Runaway

They aren’t around, but I feel their greedy eyes on me, deciding my future. I’m alone… but for how long? I hear the buzz of an aircraft above, tirelessly searching for the lost prize. I hide in the little hovel I discovered in the middle of the night before the search began.

Why did I think I could get away and stay away? My heart pounded as tears dripped fearfully down my cheeks. I held my knees tightly to my chest praying that they didn’t somehow see my shaking beneath this scrap metal.

Suddenly the hum went away, and I started to breathe easy. Thank God… I whispered even in my thoughts. I started to untangle myself from my hiding spot when I heard the crunch, crunch of feet on gravel and debris, and I froze. I felt like my air had been sucked from my lungs, and the tears came back in waves. They’re going to take me back… I’ll be lucky if they don’t kill me.

“What makes you think she’s in here?” a hoarse male voice said with irritation.

“The radar caught something down here.” Another man said seriously, clearly focused.

Even from here, I could see their military-grade radiation boots through the small crack in my temporary haven. The hardest thing was knowing that if I could see them, maybe they could see me…

What was I thinking...?

Maybe if I turn myself in now, I’ll be shown a level of mercy? Maybe Antoine won’t kill me… maybe he’ll just punish me.

I tried to slow the tremors within me, or the tin can I was resting in would certainly give me away. “Do you hear something?” the hoarse man said suddenly as they started to approach again.

I begged the sob in my throat to hold back a little longer… until I was temporarily safe. Tears filled my eyes to brimming, and I closed them. I have to calm down. I reminded myself and fell into the only thoughts that kept me sane back in The City. I reached up to my neck and held the heart-shaped locket I'd been given anonymously when I was 13... the same year I'd started to dream of him.

His eyes were so clear, they almost had no color except for the rim of pale blue, and the intricate designs that gave his gaze depth. I can picture the shaggy black hair falling into those eyes, catching on his slightly crooked nose. I always imagine him talking, my gaze is always glued to his plump lips. I feel him sing now… assuring me of safety.

He’s only a dream—I've never seen him in real life, yet he’s more real than anything else in my sad world. Sadly, the dream of him was the exact reason I left Antoine at the altar—if I felt this much for a dream, then shouldn’t I feel at least a smidgen of that for my soon-to-be husband? To leave him meant leaving everything, though... because no one left Antoine Facillia. Now, I’d followed that damned dream 20 miles in heels to an abandoned city with rubbish piled so high, it created its own makeshift buildings.

And if I don’t die out here, I’ll certainly die when Antoine gets a hold of me. My mind coldly reminded me.

There’s a sharp, high-pitched noise that rings through the air when the two goons are only steps away from my hiding place. They both stop cold in their tracks, “Damn! It’s them…” The gruffer man growls.

“Antoine won’t be happy if we don’t bring her back with us, Benny!” the softer voice chided.

The larger man groaned and cursed under his breath, “I’m not gonna die for some girl who will easily still be in the same place tomorrow. She’s in heels and a full wedding gown, for Chrissakes. There’s no way she would make it much farther without food or water. I’m not going to let this be my graveyard.” He said angrily, and suddenly the clomping boots were nothing but a distant nightmare.

I felt such overwhelming gratefulness to whatever that sound had been… but when all other sounds disappeared except the howl of the wind on the metal scraps, I felt a little less grateful. Those men had been right—could I really go anywhere else without some sustenance? I was already starving, having not eaten this morning either because of how nauseous I felt at the idea of kissing Antoine—one of the cruelest men in The City.

It was nearly nightfall, and I felt the fear built in me since childhood moving in briskly with the strengthening wind gusts. I pulled my knees to my chest and sobbed as quietly as I could muster.

My mother told me that the abandoned cities and towns outside of the designated Cities were basically graveyards. When the massive nuclear attacks began over three hundred years ago, few got away with their lives. There were only 25 cities that fortified themselves enough to survive, and even then, there was a terrifying span of almost 30 years when not a single child was born. It wasn’t until a group of scientists came together to create a stem-cell drug that helped couples procreate, that another child was seen.

There was just one problem with those stem cells… some of them created things that weren’t exactly... natural. They turned into monsters, and were then thrown out into the wastelands.

