50 Miles

Chapter 4

Run.

That's what my instincts tell me. Always run.

I escape from the stranger's grasp and run for my life. It's the military. They've got me. I run as fast as humanly possible. Until I realize something. The stranger just asked me if I was alright. Can the military be capable of human emotion?

Nah.

That's when I run face-first into someone. We both go tumbling down the steep hill and roll for what seemed like minutes. We come to a stop and I land on a fallen tree the size of . . . well a tree. I don't pay attention to the pain. I open my backpack at speeds unknown and I pull out my gun. But that's when I finally see the stranger that I fell with.

Not the military.

Not even an adult.

A boy.

Around my age?

He looks up at me and raises his hands. "Woah! Calm down we just need some help! We saw that you had a water filter and we're wondering if we could borrow it for some water."I don't let go of the gun.

We?

"What do you mean we?" I say, finding my voice. He eye's me.

"My dad and I. We ran out of water yesterday and we've been looking up and down everywhere for people who would be willing to trade anything for some water. No luck. We kept looking today and we saw you."

He's telling the truth.

"My name's Liam by the way, just in case you wanted to know. What's yours?"

I don't say anything.

I don't do anything.

I just stare at him.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He stares at me once more, more sincerely this time." His eyes gaze down to my leg. "You're bleeding."

I don't let go of my gun.

I see red liquid soaking through my pants and start to roll them up. I look down at my leg and sure enough, there's a huge gash on my lower thigh.

"We can help you out with that. We have extra medkits to help you out." He stands up, brushing the snow off with his gloved hands. It's so rare that you can find gloves now. How in the world did this kid get a pair.

"Liam! Liam! Where are you?" I hear a voice up the hill calling the boy's name. It's low and gruff. A man peers over the top of the hill and his eyes gaze towards mine.

I raise my gun once more.

"Wait," Liam rushes over to me. He's about three inches taller than me with light brown hair and green eyes. "That's my dad! Don't shoot."

I look at the man, contemplating my next move. I lower my gun. I start climbing up the hill. I need to make sure my items are still where I left them. I use tree roots to pull myself up the hill. Liam does the same. We do this for about five minutes when the root that I choose is loose. I'm about to fall off of this twenty-foot hill when Liam grabs my hand and pulls me around his waist. I hold on as tight as I can while he points to a sturdy tree root for me to grab on to. I jump and catch the root while a mountain of snow falls down the hill.

"Thanks," I say, shivering.

"What, did you think I was just going to let you fall and break an ankle or something?" He continues to climb.

I don't respond.

I just keep on climbing.

After about another five minutes of numb fingers, I finally spot Liam's dad waiting for us at the top. He rushes over with red cheeks and helps Liam up first. When Liam is up on the hill with his dad they both just stare at me, menacingly.

"You thought we were going to help you? Please. You're more pathetic than your brother. Couldn't even get a weapon from a wounded military soldier. Sad. He deserved to die." Liam said in a menacing voice. His normal voice, from what I could tell, was soothing, and calm. He could tell someone that he would rip your heart out of your chest and you'd still give him all your attention. But that was gone now. Nothing about his voice now seemed calm or soothing or even nice. It felt like every ounce of that had never been there and I had just imagined it.

His father just nodded in agreement, with the same menacing smile.

It was enough to make my heart leap out of my chest.

I climbed the rest of the hill and immediately took out my gun and aimed.

Liam first.

"H-How did you know that?" I ask with fear, trying to act and sound tough and failing at both. If it wasn't for my hands being glued to my gun out of fear, it would have fallen out of my hands and down the mountain. Liam's dad just sits down on the nearest pile of hardened snow with the same menacing smile but there's also something else . . . something interesting.

Something weird.

Something terrifying.

I just freeze as if my body has been glued to the side of this hill. My breathing starts to pick up.

"Such a shame that you never even got close to making it to Hollow Hill. He was counting on you and you let him down. This is why you are a failure and you'll always be a failure and nothing more." He sighs as if he just spent his entire day doing homework . . . is that what it's called? Homework.

"Oh well. You were pathetic anyway. No one will miss you. Any last words?" He says with a sneer. 

Any last . . . ?

Oh no.

I snap out of my mini panic attack and pull out my gun. But I'm not fast enough. I hear the gunshot. It's so loud all I hear is static and white noise at the same time. I look down.

You all know what's there as I do though.

A big red splotch the size of my fist is in the middle of my stomach. I look up at Liam. There's nothing in his eye's . . . like he has been possessed. I feel my head getting woozy and I start to fall backwards.

No.NO.

No way in hell am I giving up.

This is for you Liam.

Please know that I tried.

And that I love you.

That I'm sorry.

It's all my fault . . .

But I'm going to make it up to you.

Now.

I fling my arms around and find a tree branch. I hold on for dear life.

Liam looks down at me and his face says "Just fall already b**** you're dead anyway.

If you guys can recreate this, I'll give you $100.

I hang on for what seems like hours while Liam just watches me. His dad is too busy eating like a fat pig to notice anything.

Wtf?

WTF?

Wtf!!!

WTF!!!!!!

W
TF

?

WTF!!!

I don't even know what to do anymore.

I'm dead anyway.

What does it matter?

So I do what any sane 14-year-old girl would do in my situation.

I let go.