Rags and Riches

Ch. 9: The Way Too Lucky Escape - Courtney

The sinking feeling of death. It's barely been twelve hours, and I feel this anxiety again. Your instincts go primal, your emotions go haywire.

The smell of murder hung around us as we stayed motionless, crouched behind a bush. I wanted to scream, but I forced myself to complete silence. One peep, and we could die right then and there.

I looked to Shayne with worried eyes, and I saw his own flash with fear for a quick second before his brows furrowed, creating a determined face. Hoofbeats and the sound of twigs breaking underneath the weight of horses. Another arrow fired and notched itself into a tree.

Quickly sucking in a breath and out, Shayne finally made eye contact with me, his eyes aflame with shaky confidence.

"Just... Just follow my lead."

As he quickly peeked over the bush, I could hear the sound of hoofbeats getting louder. "Shayne...!"

"Okay, here's what we're going to do. You see that stream down there?" He pointed as he spoke. Following his finger, I saw the slightest glimpse of shimmering blue peeking behind the thick brush of leaves. "Yeah?"

"We're going to try to quickly get there by hiding behind more bushes and trees when I say 'go'."

"...then what?"

Shayne's eyes seem to soften a bit before it hardened again as it locked with mine. "You'll see."

Shayne peeked over the bush one more time. "TOPP!?" Shayne's enemy boomed. "Come on out now! You know what you've done. Time to head over to where you've always belonged!"

That last sentence caught me off guard. "What did he me-"

"Go!"

And without hesitation, Shayne grabbed my hand and hurriedly ran to the next tree. I had no choice but to follow, thankfully swallowing up my yelp as I was suddenly yanked from my crouched position.

When we reached the tree, I almost continued running when Shayne's grip on my hand suddenly tightened. The next thing I knew, I was forcefully pulled to a thump against something hard. Behind my head, I heard heavy breathing. I turned around, daring a glimpse of what it was that I slammed into and almost instantly turned red.

Shayne's heartbeat pressed against my back as his head shifted, straining to hear where his captor was. And all I could do was latch onto his forearm and hand with a deadly hold. The heat between Shayne and I was getting unbearable. We were just... so close! It felt really weird. Way too weird.

I decided to shift my attention to something else before I got carried away.

Around us, the sound of hoof steps on grass filled the air. I couldn't be sure, but it sounded like there was a team of horsemen out there rather than a couple.

It wasn't long until Shayne harshly whispered another "Go!" in my hair before we ran to another bush.

We hopped from bush to tree, from tree to large rock, from large rock back to bush before we seemed to be at the final stretch.

At this point, my breathing had become slightly ragged, but I tried my hardest to keep it steady. My leg ached a bit from getting scratched by some branches. But it was worth it if these potential murderers were still clueless as to where we went.

"Okay, go!"

And I almost instantly snapped up to my feet again as I practically sprinted to the little crack of glittery blue.

When I finally passed through the leaves, I was ecstatic. "Shayne, we did it! We di-" But he wasn't behind me.

"What the hell was that!?" The enemies seemed to have noticed my entry to the stream.