WARNING: Main character still swears. Reader discretion is advised.Chapter 2
A drink before dawn
I cooled down. It took no more than 10 minutes, but I cooled down. That's in no way a good thing. Now that the endorphines are no longer here to mask my pain, my body can honestly communicate its protests to me. I find it uneeded and annoying, my body is dumb. I don't need it to tell me, I've ran the longest distance I ever ran in my life, I fell from one storey's and a bit more worth of height landing on metal and I was attacked by dinosaurs, one of which friggin headbutted me into an invisible wall. I know, I don't have to get my limbs screaming in pain to get that my body is being strained. So my body is stupid for trying to force me to notice; No shit, really? I know already, so shut up.
Of course everything hurts, naturally after that kind of "exercise" you'd apply ice to avoid the state I'm in now, and that's after warm ups, for a decently athletic person who leaves his house for something other than shopping more than once a week. Even if it wasn't for the wounds or trauma, it would still hurt like a bitch. But that's not the problem here. The problem is what the pain is trying to tell me. It's telling me I shouldn't move, and frankly it's right, if I was in the safety of my house I wouldn't move for all the money in the world right now, I would sleep for 2 days straight. Yes, the pain is bringing up an actually serious issue.
Right now my limbs are reluctant to take my commands, I don't know if it's a defense mechanism to make sure I won't ruin my muscles, or if they are actually at the point where they cannot physically execute commands. They are sluggish and every movement is executed slowly at best. In any normal case, the body wouldn't take the commands regardless of input and survival mechanisms, it would give up and leave you to die. It happens, the human body isn't perfect, as proof there are diseases or disorders with which your own body will be harming you. And when I mean normal cases I don't mean without the possibility of death. Even with that, chances are, the limbs wouldn't perform sufficiently to let the prey survive.
When I say normal cases, I mean other people... Even if I ignored them consciously, from the moment I heard those footsteps, the warning signals went off. I can clearly feel that my stomach is upset. This isn't a normal mechanism, this is my paranoid survival mechanisms punishing me for not heeding their warnings. That's why I am messed up. Because even though I was sitting down, even though normally, in the resting state I am in, the body would not release any drugs to ease movement and would release drugs to induce a state of sleep instead, that is not the case with me. When I actually take notice of myself, I am in less pain than I was in just a few seconds ago. It's not much better than before on the pain front really, still hurts like a bitch, but I can notice there is a difference. Endorphines are back up, adrenaline is back up. But, that's not the first sign.
Why is it that in the city the only thing I was able to clearly hear, the thing I was focusing on, were unknown footsteps?
The answer is auditory exclusion. I was already in a clear fight-or-flight state...
I can feel strength coming back to my limbs. It's fake, there is no strength to send there left so I'm probably losing energy from vital processes. My muscles can't really take the strain, they are just fooled into believing they can. I won't feel it in the morning, I'll feel it for the whole week at best. But that's only if I'm alive, so I'm grateful. Because I'm the kind of person I am, now I can actually do what's humanly possible to survive, so that's out of the way.
Then let's see our next issue. Is that "humanly possible" thing enough to let me survive? You have a magical velociraptor on one side, equipped with extra tiny, stupid bat-wings no less, and a guy who plays card games and makes a living off his pc on the other, about 4 meters of distance between them. Who do you put your money on? I may like living but I am also a cynical person, I bet on the velociraptor, take my money.
On the one hand, being cynical means I'll accept which the better bet is. On the other, it means I won't care if I'm not betting. I have low chances, but I'll do my best with them. If I die I'm not getting my winnings anyways, so might as well put my effort on the outsider of this bet.
The Cerato that took notice of me moves. Its legs spring and it lunges at me, seeming sure of its meal for today. On my left there is a garbage can, obviously I can't dodge in that direction. On my right, naturally from the direction of the opening comes the cerato. I take the only chance I've got, force my legs to move and try to jump forward.
