We reached the chain link fence enclosing the property and I pulled a loose section up at the base for Emily to crawl through. She eyed me suspiciously, but went under. Climbing through myself proved to be a challenge with an injured shoulder, yet I received no help from her. Or pity.
I made it, though the fence dropped with a metallic clang behind me, snapping down on my ankle. I gritted my teeth against the pain in my shoulder and yanked my foot free, but not before ripping the hem of my jeans. I looked at Emily, arms crossed as she glared down at me, and tried once more to reach her, to sway her to help me up.
“Are you coming, or what?” she snapped.
With a resigned sigh, and one good arm, I pushed to my feet.
“You sigh a lot,” she said.
“I never used to,” I muttered as I brushed asphalt off my pant leg. My shoulder hurt and the whole situation was making my nerves raw. My gaze met hers. “You narrow your eyes a lot.”
She scowled. “Well, I only narrow my eyes at people who’ve kidnapped my sister.”
I returned the frown. “And I only sigh when people wrongly accuse me of kidnapping their sister.” I glanced down the street. “Let’s go. I don’t like the looks of that car.”
As I stepped into the street, Emily peered at the sedan several blocks down. “Hey, um”—she hesitated when she realized she didn’t know my name, and then shook her head, deciding it didn’t matter—“I think I know that car.”
I was running for her before I heard the engine accelerate. She’d no sooner realized it was speeding toward us than my good arm was around her waist, dragging her back from the street. But it didn’t matter, it was all asphalt here. There was nothing to shield us. I ran against the fence, Emily in tow, knowing there was nowhere for us to hide, realizing I’d have to make a choice.
The property beside us was theirs. Nothing but the warehouse they’d apparently been using and could be in now. The opposite side of the road held brick-walled industrial units, abandoned and closed off. It was too far to the populated areas. Too far for any kind of shelter. If I was alone, I’d make it. But I wasn’t. There was Emily. It would have to be her or me, and I wasn’t even sure she could do it; I was practically dragging her as it was.
And then she was running with me, suddenly aware of the danger. I knew why. Sparks flew as the car swerved onto the sidewalk and scraped against the chain-link fence in broken shrieks. It was too close. We weren’t going to make it.
We passed an electric pole and I cut left, pulling Emily with me as I ran forward across the two-lane road. I could see the sedan in my peripheral now, and as soon as it was close enough it would have to account for the pole, I cut back, running straight in the opposite direction. Its tires squealed as it spun to chase us.
The girl was fast, I’d give her that. But even I couldn’t outrun a Buick.
“There.” I tilted my head toward a dark alley between two buildings. “Don’t stop and don’t look back.”
She glanced at me, but only briefly, because the car smashed into a trash bin on the roadside behind us.Too close. Her jacket dropped to the ground behind her as she fell into full speed. I didn’t know when she’d lost the duffle bag.
As Emily’s track veered right, I stayed left, an easier target for the driver. And I’d been fairly certain I was the target. Until the car sped, and raced straight for Emily.
I cursed and adjusted my path, hoping the sight of me so close to his bumper would have some effect on the driver’s course. It didn’t. He was going to run Emily down.
Time slowed as I watched the car advance on her, helpless. Each footfall stretched into minutes. She didn’t look back, but as if she could feel she was losing ground, had only moments before it was too late, she ran impossibly faster.Faster than me.
But I didn’t have time to process the thought, because only seconds since the chase began, the car smashed into the block corner of the building. Metal shrieked and twisted as its forward momentum pushed against the immovable wall, and time returned again.
Panting, I ran toward the mess, leaping over the smashed hood where steam billowed from the crumpled metal. The car’s horn blared as the driver slumped against the steering wheel, splattered with blood and broken glass. My feet came down hard on the other side of the car, in the narrow space between the buildings. As I searched for her, my mind raced, replaying the images from the crash, what I thought I’d seen.
I had to be sure.
I numbly called her name, and then looked down the alley. She was there, two blocks down, still sprinting as she turned the corner.
I stared dumbly for a long moment before finally running after her.
When I caught her six blocks later, it was only by chance. She’d taken a wrong turn and had gotten trapped by a too-high fence. Not that she planned to let a fence stop her, because she had climbed to the top of the eight feet and was lifting her leg over as I watched, but at least it had given me the break I needed to close the distance.
“Emily,” I called as I drew closer.
She looked up at me, surprised, and froze halfway across the metal bar that topped the chain link. Her chest was heaving with the exertion, but she’d somehow managed to make it.
My hands went up in a frustrated gesture and she stared down at me blankly. And then, as it dawned on her, she simply shrugged her shoulders. “You said don’t stop.”
I sighed and then gave her that shooing motion she’d given me in the shed before grabbing onto the fence to follow her up. I dropped to the ground beside her, surreptitiously checking her condition. It appeared she’d only skinned her palms, which left her in far better condition than I, considering what the fence climbing had done to my injured shoulder. When she saw me looking, she curled her hands into fists, though I believed it was due more to the trembling in her fingers than the scrapes on her palms.
We continued wordlessly out of the industrial area at a jog. I was surprised she could maintain the pace after what she’d been through, but I refrained from questioning her just yet. We wouldn’t be safe until we’d gotten locked inside somewhere.