The Runaway

Chapter 24

The only people present in the area were shop owners of the empty stores. It was a very poor location to hold business if they ever wanted to prosper.

They walked around the perimeters of the shops and houses, scanning everything in sight. Afterwards, they entered each building and questioned the workers. As expected, nobody had seen Scarlet, though they looked scared to even mention her. It was very strange, but then again, news articles and wanted posters of Scarlet were plastered throughout the entire city.

"I think Riley was right. We've checked everywhere but there's nobody here," said Delsin.

"Just a little more," Colton mumbled. He squinted his eyes and turned his head to an old diner to the left. He led them to the back of the building where the dumpsters were. Then, he clawed through the boxes and trash while dramatically inhaling the strong stench.

"Ew, what the hell are you doing?" Colette asked.

"Do you guys smell that?" Colton jumped off of the dumpster and sniffed the air some more. "Is it just me or do I smell something rich?"

"What are you talking ab-" Aiden took a whiff of the air. His face moved and faced the dumpster. He stared at it intensely and then whispered, "It's blood. No, that can't be right. The scent is too strong and different from regular blood."

"What is it then?" Delsin said.

"Keep searching," Aiden commanded Colton.

"There's nothing there but old food. I already finished looking."

Everyone glanced at each other in confusion. "Is it bad I can smell it too?" Violet said. "It reeks of iron."

"It must be really strong if even she could smell it," said Aiden. "What does this mean?"

Violet heard something and froze. "Shh, I hear footsteps." Everyone stopped in their tracks and listened.

Colton's eyes suddenly widened."It's a trap." He pointed to the dumpster. "Hide. Now."

It was disgusting but they had no choice. They all climbed into the dumpster surrounding them with stale, moldy leftover scraps of food from the diner. It was dead silent as they waited for the footsteps to approach.

"I don't hear anything," Delsin whispered.

Colton nudged him. "Be quiet."

But Delsin was right. The footsteps they heard disappeared and there was no sign that they were in danger.

"I'm going to check." Colton carefully lifted the top open and popped his head out, looking both ways. "Coast is clear. That was a false alarm." One by one, they each left the dumpster but they were now covered with stains and a terrible scent. "Someone's going to notice if we smell like this. We should get going."

They were walking back to the entrance to the diner before Colton stopped them. "I smell it again." He slowly walked forward and peeked around the corner of the building. "Someone's here." He squinted and then turned back to them. "They're spraying some sort of liquid into the air. It's definitely a trap."

"Let me take a look." Aiden went to observe the person before spinning around quickly. "Oh no."

"What?" Colton asked.

"Um guys, Em just texted me." Colette's voice shook. "The Silvers. They're here."

"And that person out there is one of them," Aiden announced. "We have to hide."

"There's nowhere to hide. We should just walk out casually. We're in disguises already so it should be fine," Colton announced.

"Colton, they'll figure out who we are!" Delsin whispered loudly.