1.

I clutched my overcoat tighter around myself and increased my pace, when the steps behind me sounded closer.

“Kristin Satarlee!”

I had to shut my eyes and refrain from reacting to my name being called. Mind you, it’s very difficult to not respond to your own name. But, well, it was important for me to forget my name if I wanted to survive…

Not that it helped because suddenly, my shoulder was grabbed and I was forcefully turned around. My hands instinctively went up to slap the guy or should I say the cop, who did this.

He jerked backwards, taken by surprise, while the rest four of his companions came closer to gang up on me.

“We have orders to arrest you. It will be better if you comply without creating any difficulties for us,” the burliest out of them said sternly.

Ha! As if!

Difficulty was my middle name, especially when I was told to submit to someone for unjustifiable reasons.

I studied the five of them, analyzing my chances of escaping. We were on a deserted highway which connected the two towns of Bellwood and Rainsville.

My plan before these cops appeared was to get in any one of the towns safely and take my next course of action after that.

But, if there was anything I had learned in this lifetime, then, it was that, no plan of mine could go smoothly.

I sighed, then, made eye contact with the cop who had spoken, “I think you have the wrong girl, officers,” I said, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

“I am pretty sure we have the right girl,” the cop whom I had slapped spoke up, glaring daggers at me.

Before I could do or say anything further, my forearms were firmly gripped by two cops on either side.

“You can’t fool us again. We are cops for a reason, Miss Kristin,” the burly cop said with a grin.

“Really?” I deadpanned, “well, then, good luck following other stupid orders because you ain’t getting this one,” I said and without missing a beat, bit the hand of the cop on my left and when he yelped and released me, I did the same to the one on my right.

Gross, I know! But, desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Catch her!”

I heard the burly cop yelling, as I dashed away in a random direction.

“Stop or I will shoot you!”

That made me halt. I raised my hands up and slowly turned around. All five of the cops had their guns out and pointed at me.

Looked like I was going to die today. My only regret of this lifetime would be that I never got a chance to get a payback from my brother for that one time when he broke my doll’s hand when I was a kid.

I cringed at my own thoughts. Seventeen year old me couldn’t digest the fact that I used to keep dolls once upon a time.

My thoughts were cut off when I heard the noise of engine running. A big fancy car came to stop beside the cops and a guy stepped out from the driver’s side.

My first thought upon seeing him was: Holy hotness!

No kidding. It was rare for me to lay eyes upon such specimen of perfection. Even though I couldn’t make out much of his face in the dark, his lean yet muscular and tall built, and the sharp edge cut of his face was enough to make me forget about my impending death for a moment.

But, then, my eyes wandered to the cops who were now distracted by the hot guy and it clicked in my brain: this hottie was their companion!

Of course, I didn’t have such a luck that a knight in shining armor would come to save me.

But, hey, I was no damsel in distress either!

I seized the opportunity in front of me by taking advantage of all the distraction caused by the new guy. My hands went to my feet and I took out both of my sneakers.

I shut one eye and aimed for the gun in the hands of the burly cop, who was too busy whispering something to the hot guy. Without wasting any time, I tossed my sneaker at his gun.

Of course, it didn’t hit the target. But, something good came out of it: it hit the burly cop’s cheek. This caused him to drop his gun automatically in shock.

The rest of the cops, including the hottie, gaped in my direction. I didn’t let myself be fooled by it and without missing a beat, hit one other cop in the head with my other sneaker and brought my fist up to punch the hottie in the eye.

I didn’t want to do it, but, he was on the enemy team and that left me with no other choice.

“What the fudge?” the hottie yelled, recoiling back in shock, “why would you do that?”

I rolled my eyes, “look, officer, don’t even for a second think that I will let you all harass and arrest me. I will do whatever it takes to escape!”

I quickly picked up the gun which the burly cop had dropped and held it in front of me, aiming it at…all six of them, swinging it from one cop to the other.

“I was trying to help you, you stupid girl! How dare you punch me?” the hottie growled.

I didn’t have time to process his words or even respond to him because the burly cop got up at this point, advancing towards me.

“Step back or I will shoot!” I threatened him.

But, he was totally unfazed and continued to walk towards me with a malicious grin.

Maybe he knew that it was an empty threat.

“That gun is empty, you criminal,” the burly cop laughed, “we know your history and how you are an expert in evading cops, also, how much of a remorseless murderer you are. Did you really think that we would bring loaded guns to arrest a psycho like you?”

The gun slipped from my hands as soon as I heard those words.

Damn! These cops were too smart.

But, the next second my eyes went wide when the hottie took the burly cop into a headlock and punched him in the gut.

“Good thing, you gave us that vital piece of information then. It will be easier to take you all down now,” hottie mocked the burly cop.

He was actually here to help me! Oh my God! This not so damsel in distress did have a knight in shining armor!

“Stop giving me that look! It’s scary,” hottie grumbled at me, “and, help me with them!”

That jerked me out of my trance and I went head first into the fight with two other cops. After that I had no idea, what happened. Fists, punches, kicks and blows were flying out of everywhere.

And, I think I was mostly on the receiving end of them, if the pain I was experiencing was anything to go by.

But, at that moment, I didn’t care…you know, adrenaline rush kept me going.

I felt bad for the hottie who was endangering his own life for me. I couldn’t believe that he was doing this for a practical stranger…not even my own family would ever do such a thing for me.

“Let’s go,” the hottie said, when all the cops were down for a moment, “there’s no way that the two of us can take all of them. Running is our only option.”

I agreed with him and followed his lead, dodging a cop on the ground, who tried to pull at my ankle.

But, before I could make it further, both my hands were grabbed and locked behind my back. I yelped out in pain.

Hottie turned around and cursed under his breath. He started marching towards us.

“Stay right there, or I will break her bones!” the cop who was holding me back warned.

This made hottie still in his tracks, just when he was a feet away from us.

“Let her go, or you won’t like the consequences!” hottie warned.

The cop laughed, “Oh, it should be you who should be worried about consequences, young man. You have no idea that you just helped a criminal.”

I closed my eyes, “Just go. Let them arrest me,” I told the hottie, wincing when I registered the amount of injuries he had sustained because of me.

He looked torn for a moment, then, his hand reached inside his jacket pocket.

“I can’t believe I am going to do this, but, looks like this is my only option. I hope Blake never finds out about this,” hottie whispered to himself.

What he did next was something I could never imagine even in my wildest dreams.

He procured a bottle of baby formula and squeezed it at the cop’s face, spraying white liquid all over him.

Frickin’ baby formula! What did he even have that? I hoped for my sanity that I had just not met a mature baby formula drinking guy!

My worries were forgotten when the cop released me in shock. I didn’t waste any time in getting away from him.

“Go!” the hottie yelled, “Straight to my car! I will follow!”

I was about to do just as he said but, then, I realized something. I couldn’t go anywhere with him! Even though he had helped me, he was bound to ask too many questions and suspect my identity. Moreover, I didn’t want to land him in any more trouble on my behalf.

I inhaled a deep breath and made eye contact with hottie, “I really appreciate all your help, hotti- I mean, buddy, but, you and I have to take separate ways from here. Bye! I hope you never have the misfortune of meeting me again!”

With that, I dashed away in whatever direction the darkness led me to.