The wastelands that I’m currently sitting in by myself at night…

A terrifying shrieking passed through the wind, and maybe it was my imagination, but it sounded unmistakably close. I pulled my knees in even further and wrapped my veil over my face with the hope that the monsters wouldn’t find me. That’s when I heard something worse than the shriek, though—pattering feet. They weren’t large enough to be adults, and were too light to be a child. Then I heard the inhuman growls of beasts tearing at rotting flesh. I’m not the first idiot to think I could make it out here alone… and sadly I was hearing one of the other fools being torn apart right now.

The creatures were still far away, close enough that I tried to think about my exit strategy. I couldn’t run in these heels, and I wouldn’t get far in this dress. I let out my shaking breath, steeling myself so I could do what needed to be done. I listened for their hisses, the tearing flesh, and tore my dress with the rhythm of their sounds. My fingers were shaking so badly that I could barely pull the fabric from my body. I managed to get down to the layer right above the slip. It still could look like a wedding dress, I suppose, but with the dirt and ripped edges, I think it would even fool Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb if they came back tomorrow.

Then I looked at my formerly sparkling white shoes and sighed quietly. I found a sharp shard of rock and chiseled away quietly on the seam of the heel to the sole. Thankfully it didn’t take too long. I put the ruined shoes back on my feet and hoped desperately that I could run in them better now than before. I settled back in, but then I become harshly aware of how quiet it was. I lifted my head slowly and I heard the first snarl. My heart hammered and, not five feet away, I saw the feet of a wolf-like creature, its jaws hanging towards the ground with hungry eyes looking right in at me. I gasped and my eyes widened—I knew there was no waiting.

I pushed through the back edge of the dwelling and sprinted as fast as I could. The shoes were still killing me, but I easily would get farther than I could’ve running in four-inch heels. I moved as fast as I could towards a large building in the distance, but the scurrying feet behind me sounded like they’d multiplied. I dared a look back and sure enough, there were at least four creatures chasing me now. The panic spread and I fought tears away, knowing that any other exertion would keep me from the task at hand.

My foot caught on something and I stumbled. The beasts wasted no time taking in the extra distance. I let out my sob finally, knowing there was nothing more to be done. My eyes became blurred from the unwelcome tears, and once more I lost my balance, this time slamming against a hard piece of rock. The sky was dark now, and only a small sliver of the moon lighted my path. I turned towards the now slowing animals, their eyes hungry and ready for a live meal.

It all ends here Aurelia… it all ends here. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see them as they struck, when something unthinkable happened—something huge fell to the ground in front of me. Suddenly the animals were yelping and running back off in the direction they came.

I cautiously opened my eyes, my body still quaking as I waited to see the next monster ready to devour me. Its eyes were surprisingly calm and contemplative as it stared at me. I could only make out a few of the lines that decided this beast’s body, but as it straightened to its full height, I realized it was just a very tall man. “Please don’t hurt me…” I whimpered, my eyes wide.

He tilted his head at me with concern and pulled something away from his face. My eyes began to adjust to the darkness, and I started to notice the messy beard on his face, and even the dark green eyes staring back at me. “What are you doin' out here miss?” his voice was hard but also surprisingly kind. I didn’t want to trust him, but I felt like I could.

I held my breath, trying to think of my story, “I…” I can’t say I’m from the City… he’ll toss me back in an instant. I gulped quietly and tried to tame the shaking in my voice. I could hear the distant cries of animals and I wondered how this behemoth of a man could be so calm in the face of such real danger, “My home was abusive… severely… so I ran away.” I kept my gaze from his.

His eyes narrowed and I could tell he was deciding what to do with me, “Where you from?”

I tried to sound honest, “A small, abandoned village about a day’s walk from here.” He looked me over with doubt and I quickly turned away to hide my lie better, “I was about to be forced into a permanent relationship I couldn’t bear… ok?” I whispered bitterly.

He was so quiet, and it took so long to answer, that when his voice finally broke the silence, I found myself flinching, “Unless you want to be eaten alive, feel free to follow.” He said with a shrug as he started walking. I hesitated, looking back at the little hovel I’d come from, now destroyed from my hasty exit and the animals that crowded over it in hopes of fresh meat. The man stopped not too far away, barely glancing back at me. I sighed deeply and ran to catch up with him, staying as close to the stranger as I dared to be.

He guided me towards a large building where another man stood against the rubble tower, his body turned away from us. “Hey Phillip, I found a little something in my travels.” The large man chuckled gruffly.

The other man turned then, and a sharp breath left my lips as I stared into the eyes of the man I’ve dreamt of since I was 13… and he looked at me as if he knows me too. I held the locket a little closer then.