This dinosaur is faster, that's to be expected. It will cover the distance it wants to cover before my position has changed sufficiently. Even though my body will have moved in the process of jumping, I won't have actually changed my position in place before its jaws bite down where its planning. That's all normal, I'm a modern human, that's a natural predator. A carnivore of that size which can't do that much would have gone extinct from famine, not climate changes.
And so it comes to pass. Evolsaur Cerato covers the distance it wanted to cover to reach its prey while I was not in a safe place. And then another thing happens. I stumble forward, of course my jump was nowhere near perfect with my feet in that state, but I use my hands to get a footing stable enough to escape. And Cerato stumbles too. It stumbles forward after covering the desired distance. That's natural too. It thought it would reach me in one jump, if it did more than that distance it would hit the garbage disposal next to me, if it didn't it wouldn't reach me and I would have a chance to escape, so it had to cover a distance just enough to reach me. It saw me, judged what that distance was, and because of my attempt to escape took the jump before turning its head.
The result of that action was misjudging. Evolsaur Cerato used only one of those stupid glowing blue eyes to judge distance, something that is of course near impossible to do with only one eye. So it made a mistake. Its jump fell short and it never reached me. I use my arms and get my feet on the ground, now ready to run. Cerato cannot do the same, neither its tiny arms nor its stupid little bat-wings can halt its momentum, it keeps going and crashes head first on the large metalic waste container that was next to me just a moment ago. I take that chance, of course I'd take that chance, and run.
It will catch up I'm certain that a "traffic accident" won't stop this dinosaur permanently, it will recover and it will come after me. I could try and run away but I'll go ahead and guess that a velociraptor will be much faster than-
wait... Evolsaur Cerato... Cerato...
...
Ceratosaurus? Yeah... now that I think about it...
But shouldn't it be bigge-
really...? Am I really thinking about why is the magical dinosaur smaller than the prehistoric one right now?
I come back to my proper senses to find out that thankfully I haven't been going any slower.
All the same, it's a dinosaur that can stand on two feet, it WILL catch up to me. I could keep the distance from the other guy since we were both humans but I expect that thing to be 5 times faster than me at least. What that means is I can't afford to make this a chase, this needs to end before it starts.
I run to my destination when I hear the sound of metal sliding violently against asphalt, followed by a big mass of metal slamming against the ground and a familiar death cry
“GURAAAAA!”That thing probably pushed the filled garbage container off its way instead of going around it and it's ready to dash, standing at about 30 meters away from me. I stop running.
My goal wasn't to run away, that's impossible. But escaping is simple, exactly because I am a human. One thought is to go by the fact it does not have usable arms, and make an escape based on that. Climbing for example. Alternatively, and arguably, more easily, I can make use of the fact that I am smaller and go somewhere my opponent won't fit. In that case the answer is obvious, I just need to go back where I came from. I climbed up here from a manhole, and as the name suggests, a
manhole, wasn't built for dinosaurs.
I bend down to try to lift the manhole cover. One could argue kneeling would be far more dignified, but I'd be better off using my entire body to lift this. Pulling on the manhole I am reminded of how hard a task it was to move it the first time. On one hand, I already moved it out once so it's not stuck anymore. On the other, pulling is harder than pushing. But the dinosaur is already running towards me, much more close than I'd like. I use all the strength I can possibly find and manage to slowly put it out of place-
Won't make it I hear the knock of the claw touching the ground too close... Time slows down... Damn... I'm already out of time... even when I let go of the manhole cover I won't have the time to move into this... I can hear its footstep at a distance that suggests its jaws can reach me... Perhaps I can just drop the manhole to the side and jump forward?
...
Of course not... Considering a dinosaur is not my only pursuer I can't exactly make a leap of faith while facing away from the ladder and break my bones, I'm not any less dead in that case...
So I decide to do something crazy. It's not impossible, in theory it should be a safe bet. That guy has only one way right now to attack me, that's its jaws and I know their position. So long as I can buy myself that one extra moment, I have a chance of making it down there in one piece.
