Academy Everlasting

Chapter 2: Don't Drink the Water!

Chapter 2: Don't Drink the Water!

My lungs burn with the effort I am putting into running for my life. Am I a bit dramatic? The sane voice in my head asks. Maybe. I tell it, but I have no clue what the large muscled men want with me, in the middle of the woods, where no one can hear me scream if they decide to chop me in to tiny bits. I can mentally see my sane voice huffing and crossing her arms so, I hastily amend my thoughts. Okay, so I am being a lot dramatic, but in this situation running is still my best and safest option.

I can hear three sets of feet pounding behind me as the guys gain ground on me. Of course they would catch up quickly, I am at least a head shorter than all of them. That means my legs are much shorter than theirs. They could probably walk and catch up to me!

"Hey, wait!" I hear the one with glasses yelling to me. "We won't hurt you, we just want to talk to you!"

Said every serial killer ever! I think to myself, as fear gives me a fresh spurt of adrenaline allowing me to speed up.

They continue to chase me, randomly calling out for me to stop and that mean me no harm; part of me wants to holler back that I heard and disbelieved them the first time they told me that, but I need the air to much to do so. I can feel my legs about to give out. I am not used to this kind of exercise and I have been pushing myself to the limit for the last five minutes or so, trying to get away from them. Glancing over my shoulder, I see that they are barely ten feet behind me and they don't even look or sound winded!

"Please, just wait!" I hear an accented voice call out. I refuse to look and see how close they are now, but he sounds like he is right behind me.

"Aggele, stop fleeing from us before you hurt yourself," the tall one yells to me and I can't help but grin between gasps of air, when I realize I was right. He does, in fact, have an accent. I just can't seem to place it. Not that I am trying too hard at the moment.

I am so busy trying to push my legs to move faster than they are able to, that I don't see the tree root sticking out of the ground ahead of me. My foot gets caught and I fall face first in to the dirt, scraping my arm on a rock on my way down. Without meaning to a cry of fear at my fall, morphs into one of pain, when I hit the ground. It then trails off in a whimper as I am quickly surrounded. I clutch my bleeding arm to me, focusing my attention on it and hope that the guys go away. Examining the puffy area around the small cut, I sigh, yep that's going to leave a mark.

"Shit," I hear one of them, Nathan I think, mumbling as they slowly approach me. "Are you alright? That looked like a nasty fall."

Do serial killer normally ask if you are alright after you fall? I wonder, as Nathan crouches down next to me. He looks at me waiting for my answer. I don't answer his question out loud, but I do give a brief nod to indicate I am fine.

I stare at them with wide eyes, too afraid to open my mouth. I want to tell them to go away, but I am pretty certain if I tried to talk, all that would come out is a scream or a whimper. I know no one is around to hear it and they probably wouldn't care anyway. Nathan reaches out to hit me and I flinch away whimpering. This whole situation has turned in to a really cliché horror film, I think, as I wait for the first blow to land.

Seeing the anger that floods Nathan's face at my actions, I drop my eyes and curl into myself. Why didn't I run away when I first saw them? I mentally wail, as I brace myself for pain. I hear all three of them draw in a quick breathe of air like something startled them. I hear one of them mutter a curse word and another start mumbling what sounds like numbers. Nathan reaches out to me again, and I slam my eyes shut tightly, curl up even more and wait for the blow to fall. My fists are clenched so tight together, I am leaving half moon shaped cuts into the palms of my hands.