Sunset Valley

Chapter 14.

Torrance was not a very good tour guide.

But he did get to the point of why he stole windows and other house pieces. He and Kaya needed a place to stay- somewhere away from the police.

"We've hidden all our supplies so far in a tree," he had told. "One only we know how to get up." When I asked him about using a latter, however, he just gazed at me, confused and said, "A what?" I realize that our countries have different advances.

A couple hours pass. We have lunch, try new things, and talk. Well, Kaya didn't talk really. She seemed busy writing something, and even Jem couldn't bring her to take her focus away.

Which for some reason, gave me relief.

"So, what's it like in Afsia?" Torrance asked.

"Society's stricter. And less pleasant," Jem replied, giving up on Kaya. "If you're not perfect, you're not welcome."

Torrance made a face. Freya nodded and draw swirls in the dirt with a stick.

"That's why we came here," she said without glancing up. "To 'escape society' or whatever you want to call it." I didn't like her summary, but it was true enough.

Conversation lasted a couple more minutes. I was busy studying the surroundings and Kaya. Scribbling and rewriting whatever she originally made on that piece of paper. Strange. She glanced up at me without moving her head, a death look with the color of her eyes, and I looked away, flushed. It was as if she could read my mind.

Suddenly, a heard a twig snap behind me.

I whirled around, and wished I hadn't. An officer had the barrel of a gun aimed at my forehead. I squeaked a little in surprise, and heard Torrance curse under his breath.

"Don't move," the officer announced in monotone, his voice steady. "And you won't get shot."

Never have I been more still in my life.

"Get up," the officer finally said. "Hands where I can see them." I rose, and heard everyone behind me do the same. He cuffed us and began leading us into the forest.

Eventually, Torrance caught up next to me. He whispered so low only I could hear, "When I say 'run', you follow me as fast as you can. Do you understand?" I stared at him horrifically. "Are you insane?" I almost yelled out loud. He shushed me and basically mouthed through gritted teeth, "Trust me if you want to live. The punishment for traveling countries unauthorized is death." A chill shivered up my spine.

We continued walking. Thankfully, nobody happened to notice Torrance and I's delightful chat, so we were good. Up until the point where I saw a clearing, a police department, and a rocky cliff a couple yards away from it.

Torrance, you insane little dare devil.

I braced myself, waiting for him to scream, "RUN!!" At the top of his lungs, but it didn't come as soon as I'd hoped. I could see Freya tensing up nervously, and I'd guessed he had told everyone the plan. Only he and Kaya looked as if it was a typical day.

About five yards from the station, he said it calmly and firmly. "Run." It threw me off guard, and I chased after everyone, who had bolted to the direction of the cliff. Freya was small, but she was faster than I was. The officer was chasing after us, yelling into his wallow talkie for backup, dangerously close to me.

Then the first gunshot went off.

The bullet lodged itself into the three three inches from Freya's head, and I heard her gasp. We were almost there.

"Jump!" I heard Torrance scream.

We reached the edge, and I didn't look down. I just leaped out as if jumping over a hurtle at school, or a box that got in my way. A hail of bullets came our way, and I thought in that very second, what would this look like if someone were to take a picture? Probably rather strange, with our twisting, handcuffed figures and rain of metal, we probably weren't very pretty to look at. As we began to fall, I even imagined someone throwing our picture down the garbage.