• Part 1

    Steve was panting hysterically. He was running like he'd never run before. He bolted around an alley corner and quickly hustled through the maze of brick walls. I can't hear him running... I must have lost him. Steve slowly jogged towards a grimy dumpster. His knees were aching like crazy and he could barely walk. He limped weakly to the dumpster and sat next to it. Great...I sat on a puddle. He was so exhausted, he didn't care it his new pants were drenched. His heart was still beating quickly. He twitched at every eerie noise he heard. Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming down the alley. He fearfully gasped, the stranger had found him again. He sneaked a quick glance. Steve could see the stranger's unusual silhouette in the moonlight: a tall and skinny figure, with a long coat reaching to the knees, rifle in hand. He fired the rifle. It's booming noise echoed through the lifeless city. Steve ground his teeth in fear. He'd dealt with this chase all night, which made him restless and spooked. His mind was panicking, thinking of what to do next. Should I try to run for it? Or maybe I should stay here quietly and hope the stranger doesn't notice me? Or should I try to tackle the creep? No, he has a gun, stupid. And if I tried to run, he would probably shoot me and torture me to a horrid death. But, if I stay here....I could hide in the dark shadow of the dumpster and maybe, just maybe, I could get away. The deadly stranger was right across from the dumpster. He looked his way. Steve froze. The stranger had hair as red as dawn and his eyes were a red-brown color. Steve was hypnotized. The stranger charged towards him. Steve closed his eyes. He heard shuffling and cans noisily clattering. He opened his eyes. The stranger was rummaging through the garbage, thinking he was in there. He peeked over the dumpster and got a good look at the guy. He had a dark blue vest on underneath his black coat. It had two pins on it. One said, "Joe's Quick Mart". Steve scanned his crazed mind for a Joe's Quick Mart. His mind went blank. He quietly groaned. The other pin was white, but he couldn't make out the words. The stranger, when he went to check the dumpster, had dropped his dirty gun on the ground. It was a short foot or two away from him; he could reach it. He checked to make sure the stranger was occupied. Steve turned his full attention to the gun. He slowly reached for the weapon. A large muddy boot stomped on it. Steve slowly turned his head. The stranger grinned to show his crooked smile. Steve trembled and took his hand away. Without warning, the stranger quickly grabbed his gun and whacked Steve in the head. His world went black.
    Steve peeled his heavy eyelids open. There was an extremely bright light above him. He squinted. There was an old woman with fading blond hair above him. She was speaking to someone, but he couldn't seem to hear them. Slowly their words became clear. "How are you feeling?", asked the woman. He just mumbled. She sighed, pitifully shaking her head. "He's been mumbling all week. Nothing. Just nonsense." Suddenly his mind snapped into gear. His eyes wide, "Week?" The woman blankly stared at him. She said, "Yes, you've been out all week. How are you feeling?" He sat up and yelled, "The stranger!" Suddenly, a police officer came and quickly covered his mouth. He squirmed around in the bed, trying to get him off. He quickly began to calm down. The officer said, "Sir, please don't shout anything. Whatever happened to you this week is strictly confidential to the police." Steve was puzzled. The officer slowly removed his hand. "So, I'm going to ask you some questions about your experience. I want you to tell me all you know about this creep." Steve sighed, "Okay, go ahead." The officer nodded, "Okay, so how did this start?"
    Steve strolled down the wet sidewalk. It was nighttime and there were no clouds in the sky. He was walking home from his new job at Hot Topic. Steve is thirty-one and is still trying to hold on to his younger life. He had light brown hair and stunning green eyes. He wore trendy jeans and converse shoes to show the kids in the neighborhood he was still young. His hair was crazy and youthful. He proudly walked to his apartment. When he was about 20 feet away he noticed a stranger leaning against the wall close to his apartment, smoking. Steve tried to see if he could recognize who it was. He couldn't, so he decided to take the back alley. He was walking down the alley when he noticed an eerie shadow behind him. Steve quickly turned. It was the stranger. He walked faster. The stranger stuck his hand in his dark coat. Steve looked behind him again. He had a gun in his hand. Steve sprinted down the grimy alley going past his apartment. The stranger fired his rifle. The explosion shattered his ears. He threw his bag at the wall. The stranger ignored it and ran after him. This commotion went on and on through the night....running, shooting, running, shooting.

