Chapter 2:Ardin:Hoc est verum et nihili nisi veru

Hard and heavy breathing could be heard as a woman ran down the sidewalk, her footsteps quickening in a desperate attempt to get away from the obvious gun carrying danger behind her.

Coming after her and gaining fast. Her mind’s telling her not to look back to see if they were in the clear. She knew and her mind was screaming at her to get away, sending surges of adrenalin through her system, pushing her forward.

She couldn’t afford to trip or fall now, and she doesn’t. Instead, she makes a turn too narrowly and her shoulder slams itself against the concrete corner, sending signals of excruciating pain through her small frame, making her cry out sharply. The impact itself sends her twisting backwards, making it look as though she had ricocheted off the wall like a blitzed pinball. To make matters worse her back hit the solid ground, stealing the air out of her lungs and she rolls onto her good shoulder and curls up in the fetal position.

The woman struggles to gain her breath back as she’s coughing and hacking. Her head hurts and her instincts tell her to get up and keep running until she was safe. Struggling, she gradually gets to her knees, but what she sees paralyzes her as she looks upon the threat she had been trying to escape in the first place.

She closes her eyes and waits for the sound of a shot to kill her, but when it does, she doesn’t feel any pain, and she opens her eyes to find the man that had been chasing her falling to his knees and then his face. Another man walks up from behind him and shoots him again before motioning to face the woman...that fainted.

When she wakes up, she notices that she’s in a room, lying in someone’s bed. None of it is recognizable in anyway. She also takes in her own appearance. It hurts to move and her shoulder, that had actually been skinned and even slightly cut was bandaged up rather well.

Suddenly remembering her activities earlier, she freaks out and almost falls out of the bed.

“Relax, Miss. You need to lie down and get more rest.” The man that had saved her that night was in front of her with some food.

“I hope you aren’t allergic to anything.” He says, placing it on the small table beside the bed, and stepping back, letting her know that he means no harm. She shakes her head, and he smiles a little.

“You’re at my house. This is a guest room that I hardly use. It was closer than a hospital, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted to go there or not because I have no idea why you were running from the guy from before. I’m Will and I do a few things about medicines and the sort so you don’t have to worry much at all.” He moved back a bit more before apparently being reminded of something, and reached into his back pocket, pulling out a wallet that look very familiar to her.

“Speaking of names... I hope you don’t mind but I took the time to check to see who you were to make sure that your being here wouldn’t get me into trouble. It’s nice to meet you, Miss Lariat.”

“Thank you.” From there she started coughing and decided that talking wasn’t exactly the best thing for her to try doing.

“Are you alright?” His face showed concern.

“Do you need or want something to help you with your cough?” She looked at him and nodded. Lariat didn’t have any other choice but to let this guy help her however he could.

He had, after all saved her life for no apparent reason aside from the fact that he was around and probably saw or heard one of them and followed behind. If she guessed at this guy’s occupation judging by his quiet stalking and what seemed like a pretty good salary, when she looked around the guest room, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he was probably in the FBI or one of those types of organizations.