Finding the Dawn

Prologue

It was, he reflected, quite surreal to hear the city’s
early morning birdsong signalling a new day while he was ending someone’s life.

He watched as the life drained, quite literally, from the man lying on the ground at his feet; the blood running in rivers between the cobbles from the wound in his chest. If only the man hadn’t betrayed him they could still have been asleep but they hadn’t and this man had to accept the consequences.

He was always very careful when he did jobs like this, it wouldn’t do for someone of his calibre to be caught by the police which was why he wiping off the knife he had used when there was a scuffling noise from the end of the narrow alley. Glancing up he saw a woman, dressed in running clothes wearing a look of sheer terror. A growl of frustration escaped his lips as he recognised her. Others noticing his change of mood realised what could have been the reason.

There is only one reason which could make him and them lose their minds.

He quickly started to move towards her.And they followed him.

The woman turned and ran as fast as she could up the street and round the corner, her breath condensing in front of her in the cool early morning air.

She ran through the old town  as if the hordes of hell were chasing her, and for all she knew they were.

She ignored all the signs.

They aren't normal, they are completely unhuman.

Conscious that her shoes were making a lot of noise on the tarmac road she waited until she was a few streets away and ducked into a disused doorway.

Peering cautiously from her hiding space she looked back the way she had come but couldn’t see anyone following her. She paused a little longer; although she was used to running on a daily basis this was quite different and her chest was heaving, sweat running down her back from the exertion. She took a swig from her water bottle and felt for the hidden pocket of her shorts, reassuring herself that the keys to her flat were there.

Taking one last look down the street, she set off in the opposite direction, heading home  her home. And hoping she would make it there safely.

They ran along paved streets and round sharp bends, hoping the woman wasn’t too far ahead and hadn’t disappeared into a building passageway for they simply didn’t have the time to check them.

When setting the meeting for 4.30am they  had expected the streets would be completely empty but they hadn’t considered the strange breed of people who decide that that ungodly hour is a good time for exercise. Thst man cursed himself for not thinking of it especially as he had been so careful in setting up the meeting somewhere secluded and away from any windows. He couldn't lose her. He needs her, his sons needs her. Which was why he and his sons were  chasing her and hoping that they could stop her before she went away. He started running again, he had no choice, he had to find her.

********

Pausing to check behind she realised that footsteps she had heard were only those of a sharply dressed commuter walking to catch the early train to her home town.

She wanted to stop so badly but was only a few streets from home so kept going, continuing to hydrate as she ran. She was so focused on heading home and listening out for anyone behind her that she failed to notice that between the buildings the sky was now streaked with the oranges and pinks that suggested it would be another sunny day. When she was nearly home she took off her gloves and got her keys from her pocket. Reaching the main door of her building hands shaking she unlocked the door, the key scraping on the edges of the lock a few times before she managed to get it to go in.