Away From Here- Chapter 1.
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Chapter 1.
The Thrill Of The Chase.
Ten years earlier...
Her blood pounds through her ears, the steady one-two of her feet against the ground keeping perfect time with the pounding of her blood vessels, it helps her keep time, like an internal metronome, one-two, one-two, one-two. Freezing air burns down her throat, slicing through her lungs like an ice-cold knife, seemingly ripping more oxygen from her lungs than it gives.
She revels in the sensation.
The grass sparkles with droplets of water under the sun, glittering like tiny fragments of bejewelled glass. She slams through them and they shatter around her, bursting into dancing glimmers of light. The sky is pure azure blue, the darkness that had once covered her tracks crawling below the horizon to reveal the clear sky that leaves her with nothing but the stretching view of crystal glistened grass and hills as far as the eye can see.
She knows that hiding in the valleys of one of those hills is her goal; it has to be.
She closes her eyes and runs, the harsh wind freezing her face, her legs threatening to stiffen with overuse and the cold air seeping through her paper thin trousers.
But she keeps running, ignoring everything except the rush of adrenaline through her veins and the slamming of her feet through the fields of sparkling emerald. She cries out, whether in pleasure or fear as she hears the telltale sound of people behind her, their footsteps thudding and uncontrolled as they chase after her in their fifties; armies of people she feels like she defeated long ago.
She laughs, the sound echoing loudly through her ears as she speeds up, her feet, unlike theirs, landing gracefully with each step, with each shatter of glass beneath her feet, she’s light and in control; born to do this.
She reaches the first hill and runs up it as fast as she can, her legs protesting at the sharp incline and overuse, but she ignores them, reaching the top. Still with the voices of the army behind her, she speeds down the hill, the wet ground and the downward motion helping her to streak ahead of the men as they clamber down the hill, still trying and failing to be in control of their actions. She laughs again, glancing over her shoulder in time to see them begin to chase after her again after sliding down the slope with as little grace as a bull elephant. She turns around and keeps running. If only they realised how it’s done.
Then she remembers that it's impossible for them to ever understand, so instead she keeps going, as fast as she can, up and over hills like there’s nothing but the flat land of the fields.
They chase valiantly after her, and she hears the cocking of a gun in time to duck to the left as a bullet flies straight past her head and she can all but hear the sound of it as it whistles past her ear. She swerves past the torrent of fire that follows that single bullet, ducking left right and twisting at opportune moments, using the sparse trees made of old and gnarled branches as cover as she races over hills.
She passes over one last hill, reaching the top and hearing the men reload their guns as they race up the hill behind her.
And then she sees it.
The tinniest bubble of blinding light: her goal, so plainly in sight. It grows before her eyes, swelling to her height as it waves above the ground, hovering unsteadily and glowing with an almost blinding haze and she wonders that perhaps if she blinks it will be nothing more than illusion.
She’s not willing to risk that.
So she runs, sliding down the hill on the ground that suddenly seems so much more awkward than before. Her shoe catches in the mud and she slides the rest of the way, all but skating across the surface and coming to a halt at the very bottom. She streaks towards it again and she all but dances the last mile as bullets rain down on her, bursting in the bright crystalline dew around her.
She shouts from the bottom of her lungs as she hurls herself into that golden light. She hears the people behind her groan in defeat and she grins, twisting around to take one last glance at them before the golden glow surrounds her completely. Suddenly there’s a long beep and is pushes in on her until all there is the startling beauty of the glow and the long sound ringing through her ears, it sounds almost identical to the sound of a heart monitors last tone. But all she can hear is victory.
The sound presses down on her until: “Level Complete.”
Next Chapter>>
Chapter 1.
The Thrill Of The Chase.
Ten years earlier...
Her blood pounds through her ears, the steady one-two of her feet against the ground keeping perfect time with the pounding of her blood vessels, it helps her keep time, like an internal metronome, one-two, one-two, one-two. Freezing air burns down her throat, slicing through her lungs like an ice-cold knife, seemingly ripping more oxygen from her lungs than it gives.
She revels in the sensation.
The grass sparkles with droplets of water under the sun, glittering like tiny fragments of bejewelled glass. She slams through them and they shatter around her, bursting into dancing glimmers of light. The sky is pure azure blue, the darkness that had once covered her tracks crawling below the horizon to reveal the clear sky that leaves her with nothing but the stretching view of crystal glistened grass and hills as far as the eye can see.
She knows that hiding in the valleys of one of those hills is her goal; it has to be.
She closes her eyes and runs, the harsh wind freezing her face, her legs threatening to stiffen with overuse and the cold air seeping through her paper thin trousers.
But she keeps running, ignoring everything except the rush of adrenaline through her veins and the slamming of her feet through the fields of sparkling emerald. She cries out, whether in pleasure or fear as she hears the telltale sound of people behind her, their footsteps thudding and uncontrolled as they chase after her in their fifties; armies of people she feels like she defeated long ago.
She laughs, the sound echoing loudly through her ears as she speeds up, her feet, unlike theirs, landing gracefully with each step, with each shatter of glass beneath her feet, she’s light and in control; born to do this.
She reaches the first hill and runs up it as fast as she can, her legs protesting at the sharp incline and overuse, but she ignores them, reaching the top. Still with the voices of the army behind her, she speeds down the hill, the wet ground and the downward motion helping her to streak ahead of the men as they clamber down the hill, still trying and failing to be in control of their actions. She laughs again, glancing over her shoulder in time to see them begin to chase after her again after sliding down the slope with as little grace as a bull elephant. She turns around and keeps running. If only they realised how it’s done.
Then she remembers that it's impossible for them to ever understand, so instead she keeps going, as fast as she can, up and over hills like there’s nothing but the flat land of the fields.
They chase valiantly after her, and she hears the cocking of a gun in time to duck to the left as a bullet flies straight past her head and she can all but hear the sound of it as it whistles past her ear. She swerves past the torrent of fire that follows that single bullet, ducking left right and twisting at opportune moments, using the sparse trees made of old and gnarled branches as cover as she races over hills.
She passes over one last hill, reaching the top and hearing the men reload their guns as they race up the hill behind her.
And then she sees it.
The tinniest bubble of blinding light: her goal, so plainly in sight. It grows before her eyes, swelling to her height as it waves above the ground, hovering unsteadily and glowing with an almost blinding haze and she wonders that perhaps if she blinks it will be nothing more than illusion.
She’s not willing to risk that.
So she runs, sliding down the hill on the ground that suddenly seems so much more awkward than before. Her shoe catches in the mud and she slides the rest of the way, all but skating across the surface and coming to a halt at the very bottom. She streaks towards it again and she all but dances the last mile as bullets rain down on her, bursting in the bright crystalline dew around her.
She shouts from the bottom of her lungs as she hurls herself into that golden light. She hears the people behind her groan in defeat and she grins, twisting around to take one last glance at them before the golden glow surrounds her completely. Suddenly there’s a long beep and is pushes in on her until all there is the startling beauty of the glow and the long sound ringing through her ears, it sounds almost identical to the sound of a heart monitors last tone. But all she can hear is victory.
The sound presses down on her until: “Level Complete.”
Next Chapter>>