In the cold and dark evening, everything looked drowned out under the shadows of rainy clouds. A man was running in the forest between the trees, seemingly running away from something.

The man ran as fast as he could, but every time he tried to choose a way to go, he became confused, as no matter which way he looked, all the roads looked the same and had a bunch of Palmetto trees at the side.

The silhouettes of the trees in the lightning and thunder coming from the sky made the scene eerie and creepy. He was feeling like a lost child but had no time to weep.

He just wanted to get out of this terrible place. His face turned pale and his pupils narrowed. Raindrops blurred all the scenes in his eyes, and he was confused and nervous.

He was running like a wild wolf to save his life. His heartbeat was uneven and he was suffocating because he was running as fast as he could. He continuously ran faster and faster, and he changed his path after covering some distance.

It looked like he was trying to trick someone who was coming for him.

Suddenly, he was tripped by a tree root and fell. His head struck the tree trunk and he tore his leg open, furthermore, a deep wound appeared on his left arm. He didn't seem to notice it, though, as his main focus was on how to get out of all this trouble.

"It's just a scratch" he muttered as he got up again and pounded onwards.

He crossed a small puddle of water in which he saw his reflection and noticed that the wound on his arm was deep and needed to be closed as blood was flowing from it along with the raindrops.

'It's too deep.' He checked the wound and pressed hard on it. 'I'll have to treat it, otherwise, the loss of blood and infection will hinder me later on.'

He started running again when suddenly he saw a deer hanging on a tree. Its blood was slowly dripping out of a wound…. 'It's freshly hunted. That means there must be someone nearby who hung it there.' He said to himself as he passed the deer.

He was feared of being shot and caught by the men who hung that deer but he needed help so kept searching and walking around the deer.

He started to look around to find clues and suddenly he looked towards one direction. His instincts were telling him that he might find something in that direction.

He trusted his instincts because they helped him many times in the past and made him survive in that horrible place. So he started to walk towards that direction.

After he covered some distance, he reached a small hut.

As he approached the hut, he saw that it is very small and had the capacity of not more than two people. It was painted with a light brown color, and there were scratch marks on it, making it appear quite old.

When he opened it …..it made a creepy sound….."cheeeeeee"

He stepped in and found the place dark, so he took out a small pocket torch, and with its light saw a hunting gun in the corner and an old green bag.

The floor was made up of wood and the light brown strips of wood made a pattern that was beautifully designed by old people of the last century who lived there hundreds of years ago.

It was an old but strong hut. Besides it, some animal skins were hanging nearby.

When he looked in the other corner, he saw a pan on a coal stove. He sat near it and touched it.' It is still hot'

At that moment he felt something cold touch his head from behind. "Who are you? What are you doing there?" A hoarse and weak voice sounded in the hut.

"No sir, it is not what it looks like. I am not here to make any trouble. I was just passing by and got hurt. I was looking to see if there is something that I could use to close my wound." Ken hurriedly tried to explain as he feared that the old man behind him might shoot.

"I don't care, just leave my hut. I don't want any stranger to spoil my day."

"I am sorry sir, but I am hurt. I need some help." Ken asked while trying to turn his head.

"Just leave." The old man responded with an offensive attitude. Ken turned around dejectedly and made his way toward the door.

As he was getting out of this hut, the old man noticed the blood flowing out of his arm and his disturbed steps due to scratches on his leg. Upon seeing this, the old man hesitated for a moment and slowly lowered his gun.

"Wait. I don't want you to think I am a heartless man. there is a first aid box, patch yourself up and after that, you have to leave immediately." the old man said while pointing towards the plastic box in the right corner.

"Thank you sir, I can't stay there for long as I have to go away as soon as possible" Ken replied as he was taking out cotton and alcohol from the first aid box.

"Good sir, What's your name? " Ken asked while trying to clean his wound.

"It's Stephen Da- just Stephen" the old man replied in a grumpy voice.

Stephen was an old man with a bulky appearance and a thick mustache. He had a round face with wrinkles and wore a red sweater in a combination of grey trousers and a red hat.

Stephen also wore a black old coat on top of his sweater. This made him look like an ancient stylish man. He stood there with a long rusted gun in his hand and a crossbow on his shoulder.

'He is an aggressive man, he talks to me with a bitter attitude but he is not as hard by nature as he pretends' Ken thought as he observed Stephen.

"I am done, Mr. Stephen" Ken reported to the old man after he was done.

The old man noticed Ken's appearance as he turned the lamp on. Ken was a handsome man with blond hair and a fair complexion, his sparkling blue eyes and sharp features made him more attractive.

While standing, his body looked perfect and he seemed to be around 28 years old. Ken was an attractive young man who could melt the heart of any woman.

'Why is he staring at me like that?' Ken wondered as he tried to understand what was going on in Stephen's mind.

