Groggy Lucas was thrown to the ground in front of a junkyard entrance by his kidnapper. He sat upon the ground dumbfounded as he listened to the man’s blunt words, “I’ll give you a full minute head start.”
Blinking at the bright light of the sun, Lucas dumbfoundedly asked, “What?”
The stranger leaned over Lucas and spoke clearly, “Run.”
“What?” Lucas asked as he tried to steady himself as he lay upon the ground.
The man shouldered his rifle, pulling out a handgun and fired at the ground next to Lucas, who was shocked to full awareness. “The next one won’t miss, Lucas. Now run, and make the chase marvelous.”
It took Lucas a few attempts, but he was eventually able to climb to his feet, where he made a few unsteady steps, but the man had begun counting. “One, two, three…”
Lucas’ face went slack as he realized that the man was deadly serious. He spun around with a great effort just not to fall as he plunged into the junkyard. Moments after entering he realized that it was a giant maze. In another few moments, Lucas ran himself into a dead end. He instinctively looked back and thankfully didn’t see his pursuer. Staring at the wall, he knew what he had to do. Lucas flung himself to the top of the blocking wall and briefly searched his surroundings. And a smile jumped to his lips as he noticed a vast parking lot with a solitary car.
He continued through the maze, searching for the far wall, climbing over dead ends when he had to, and doing whatever he could to keep himself pointed in the right direction. When the sight of the last wall came into view, a bullet grazed his cheek. Without thinking, he grabbed a chunk from the surrounding wall. His hands flew across the still smooth surface of a hubcap. Ripping it free from the wall, he spun around instantly catching sight of his hunter and threw the piece towards his assailant. The hubcap’s flight was true, and the collision gave him time to make his escape.
So Lucas wasted none of the precious time he gained as he desperately climbed up the wall of junk and without looking down, he flung himself over the edge. The momentary elation that the escape brought was quick-lived as he fell a short distance landing hard upon a pile of junk. Yet with his momentum, he continued to roll down the veritable mountainside. When he finally came to a stop halfway down, Lucas ignored the flowing blood of his injuries as he rushed towards the car.
When he reached it, his hands yanked on the handle, but the door wouldn’t budge. Looking back from where he fled from he thought he saw something poking up from the ridge of junked things, so he ran to the opposite side of the car and hid. As he sat there the fear that had spurned him to flee was screaming that he needed to continue his flight. Yet he knew that as long as his hunter had the rifle, he was nothing more than a target.
As he tried to gather his wits, Lucas thought he heard a small sound a moment before he felt the car rock sharply from an impact. Without moving, Lucas looked around and saw that one of the tires had been blown out. His fear grew as another slight sound warned of another incoming bullet. And just like that, another tire blew out. And somehow despite the rising terror, Lucas kept his fear from forcing him into a run.
With two of the tires shot out, Lucas knew that the car wouldn’t be going anywhere, but he stayed right where he was. As three more shots rang out and struck the car’s engine. Lucas waited for another shot to ring out, but after a dozen deep breaths, there was nothing. He risked a glimpse over the hood and noticed a man rapidly charging down the hill with what looked like a rifle slung across his back. Lucas dropped back to the pavement and looked for something to use when the man got closer, but there was nothing at hand.
Risking another look over the hood, he saw the man pointing his handgun towards him, and he dropped down just in time to here the explosion of a gunshot. He tore his shoes off and tossed one over the car, and when another blast signaled another bullet, Lucas jumped up and threw the other shoe right at the hunter’s head. It impacted rocking the hunter’s head back, giving Lucas his window, and he seized that moment. He would survive this hunt.
Lucas managed to grab his assailant’s gun hand as he struck the man’s temple. Keeping a firm grasp upon the man’s gun hand, Lucas repeatedly struck out at the hunter who was continuing to struggle in an attempt to extricate himself. But with each of Lucas’ strikes, the man’s struggle lessened. Eventually, the man drew a knife and lashed out at Lucas. Fortunately, Lucas managed to glimpse the knife and was just able to block the blow. Lucas then tightened his grip upon the hunter’s wrist, before striking the hunter’s head with all his strength, that finally managed to drop the hunter.
Lucas fell to his knees securing the gun before he went about tieing up his hunter. Finally, safe Lucas allowed himself to smile at his survival.