I once again force strength in my arms. I try my hardest to lift that manhole cover and turn my body around. My arms alone won't bring this giant lid where I want it, they won't even lift it there. But I don't need to keep it anywhere, I just need it to be at a specific place for just one moment. So now I'll use the centrifugal force, rotate my body and pull the metal disk with it. The manhole cover moves with me as I turn and face the dinosaur, its jaws less than a meter away from me and closing in fast.
I don't know if this will work. It all depends on the strength of my arms. If it's not enough, I'll be too late, and die here. If it's not in the right place, I'll do nothing, and die here. I don't want to die, so I have to make this work.
The manhole cover starts its short lived spin around me. It gains height, I try hard to make that happen and it works, it now gains height in its circular movement. The jaws are closing in, a bit away from the point my arms outstretched would be able to reach. The point I need it at and the point it should not pass. I'm making it, the manhole cover will reach the height it needs. All is falling into place and my makeshift shield will make it right at that place between Cerato and me.
It all should happen as planned, that is the only way for my life to be saved, so it can never happen any other way. I can no longer see those jaws because between those and me is the manhole cover I pulled. I'm not holding it up there, I don't have the strength to do that. It won't take a second before this thing takes the downwards fall, so it will never work as a real shield, it can only work for that split moment. I can only hope that in this split moment, this pointless shield will be rocked hard from the side of it I can't see. Being unable to do anything else, in this extended moment that seems to last far more than how long it actually is, I just hope for that something to happen.
And it does. My arms holding to the manhole cover are violently pushed back and assailed by pain, while my former shield rocks as if it's about to fly off them. I let go of it but not soon enough, and I am reminded of the fact I learned today: I am not a lucky man.
Because of the hit I lose my footing. I can't afford that with a manhole behind me. But I can't afford to regain it either, if I slow down that much I'm dead. So I take the jump back instead. A small jump, going for it to be just enough to fall in that hole. This time since I turned around I should be facing the ladder so it can work.
I'm off the ground. The manhole cover slowly follows me from the hit, but it won't reach me. It loses height so I can see Cerato from behind it again. Its head a bit lifted upwards from the impact, it can now see me too, locks on me again and after having come to a full stop lunges at me. I can see the opening of the manhole below me and am now going down. My feet are falling in. Good, the distance was correct.
Or maybe not. I'm still going backwards from the jump. Makes sense, I am not stepping on the ground to stop myself, so for a bit while longer I should be going back. The impact will come and I have to take it the best I can.
No, I can't wait actually. If my feet hit the edge then the rest of my body will fall above ground, and I'll be eaten in a second. If I hit my back or head I may get serious damage. Thankfully my legs are already going in well, it seems the impact will be over the waist, but I can't let that kind of damage to chance. After my waist reaches the height of the manhole entrance I wait for it to get just a bit further down and kick the ladder in front of me. It works as intented and my ass hits the edge of the manhole entrance. The reaction force of the impact pushes me forward and I throw my body in the same direction to help it. My head is now below ground and I throw my hands forward to catch on to the ladder. They touch a rail but my momentum causes them to just get knocked away and down. I try again on the next and put more strength in them. This time they caught it, I kick my feet onto a rail as well and after the knockback I manage to come to a stop.
Not falling anymore I look back up to see I'm not the only one who made it in the hole. The cover's flight path leads it right in here. I instictively fall to the next rail and grab again to gain distance and avoid the crash, but in falling the cover is faster. It covers the distance, falling in an upright position. I see it reach my head, go further down and finaly gasp at the sight.
The cover stops its fall right in front of my eyes, close enough to cover about a third of my field of vision. Rather than luck this much makes sense. Manhole covers are not supposed to fall in manholes, instead the fall made it get stuck in the hole in that same upright position. It's a good thing, it means not even Cerato's jaws should be able to reach in here as things are. But I won't stay here to find out if that's true or not. I hasten my descend.