"Mr. Stephen .... What are you thinking?".

"I was thinking that you looked different from others of your age. You are a little tougher and your body is well built. It's not from doing workouts, it's more like training. Anyway, That's not my problem. So, where are you going so desperately?" Stephen inquired as he took the alcohol and cotton from Ken's hand.

Ken hesitated a little as to whether he should speak or not and after thinking for a bit, he shook his head a little. He decided not to think too much about it.

"Some people are chasing me. That's why I am running, I don't know where to go. I just want to leave this place alive. If they reach me, they will kill me without any hesitation." Ken told him while covering the wound with a piece of antiseptic tape.

" Why? Are you a terrorist?" the old man inquired while cleaning the wound on the back of Ken's head.

Ken smiled and asked "Do I look like a terrorist?".

"Not much but the way you are telling it seems like something related."

" If you don't mind, I don't want to tell you anything more because it's better this way for both of us."

" Ah! It's ok... Don't move, it will take just a minute." The old man supported Ken while he was applying ointment.

"Are you alone? I mean do you have no family or friends?" Ken asked while getting up as Stephen had finished applying the ointment.

"Yeah, I am alone here, but I have a sweet granddaughter. It's just that I can't be with her for the moment." Stephen replied while closing the first aid box.

Stephen placed the box in its original position and turned toward Ken. "You may leave now… Take this pain killer. One last thing, Don't let them catch you"

Upon hearing this Ken gave a slight bow. "Thank you so much for all the favors."

"Stop! Young man, I have something for you." Stephen said while showing his crossbow. He thrust his crossbow into Ken's hands.

"Take it with you, it helps you to stay alive." Stephen looked at him with a courageous smile.

"I can't take this… it's yours". Ken replied with hesitation.

Stephen smiled when he heard this and then pointed towards another crossbow hanging in the hut. "I have another one so you may take it."

Ken again thanked the old man and then made his way out of there.

Ken felt stronger now after this rest. He started running toward the east as Mr.Stephen had suggested him to. He ran as fast as he could. In those moments he used all his strengths to run faster and faster, he took big steps to cover a larger area.

After running for 20 mins he felt tired and sat under a tree to take some rest and to drink water. He opened his zipper bag, brought out his small blue water bottle, and took three sips. It was the most delicious water he ever tasted as he was in trouble and felt every single good moment deeply.

He looked toward the sky and enjoyed the windy weather...with the chirping of birds. 'I want to be free like these birds, they can fly wherever they want.'

At this moment he was lost in the flashback back to when he was planning to escape that horrible place.

In the laboratory when he was making a plan to escape while analyzing his experimental results…

He observed all the security measurements of the agency, as he had seen the miserable end of people who tried to escape.

He knew they were caught due to the black bracelet they wore on their wrist. It was part of their uniform.

He practiced different tools for defusing it while thinking about the reason for his escape.

'I am fed up with all these rules and orders. I don't want to feel like a slave anymore. I want freedom and can't wait for the right moment. Now or never!'

He wore his black jacket and took some tools he may need on his journey.

He measured the distance and after covering nearly 1500 meters he took out a tool from his inner pocket and started defusing his bracelet. He has to defuse it within 20 seconds.

He put his full effort into those seconds. He was in fear of being caught, drops of sweat were dripping out of his hair, irritating his eyes. Suddenly he let out an exclamation. "Yess! I did it."

Finished with the first step, he proceeded towards the next. He looked around and noticed a monkey eating a piece of some kind of fruit on a branch of a tree. Ken took a packet of chips from his bag and brought the attention of the monkey toward this packet. The monkey climbed down and sat near him as he seemed familiar with him.

Ken locked that bracelet on its arm, and gave the monkey a piece of the chips. After that, he suddenly jumped towards the monkey which scared the hell out of it. The monkey was so scared that it jumped between trees and then soon disappeared from his sight.

Ken started running in the opposite direction. 'It is a great trick to distract them for some time. I will get some extra time to escape.'

A loud noise of gunshots alerted him and brought him back to reality.

He suddenly got up and started to analyze from which direction the shot sound came from. From the echo, he deduced that it came from where he was a while ago, in other words, the hut of Mr. Stephen.

'Did they reach Mr. Stephen? What happened to him? He helped me, he is in trouble just because of me.' He was very confused in this situation and he had two choices.

He could run as fast as he could and reach the riverside or he could go back to save the life of the man who helped him to recover.

He thought for a moment and decided to help Stephen. He started running toward the hut, he was running as fast as he could.

His mind was in a mess as he tried to come up with different kinds of scenarios, he was nervous but he knew he had to face them, sooner or later that is.

'Hold on Mr. Stephen I am on the way'

<<<>>>

Kindly consider leaving a review. If you find some errors, kindly point them out. If you have some suggestion, leave a comment, we will surely consider them.