Fuck me, this is going to hurt…

I use all my strength to pull the girl forwards, resulting in me falling behind and taking the wind-claw to my back.

“SHIT !!!”

Goddam! That hurt like a motherfucker. I just clearly felt 3 large claws gouge out the flesh on my back. Luckily the range of a wind claw doesn’t appear to be very far, the claws didn’t penetrate that deep, I think the force alone did bruise a couple of my ribs though….

I clench my teeth as hard as I can and keep running, I can’t stop now, that will almost certainly seal my fate. The adrenaline is keeping me going. I can feel the warm blood running down my back, I quickly take off my jacket and wrap it around the wounds, I don’t want to leave behind a trail of blood after me. The action costs me some precious seconds of escape-time, but I think it’s worth it.

I look over my shoulder and see that the bodyguard still hasn’t continued his chase, instead he’s just standing there, looking bewildered that his wind-claw didn’t knock me down. Unfortunately he soon regains his composure and shouts:

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU FUCKERS DOING?! CATCH THOSE PEOPLE ALREADY! THEY JUST MURDERED THOMPSON!”

The bodyguard’s face looks red with rage, the people who were watching the beer-pong tournament quickly turn around and look a bit surprised, but after seeing the bodyguard’s face, quickly give chase.

Luckily we already made it out of the pub’s door.

I’ve got the perfect hiding place! Looks like all those preparations didn’t go to waste after all.

I grab the girl’s hand and run off to one of the side-streets, there I open a big garbage-container and throw her in, before swiftly diving in myself.

I memorized a bunch of hiding places and escape routes all over the black market, just in case.

Inside of the container I grab a bunch of full garbage-bags and lay them on top of us, then I close the container. Now we only have to lay here, silently, for maybe… 2 hours?

Fuck… This stinks…

Well, at least I’m laying next to a beautiful girl… Speaking of which, she’s flailing around an awful lot, she might expose our hiding place if she continues like this.

“Hey girl, stop moving around so much, we’re hiding at the moment.”

“Stop calling me girl, I have a name… It’s Alexandra… You can call me Alex though… Besides, I can’t help squirming around when thinking about all the bugs and trash around us! Did you really have to throw me in here?”

“Oh come on Alex, stay still, this is a good hiding spot.”

“I-I know it is… Just… Just hold me, will you? That’ll calm me down.”

“F-Fine...”

“Wait, first… Name?”

“Oh right, I’m Reo.”

“Thanks Reo… Thanks a lot.”

Alright, I’ll just hug her out of necessity, for survival purposes you know…

I try to move my arm, but it’s difficult under all these thrash-bags. Eventually I’m able to wrap my arm around Alex, but not before hitting my knuckles against the steel container wall.

*THUNK*

Shit, that made some noise…

“Hey Smith, did you hear that?”

Fuck, fuck, fuck did they notice us?

“What are you talking about?”

No, they might be talking about a different noise…

“There, that container made some noise, I swear I heard something!”

FUCK!

“Alright, we’ll check it out, they’ve probably already escaped by now though.”

*STEP* *STEP* *STEP*

Shit, I can hear them coming towards us, even Alex is quivering. Quick Reo, think!... Yes… That might work…

I reach into the pocket of my trouser with my hand that’s still free when suddenly the darkness, and with it the safety, of the container disappears as someone opens it.

“See, nobody’s here.”

“M-Maybe check it more thoroughly sir, I definitely heard a noise.”

*SIGH* “Fine I’ll chec- WHAA! WHAT THE FUCK! What was that?!”

“I-I think a rat just jumped out sir.”

“THEN YOU JUST HEARD A FUCKING RAT RUSTLING AROUND YOU IDIOT! *SIGH* Made me check a trash can, I should just throw you in…”

“I-I’m sorry sir, I’ll go join the other guys guarding the black market exits.”

 “Yeah, you go do that… *SIGH* They probably already escaped though… The guild leader is going to kill me…”

Phewww… Can’t believe that jar ‘o mouse actually saved my ass… Alex is still quivering though, well, it was pretty nerve-racking.

“T-There are rats in here???”

“Well, technically that was a mouse…”