The Beast

14 - Run!

France, 1999
Belmont

I was running faster than I had ever run before and my legs were screaming fat me to slow down, but I couldn't. I was used to running for my life, it was my lot in life as a petty low life, nineteen years old criminal. I spent my days running around and stealing whatever I could get my hands on. I was used to being chased, but never, never had I been as scared as I was now. The forest was dense, full of roots and rocks, and I often stumbled. Branches whipped me in the face, hit my arms and chest but no matter how much it hurt, I didn't slow down.

It all started when I was trying to earn some extra cash. A big lump grew in my stomach when I thought back at it. I had wanted to do something good for once, to help someone, but everything had gone terribly wrong.

Memories and thoughts spun around in a chaotic whirlwind inside my head. The news that my dad owed a lot of money to the wrong people. The guy was a mystery no one knew about, but it was the kind of person you don't fuck around with and he was either going to take the garage away from my Dad, knock him unconscious in the process or even kill him if he didn't pay back.

One day I saw my chance and took it. I knew Gaston would find out about the missing pills, but it had been a simple theft. Too fucking easy. The problems came later, when I was trying to sell them. One thing led to another, to a dense forest and a cold fucking pitch black night. Running like a hunted animal, trying to get away from seven guys with deadly tools they longed to use on me.

I fell, crawled in the moss, stumbled up only to fall again. A flash of pain cut through my ankle and I sat up in despair to examine my leg. "Shit!" Nothing was broken but it still hurt like hell. In a panic I looked around, distinct sounds of feet and whispering voices filled the otherwise silent forest. They moved closer. I started crawling forward, as quietly as I could, hoping I was hidden by the darkness. While crawling through rotten leaves and moss, I finally spotted something that could be my salvation. A hollow, hidden under the roots of a tree. If I could fit in there, I had a chance to hide. But would it be enough? Would they walk past me and keep looking when they found no more tracks? As I saw it, I had two choices, run or hide.

Panic began to set in as I heard the voices getting closer, but they were too far away for me to hear what they were saying. "Damn it Bel, make up your damn mind!" I hissed at myself, searching for a pinch of courage in my tired, aching body. After seconds of deliberation, I decided to crawl towards the burrow. My forearms ached and my shoulders started to hurt from all the crawling. But what choice did I have? The closer I got to the hole, the more hopeless everything felt and I soon realized that the idea wouldn't work. "Shit," I hissed in a low voice and looked around hopelessly.

My gaze drifted past the forest. Far away, everything looked so peaceful, the moonlight streaming down over the pine tops and making the dewy white moss sparkle, but something else caught my attention. Not too far away there was an opening in the trees, it looked like a mowed lawn and something stuck out of the ground, something sharp.

It's better than nothing, I thought, limping towards my newfound makeshift weapon. My stumbling steps were too loud, however, and I realized with a growing irritation that my pursuers was about to discover me. I heard them running after me and I moved as fast as I could. That's when the first gunshot came past me. It was close and almost touched my thigh, but hit a tree up ahead. My heart pounded fiercely in my chest, my mouth tasted of iron and tears began to run down my cheeks. I can't die now, damn it, Dad needs me!

With only a few steps to go, I noticed more of the sharp objects sticking up here and there in the grass. "Iron spears?" I muttered in surprise and carefully stepped over them. I was just about to bend down and try to pull one out of the ground when they suddenly started shaking. The voices came closer, I hesitantly moved backwards, unsure of where to go. I saw them now, clearly, walking between the trees with their superior attitudes, matching leather jackets and big grins.