Chapter 2 The Escape

Carolyn "Don't let that girl get away." I heard the men yell to each other as I ran away. I snorted. I was going to get away. I had to. I was more desperate to survive than they were to catch. "Gary will have our heads if we don't go back with her." One of them snapped to the other. "I know so don't tell me what to do. Just focus on catching her." They had a surprise coming for them. I wasn't just the best in Mathematics in my school. I was also in the athletics team. I doubted that two thugs were about to outrun me. "You are the one talking too much. If you hadn't talked too much and blabbed your useless lips, her father wouldn't have found out that we were coming to his place." "Are you trying to pin the blame on me now? I told him that so he could work more on finding our money and getting it back to Gary." "Our money? Since when did Gary's money become yours? Are you trying to lay a claim to being part of the gang now because Gary told you to collect few debts for him?" "I'm part of the gang." A hiss followed after. I rolled my eyes as I continued walking. I couldn't believe those idiots were fighting about their rights to be in a gang right now. I hoped they would get distracted while arguing so I could escape. "You only joined two months ago.' "So? I'm part of the gang." A laugh from the other guy. "Are you kidding? Even the ones who have been in the gang for over two years don't call Gary's money their money." "Is that what the problem is? That was a slip and you know that." "I don't know anything. All I know is that you made a useless mistake." "Can we just focus on catching this girl instead of arguing?" "I'm running. Am I not? Isn't that her on that lane?" I sighed, wondering how they hadn't run out of breath by running and being chatty. "Better find her." "What happened to you? The boss told us to find her together and last time I checked, we wouldn't have been in this situation if not for you." "I thought he would pay up if he heard that we were coming to his house." "How has that worked out for you? I wondered why the boss asked you to come on a mission as important as that." "Do you have a problem with me?" "I have a problem with new recruits. They are useless and overly enthusiastic. They end up causing a nasty mess that always gives me headaches." "Are you done? Because I can't find the girl." "You can't? Find her." "Why should I? I'm not the one who was busy finding faults and ranting like an old lady nagging her husband till the girl got away.' "Why can't you keep your own eyes on her?" "How can I when you kept on distracting me with your accusations?" "What do we do now?" The man asked, sounding panicked. "What else? We find the girl. We shut up and find her just as we were meant to." "What if we can't?" "What do you mean by what if we can't? Don't you want to find her?" "I'm just saying." "We will find her and if we don't, the fault is yours." "No. The fault is yours. You let your mouth run and the father knew we were coming to their house." I rolled my eyes. I couldn't believe the idiots were still bickering. Didn't Gary know that they were enemies before pairing them together? What a dumb leader he was. I reminded myself that my father had had a business with that dumb leader and gotten himself killed. I blinked back the tears that were forming in my eyes. I couldn't afford to cry. Not now. Not here. I had to be strong. I would whimper if I cried and they would find me where I was hiding. I just needed to catch my breath a bit before I continue running. I remembered that I hadn't had dinner yet while waiting for dad and hoped that my stomach didn't give my location away. "No. The fault is yours. You kept talking and got us both distracted. You can't push the blame on me now." "I can't believe the blame is mine now. It's shocking how tables turn." "It's cool that you know that before you decide to use me as an excuse to save your skin in case we return to the boss without finding the girl." "You said we would find her." "It doesn't look like we are going to find her." "Oh! I see her." "Where is she?" "Check the weeds. There is a dent in there. Someone has to be there and I think it's her. I'm sure it's her. Maybe she is tired and taking a rest." "We found her." I groaned as I heard the words. He sounded excited and that sent a chill down my spine. I couldn't let them find me. I didn't want to think of what those idiots were going to do to me if they lay their hands on me. "Let's go get her." My stomach chose that moment to rumble. If they weren't sure of my whereabouts before, it was confirmed now. "Did you hear that? That must be her." I winced and jumped up to my feet before they get to where I was and started running. "Wait!" They yelled after me. I snorted. As if I would do that. Would they do that if they were in my shoes? "Wait! It would be hell on you if you don't stop now." It would be hell on me if I stopped now. "Wait till I lay my hands on you, you little bitch." I risked a glance backwards at them. "Catch me if you can, suckers." I yelled, using the name they had called my dad. "What? Can you believe her?" The one who had been whining earlier gasped. "I will crush that girl if I find her." "Why is she so fast?" "Tell m about it." "Do you have your gun with you?" "What?" "Your gun?" The man repeated, sounding exasperated. He snapped at his partner like he was tired of his foolishness. "I do. Why?" He gasped. "You want us to shoot her?" "You want us to keep chasing her? I'm tired of this endless chase if you aren't." "I am." "So?" He urged. "Are we going to shoot her down now and tell boss that we did that because she was acting stubborn or we are going to lose her and face his wrath when we tell him that we couldn't get a hold of a teenager." "I can't deal with his wrath. I would rather die now than confess my failures to the boss." "Why should we die? She should be the one to do that. Shoot her." I gasped at their words and kept running. "Let's get closer to her before I do. She has run far away from us." "I know you can do it. I heard you are the best when it comes to marking down targets at any range." "Oh! Okay." I hoped he wouldn't get to shoot me and continued running to put more distance between us. I hissed out in pain and collapsed on the ground as I heard a gun go off and felt a bullet rip through my skin and lodged itself in there. I let out a groan. I had been shot.