    "So....this guy was there patiently waiting at your doorstep to try to shoot you down? What do you think he wanted?" Steve fearfully said, "I have no idea." The officer scratched his head in bewilderment. "Have you recently bought anything valuable or expensive?" Steve sighed, "No. I can't think of anything." The old woman looked puzzled as well. Steve gasped. The officer looked at him. "His vest.....he works at Joe's Quick Mart!" The officer's eyes became wide. "I know where that is!"

    The dirty police car parked at Joe's Quick Mart. The officer and Steve peeked into the small store. There were a good amount of suspects....one had bright red hair, one was very tall, and one was wearing all black. They got out of the car. "We better try to act casual", whispered the officer. Steve nodded. They walked in, observing the whole store. The petite store was nicer than they expected. It had nicely painted walls, no lottery tickets, alcohol, or tons of cigarettes, it had it's own small deli area, and even the employees looked like nice people. Could the manager here have hired a criminal? They walked over to the cashier. "Excuse me? How many people work here?" The cashier smiled and said, "About four people, sir. Not including the manager." The officer thanked her and walked around the store. Steve walked over to the deli.

    The two deli workers were a possibility. One was very tall and the other was wearing black and had dyed their hair a bright red. Steve recognized neither of them, so he walked on. The officer had began to talk to the cashier again. Steve walked around by the shelves of food and snacks. Suddenly he froze. He saw him. He was putting food on the shelves and had his back to him, though, he was shorter. But he had hair as red as dawn, which was quite long. He turned around. It was a girl! He was puzzled. She looked at him and the cheerful look in her eyes turned dark and murderous. She stared him down. He began to sweat. "So, you've tattle-tailed, Steve," she said in a mysterious voice, "I didn't think you would." The police officer looked at him. Steve desperately tried to signal in some way without alerting the girl. The officer slowly walked over to them. The girl reached into her back pocket. The officer still was walking. She took out a pocket knife. Steve glanced at the officer. He was walking very slowly, to Steve it seemed like ages. Steve's mind raced on what to do about a crazy girl with a knife coming at him. Right when she was about to launch the knife at him, the officer came behind her and grabbed her hand. She grunted. Then, to their surprise, she shouted out in another language and all the employees took out guns from underneath the counters and aimed them all at Steve and the officer. The officer smiled. Steve stared at him wide-eyed, "Why are you smiling at a time like this?" The officer winked at him. Steve grinned slightly and looked at the girl. Her eyes were hazy as she tried to figure out what was going on. Within seconds, the Police were in the building. They quickly grabbed everyone in the store.
    As they were taking them away, the girl glared at Steve. Steve victoriously smiled. Her serpent-like voice said, "Don't think you've won just yet, I'll be back. And when I am, you're the one I will run down." His smile slowly shrunk to a frown. As they walked her out, the policemen took the guns from the others and examined them. They were baffled at the sight of them. The guns were nothing like they had ever seen. They were extremely complicated looking and had strange lettering on it. They couldn't figure out where these people came from. Suddenly they heard yelling outside. They all ran to the window. The terrorists were singing. Almost like a prayer. Steve stared in awe. They were all looking to the sky and singing prayers. Then the cars started and began to drive off. The officer nervously shook his fears off. "It's probably just some weird prayer to their god or something. This happens all the--" Then without warning, one of the Police cars burst into flames. The officers in the store watched in horror. One-by-one they exploded all over the dusty streets and sidewalks. Steve searched for the girl. There was only one remaining car: the one with the girl in it. While the other cars were flaming, the policemen had gotten distracted which gave the girl her opportunity. She had taken advantage of the confused men and thrown them out of the car. The girl revved the car and sped down the street. As the policemen and Steve stood in bewilderment, she made her escape. Steve then remembered what she said. As the other officers ran out to check the cars and explosions, the officer took off his hat and bowed his head. He sighed, his eyes tearful, "They knew they were going to die. That's why they said their prayers. They selflessly died for that criminal woman. This was all their plan to escape." He slowly walked away and pulled out his radio. "This is Unit 4 calling to Home. The terrorists had planned an ambush. Few survived." The radio beeped. A gust of wind carried the smoke from the wreckage into the sky. Steve walked out to the wreckage, the calming wind in his face. He looked out onto the horizon. He could still see the girl's car, racing down the road. He sighed. He felt somewhat nervous about what she said about coming back to run him down. He whispered to himself, "I'll be ready for her."