Promise

Chapter 7

After what felt like an eternity, I heard voices coming from the opposite end of the hall. The same end of the hall that Plume had gone down to go get someone to help Bopp. I heard two manly voices walking fast into my direction. Feeling relieved that it obviously must have been Plume and who he had gotten, I wiped my sweaty palms on my thighs, stepping forward to get a better look at the two shadows approaching me.

"Oh, Plume," I began to say with comfort. "I was so worried you took so long because you were-"
The next word I held in my mouth, unable to breathe or speak as my heart pounded up into my head, with a strong pulse, and my whole body began trembling, my stomach feeling tight and sick. Those two shadows approaching me quickly were definitely not Plume, or anyone else I might know, now that I had a closer a look- a little bit too close of a closer look. They were only seconds away from being close enough to attack me. My mouth falling open without my control, breathing as heavy as I would if I had just sprinted a mile, I pulled out my sword, ready to attack if necessary, but ran in the opposite direction.

"Get her!" I heard one of the men say, as they began to pick up their feet and chase after me. I could hear them catching up to me fast. These were fast, strong, full grown men and I was but a child in their eyes. I couldn't outrun them, no matter how fast my legs moved, or no matter how hard I pushed myself to keep sprinting forward. I quickly turned around, for just a split second, but that small moment gave me just enough time to see that I was right. They were catching up to me fast, and at a rapid pace.

I had to think of something smart to do, and fast. Maybe I could put myself in the shoes of an animal of prey, like some of the books I had read growing up about certain animals, and the tactics they used during a chase from a predator.

Think, Promise, think! What would you do if you were.. A gazelle? Yes... And they were two cheetahs. They can outrun you easily but you can get away... But not with speed.

I suddenly felt a bit more confident in myself, knowing exactly what to do. I didn't know how well the plan would work, judging by the fact the hallway I was running through wasn't too wide, and I was running out of space to run and had not really figured out where I was going to turn to next, when the hall came to an end, but it was my only way I was going to get out of this alive. I had to pretend I was a gazelle. And what did gazelles do to get away from predators? They would trick their predators by running in different directions, messing with their predator's minds. And that was exactly what I was going to do with these two men.

To my relief, although I was in no state of relief, and was still panicking, running as fast as I could from the two men, my tactic was working. I was confusing them, wearing them out by running in a bunch of different directions, and I noticed them start to slow down a bit. But I had to continue what I was doing, otherwise they would catch up to me again. And at that point... I don't know what they would do to me.

"What is she doing?" I heard one of them say angrily, out of breath. "It's like she's trying to play with our minds! That smart little brat!"

At that point, it's like they knew they couldn't let themselves down. Out of nowhere, I could hear their feet picking up even more. Which I wondered how that was even possible, because I was running out of energy and oxygen myself. If anything, I was slowing down, inevitably. I had no idea how they were able to go faster than they already had been going.

I cursed to myself as I realized the hall, which was my only escape right now, or way to run away from them, was coming to an end. And I prayed to myself that there was a turn at the end of the hall in which I could continue running from them, or maybe find a stairway to get away from them and possibly hide. Fortunately for me, there was a turn. Just to the right. I nearly swung my body around the corner, almost losing my balance, feeling a bit more stamina as I realized a stairway going deeper into the ship just ahead of me. I could get away from them, and hide in a room, locking myself in it.