After my feet are on solid ground again I check back on the opening. Cerato bites the stuck cover and tries to pull it off. Back where I came from I survey my surroundings once more, out of habit to be certain of my options. It still stinks as much as it did before, it's still as dark as it was before with very sparse lighting. I'm on the narrow right walkway, seperated by the left walkway by a river of... filth...
There is no reason to stay here, so I run ahead. South. My destination right now is the police station, it's the only thing I can think of, but unfortunatelly it's far, I don't know if my legs will carry me that far. Yes, it's true I lost the dinosaur, and it won't be coming here today at least, but that's not the issue. Thinking about it, duel monsters aren't something you'd run into every day. I've accepted as a fact they can be in a duel by now, but obviously I'm not in any duel, so a yugioh monster appearing out of nowhere is not normal. I'll go ahead and assume that the incident was connected to my original pursuer, a very safe assumption. If that was the case there is a chance he will find out about my earlier encounter in a way. It's not something I can or need to explain at the moment, but I will aknowledge the possibility, so I don't want to waste time. I have to run, and if I find that he is on my track, I need to reach the police station. Even if I don't try and sell them my story, I'm sure he won't go off firing a gun or letting supernatural creatures roam in the general area.
Wait, police stations don't close for the night, right? It's a 24/7 kind of thing, right?
...
I'm going to go ahead and assume they stay open. If that's the term you'd use, which it isn't.
Even though I'd like to run fast, that's probably not the best idea. The complaints of my limbs haven't completely gone away yet, and even though I'd like to go as soon as possible, I won't be fast at all if my legs stop functioning in the process. Same as the manhole situation, if I become unable to move as a result of my efforts to get away, I am still just as dead; there is a balance I need to find. Actually I think that even if I did try to go faster, my body wouldn't let me at this point, at least not without an immidiate danger anymore. In fact, I'd find it disturbing if my body did allow such a thing again today. From now on I am going to have to be reasonable. So I pace myself. Still sort of a run, but not frantic. The complaints don't get any worse as a result.
It's working well, or perhaps it doesn't. Even if I do find myself in danger often today, that doesn't change my mental fatigue. My mind sped up while a giant carnivorous lizard was in close proximity, but a while after I got in the sewer it got sluggish. As a result, even though I am running slower, I feel that time is passing more smoothly, I cover enough distance without noticing. So maybe that's a good thing. Maybe this long day will come at a safe end soon, maybe I'm out of the woods. But it could be a bad thing. Because perhaps that lowered guard will cost me if that's not the case. I can catch the sight of another ladder, since I can see it in this darkness it's relatively close.
Clang
At that moment I hear a metallic sound in the distance, in the direction I came from. Was perhaps that lowered guard irrelevant? In an instant, the gears in my head start spinning just as fast as before, as if they never stopped. Or was it relevant and I would have noticed one second sooner if I was aware? Either way, it's the same now. That metalic sound is something knocking the metal railing of a ladder. Judging by the sound, that's the manhole I came from, in fact I heard nothing of a manhole cover being moved, so that's probably the manhole cover Cerato took care of. What knocked the railing is an easy guess. A shoe worn by someone. It means someone is descending in the sewer, and unless by some insane coincidence someone had business in here at around 4 am or whatever, that's probably a person I don't want to meet.
He'll notice I come to a stop.
It's too dark down here to notice me at this distance, I can verify as much since I can't see him from here either even though he should be getting some light in from the street lights covering the manhole while there is no light source where I stand.
That's a good thing since just because he is here doesn't means he knows the direction I'm running at. Yes, the police station is this way but that's not the only place I could or would choose to go as far as he knows. Instead the possibility exists that since we have moved away now I returned to the area we were at before which I was obviously familiar with to either stall for time until morning or go to my own house again since it is evident I left before getting much. So whether I took the path south or north is beyond him. If he chooses to pursue me north then I just stay here until he is out, if his steps start sounding towards here then I consider myself unlucky and make a run for that ladder, it doesn't make much difference from what I'd normally do. But because there is a roughly 50% chance he'll make a wrong choice and completely miss me I can't afford to make any noise now by running and give away my position. I can't walk either, I have been running a huge distance at very high speeds for my standards midsummer so my feet are too sweaty, as a result my shoes have started making a squishy sound every time I step on ground. So I can only wait and see what he does...
