Awakening (Book 2 in the Original BOC Series) ✔

Chapter Five

Whirling her head to glance behind her, Mara's eyes widened seeing that the man was gaining on her. She turned back around and ran around the corner. There were people walking around but they didn't seem fazed at Mara's frantic running down the sidewalk. 

Again, she looked over her shoulder when her ears heard screaming catching up to her, and she the man chasing her had now appeared from around the corner with the gun in the air and shoving past people. 

Mara knew that he could easily shoot her if she kept running straight. She needed to make it at least difficult to aim directly at her.

Without looking, Mara swerved her body in the direction of the street. A green car honked and screeched when it almost hit her, but she jumped out of the way without halting. She gasped for air, squeezing her eyes shut, and now her right foot was starting to ache. She must have landed wrong on the dumpster. 

Mara had no freaking clue where she was going. She had planned to go to the coffee shop but she had the gunman tailing her. Then the whole plan of getting her boyfriend to safety would be pointless.

Turning a corner of a neighborhood she didn't know, Mara scanned her surroundings looking for somewhere to hide. But every lawn was trimmed to neatly there wasn't a bush or tree in sight to hide behind. 

Mara was getting tired and her foot was slowing her down. It wasn't until she looked to her left that she saw Bergita looking through a trash can, pulling out cans. 

Mara quickly ran over, looking over her shoulder that the man wasn't close.

"Bergita!" Mara frantically cried. "Bergita!"

The old woman looked up from the trash can and smiled brightly. 

"Mara, what a pleasant surprise!" 

She noticed the young woman's flushed face and the panic vibrating off her, making Bergita frown. 

"What is it darling? Are you alright?" 

Mara shook her head, too out of breath to speak. She closed her eyes, leaning her head back to breathe deeply.

"Bergita, I need a place to hide! There's a man with a gun chasing me! Quick! I'll explain later!" 

She was looking around desperately, trying not to scare the woman but she didn't have much time. Bergita sensed the girl's panic and nodded, before pulling on Maa's arm as her old boots scraped against the pavement.

Bergita led Mara to a house with a broken wooden fence. Bergita reached over and grinned hearing the click of the lock on the fence. She pulled it open and quickly shoved Mara into the crammed space before slamming the fence shut.

The beggar woman quickly made her way down the driveway and back to searching through the trashcan, pulling out a bottle and examining it. 

Just as Mara said, a man came running in her direction. 

The old woman looked up and shook her head, mumbling to herself as she was reaching back into the trashcan. The moment she heard the click, Bergita blinked. She slowly pulled the half of her body in the trashcan out and turned her head. Her brown eyes looked at the barrel staring at her between the eyes.

The man holding the gun was breathing hard. His goatee was neatly kept she could see and the way his blue eyes flashed with anger, Bergita felt something inside her that made her think of Mara and glad to have seen her one last time. But most importantly that she'd be safe should this truly be the last time.

"Where's the girl?" 

His voice was gruff. And there was nothing but contempt filled in it.

Bergita frowned, boldly shoving the gun out of her face.