Among the Shadows: Part 1, Chapter 11
Recoiling sideways from the wound, Luke winced loudly. The blade did not sink in all that far, which could have been a combined result of my momentum and the location I had chosen. I had predicted his flinch, and continued with my second motion to stab him again. The wound elicited a second groan. I smiled to myself, oddly giddy at the success.
"Oh, come on!" he cried out. It was more exasperation than anger.
Luke rolled my body sideways off him, and I had no choice but to release the knife handle. My body fell to the ground, thankfully landing on the grass and not the pavement. As soon as I had my breath back, I scrambled to my feet and ran. The feel of dirt and grass beneath my heels reminded me I was barefoot. I chose to cut across the lawn, hoping to reach the building that was ahead of me. By the sounds behind me, I knew that Luke had abandoned the luggage and was chasing after me.
For a few moments, my heart beat loudly. The terrible bitter taste in my mouth seemed to pulse, though I couldn't spit it out and dared not take the time to try. Avoiding taking a glance to confirm, I knew I had a lead of a few seconds, although Luke's legs were longer. Judging by his build, he was probably in better shape than I was. And then Luke barreled into me from the back. Ooph. He really knocked all the air out of me. And the guy was heavy.
Both of us breathing hard, we lay in an awkward messy pile. Actually, I could barely breathe with his body on top of me. Luke eased off a bit as his hand reached for the blade still embedded where I had left it. He groaned as he yanked it out. I laughed. Or tried to. I didn't have much air in my lungs.
Recognizing my wheeze as a laugh, he said sharply, "You would find this funny."
I gave him the meanest look I could devise.
"Alena," Luke said my name as one would chastise a dog. "I don't mind that you tried that stunt. I know you will try to protect yourself," he continued. "But I don't have time to keep chasing you down. We need to get away from them, and I have a car nearby. So can I trust you to stay with me until there's time to explain?" He sighed. "Once we've got some distance, I can better decide how to tell you everything. It's kind of a lot for you."
I thought it was kind of stupid that he didn't give me some tidbit now, but I understood the need for haste if he was really scared about this mysterious enemy. I asked, "Why do you want me to go with you?" I didn't ask the other burning question. Why me? Was it simply my bad luck to have chosen to try to help him at the fountain that I suddenly needed to run with him? And what did he want to tell me?
"Because you're in danger too," Luke answered. That was new information. Why would I be in danger? The bitterness in my mouth had disappeared. I didn't know whether or not to believe him. I remembered he had said several times he wouldn't lie to me. Apparently, that declaration didn't extend to keeping information from me.
"I'm pretty sure I was careful not to piss off the local mob," I said to him.
He gave me a look.
I rolled my eyes at him. "Then why didn't you say that earlier?"
Luke gaped at me. "I thought I did."
"Let me up," I demanded.
Taking a few moments to consider if I was going to run again, Luke reluctantly rolled off me. Enough that I could breathe somewhat at least. "Alright," he said. "I meant to mention it, and probably didn't, and then you did all that," he gestured with a hand wave. He took a breath. "I'm sorry," he declared. My mind registered that my kidnapper just apologized to me.
"You said you didn't want to lie to me." I asked, "Do you mean ever?" Who would make that kind of declaration anyway? We didn't know each other.
There was a long pause before he responded. "Yes, I do," he replied. Statements he had made were not necessarily truth; they were only things that he believed, and I recognized he could easily be as misled as me.
At this time of the day, there were people walking by. In fact, they even walked around the luggage that had been left in the middle of the sidewalk. Vaguely, I was aware that my failed escape had occurred while still on campus. Had the luggage been unattended at an airport or train station, it might have caused people to freak out while the bomb squad examined the bag.
"What does everyone else see right now?" I asked curiously. And why wasn't I seeing it too?
Luke's brow furrowed as he frowned, thinking of how to answer. "They see us lying on the grass... making out." As he said that, he blushed.
I laughed. I couldn't help it. The scenario sounded so ridiculous.
Grinning in response to my laughter, Luke slowly moved his body off of me, finally letting me get up. I moved to a sitting position. He even handed me the knife, though I wasn't sure what he expected me to do with it. I resolved not to let go of it though, as it seemed to be a respectable weapon. I stayed on the ground, trying to brush off dirt and grass. I sighed at the mess, regretting my choice to avoid the sidewalk. My fingernails were gross, and I did not want to think about what I had been stepping in. There was even some dirt in my hair.
Luke lifted his shirt (or my shirt, not that I wanted it back now that it had a hole and was covered in blood) to show me the wound in his side. It was either nearly all healed, or else I really had not stabbed him as deep as I thought I did. He stood up, checking the second wound too. I let out a giggle; the scene was kind of funny after seeing that girl check him out.
With good nature, Luke grinned at me. "Please tell me you're not going to do that again." His eyes looked at me hopefully.
"I make no promises," I stated. I still held the knife.
Luke offered his hand to help me up, and I cursed myself for being dumb enough to take it. He kept his grip on my hand as we went to retrieve my luggage. The distance seemed further now that my steps weren't being carried by adrenaline. Since I was still walking barefoot, I kind of trailed behind him.
"Luke," I said, getting his attention.
He stopped walking and turned to look at me. "What is it?"
"You have a hole in your pants," I told him cheerily.
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