Running

Alleyway Conversations

He looks at me as if I've just told him I think 1+1 is three.
"I wasn't in the street and I still saw you do that."

I push him back by his chest. "You're intimidating."

He sighs and allows himself to fall back against the bricks of the wall. "This world is intimidating." The boy looks out to the street. "Especially when you use your powers so obviously in the open."

I raise my eyebrows in fear and smile awkwardly, to which he gives a completely straight face.
"They.. They don't actually sh-shoot people, right? You were exagerating, yeah?"

He groans and brings his hand to his face. "You are a fucking idiot, then. Well, either an idiot, or very sheltered if you've never seen someone die."

Sighing, he speaks,  looking at me a little more sympathetically now. "You're bleeding, how come?" 
"It's fine, my parents get a little upset sometimes, that's all."

"Upset?" His voice is concerned and a bit skeptical. "Ugh, it's really none of my business." He contradicts, waving his hand infront of his face as if dismissing the thought. "Why're you out on the street all on your own with a backpack in the middle of the day? It really isn't safe for people like us to be alone."

-------

About ten minutes later, we're both sat against the alley wall behind a dumpster as I finish explaining to this kid what happened.

"Hm. Well, while I'd much rather be living under a roof being hurt constantly than here it the streets, but I do understand why you'd want to leave."

There's a comfortable silence, then he turns to me and smiles, reaching out his hand for me to shake.
"I get the feeling we're going to be spending a lot of time together. Janus, and you are?"

"Remus." I shake his hand and he smiles for a brief second, before the moment is inturrupted by footsteps coming hastily down the alley.

I look up to see about two police officers and a man wearing a suit rush into the small space between buildings. They stop when they see us and this causes Janus to look up from his position and yelp loudly.

Grabbing my wrist, he pulls me up very suddenly. "I hope you're a fast runner, Remus."

"Gah!" I call out from the sharp movment of being pulled along and out of the alleyway.
"Do not let them get a clear view of your face. Being seen with me already puts you on a watchlist, whether they think you're one of us or not."

I make sure to look down at the floor as my legs work tirelessly to keep up with him.
"You ever had run-ins with th e cops before? Or the government at all." Janus' voice is growing slower and more breathy as he's running.

I shake my head. "Not really, I don't leave the house m-"

I'm cut off because he stops running and looks behind him, scared. I don't see the people so hot on our tails anymore.

"Remus I-" He breathes in heavily. "Down the road, to the right- uh, there's an alley, at the end is an abandonned house with, uh, graffiti.. on the- Shit."
I manage to catch him as he passes out into my arms.

Right, okay. That's new.

Just as I pull him up so that I'm holding him, I see the police officers and suited man come back into my vision. That's my queue to leave.

One of them shouts after me as I run up the road to where J told me to, and down the alley.

"Stop resisting! You need to come with us!" I don't listen. I would feel so shitty if I let this kid get captured all because he passed out for some reason. My best bet is to think back to playing tag when I was younger. Except, the taggers don't usually tend to be holding guns that fire tranquiliser darts.

"It's for the safety of the general public, there will be further consequences if you do not stop!"

I wasn't taught much about escaping persecution, but I was told not to listen to authority, especially when they chase after you with weapons.

It's not particularly relevant to what's going on now, but this situation reminds me of the time in 3rd grade when the school got put into lockdown and some government officials came into our classroom and dragged a girl away because it was found out that both her parents were magical through some testing, so she was too.

Actually, I'm pretty surprised neither me or Roman were ever caught out. They used to do routine tests at school, when some police offices and doctors would have all the kids in the school line up and test them for any superhuman abilities. It's better to search kids, because they have a much harder time controlling what they do.

You could make a six-year-old scared, and they'd accidently make all the lights in the room switch off, or short out.

Me, Roman and his stupid friends were just good at keeping it together, luckily enough.

I get so caught up thinking about my childhood that I nearly get myself impaled by a tranquiliser dart, but manage to dodge it.

There. I see the house he was talking about. It has cracked windows and an unhinged door, with graffiti all over the front and inside too, from what I can see. Quickly checking that the people chasing aren't watching, I run and duck into the house, leaning up against the wall as I hear footsteps rush past.

The boy in my arms stirs a little as I catch my breath before stepping over smashed glass bottles and food wrappers, looking around the building.

When I come across a set of stairs that look very unsturdy, I clamber up them and see a matress in the corner, with a duvet, camping chair and minifridge. Janus must be somewhat of a perfectionist, because the space is pretty well-kept considering his living conditions.

I bend down and let the unconscious snake roll out of my arms and onto the matress.

Turning and looking out the window, I consider leaving and carrying on with whatever my plans were for the rest of my life. 

Then I look back to the sleeping boy.

Maybe I'll stay for a while.

------

Hiya! I'm really sorry this wasn't the chapter that continued on from the last one - but I promise I'll get that out asap.

I'd also like to apologise for missing last week's update, that's my bad, life's been a bit chaotic.

OH! And! I'd also like to thank everyone for the amount of support I've got. When I started this book, I said to myself 'Right, okay. I'm gonna read every single comment I get.' And now there's over a thousand! That's crazy! (I will say though, if you've ever left a comment, I've probably seen it)

Thank you so much for your patience with me, have a great day and stay safe!