The Fall to Vhytera

1. Trapped

2 years after 'The Reduce'

Running, oh how Alixe hated running. But now she had to, those poachers were still chasing her and the only option she had was to run. Her breath felt like shards of glass in her lungs and her mouth started to taste like blood but she kept running. She was running through Epulet, a town mostly made of old office buildings where traders came to display their finds and just like her, tried to get a good deal out of it.

   "We are going to catch you girl, and you'll wish we hadn't."   

Stupid poachers she taught, although she was starting to get tired, she was determined to outrun those bastards. She headed down the alley and could see where she was headed, the industrial sight of Epulet. 

She's been there multiple times when her father had worked there and she and Braxon, her older brother, had played hide and seek there when they had to wait for their father. She knew the industrial building pretty well because she hated losing from Braxon, she always found the best spots to hide in. 

Running really became a challenge now, her legs started to cramp and breathing was becoming harder and harder. She said to herself   ''just a couple of yards, you can do this."   She kept hearing the poachers footsteps behind her and used it as a motivation to keep going, she was almost there. 

  ''Where are you going girl! You know you'll be trapped in there."   

That was Exactly what she hoped they would think, she reached the entrance of the industrial area. 

Now just get inside, hide and wait, she thought. She ran to the side door swung it open and looked inside for something to block the door with, but sadly the first floor of the building was empty, except for its built-in closets. So she kept running, she knew that in the next room there would be a big closet and at the back of that closet was a door that led to a hiding place, Braxon never found her there an she was hoping the poachers wouldn't find her either. 

She heard the poachers reaching the side door,  "crap"   she said, she ran through the open door that led to the next room and closed it, heading to the hiding place she hoped would work to save her life. 

She entered the closet and closed the closet-door, she remembered the door to be three steps to the left and a push on the wall at the height of her shoulder should open the secret door.. it didn't work,  "no, no, no this has to work"   she said, and then it hit her, she had grown since the last time she'd been here. So she pushed at the height of her hip, a cold breeze met her and the secret door opened to reveal the staircase she knew to be there. 

The poachers were, luckily for her, not the smartest type of traders on the Epulet-market and she heard them going to the wrong room. 

Still there was no time to loose, she passed through the secret door and shut it quietly behind her, she climbed the stairs as silently as she could. When she reached the top of the staircase she knew, she almost reached her ultimate hiding spot, the cabinet under the staircase on the first floor. 

She was still running but the first floor had only one window and it was mostly blocked by wooden planks, she could barely see a thing in the dim light but, thank the stars, she knew this place. 

The stairs where on her right, she reached them and tried to feel the cabinet handle, to find there was no handle  "awesome"   she breathed, but she felt a tiny hole in the door where the handle should have been, that could maybe fit her pinky finger. 

She heard hard footsteps downstairs, good she taught, they're still downstairs. She put her pinky finger through the tiny hole and tried to hook it so she could pull the cabinet door open, it worked, the door opened. 

The cabinet was empty as the rest of the building was. She went inside ,sat down and closed the cabinet door, she couldn't stand in the cabinet like she used too when she was little. 

She could still hear the chatter of the irritated poachers coming from the ground floor, because the building was empty it echoed most sounds. 

Luckily for Alixe she learned how to be silent trying to catch bunny's that passed by the railway near to where she lived in The Northern part of the Aestates. Some days food was too expensive at the trade market, so she learned, after many failed attempts, how to catch small animals. Braxon probably would've been proud if he had seen me catching my first bunny, but look at me now, she thought. Hiding in a closet because I stole a leather jacket and a fur vest.

 She heard the poachers voices growing louder, they must have found the main stairs and reached the first floor, where she was currently hiding. 

She felt sweat on her forehead and well, she felt sweat everywhere else too because she had to run so damn hard to get here without being caught by the poachers, who were getting closer and closer to her hiding spot. Not that it's very likely that they'll find her, she still felt scared for her life.  

 ''Did you see her face Randal ? the bitch was pretty, if we catch her we can play with the little thief before we gut her."  

 Alixe tried not to curse aloud, they were beasts, brainless ugly beasts, she taught. She hasn't been this scared in a long while, being hunted by poachers was unpleasant, but the idea of being touched by those monsters made her shiver. 

She just needed to wait and then she would be save, just wait and stay calm, she thought to herself. 

She heard them walking around on the first floor but their footsteps were sounding more far away now.   

''She's not on this floor guys, let's continue searching on the second floor and the roof.''   

The moment she heard the poachers reach the second floor, she exhaled the breath she was holding. Now everything was about waiting.

Two hours had gone by before the poachers finally had given up their search. 

The sun had gone under, she could tell because the little bit of light that came through the blocked window on the first floor was now totally gone and didn't shine through the cracks of the cabinet door anymore. 

She sat in complete darkness, she couldn't even see her own hands or arms anymore. 

  ~

She had waited half an hour after the poachers left just to be sure. 

Alixe tried to feel for the cabinet door to push it open, but it didn't. Did she get disorientated? Or was she pushing against the wall ? She moved to her right with her arms following the wall, trying to feel the cabinet door, but all she felt were the angles of the stairs. Than the cabinet door had to be back where she just pushed. She turned and pushed again, still the door wouldn't budge. Panic started to rise in her chest. 

''no, this can't be'' she said.

 She pushed harder and harder, kicking against the door.

 Nothing happened. 

She was so scared and it was so dark, tears started running and she kept pushing. 

Still nothing happened.

 ''This is not happening'' she said with a broken voice and then she hit the door one more time with a flat hand, a flash of white light blinded her and she started falling.