The Runaway

Chapter 11

"Give me any money or food that you have and you can leave, ma'am." The boy whispered, gritting his teeth.

Get out! NOW.

He didn't look much older than her but he did look a lot less worn. His pallid blonde curls were flat against his forehead, matted with sweat and his silvery eyes darted around her face nervously, shock dawning when he realised that she was a lot younger than anticipated. His clothes weren't even shabby - just a little dirty by the looks of it from sleeping on the ground.

"Calm down, I-I don't have anything on me." She raised her hands slowly, pushing her shawl away from her face. She was captivated by his eyes, not able to look away. They seemed to house a desperation and despair that was starkly different to the blank and accepting looks for the sector people. They held too much emotion - that was always a bad thing.

"Lies!" He snarled. "Empty your pockets!" His hands shook more as he waited. Her trembling was almost on par with his - it took a great deal of effort to manoeuvre her shaking hands into her pockets to turn them out, nothing inside. Upon seeing this he muttered a few curse words.

He lowered the gun slightly, looking worried. "Take me somewhere safe. Now. Take me to your apartment."

This seemed to amuse her inner voice.

You'd think he'd have a little more decorum. Usually there's a date or two before the whole 'can I come over' thing

That's when Valerie noticed that the handgun was missing the magazine clip.  She fought the urge to laugh.

"No."

"I'll shoot you if you don't!" He said, pointing it at her face.

"Go ahead. My life can't get any worse than this. Shoot me." She raised her arms high in the air.

The boy froze, unsure.

Valerie smiled, taking advantage of this. A hard punch to his chest had the boy bent over, wheezing and most importantly, made him drop the gun. She lunged, kicking his leg back and flipping him over - making him land on his chest with quite a lot of force. She twisted his arm behind his back as he squirmed in the dirt, making him yell.

"I'm going to leave in a second. Try to follow me and I will kick you so hard in the crotch that you won't be able to move for a week." She said angrily. The threat made his protests subside.

She let go of him and stepped backwards towards the mouth of the alley, anticipating a last minute attack. He got up into a sitting position with some effort, breathing heavily and looking like he wanted to cry. He pressed a hand to his side and winced.

"Go. Chivalry is dead, anyways." He muttered.

"Excuse me? You tried to kill me!" She advanced on him, looking quite fierce and he put an arm up to defend himself.

"Just trying to survive."

"Oh no- that's not how you survive. You're not from around here, obviously." She spat at him.

You're not one to talk, hon.

"Shut up!" She said to herself.

He looked at her , wide-eyed and obviously thinking that she was crazy. "I didn't say anything-"

"Not you." She glared at him before bending to scoop up her shawl from the ground. She dusted it off and wrapped it around herself.

"Keep away from the main road - Security's roaming." She muttered before turning on her heel.

"No-wait!" The boy cried out.

Just keep walking.

Valerie did just that.