He's stepped on ground himself for a while now but he has not moved. Any movement would have produced sound, so he hasn't made any. Is he trying to look for tracks? It is possible, I can't see anything myself but I wouldn't be surprised if my sweaty feet left marks on the ground when considering we are next to a river of shit as well. At least I know he certainly can't find me by scent, and despite my frantic running my breathing is abnormally quiet... If he was going to go by chance he probably would have already picked his best option to follow by now, there is no point in giving me more time to run in that case.
Could it be he considers I am still here? I'm just going ahead and assuming that he doesn't have the neccessary information to make that assumption and since I haven't given away my presence here, it is a safe assumption for him to say I am already out... But is it a right assumption? If he somehow knew exactly for how long I've been here as well as my entrance point and the distance between the manholes it is possible to assume I have yet to go out since I have seen no exit all the time I've been here again except from the manhole that came into sight just now... But that's using too much information; I understand him knowing my entrance point, we've made a mess out of that manhole cover, but the distance between manholes isn't the kind of trivia knowledge you'd just happen to have. He could somehow obtain that knowledge while on the run using a cell phone or another communication device though. Most importantly, how could he know the exact time I came down here? Does that suggest he is able to communicate with the monster or was he or someone else already watching me at the time? Alternatively he could be somehow tracking me with a device or surveilance, but I don't think there is not any sensor of any kind in the sewers and he has never actually come in contact with me, the only time our distance was less than 30 meters was when a door was between us...
So he probably doesn't know and there is little reason for him to assume that instead of running away I have stayed in here and just kept quiet. Then he's probably trying to track me, as I thought, I may have left footprints...
I'm brought back to reality by a clicking sound, it's the first sound I've heard ever since he touched ground. But that just makes things more confusing for me, just what is he-
Bang-!
I hear a familiar noise far away as it echoes many times in the tunnel. The clicking sound was from his gun and now he shot. Was he shooting at me? Did he know exactly where I am after all?
I'm not hurt. Did he miss?
No, the gunshot was not coming at my direction to begin with, in fact when I think about it, the sound suggests that he was shooting north, the complete opposite direction. Did he mistake something there for me-
I'm interrupted by the clicking sound again-
You'll get shot I figured it out and I panic thinking about what I can do, but I'm too late. I hear the next gunshot and in a hurry I stumble trying to get down, as a result my feet finaly make noise. It's in my direction this time. Thankfully I managed to get lower, the bullet went past right where I stood, it didn't hit the ladder and went on, hitting a wall in the distance.
He somehow knows or at least believes there is a good chance I am still down here. The path is narrow and there is no way to get from where I am to the other 'bank' of this green flow unless you are ready to get very dirty. There have been no turns for as long as I have been running, it's a straight path. So if he shoots at the direction I'm in, chances are he'll get me. He knew I was down here but was not sure of the direction, so he shot in both directions to find out. Had he picked south first instead of north or had I not noticed and stayed up then he would have shot me down and that would be it, if you take knowledge of my being here for granted it was a good plan.
The more important observation here is, did he notice the sound of my feet?
Of course he did, a gunshot accompanied them but the night is quiet, he could probably notice the difference. I get ready to dash ahead and as proof he now knows, I hear his first 2 steps in my direction. My own destination is getting to that ladder as soon as possible. I shift my position from the center of the narrow path all the way to the left edge, right next to that river. Another gunshot echoes in my direction, passing from my right side and hitting the wall far away. Even if the path is narrow, when considering the distance between us, getting away from the center even by that little greatly increased my chances. Another gunshot flies off to my left, hitting a wall on the other side but closer this time. He doesn't know what the exact distance between us is so he can't hit me even if he knows I'm not in the center, he can only fish with it. And as much as I'd like to stay away from the stench, moving close to the wall instead increases the risk of getting hit from the ricochet.
