Chapter 12p4 – Being Chased

Milly pounded down the sidewalk. Behind her, Haglyn was steamrolling through the crowd with the bottle of beads in her lap.

The cashier ran out of the parts shop. “Stop them!” he yelled. “Help! Police!”

Milly knew couldn’t go to prison—she had to get back to Haddock and save her parents! Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the alley where they’d cornered the thief. She rushed in, flung open the dumpster, and hauled out the thief’s blaster.

Haglyn zoomed up at the alley mouth. “Jump on!” Milly did as instructed. Haglyn threw her weight forward and they bowled off again. “Why did you grab that thing?” said Haglyn. “Do you want to get shot at!?”

“Why did you go back for the beads?”

“I thought they were really valuable! What’s wrong with them?”

“I don’t know!”

“Then why are we running?”

“Because we’re being chased!” Milly looked back, and her heart leapt into her throat. A police officer was aiming a long-barreled blaster in their direction.

The officer’s partner swatted the barrel of the blaster down to the ground. “Don’t shoot! You’ll set off the seeds!”

“That way!” said Milly, pointing into an open alley.

Haglyn veered the GyroCart off the street and drove them through a network of interconnecting alleyways at random, twisting and turning between the brick buildings.

“Stop here,” suggested Milly. They pulled up in a shadowed corner and strained their ears for any sound of pursuit.

Echoing footsteps approached, and before the women could determine which direction the sounds were coming from, several silhouetted figures rounded the corner. They were trapped!

About Tim Sevenhuysen

Tim Sevenhuysen writes sci-fi and other genre fiction. He is a microfiction expert, having written over 600 fifty-word stories. He is also a noncertifiable lunatic.

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