When All is Lost

Chapter 14

The man's screams of agonizing dismay made me move. I grabbed the man's shoulder and gave it a hard yank, forcing him to turn away from his companion. It took all I had to not fixate on her dangling body with the back of her skull completely gone. "Stay or come. Make your choice now."

The man's butterscotch-colored eyes squinted behind the veil of blood that now trickled down his face. He wiped at his face with the back of his sleeve and let out a small whimper at the red stain it left on his arm. Even still, I watched the moment he steeled himself and gave me a swift nod. That was all I needed. I took off as fast and as hard as I could out of the alleyway and out into the open road.

I could feel more than actually tell that the people were still pursuing us. It was like hot breath on the back of my neck. The more intense my fear was, the more I was determined to escape. It was a drive in me and I had no choice but to run. The pain from my chest wound, the burn in my lungs, the battering of the last few cans in my backpack thumping against my back – none of it mattered. I just had to keep going.

Ian kept pace and, from the sound of it, the man wasn't much father behind. My mind raced even faster than my feet. Two clear thoughts came to mind.

The first was that we had distance from our pursuers.

The second was how little that mattered so long as they had guns.

Determination and fatigue could only battle it out for so long before our pace would slow or we'd have to rest. As soon as that happened, with a gun in play, we'd be in serious trouble. That meant that our window of opportunity for taking action was very short. We had to either get them to lose sight of us in order to hide or find some way to fight. With the long, flat road ahead, they'd see any turn we'd take. It left us with only one option.

A cold, hard pit formed in my stomach.

I looked at our surroundings and made the best choice I could. "Follow me," I stated, heading for the shattered glass doors of a large hardware store set a little back from the road.

Only once my feet crossed over the door's threshold and crunched on the glass did I turn to the new man with us. "How many people were chasing you?"

"Three."

A flicker of hope sparked in me. "You sure?" I pushed. There was no room for him to be wrong.

"Pretty sure."

I glared at him.

"Ah, yeah. I mean yes, I'm sure."

"Did they all have guns?"

"No." His voice sounded far more sure. "Just one."

"Then let's spread out. Hide. All we have is the element of surprise. Do you have a weapon?"

The man pulled a fork out of his hoodie's pocket and held it up for me to see. I blinked at him, a little stunned by the move.

"Right, I guess that will work," I said, tearing my eyes away from the pronged object to look at Ian. "You okay?"

"I'm good." He adjusted the knife in his hand. The only telltale sign of his nerves was the tension in his jawline as he clenched his teeth.

I stiffly nodded. "They'll only have two options if they follow us – split up or stick together. If they stick together, we can each sneak back here if we can't find a good enough place to hide. We can always meet up again behind the store across the street. If they split up... just make them regret it."

Our options were limited. I could think back on my choices later if we lived. In the moment, I had to keep moving.

"Go hide."