Luna Raine

IV. Fear

Raine's POV:

After some time, I exhale dramatically. My weight dropped on my knees. "Are we there yet?" I couldn't stop panting.

She exhales, "City life has spoiled you. We're almost there."

"You said that-" I looked at my phone, "ten minutes ago."

Mom shrugs and continues walking, "If you laid off those chips!"

"Don't you talk dirty about my chips!" I made my way towards her.

I chug down a water bottle and look up to see the sunlight filtered by the tree branches on each side of the trail. I won't lie. It's tiring, but I miss this.

Then, I heard it.

A muffling sound.

My legs stopped working, and I turned my head towards the dense forest.

"What's wro-" I place a finger over my mouth and mom stops talking. Steadily, I flow towards the trees, removing one branch at a time with my mom behind me. I know it's a stupid thing to do. Who in their right mind would follow a creepy sound? Humans. Curiosity generally gets the best out of us.

Then, it stops.

The muffling sound halted.

I stop walking, feeling an urking sensation inside of me. Every single one of my fibers tells me not to walk any further. I feel a soft panic growing due to this vortex of stupidity. I breathed out real slow and told myself it's all inside my mind.

Paranoid. I am merely paranoid.

And with a single step backward, I heard a branch snap. Then, it strikes...the panic escalated. "Well, what do we have here?"

I turn around to see two men behind me. My head twirls around to see more on the other side. Slightly, I pushed mom back, who clung onto my arm. My eyes strike towards a woman's body hovering over one of the men's shoulders. Then, there it is. Another body. This time, dragged by his bloody shirt. A dead man.

I grab the taser from the side of my backpack, and so did mom. Somehow, that humored them. I didn't look at my mom, but I know she's as scared as me. So, without another word, I said: "Run."

When a man reaches for us, we electrocute them. Without a second thought, we abandoned the bags. We ran through the maze of trees, our eyes still on each other once in a while to ensure we haven't split up. The sky rumbled—a brilliant time to rain—something the weather forecast predicted. We weren't fazed by it, the sudden formation of mud and storm had tangled our hair.

Time has never brazed by so fast when you're running for your life. We tried to search for someone...anyone. Most of them are far too ahead of the trail. We arrived late. Fuck me and my laziness.

When we reached the parking lot, I reached for the keys in my back pocket. No one was there. Mom says it's a bad habit to keep my keys there, but this one time. I'm grateful I didn't listen to her.

The distance was all that mattered. We weren't stopping for anything or anyone. I could run over a person and still be driving until we reached the police station. My foot harshly slams against the gas pedal, and if I wasn't going to stop for a human. Why the fuck would I stop for a shitstorm that came from the blue.

I can see it.

The cars behind us.

They are fucking chasing us.

My eyes continuously trace over towards the small shivering woman beside me. Her eyes widen, breaths ragged and harsh, knowing precisely what is happening right now. I grab her hand, going ridiculously over the mile limit. "It's okay, mom." I rub circles around her palm. "I'm here. Raine is here. I'll keep you safe."