The Fate in your Eyes

Chapter 24 - Sprint

Luana forgot where she was for a moment, her head was spinning, nausea was rising in her, she felt her body rebelling against her thoughts. Lu had red eyes. The person with red eyes had taken control of him.

Had perhaps-

What if Juan really is the third player and has now taken control of Lu, Tali and Officer Shogen?

The girl gasped and ran off, she heard Xiao Lee's voice in her headphones. "What's wrong, Luana? Damn it, talk to me!" he shouted through the receiver. "Lu is under the control of the third player, I think the murderer has been watching Tali and now he wants to kidnap all three of them," she replied, panting. "Shit, what kind of crap is this?!" the officer cursed. "I'll try to catch up with them," said Luana and jumped through the front door, over the steps and sprinted off. Lu, Luana and Shogen had already turned the corner, but the girl strained her legs even more and increased her speed. Her thighs burned, her lungs screamed with exertion, but she didn't dare stop. But when Luana turned the corner, she saw only two empty alleys. "Damn it, where did they go?!" she cursed angrily and looked around in panic. Had they turned left or right? "I'm going left, it goes along a deserted street, I'm sure they want to go to the promenade," Xiao Lee suddenly called out from behind her and overtook her. Luana nodded at him, panting. The officer disappeared into the

alley, his steps bouncing off the walls for a long time. The officer headed for the slightly sloping street, he jumped over a few garbage cans, crossed the street and recognized someone on the corner.

"Ms. Shogen!?" the officer called, hoping that the woman would hear him. But he received no answer. What if she was still under the killer's control? Xiao Lee finally reached the wall of the house and recognized a person slumped over. It was Ms. Shogen, her hand was chained to a rusty, old gutter. "Oh damn it, Ms. Shogen!" Xiao rushed to her worriedly, but was relieved to see that she had no injuries. With cloudy, confused eyes she looked at her colleague. "Xiao?" she wanted to get up, but her legs were swaying. "What happened?" the officer wanted to know immediately and released the woman. "I... I don't know... I can't remember," stammered Ms. Shogen, confused. "You just ran away with Lu and the witness. You also freed the suspect," Xiao explained hastily. "What?! I... I can't remember anything like that..." the policewoman stood up unsteadily and held her head.

"Damn it, if Juan really is the murderer, he has fooled us all!" Xiao angrily clenched his hand into a fist. "We have to find the children quickly," said Officer Shogen and sprinted off, Xiao followed her too. The two police officers followed to the end of the street, but were shocked to discover that although the street led to the promenade, no one was to be seen. "Damn it, where are they?" Xiao searched the promenade. "We can't search the whole area, that would take us far too

much time," Officer Shogen bit his lip. "But what are we supposed to do then? We can't do nothing!" The officer was furious. "If you're really behind this, Juan, then I'll kill them with my own hands," growled Lee. Suddenly his cell phone vibrated, Luana had sent him a message. He quickly opened the message and looked at a location.

"What exactly should I do with the location?"

Unsure of what to do with the information, Xiao showed Ms. Shogen the cell phone. "She probably found Lu and Taji! Quickly, that's down the promenade!" said the policewoman tensely and sprinted off.

Xiao took a deep breath, as his lungs threatened to collapse at any moment, then he followed his colleague.

***

Luana ran desperately through the streets, hoping to see Lu or Tali, but it was useless. Her feet carried her as fast as they could over the asphalt when suddenly a caller rang on her cell phone. Startled, she stopped and recognized Cheng's number.

"Yes? Is everything OK?" the girl answered hastily, but didn't stop looking around. She spotted an old rusty bicycle, a garbage can and a few rats, but not another human soul. It was already late, dusk was setting in. "Luana, listen to me

carefully: I saw that Lu is in trouble. I'll send you a location right away. You have to go there, Lu and Tali will be there too. Do you hear!?" Cheng gasped panicked into the receiver.

"What? I don't understand anything anymore!" Luana replied. "I used my power to look into the future and I saw where Lu and Tali will be. You only have a few minutes left!" Cheng repeated, trying to breathe calmly; there was a rustling in the background. "Okay, okay, I still don't understand a thing, but I'll do what you say," Luana reassured him. "Good, see you soon," said Cheng, then hung up. "What? What do you mean 'see you soon', Cheng?" The girl stared at the display, confused. Then she looked up and remembered that she had spotted an old rusty bicycle. She grabbed it and started cycling. She couldn't be late!

Lu and Tali were just about to go down the steps from the promenade when Luana, panting and screaming loudly, reached the location that Cheng had also sent her. She looked down at the two of them in surprise. Cheng's version was correct! Lu and Tali were standing just a few meters in front of her. Tali and Luana were standing just a few meters in front of her. Tali turned towards the water; a small motorboat was rocking in the water. "LU! LU, CAN YOU HEAR ME!", screamed Luana and considered throwing the bike to the side and jumping down the steps when the boy with dark hair slowly turned to her. His red, shining eyes almost stared into Luana's soul. A slight, malicious grin played around his lips.

"LU! YOU HAVE TO COME BACK TO YOURSELF! WAKE UP!", screamed Luana and waved his arms, but the boy didn't even seem to be interested in her words. He followed the blonde girl to the motorboat. "Stop! Tali! It's over! Or whoever is controlled by Juan here and can talk to me!", screamed Luana in panic.

Tali stopped and answered in an almost mechanical voice: "The second round of the game will probably go to me, what a pity... I was hoping that Xiao, my old friend, ha-ha, would stop me," Tali grinned.

Then she walked on, her blonde hair blowing in the wind. Luana looked after the two of them in shock, unsure whether what she had heard could be right. Then she turned the handlebars of the bike and jumped over the stairs and tumbled down the steps. She would not allow Lu and Tali to be put in danger too! Luana crashed off the last step and threw the bike to the side, trying to jump off at the same time, but stumbled and hit her hands. The burning pain pierced her skin, she felt her hands tearing open on the stony ground. With tears in her eyes she tried to stand up, but the pain in her knees was too great. Lu and Tali sat down in the boat in front of her, they were only a few meters away! "No... no..." the girl with dark hair gasped desperately. Just as Tali wanted to start the engine and Lu wanted to untie the boat's rope, a loud shout rang out.

"Lu! You idiot!" a familiar voice yelled. Luana recognized a limping Cheng, who was sprinting towards the boat.

"Cheng?!", frightened but surprised at the same time, Luana looked at her friend. Tali turned around in shock, but couldn't react quickly enough. Cheng threw himself on Lu and pushed the blonde girl to the side. The boat rocked, Lu and Cheng fell onto the jetty when suddenly Lu came to. His eyes lost their red glow, Lu stared at Cheng, overwhelmed. "What... what are you doing here?!" Lu shouted angrily. "I...?" Cheng gasped.

"I'm damn well here to get you out of the third player's control"