Run

Raylee

"Dad!" Ray cried out from the hall, in shock she shuffled into the room. Horror consumed her as she glanced around the room taking in all the gruesome details. Blood sprayed the walls, glass and pottery littered the carpet, and her father's dead body gutted like a fish. Backing out of the room covering her mouth she tripped and fell backwards over a pile of laundry. Scrambling to her feet she cried out for her mother. She ran down the stairs and checked the bathroom and living room but there were no signs of her mother. She started into the kitchen when she stopped, blood covered the tile floor. It streaked around the corner as if someone was dragged through it.

"Mommy?" She stepped over the blood, she followed the trail of dried blood to the corner of the kitchen where he mother was slumped. Bloody handprints littered the wall where her mother had grabbed the phone which was now beeping because it was off its mount.

"Mom?" She reached out as tears welled up in her eyes and turned her mother over. Several slices had shredded her mother's pant suit. Suddenly her mother couched and blood spewed from her mouth.

"Mom! Stay right there I'm calling the police." She got up but her mother's hand weakly grabbed her torn dress.

"Don't it's too late. Run Raylee- "Her mouth couched and pain flicked in her eyes. "In my closet, there's a box move it behind that is a false wall break it and take what's inside. Trust no one and Run Raylee- "Her mother's eyes closed and her breathing labored, "Run Raylee just don't look back run..." Her mother's voice faded into a whisper before she seized up and drew her last breath.

"No! Mom I'm sorry I shouldn't have gone to the party this is my fault oh God I'm so sorry mommy please don't leave me." She sobbed. She curled up into a ball for a while, the sun casted shadows over her mother's dead body, the sun set and Ray was shaking but she stood up and still in shock walked back to her parents' bedroom. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself to see her fathers mangled body. She shut the world out and made it to the closet where after some searching found the box overturned but pushed against the back wall. Ray grunted as she pushed against the drywall until her hand went through the plaster. Dust bellowed and cleared revealing a bag. She grabbed the bag just as car doors shut outside. She made it to the window and peeked out towards her driveway where three black SUV's had pulled up. At first, she became relived that these were the police, they would know what to do but when the door opened and men in dark jeans and black hoodies popped out she became worried. Two men started toward the house holding machine guns. Panic set in and she grabbed the bag and slung it over her shoulder she made it down the stairs and locked the front door before racing out the back. Adrenaline was coursing through her and she ran as faster than she has in years and by some miracle was able to hurdle herself over the tall pine fence and crashed into the neighbors rose garden. Muffling her cries, she clumsily rolled off the thorns and onto the dew filled grass. Looking through the slits in the fence she saw three men run out into the backyard scanning for her with their guns drawn. She stayed where she was out of fear she would make noise if she ran. They eventually went inside and she made it through the neighborhood by crawling under broken fences and over stone walls until she made it to the main road where she took off running as fast as she could towards the city.

Her town neighbored the city she knew if she stayed towards the main roads she could make it to the city and blend in and figure out what was happening. She ducked into the trees when she saw a car coming and crashed through bushes and branches in order to go unseen. Dawn was approaching by the time she caught a glimpse of the city. On the brink of exhaustion and still in shock she needed to find a place to rest. As she came to the outskirts of the city, she saw an abandoned warehouse. Walking the perimeter and peeking into the busted and boarded up windows she concluded that there wasn't anyone around. She hoisted herself up onto the windowsill and dropped onto a dusty tarp. Coughing she rolled off and examined the warehouse. It was large but mostly filled with industrial equipment and rows of crates and boxes. She walked through the rows until she found an overturned box that had cracked open. Clearing out the contents she called into the shipping crate and laid her head against the bag and drifted off to sleep.

A loud bang made her jump and hit her head on the cramped shipping crate. She stifled a yelp and crawled out dragging the bag behind her. She peered through the boxes and saw a white van backing into the warehouse and six men loading it small parcels. She narrowed her eyes and thought that the parcels looked like bundles of cocaine. Ray had watched a lot of crime shows with her mother. The memory brought tears to her eyes and blurred her vision. She wiped them away and tried to look for an exit. The van took up the only exit to the warehouse but the window she used to climb in was only a dozen feet away. Taking a deep breath, she waited for the men's backs to be turned then she took off for the window. She clambered over the dusty tarp and jumped up and tried to grab the window sill, on the second jump she found a place for her hand and hoisted herself up. She was almost free when she heard shouts.

The men started running towards her and she flung herself out of the window and landed on the ground hard. Her legs buckled and she fell onto her hands and knees. She got to her feet and ran towards the main road. She dodged down an empty alleyway and down another. This part of the city was a maze of boarded up buildings and alleyways. She stopped to catch her breath and to finally see what was inside the bag. She unzipped the duffle bag and pulled out a hoodie, a pair of sweatpants, a book, a set of keys, a heavy bag, and a gun.

Startled and confused she stuck the gun back inside the duffle bag and opened the smaller bag. Inside were wads of cash, Ray's eyes bulged, she had never seen so much money. There had to be over two thousand dollars. She stuck everything back inside the bag and took a deep breath.

She shivered, and considered finding a place to change into the hoodie and sweatpants, she still had on her tattered dress from the party. She stood up and started towards one of the empty buildings when she heard shouts.

"Hey you! Stop right there!" She looked back and recognized one of the men from the warehouse. Swearing, she took off running in the opposite direction. She took several turns before the alley dumped her out into a small parking lot. Looking around desperately she ran toward the road when one man rounded the corner and drew a gun on her.

"Stop." He said in a Russian accent.

Ray backed away but two men came out of the alley way holding guns.

"You think you can spy on us and get away? Who do you work for?" The Russian man yelled out.

"Nobody, I. I'm just lost. I crashed there for the night. I didn't know anything was going on there I'm sorry, I didn't see anything." She pleaded, but the man looked unconvinced.

"So, you work for Loui, eh? Or maybe Diaz? Well I'm going to send a message to those assholes and make an example about what happens to spies" He clocked his gun and aimed it at her chest. She closed her eyes waiting for the shot when a motorcycle ripped into the parking lot. She opened her eyes and saw a man step off his bike and walk right up to the Russian man.

"And who is this fool, you want to die too." The Russian laughed and pointed the gun at the stranger who in one swift movement grabbed the man's hand bent it and threw him to the ground. His black boot stamped down on the man's throat until the Russian man's face turned blue. He took his foot off and turned to the other men who for a moment were shocked but regained their posture and lunged for the stranger. Ray stood there stunned, watching the men with guys getting their ass handed to them. The stranger never took his helmet off nor did he seem to even break a sweat. In a matter of minutes the men joined their boss unconscious on the ground.

The stranger turned to Ray who backed up to the wall, she fumbled with the bag.

"Twice in two days, that's gotta be some record." The familiar voice called out. Ray tensed and was utterly confused, the stranger stepped towards her and removed his helmet. Standing before her was,

Lucas Crawford.