The gunshot is heard again, the bullet flies once more to my left, but much closer this time. I'm finally close enough to the ladder and jump on it. Hearing the sound of me jumping on the first railing he'll probably redirect his shots to the center, I don't have the time to stay low where it's a sure hit, so I practically run on the ladder to gain height fast. I need to get my whole body high enough to avoid damage and he can shoot any moment. I grab and kick railings and hear the hammer again as I am 4 steps high, certainly not high enough, I'd like my legs to be out of harm's way as well. His aim is good, perfectly straight even when running towards me, the bullet flies through, right between my legs, but not before grazing my left calf. I ignore it as best as I can and keep climbing up.
Now that I'm high enough I should be a bit safer if he cannot judge the distance, but he hasn't stopped running in my direction so he should be able to see me soon and the distance is getting too small to depend on the error. Another gunshot and the sound of the bullet hitting the ceiling. He's adjusting his aim to hit me on the ladder as high as I am. I finally reach the manhole cover, I get as close to it as I can and start pushing. Another bullet hits the ceiling about 5 meters away from me, too close, the next one could get me. This cover is stuck too, it's hard to open, but I'm as close as possible and push up with both legs, my right arm and left shoulder, only holding on with my left hand. I push it open and drop it behind me. Perhaps led by the sound of the opening cover as well, the next shot comes too close, dropping dust from the ceiling on me. I get my hands out of the sewer and on the ground to push up my body. The bullet hits the ladder I was on, a bit to the left of my waist now, and thankfully ricochets away. I get my legs out and roll on the asphault.
He isn't shooting anymore but he's getting closer, I don't have a moment to lose so I get on my legs and start running again, continuing south. This time I came out from the manhole in between buildings. For a moment I think of closing the manhole cover and staying on it to trap him in and force him to find a different exit but quickly realize that's a stupid idea. Even if you consider nothing else, he could just challenge me to a duel.
It would be nice if I could though, because it seems running is anything but a safe bet. It's natural when you think about it. Actually, no, it would have been natural an hour ago, it's nothing of the sort if it's happening now. Still, it's been a long time coming. My limbs are close to shutting down. I can still force a similar performance and my body is keeping the protests to bearable levels, but it's becoming obvious, soon I won't be able to run, at least not on these legs. I can only hope my legs will get me to my destination. I'm not optimistic though, I don't think they'll last more than a couple of blocks. In fact I'd be amazed if they could last 2 blocks, but I take things that would amaze me into account as well, today is a good day to do that. I'm pessimistic, and because I don't think I'll survive I think of death, and because I think of death I'm getting sick to my stomach, I feel like throwing up...
Being between buildings means I am once again able to take frequent turns soon to avoid gunshots. But I'm not familiar with the area so they would be at random. For now I come out into the street. It's not wide, the blocks look to be disordered and seemingly randomly placed. It's not weird, Wagerton was not built to be what it is, it simply started developing and expanding itself a few years back to become what it is today. That's the reason there is not any form of rail-based public transport as of yet and areas like this which seem built completely out of a city plan exist.
That's in no way a bad thing, it means I'll be able to make more frequent turns than before and it will be easier in comparison to lose him, that is if my legs can hold me for that long. I run across the narrow street before me and take a left. On the corner I hear a familiar sound, much louder than my footsteps. It's another gunshot, hitting the wall close enough for me to feel the crushed dust hitting my face. I don't know if he's already running, but he's out and he knows where I'm at.
Another problem I am facing is disorientation, I want to keep going south but if I take random turns there will soon be no way to know where that is. That is amended by balancing my turns. After a left comes a right, this one is shorter and between buildings. This is the alley of a bad restaurant as the stench suggests. It seems to be that kind of area, food places, small miscaleneous shops and houses usually on a first or second floor that may be matched in height by the buildings next to it or not. You'd expect to find at least one bad bar or something along those lines open even at this time of night in a place like this, but no such luck.
