Chapter 3: Green

Running used to be one of her favorite ways to work out. The fresh air, the adrenaline rush it gave her and the high she felt after a long run were a few reasons why. Running used to be one of her favorite. It just wasn't the same anymore. The point of a run before was to keep in shape. Running now meant trying to escape death, or in this case, trying to reach Sana before something bad happened.

She slowed down her run to catch her breath when the school was in her line of sight. Not being taken care of, weeds were so high they were centimeters away from touching the first floor's windows. She jogged to reach the building and entered silently, praying the sound of the closing door wouldn't draw any attention on her. She took her handgun out since she didn't know who was in the building and hoped she could find Sana fast and get out of there.

The hair on her arms stood up when she heard a scream near her. It definitely came from one of the classroom on her right. She was relieved that it didn't sound like Sana. She just hoped she wasn't wrong. Scanning the hallway, she saw only four closed doors where the scream could have come from. Sneaking up to the first room, she peeked in the door’s window just to see a normal looking classroom if not for the scattered papers on the floor. Her heart was beating faster and faster as she made her way to the second door. Momo was crouching in front of it, listening for any little noise that would indicate the presence of someone inside, when a stranger’s hand covered . Reacting fast, she grabbed the person’s arm as she turned around, swinging her leg to kick their knee and pointed her gun at them, finger on the trigger. She gasped when she saw it was Sana on the floor, grabbing her knee with both her hands.

“What in the hell are you doing?’’ Momo whispered angrily.

“You’re back!’’ Sana exclaimed happily. She pointed at the gun with her chin. “I have a weird déjà-vu feeling. Are you going to shoot me this time?’’

Momo lowered her weapon as soon as she realised it was still aiming at the other girl.

“Lower your voice and let’s get out of here.’’ she said in a hurry, walking up to Sana

Sana pointed a shaky finger somewhere on Momo’s left.

“Behind you, watch out!’’ she screamed.

Momo didn’t have time to react and before she could do anything, she felt something cold dig against her temple. Time seemed to slow down. Momo could hear a loud buzzing in her ears and Sana’s loud screams were muffled. A man behind her started talking, but Momo couldn’t figure out what he was saying. She could only tell his voice was deep and sounded rough. She was brought back to reality when she saw Sana reach for her baseball bat.

“Don’t you ing move!’’ Momo heard the man scream next to her ear, spit landing in her hair and on the side of her face.

Sana froze in fear, her bat a few feet away from her. Suddenly, a boy no more than ten years old came out from one of the classrooms. The man shooed him away, telling him to wait in the usual spot, wherever that was. Momo figured out pretty quickly that this was a trap in which the child was used to lure people in the school.

“You, Blondie. Take all your weapons and throw them on the floor.’’

Momo didn’t look away from Sana. The latter was shaking like a leaf, getting up slowly. She limped towards Momo, her knee obviously injured and locked eyes with the brunette. Momo could see tears running down Sana’s cheeks and she visibly was trying to control her breathing.

“If you do one wrong move, I’m gonna shoot your friend’s brains out.’’

Sana let out a hiccup and lowered her head, her shoulders shaking. Momo felt Sana’s clammy hand on her wrist, her other hand taking the gun away from her. When the blonde lifted her head again, she immediately found Momo eye’s and mouthed I’m sorry in between ragged breaths. The sound of the gun falling on the floor made both girls flinch. The man screamed at them to keep going, grabbing Momo’s shoulder and shaking her, making the brunette yelp in fear and Sana break out in ugly sobs.

The blonde touched Momo's thigh with her trembling hand, inching slowly towards the knife strap that was secured there. Her fingers dragging across her thin jeans gave Momo goosebumps, that she put on the account of the gun held to her head. Sana reached the knife, fingers closing on the handle, all while looking at Momo.

“Hurry, Princess, or I'll count to five and shoot you and your little friend here.”

Sana rushed to take the knife out of the strap. As she was lowering it to the floor, screams were heard again. It was no doubt the child again and the man turned his head back to see what the fuss was about. Momo saw the only opportunity she had and yanked the knife out of Sana’s hand and stabbed the man in the stomach.

“You stupid !” he yelled, dropping his gun in surprise.

He doubled over and Momo, being in a defensive state, kicked the guy on the ground, inflicting him more pain with the heel of her boot.

Sana crawled a few feet to pick up her discarded baseball bat. She tried to get up but fell down, her throbbing knee making it too hard to walk more. She looked over her shoulder and saw Momo pointing her gun at the man, anger showing all over her face.

“Tell your son I’m sorry his daddy might lose a leg.’’ Momo said in an emotionless voice.

Sana closed her eyes instinctively when she heard two gunshots and the man’s screams. She heard quick steps and before she knew it, Momo was leaning down next to her. Her eyes were wide and quivering.

“You okay, Sana?’’ she asked, voice laced with worry. “Let’s go, quick.’’

Sana tried to get up a second time, but fell once again. She watched curiously as Momo took off her backpack, wearing it on the front of her body instead and kneeled in front of her. Sana didn’t need any explanation and wrapped her arms around Momo’s neck, her bat still in one hand. The brunette got up effortless, reached for Sana’s legs to hold them against her sides and started to run towards the exit as fast as she could, the man’s swears fading in the background.

➼➼➼

When they came to a stop, Momo’s legs were aching and her lungs could have easily been on fire she wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. They had reached the outskirts of the forest and Momo decided it would be a good time to take a break. She slowly lowered Sana to the ground so the blonde could sit against a tree and rest her leg for a while.