Hunted: Harry Styles Fan Fiction

Kate

Chapter 4

I'd never run faster in my life than I did when I was fleeing from where that sick bastard had taken me captive. I thought my legs were going to burst into flames, but the adrenaline that rushed through my veins only made me run faster. I could hear footsteps pounding after me. They hit the concrete with a loud slap, sounding like thunder. I pushed harder across the pavement of the parking lot as I fled from my captor. He was still coming after me. I could feel myself slowing down, exhaustion overtaking every limb of my body. The footsteps behind me increased. 

I had to keep going. 

My life depended on it.

I could hear the loud clicks of a gun being reloaded. No, no no, I thought. Adrenaline renewed my energy and I picked up the pace as much as possible. I didn't dare look back at who was chasing me. I knew it was the man, coming back for me, trying to stop me from going to the police. Trying to stop me from exposing his horrible deeds. 

Trying and succeeding.

"Get back here!" His screams sounded louder to me than they should've been. It sounded like they were too close to my body. Any moment I expected him to reach out and grab me, nothing to stop him this time. I could hear more bullets clinking into their places. Why hadn't he just shot me? He was close enough that one bullet would do. I pushed the thoughts away, not wanting to think about that. I glanced back over my shoulder for a brief second. He was only a few feet behind me now. He could easily grab me. 

I started screaming again, as loud as I could.

It was just after dusk, surely someone would hear me. It was too quiet out, too dark. Where was everyone? I kept running past a few other short buildings, their white painted exteriors peeling away.  They looked too old and unkempt to be inhabited. Were there even people around here? Where was I? I had only briefly glanced at the Maps app on my phone, and when I had, I hadn't been paying full attention. I had been much too worried about the man coming back before I could get out. Now the phone was of no use to me. The battery was entirely dead.

I looked around wildly as I began to finally put some distance between myself and the man, who was still giving chase, his breathing growing heavy and his footsteps beginning to slow behind me. Other than the few short buildings that I was running past, there was nothing around here. It was growing darker with every passing second, the moon not yet above the horizon.

I was in the middle of nowhere.

Nobody would find me here except the one person I didn't want to ever see again. I was certain of that. I could feel nausea hitting me in waves, washing over me as the full scope of the situation hit like a truck. What if this was the last place I would see before I died? I pushed the thought to the back of my mind, trying hard to focus on running. I could feel my heart pounding, and my head was beginning to throb. I ducked around the corner of the last building: a small, abandoned white house. The peeling paint had faint tints of green in some places, and vines sprouted out of the siding as they climbed into the sky. I looked around, searching for a door for a moment in the darkness. I felt along the wall, not able to see more than a few feet in front of my face. The blackness was beginning to suffocate me as I finally found a small screen door, and slid it open. The metal only scraped a few inches before stopping. I tried to push it farther, but the door didn't budge. 

I could hear footsteps behind me in the darkness, only a few feet away now. I shoved myself through what little space I had before the man could reach me. I felt thick fingers tangle themselves in my hair. I yelped out of fright. I thought he'd been farther off than that. I strained hard against his grip, fighting to pull the rest of my head through the crack of the door. I struggled to keep calm, my heart racing in my chest, and my mind going even faster. Where was his gun? Why was he toying with me, and why didn't he just kill me already? I prayed for death, still fighting to get away from him, wishing that everything could just be over.