It's time to turn again, another right. No bullet this time, I reached the corner before I was in his sight probably, it could be he shot before he got fully out of the hole before. The right I tried to take though doesn't happen, my body keeps going forward and my direction doesn't change. I place my left leg forward to stop my body from falling. I tried to put that extra strength in my right leg in order to take that turn while moving but it became unresponsive for that time. Now that I stopped I put strength in it again and take that right. I notice it takes more effort to run now, I have to consciously try to move each leg to keep going. My mind is not in a better state, it might have been a short run from the manhole but it feels just as long as the last time I ran, it seems I keep getting distracted more than I should. It's happening again, I force my focus on the street.
I need anything I can get from my surroundings, any way out, because I won't make it to the police station in this state. There is no light in the street ahead of me other than street lights, no place I can take refuge in. Even if there was, I'm not sure I'd be safe. There is no path to take on the sides of the street either, I have to run all the way to that next street corner.
I reach it and turn, but from this side of the street there is nothing I can do, no alley to hide in and the way to the next corner is too long and linear, he'll catch up and I'll die, so I have to cross the street where I can see a long alley. I take the first step in the street and for the first time I hear a new kind of noise. This time it's a mechanical growl growing closer, I realise there is a strong light on me now and I hear a loud buzzer. It's a horn, I check my right to see a car closing in, less than 100 meters away and speeding. Both me and the driver probably realise that if I keep going he'll run me over.
Don't stop Driver is probably a prick since other than the fact he is speeding way over the speed limit of the city, he also shows no willingness to slow down, let alone stop. He probably thinks I can stop my movement so he can pass first, and technically he is right, I can stop running hear and let him pass by, that's pretty safe from his perspective, even with my legs as they are now, I can do that. But I can't, even if I stop, even if he passes by safely in 2 seconds, I can't afford to lose those 2 seconds with that guy after me. So I can't stop. Only thing I can do is keep going. Car on the other hand is not slowing down. If I didn't know any better I'd say it was speeding up actually. I know I have to go faster myself, if I keep going like that I'll get ran over. The thought makes me nauseous, running in front of a speeding car makes me even more nauseous, but despite feeling like throwing up, my legs now, the same legs that were giving out just a few seconds ago, miraculously give the strength to run faster. It's because I have to. I'll die if they don't go faster, so they are forced to go faster. It's really not a matter of my own will, if I was not going to die, no matter how much I willed it, they wouldn't move this much. Instead they would have stopped working long ago. But now they move as fast as when I started running after I rolled off that van. The car gets closer honking its horn all the way, I can faintly hear a human's voice in it too, shouts, probably swearing. A prick indeed. But I may be able to use this. I am making it out of the car's way somehow, my body is in the clear, but its right headlamp is getting much closer than I'd like, if I keep running this way, my body will be safe, but the leg left behind before the next step will be smashed. Since my body will be safe I go at it differently. I use my momentum to jump forward and bring my legs in front of my body in the process. At the same time, I bet on that guy's douchyness and raise my right hand to give him the finger, hoping it irks him enough. My leap is nothing short of dramatic, I am sure if this was a hollywood movie, this moment would be in extremely slow-mo. My thighs stretched forward mid air are just over the car's hood as it passes by, my body is bent forward as well and my behind may end up grazing the car's side the way things are going, while a snapshot-worthy hand gesture is being executed.
Feeling the wind pressure from the car's movement right behind me, my feet touch the ground, and once again I realize I should abstain from any activity that includes my legs, as they once again fail me. I lose my balance upon landing and fall forward. I clumsily throw my hands down as fast as I can to support my self in a desperate attempt to keep my knees from touching the ground. After all that took place today, and after my latest athletic display, I really doubt that my legs would bring me up again if that happened. At the same time I complete my awkward pose and try to bring myself in a proper posture again, the aforementioned prick finally decides to hit the breaks and his car comes to a stop after a loud screech and sliding that really shows he doesn't know how to treat his tires.
