• She glanced behind her as she ran down the streets, with no signs of her pursuer. She seems to have lost him a few blocks back, but she continued to run further. Her blonde hair was matted and messy, blowing in the wind as she sprinted around the corner. The streets were eerily quiet this night, with only a sparse few cars going up and down the road. While offering her better passage across intersections, it seemed unusual and she couldn’t help shake a feeling of unease. As she ran across the intersection, a red car turned the corner and began to follow her… in the wrong lane. The car sped up and leveled the driver-side window next to her. A crack appeared in the glass as a bullet whizzed out, flying into the wall behind her.
    Marie ducked into an alley, diving behind a dumpster as the screeching of tires, shattering of glass, and blast of a gunshot echoed throughout the narrow corridor. She rolled along the ground and continued her run out from behind the dumpster, dashing through the dark alley, a car door slamming behind her. Her heavy breathing was all she heard aside from the footsteps of her and her pursuer. She gripped her side tightly, which was becoming sore from the pursuit. She burst out of the alley and ran across the road. A horn blared as a taxi driver pressed on his brakes, skidding into her.
    She rolled to the ground, huffing, aching, and nigh breathless. Footsteps could still be heard, followed by another gunshot. Glass shards fell onto Marie’s face as the bullet struck the taxi’s windshield. The horn went off continuously as the taxi driver’s lifeless body fell limply onto the wheel. Marie urged her body up from the ground, expending most of her energy, and began to stumble away. The loud ringing of another fired bullet, and a stinging sensation as it flew through the back of her leg and through her shinbone. She crumpled to the ground once more in agony, gripping the bleeding hole in her leg. As he gasped with pain, the gunman approached her slowly, aiming his pistol assuredly at her head. She closed her eyes as she awaited the bullet. Click.
    The man seemed surprised by his lack of ammunition, but Marie was still helpless to defend herself. He walked ever nearer to her, tossing his gun to the asphalt and pulling out his knife. As he approached her, the glow of headlights came speeding towards them. The man had no time but to look before he found himself plastered in a bloody mound to the front of the garbage truck’s grill as it skidded and turned, trying to avoid Marie. The truck flipped onto its side as it came to a halt, and a man struggled to get out of the driver’s seat. He found himself out of the truck within a few moments and ran over to Marie, who was laying unconscious on the sidewalk, a large metal trashcan that was, moments before, sitting up on the sidewalk, laying beside her now bleeding head.
    He picked up her body and carried her to the cab, where he deposited her into the backseat before pulling the dead driver out and taking the wheel and speeding off down the empty streets.