Hypnotise Ultimatum

On the Run

It was early in the morning. The sun was barely in the sky.
I sat by the burnt logs that was last night's fire, thinking. I had nothing else to do, since I couldn't find Nico anywhere. He never left this quickly. Maybe it was time for me to leave. I couldn't stay forever, since I would be found out eventually. It's been weeks since we escaped from that place and Nico and I barely talked to each other. Avoiding each other, mostly. What did we have to say?
Suddenly, I felt a hand to my mouth and an arm go around my arms and waist. They were too strong, so I couldn't struggle or scream.
"Shhh," I heard Nico's voice in my ear. "Don't move."
He removed his arms from around me and I relaxed.
"They found us," he continued, whispering. "I was going to the shop, when I spotted them. I shook them off for now, but more were heading here to find you. They could be here any moment."
I stood up and slowly looked around at him.
"We have to go," I whispered urgently.
I noticed something black peek out from behind one of the trees.
"Duck!" I shouted and Nico and I both fell on the ground.
I could hear the gunshots fire where we were just standing a moment ago, but we were unharmed.
We made eye contact for a second and then scrambled up to run. Nico and I wove through the trees. There were only a few more shots behind us and footsteps running after us. They must have decided to drop their cover and chase us.
I glanced back. There were about fifteen of them. The few at the front were gaining on us.
"We have to lose them!" I shouted as we ran.
"Wait, over there!" Nico replied and pointed towards a slope with a cluster of bushes. I didn't even notice it even though we were only a short distance away. We had to throw off our pursuers, otherwise they would see us hide.
We turned to the right where the trees were closer together. I could hear them still chasing us. How are we going to get away?
"Up," Nico said softly and flicked his head upwards. There was a low branch above us from one of the trees. Nico quickly put his hands together to give me a leg up and I clambered onto the branch. I reached down and hauled him up and we both climbed a bit higher so that we wouldn't be noticed.
We heard the group approaching, so we stopped climbing and tried to stay hidden in the tree. There were too few branches and leaves, so we would be noticed if anyone looked up.
A bunch of people appeared below us. They were now only walking, looking around to try and spot us.
"Split up!" The one man shouted. I didn't recognise him. "The fast runners follow the trail that way. They could have continued running. The rest scout the area for hiding places. Move!"
The group split up and ran off or scoured the trees. The party left behind was slowly moving further away from us. A few looked up, but they didn't notice us yet.
Nico signalled me that it was time to start moving. He pointed to a tree next to ours that had a branch stretching close to where we were. He was suggesting that we get away through the trees.
I nodded and clambered onto the branch. I looked back and saw Nico following me and then proceeded towards the next tree.
"I see them! Up there!"
I heard a shout from below us. I looked down and saw the person who shouted. He was pointing at us and calling the others.
"Run," I said to Nico. We had to get out from the trees. I dropped onto a lower branch and then to the ground. I looked around at the group approaching us as Nico landed next to me. There was some distance between us. We still had a chance.
Nico and I sprinted away from them, back the way we came.
We reached the slope and dived down into it, rolling on impact with the ground. I sat low and pushed my back against the wall, ready to jump up if we were spotted.
"Where did they go?"
I let out a soft sigh and relaxed. They didn't spot us jumping in. That could by us some time.
I looked at Nico sitting upright next to me. He was assessing what we should do. Then a thought struck me.
"Why did you leave so early?" I whispered.
"What?" he asked, surprised by my sudden question.
"Why were you gone when I woke up this morning? You never go out this early," I whispered.
"Is this really the right time?" He was shifting in his seat. What was he hiding?
"Seems as good as any time. We're usually on the run," I replied.
He let out a soft sigh.
"Alright, fine," he whispered. "I was... going to the shop to surprise you."
Surprise me? I was about to ask him, when he continued.
"Well, you know..." He was shifting his eyes and his and reached up to scratch the back of his neck. "I've, um, been keeping track of the date and well, you're exactly a month before I am and I just... I wanted to surprise you for your birthday."
He gave me a small smile. "Surprise."
I couldn't find anything to say. My birthday? It was ages away from my birthday when we were last, you know, at school and stuff. It's been so long since our lives were normal and he still... remembered.
"Um... wow," It was now my turn to stutter. "Thank you. That's so... so sweet. This is probably not the time. We should... start trying to get out of here."
"Yeah," Nico answered. Our eyes locked for a moment, but he quickly looked away to continue finding an escape.
"Okay," he whispered after about a minute. "If we slowly sneak that way, it could get us some distance away so we can-"
He was cut off by something dropping down behind him.
Nico turned to look, but a kick came in contact with his face and he fell sideways.
The person turned and pointed a gun directly at my head. I could feel my heartbeat quickening and the adrenaline kicking in.
The gun fired and I ducked.