Don't get me wrong, I am not a guy who provokes other people into anything. In fact, I'd like the least reaction possible in any given case. I don't want to deal with people when I don't have to, and if I do end up dealing with them, I want it to be done as soon as possible. So naturally, it would be completely uncharacteristic of me to give someone the finger. In fact, last time I did that should be about 7 years ago as a joke to a friend, when admittedly I appeared much less socially awkward. I'd never do that now because I don't want to deal with people, but right now I also know another person who is quite radical about his preference of not dealing with people too much.
Said person should have me in his line of sight soon as the sounds of his footsteps indicates, my fall allowed him to close the gap, but this time it will be harder for him to shoot. That's because from the stopped car, an annoyed man comes out and lets out something that I could only vaguely describe as an unintelligable swear or an incomprehensible roar. I do not care enough to make sense of it. I have already broken into a run and the driver runs after me. He won't catch me, even if I'm tired, even if the muscle mass in my legs is below average, I am running for my life, running away from a man who is trying to kill me, and this guy only runs because he is annoyed. No matter how angry he may be, he just can't put in enough effort for this. I have not seen this man, couldn't tell much through the windshield and haven't even turned around to look at him once, so he might as well be a professional runner in his very professional tights on his way to his 5 am practice for the olympics, but this changes nothing. Well, it changes some things actually, please don't be an angry pro athlete, but I'm pretty sure that's not the case so I'm good.
As I'm running into the alley I can tell from the footsteps that the phony policeman is now where he can see me. Normally he'd shoot at me. And this is where the angry driver comes in, because in his attempt to chase me, he has placed himself between me and my primary pursuer. Even if he was willing to shoot me in front of the guy, line of sight should be getting broken. That's good, in any case it should be able to buy me some more running time if the guy who is hopefully not an athlete is obnoxius enough to gain the phony policeman's attention. A brilliant part if I do say so myself. And I'll say it now because I screwed up big time...
Regardless of my highly tactical efforts, I managed to walk into my death. It has been just a couple of seconds since the nausea from the possible imminent car crash stopped intensifying, and again my stomach is on "screw you" mode. My earlier observation is too true, these street blocks are simply irregular. They can be too small. Also, they can be too big. In this case, it's the latter. I first saw this alley from the side, and didn't check its depth. When trying to dodge the car, I didn't check it either, and picked it as my course. Either way, I couldn't have changed it at that time.
My angry driver champion shield will only last a few seconds probably, that's not just because the fake policeman can just shoot him dead, in fact it would be detrimental to his effort to do so because the body could block his path. The problem is that the fake policeman, looks like a policeman and is running after a guy. There is nothing weird about this, by the way he looks he is perfectly entitled to chase after me and capture me. The guy will probably step aside and let him once he sees him too. Even if he shoots me in the leg to get that done, the other guy will probably turn a blind eye to the excessive violence because he is pissed and say he was just doing his job in the end. The policeman then only needs to capture me and take me away on the pretense of arresting me before he kills me.
In case this isn't clear already, the reason all this is important is because I cannot make it in time. This is a long linear alley with no side paths. Maybe if I was the professional athlete here that would be possible. Maybe if my latent potential was to be released, I could manage that. But not on these legs. One has been mangled, the other was grazed by a bullet, they took a fall from the first floor and have been constantly used to let me run and even climb ladders for the past few hours without having a single muscle in them developed to support that kind of activity. There is no extra bit left. The extra bit, the secret potential is what made all of this possible up to this point instead, I've been running on extra alone ever since Cerato found me next to that trash can, but there is no more extra in there, making it out of this alley is all but an impossibility.
Where there was one set of footsteps, there is now only one. Whether he was convinced or killed, my human shield is down. That was my last realistic chance. Now I can only hope he misses every shot on a guy in a straight path. He won't though. There is no light at the end of this tunnel. The only lights are 2 green ones illuminating the words on a hanging sign ahead : "De-Spell". The shot is fired.
