The Fugitive

Chapter 4 Into the Forest

The door rapped louder, this time accompanied by a booming voice, "We know you're in there, you filthy scums. Open the door and hand yourselves in." a gruff voice hollered haughtily.

Everyone in that run down shack was horror struck. A sense of inevitable dread doused them.

"It's them." John growled, his voice quivering with hatred. "Those murderers who hang the innocent. Those filthy police men who sentenced two innocent women to death without even giving them a trial."

Dominique gripped Alice's shoulder tightly.
"You have to go." He said. His voice was trembling. A bead of sweat made its way down his temple.
Alice had never seen her foster father like this before. Frozen with fear, completely helpless in the situation.
"There is no way of talking ourselves out in The Drenal Court of Law. They are much too corrupted." Dominique whispered frantically. "You have to go." He repeated urgently.

But Alice was rooted to the ground, unable to digest what was about to happen. It had never once struck her that they may actually be caught.

Dominique dragged her into her bedroom. He dug out an old ragged bag from the rickety closet and began stuffing things into it. A flashlight, some clothes that were too small for Alice and the photo of her and her family.

"You have to find a better life for yourself. Go to Frankston. It's were your parents lived. I'm sure you'll find someone to look after you there." Dominique urged.
Alice nodded with wide eyes.

They clambered downstairs and on a mutual sign John threw open the door with an iron rod held threateningly in his hand. A posse of policemen stood outside the door with determined faces. Alice slipped past them with amazing speed. But before anyone of them could react, the pickpockets began fighting.

Alice glanced at her family one last time before running out into the cold night.

John looked murderously protective. He brandished his iron rod as skillfully as a pirate while he tackled the large number of policemen outside the door.
"This is for Alice!" He roared savagely while stricking a blow at the nearest policeman's stomach.
Douglas and Dominique fought with raw fists.
Frederick had a different style all together. He used any available object to bring down his opponent. He battled one policeman by sliding the policeman's blue cap down his face. Then, he forced him into the wall of the rundown shack.

They were all fighting to protect Alice. To help her lead a new life. To allow her to find her own way. Just like her real family did.

"I'll come back!" Alice screamed at the top of her lungs, over the grunts and clangs of metal of the brawl.
"I promise!" Tears welled up in her eyes as she darted through the thick columns of darkness in between the dilapidated houses.

"Get the girl!" She heard the same gruff voice command. Barely a second later, Alice heard two policemen following her.

She ran as fast as she could jumping over sluiceways, ducking low hanging branches and passing sharp turns. But no matter how hard she tried, no matter how many short cuts and narrow alleyways she took to lose them, the policemen were still hot on her trail.

She felt like giving up and joining Dominique, John, Douglas and Fredrick in prison; or perhaps worse. But something compelled her to keep running. A raw instinct to survive kept her tired legs running, and her breaking heart beating.

Alice was barely paying any attention to where she was going. She may have been even going in circles. But she didn't care, she knew she was going to be caught. Next thing she knew, she had wiggled her way through a wired fence and stumbled headfirst into a world of colossal trees and thick mossy darkness.