From: richk@tekeda.PEN.TEK.COM (Richard C Kurschner) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [L&S] Run-away 4 Message-ID: <9872@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM> Date: 7 May 93 19:56:15 GMT After crossing the Plaza of Glittering Steel, she again left the main road. She would not make the same mistake twice She would get away, but she would do it by the back streets and alleys. It was safer that way. Freedom needed speed, but it required safety. She had entered the low city. Or, rather, what was left of it. Her mind, focused solely on her escape, did not allow her to notice the destruction the recent storm left in its path. Boards, glass, pottery, all strewn across the ground. Little was left of the hovels and their owners that she had preyed on when she first arrived in Generica. None of that was important to her now. None of the destruction could stop her. She had to stay free. She had to escape. She never saw the board laying in the street, or the nail that it held up. In her blind dash, she never felt the pain as she landed squarely on the nail, driving it clean through the shoe and into the arch of her foot. She kept running. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- She was stumbling now. Her heart, her lungs, her foot conspired against her. Things were starting to intrude on the single thought in her mind. Something was preventing her from getting away. Something hurt. She couldn't see well. Her focus was off. All the lights were stars. Her eyes burned. Tears and sweat made it so hard to see. Slower now. And limping. She kept running. But not for long. Two eyes in a secret post could see that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Awh Shit!" "What is it Kell'an?" "She's headed into the Shunned Center!" "So?" "We've lost her." Kell'an came to a stop. The Captain stopped too and turned back to the guard. "Your hound is still following the trail." "Yeah, and we've probably lost Bonarth too." "What are you talking about!" "Nobody ever comes back out of the Center! Once you goes in, you may as well be dead! Creepy Charlie will get you!" Kell'an started to back away from the obvious edge of the zone. She was panting hard from her run, but her muscles were tense and hard, ready to spring away and save herself. Her wide eyes mirrored the terror she felt in her heart. "Guardsman!" snapped the Captain. "You and I will continue to follow the girl. That is an order! Do you understand?" "Yes, Sir!" The force of his words had broken through her paralyzing childhood fears and reached to her military core. "Sorry, Sir. But beware, the Shunned Center is not like the rest of the City. Keep your guard up and your head down." The pair and their dog resumed the chase.