Police sirens wailed in the distance, a nice warning to the three of them that they were screwed. Unless they ran for it. “Don't drop the spray paint cans; they have our fingerprints all over 'em,” Mitch warned, talking around the cigarette dangling between his lips.
“Do ya really think they're going to do a fingerprint test on paint cans?” Tally asked, earning a dirty look from from Mitch. She shuddered, and quickly dropped the can into her purse.
“Um, guys. Not to rush you or anything,but the police will be here in any second-” Alex began.
“Worried?” Mitch mocked, smirking at Alex's discomfort.
“What! Me? Worried? Psh..no!” Alex stuttered over the words, shifting from foot to foot. He looked like he was five seconds away from peeing his pants.
Blue and red lights came flashing around the corner, lighting up the area like a disco ball; bouncing off lingering puddles from the earlier storm. Right before the lights penetrated the deep shadows from the corner they stood in, Mitch lifted his arm, and pointed into the the thick forest growing on the brink of the pavement. “RUN!” he shouted. The air was filled with the cacophony of sneakers pounding pavement, and the throaty voices of the officers.
“After those kids!”
“Don't let them get away!”
The cops took off after the three teenagers. Alex had never ran so fast in his entire life.
The woods were dense, a labyrinth of loose stones, twigs, and branches. His side ached, and he was having a hard time keeping up with the graceful lopes of Mitch and Tally, as they easily made their way through the maze. Alex wished he could move the way they did.
After running for what felt like hours, they reached a sparse, dead, hollow. The ground was flat, smooth, and brown. The limbs that hung over the clearing from the trees that surrounded it were dying. Despite the fact that fall was in full swing, everything in this clearing felt like winter- dead, brown, and cold. Alex suppressed a shudder, and brought his jacket in closer around his shoulders. The air smelled musky, like an abandoned attic full of decaying mysteries. It was an unnatural scent; not something you would usually find outside.
There was something wrong about this place. It was bad. It felt evil. A whispering gust of cold wind breathed down the collar of Alex's jacket, and he shuddered against his will. He hoped it would go unnoticed, but of course, it didn't. "Awe, is the poor baby scared?" Tally asked.
Before Alex had a chance to defend himself, Mitch reached into the pocket of his sweatshirt, and pulled out a thin rectangular box. "This'll calm your nerves," he said, as he lit up one of the cigarettes, and handed it to Alex.
Tally snorted, and rolled her eyes. The moonlight glinted metallically off the snake bites in her upper lip. Alex took a long drag on the cigarette, closing his eyes, and choking back a cough. He wasn't a huge fan of smoking, but he could never admit that to Tally and Mitch. Especially not Mitch. Besides, it was kind of numbing his anxiety. Kind of. Not really.
When he looked up, he found Mitch and Tally studying him, their faces blank, but somehow intense. It made him immensely uncomfortable. He took a step back, and then another. His stumbled backwards over a broken tree limb, and his back hit against a rotting tree. Mitch and Tally continued watching him, though they didn't get any closer to him. They just watched.
"Um...guys? Why are you looking at me like that?" Alex asked. His voice squeaked. He couldn't bring himself to care. They didn't answer. He decided to approach his problem from a different angle. "Shouldn't we circle around, back to the truck? The police were pretty hot on our heels-"
