Chapter 2: The Escape
I couldn't breathe.
The world around me was spinning, the lights from the speeding car blinding me as I tried to pull away from the stranger's grip. My heart was hammering in my chest, and I could feel the cold rain soaking through my clothes, but it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the car barreling toward us at full speed.
"Get down!" the man shouted, his voice harsh, desperate.
Without thinking, I dropped to the ground, my body hitting the wet pavement hard. The world seemed to slow down as I scrambled to crawl away from the car's path. My head was spinning, and for a brief moment, I thought I was going to black out. But the man wasn't finished with me yet.
He yanked me back up with terrifying force, pulling me into his arms like a ragdoll. I gasped as he spun me around, pressing my back against his chest.
"Stay down," he ordered, his voice low and urgent. "Don't move until I say so."
I didn't have the strength to argue, even if I wanted to. My body shook, my heart raced, and my thoughts were a jumbled mess. I couldn't focus on anything except the feeling of his arms around me. The way his body pressed against mine was hard and solid as if he was trying to shield me from the world itself.
The car screeched to a halt a few feet away, its tires squealing against the wet pavement. The driver's side door opened, and a tall figure stepped out, his face partially obscured by the vehicle's shadow. I could feel the air thicken with tension as the figure started walking toward us.
"Who are they?" I whispered, barely able to find my voice.
The man holding me didn't answer. He was too focused on the figure advancing toward us, his eyes sharp with fear and anger.
"I said, stay down," he repeated, his voice more commanding this time.
I didn't know what to do. I was frozen between the stranger's protective grip and the ominous threat walking toward us. My stomach twisted with anxiety, but I couldn't look away.
The stranger who had pulled me to safety stood still, his jaw clenched tight. I could hear his breathing, shallow and quick, as if trying to hold himself together. For what? For me? Or for himself?
The man approaching us stopped just a few feet away, his presence suffocating. His coldness sent a shiver down my spine. He wasn't here by accident. He was looking for something, for someone.
And I had the horrible feeling that I was someone.
"Get up," the man said, his voice flat and emotionless. "It's time to talk."
The stranger holding me didn't move. "We don't have anything to talk about."
The man's lips twisted into a smile but weren't kind. "I beg to differ. You've been running long enough. You can't keep her safe forever."
The words hit me like a slap in the face. Keep me safe? From what? And who the hell were these people?
I struggled to break free from the man's grip, but he held me tight, his hand pressing against my chest as if to stop my heart from beating any faster.
"Let go of me!" I shouted, but the rain roaring and the overwhelming tension in the air drowned out my voice.
The man's smile widens. Do you think you have" a choice? "Do you think you can walk away from this?"
I froze. What "is he talking about? What was going on?
The stranger beside me whispered, "You don't know what you are dealing with." The words didn't make sense. I wasn't about to ask more when the man in front of us suddenly raised his hand, and before I could react, I felt the sharp sting of something metallic pressing against my neck.
A knife.
I gasped, my body going still. My pulse thrummed in my ears as the man's cold, calculman'svoice whispered.
"Now… you listen to" me carefully."