The Cure for Sleeping

Chapter Two

I find that it's faster to vault over cars than to go around them. My boots squeak against metal and strip paint, but do nothing to drown out the jeers chasing me. I can hear them breathing, feel it down my spine. Against my neck. I move faster, heart pumping like a machine. I clear the road and jerk left, hard. My feet skid as I swing up into a shop entrance. It's a chemist, glass bottles lining the shelves like toy soldiers. I grab the ledge, nails scraping against metal, and pull towards me. It tilts off balance and crashes to the floor, a hasty barricade. Little spears of glass sting my arms, sharp as needles as they're flung like shrapnel.

The men shout behind me, hurling curses like they think I'll stop and scold them. One yelps in pain. I don't stop running – I don't think I can, at this stage. Over the counter at the back of the store, I throw myself against the door marked employees only. These sorts of places have to have a back door, right? It's that a requirement for insurance?

Ricocheting off flaky yellow walls, I turn corner after corner. I kick open doors. Bathroom, storage cupboard, office. Panic is settling in my chest, wrapping around my throat. I fly around another bend, running at full speed.

That stops when I crash straight into a boy's rib cage. I take both of us out, and air rips out of his chest as we hit the ground. A pair of plastic bags go sailing behind me. We land in a tangle of limbs, and I'm rolling to my feet in an instant, carried by momentum. Stumbling back into a sprint, a hand catches my arm. I'm jerked to a stop, my head snapping painfully to the side.

"Woah!" The voice attached to the hand says. He steadies me then quickly releases, hands raised in surrender. "Calm down, cowgirl,"

He tilts his head at the wheezing boy. "This is not how you go about second base, Noah."

I stand still and pant, staring wide-eyed. He's my age, with blond hair and a footballer's physique. He His hands stay up as the guy I knocked down climbs back up. The boy's laughing, but on two feet he groans, clutching at his stomach.

He will get over it. I'm made of adrenaline, my eyes tearing the corridor apart, looking for the exit.

"Do we need to run?" The breathless boy asks. He pushes a pair of black glasses up his nose.

I think I can see a door around the next corner. I take a tiny step back and... yes! The fluorescent green of the exit sign has never been so beautiful.

I sway to the side, eyes on the door. A hand appears in front of my face and snaps its fingers.

"Hey," the blonde snaps again. I blink.

He moves his friend out of the way, bends to my height. The blonde's face is drawn, and he glances down the twisted path I took. The white walls are smeared bloody handprints. "What's your name?"

"Avery."

"Okay, Avery. My name is Joshua Callaghan. Josh. Do we need to run?"

I know what he's asking. Insomniacs. Right.

"No, there's..." I struggle for breath, sucking in great lungfuls of air like a drowning man. "Some guys are chasing me. No Insomniacs. Just..." I trail off. A crash sounds further down in the store. I need to go, right now.

The boy I knocked over is breathing like a normal human being now. Good for him. He scoops up his bags and passes one off the Josh.

"Alright then. This way, if you please." The boy extends his arm to me. I stare at it.

Josh laughs. "Maybe take that as the rejection it was, Noah."

That's when we hear the employees only door bang open, smacking against the wall. Josh swears and takes off towards the exit.

Noah glances over his shoulder towards the crashes ringing through the store, then at me. Leaving the decision up to me.

A red face swings around the corner, spying us with a shout. With that added incentive, I grab Noah's hand and we sprint.