Broken-Winged Birds

Two

Tavi needed more oxygen. Her lungs burned for more than what a short breath could provide, but she feared taking the time to breathe deeply would prove detrimental. Time was a luxury. If she dawdled, they would catch up to her. As it was, the two men, if you could call them that, couldn't be more than twenty feet behind her. With each passing moment their footsteps intensified, the tragic crescendo of predators about to overtake their prey.

She increased her pace, careful not to trip as she sprinted blindly through the corridor. For whatever reason, this hallway reminded her of the infamous 'light at the end of the tunnel' that she'd heard a plethora of people talk about on TV. They'd chosen to walk away from the light, and here she was, running into it. She'd never heard a tale of someone being chased into the freakin' light. But that probably didn't make for great television.

The hall was white, devoid of any color save for Tavi and her pursuers, and its brightness evoked in her a desire to shield her eyes. But that, too, might slow her down. It seemed as though she'd been chased for several minutes, and she was winded, sucking in breaths at every opportunity. Was it possible that the tunnel was a mile long with no exits to be found lurking at the sides?

And why hadn't she reached the end?

Another few minutes of running passed. Why couldn't she have had the slightest bit of athletic prowess? She looked the part of an athlete with her hipbones jutting her yoga pants and her six-pack abs, but that didn't mean she was in shape. She was simply skinny, no strength to muster when needed and certainly no endurance for a marathon, or around the block at that.

I have to rest or I'm going to die. Heat touched the nape of her neck. But if I stop, I'll die. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

In defiance, she took the breath. A waft of decay curled into her and she stifled a heave. Death was coming for her, beckoning her to accept her fate, but she wanted nothing of it. She pressed forward until she met a wall, a dead end, and resisted the maniacal laugh that bubbled inside her.

No way out, she turned to face her assailants. The tall, thin man flanked her first and she shuddered. He was the creepier of the two, seeming less human and more evil than his counterpart. Perhaps it was the gauntness of his face or the black emptiness of his eyes that forced her hair on end, but the man oozed death and she was now his quarry. Intuition told her the Thin Man was soulless and a force to be reckoned with by someone more omnipotent than she, which would be about anyone else the world had to offer.

The other man, bald, paunchy, and a head shorter than the Thin Man, now hulked over her left side. She chanced a glimpse at him, hoping she could appeal to his humanity, but it was to no avail. He met her eyes then leered at her.  

Was that blood rimming his teeth?

A grinding noise pulled her attention to the wall in front of her, its movement shifting her hands to the right. She jerked her hands back as the wall formed a crevice and the crevice gaped into a door wide enough for her to bolt through. A dimly lit chamber offered refuge to her. Forward into it was her best bet.

She staggered inside, relieved that her small stature had afforded her this opportunity for escape. The two monsters couldn't fit through the door just yet. If she could just locate another door before they could follow her inside the room, she might be able to survive this.

Too soon to sigh in relief, she scanned the round room for an exit. Eleven shapes were spaced at equal intervals around the circle. In the twelfth spot, manacles and shackles hung, the clinking of their chains a beacon for her to join them.

The only door to the room was the one she'd just passed through. She spun to see it was also the one in which the two men stood guarding. The Thin Man smiled, and Tavi envisioned the cat that had caught the canary. She deflated as the men each grabbed an arm and dragged her backwards to the wall.