A Chase

Clair heard the sound of footsteps but ignored it. She put the poster on the wall and smoothed it with her hand. She stepped back to look at it and found that somehow she had placed the poster the wrong way.

She sighed.

"Hey, chick," someone called out to her. She turned and found a young lady with a bright smile etched on her face. She had her hair cut low and wore tight fitting jeans and a jacket. "You should know that you're committing an offense by putting those things up."

Clair clicked her tongue but didn't say a word. She didn't know who the woman was and even though her mind was inclined to believe that she was with the law enforcement but she still felt that she looked a bit out of place.

She had a giant mole under her right eye. Now that she could see her features clearly, she had brown eyes and her lips were painted dark brown. Exotic.

"Yeah?" she finally said.

The woman stepped even closer to Clair. "And you even put the poster the wrong way up." She gestured to the poster and Clair turned to look at it but then she threw her bag at her and dashed towards the other end of the alley.

The lady slapped the bag away and a few posters scattered on the floor. She rushed after Clair.

Just when she had stepped closer, Clair had noticed that her jacket wasn't buttoned up but on the inside was a top with the exact same symbol she was hanging up. It could've been a prank to scare her but something told her that the woman was dangerous.

The woman rounded the corner and promptly took out her gun and took aim without breaking stride.

….

Steve heard the commotion from the opposite alley. He was a bit closer to Clair so he assumed that she was doing something silly like boot dancing.

He placed the poster up and came back out again. The moment he came out he noticed Clair rushing towards him at full speed. He chuckled. "You should actually slow down, don't tell me you're also dead hungry as Oliver…"

"Run!"

"Shit!" Steve dropped down and crawled as fast as he could into the alley he came out from. He was just quick enough to avoid the bullet that ricocheted off the wall of the nearest building and left a spark as it hit a metal frame on the wall.

He threw his bag away and took to his heels. He didn't bother to think about Clair or Oliver. He looked back and noticed—to his relief—that the lady wasn't chasing him anymore. He took deep breaths and held his racing heart.

Then his heart sank. What if Oliver or Clair were already caught or worse, killed? He began to think of ways to get out of the current hell hole alive and try to get help.

After a few moments of calming his heart down, he looked up and noticed two women looking at the poster he had just put up. They exchanged glances and then locked eyes with him.

Steve felt his heart beat like war drums and his feet became jelly-like under him. He felt heavy all of a sudden. The women approached him silently.

Steve breathed heavily; he still hadn't recovered from the shock of the near death experience. He said, "I suppose you two beautiful ladies aren't here just to have casual sex with me, are you?"

The two women pulled out their guns from their holsters and aimed them at him. "Who are you and how did you come to know about the Zeros?"

"The Zeros..." That did it for Steve. He bent his knees and rushed forward. The woman closest to him pulled her trigger.

BANG!

….

Oliver didn't know he could do a perfect acrobatic jump. He swung into the air and used the wall as support to leap over the man that was rushing at him. It proved to him that challenges sure brought out the best in people.

He landed lithely and kick-started into a run. He rushed forward. The moment he had made the jump, the man opposite him had raised his hand and fired at him but had only missed by a hair's breadth. His jacket was torn by the bullet and a trail of blood remained on his arm.

Oliver ducked his head as if afraid of stray bullets. He was confused as to why the men weren't shooting at him. What did they want? They had several opportunities to kill him but they hesitated.

That thought didn't drown out before he heard five gunshots echo in the alley. He covered his head and dived into another alley and headed towards the other end. Just as he was about to round the bend, he noticed the three men up ahead and this time they fired at him simultaneously.

Oliver touched the ground with his hand and pivoted himself and rounded the nearest bend and took a run for it. He stopped and observed the suspended ladder attached to a window of a room was that was on the building he was standing by. He jumped for the metal ladder and climbed his way up. Luckily for him, the window wasn't locked. He slid it opened and jumped inside.

The room was empty but he didn't wait to check. He rushed for the door but the door opened on its own, almost making him jump back out the window. His heart was pounding and he was sure that if it continued like this he was sure to drop dead from a cardiac arrest.

A young girl walked into the room and the moment she saw Oliver, she threw the books she held away and rushed out again. Oliver took that as his cue and rushed out the door as well. To the girl, it appeared like he was chasing after her.

She screamed and rushed to another room, probably to call someone else. Oliver quickly found the front door but from the glass window he could see the three rushing towards that same entrance. Oliver spun around and made a run for another window in the house.

At this point, he began to wonder about Clair and Steve.