The Search for Artemis - By P. D. Griffith Page 0,11
in his head, making it next to impossible to concentrate. Unable to think, Landon just decided to run. He moved across the intersection, putting as much distance as he could between him and his two pursuers.
As he flew down the sidewalk, he noticed a small alley to the left and darted in once he reached it. It was narrow, making it hard to move around the debris that littered the ground. Landon realized that he’d never gone down this alley before, and then he saw the brick wall directly in front of him—a dead end.
Frantically, Landon began to run from door to door, attempting to open any that he could. They were all locked. While gripping a new door, he looked back and saw the two men effortlessly jumping over the litter on the ground. Landon was caught. He was in a dead-end alley and the only exit available was behind two huge men determined to capture him. Landon tried the door once again, wishing it would unlock. Then Landon thought he heard a faint click, and when he pulled again, the door swung open.
He jumped through the door and found himself in the back kitchen of a restaurant. Based on the smell, he imagined it was a breakfast joint. The smell of bacon wafted into his nose, stealing him away from his purpose and making him salivate. Even though he ran for his life, feelings of hunger and exhaustion were starting to creep into his mind, and that bacon smelled fantastic. The startled staff and chefs yelled at him as he ran toward the service door leading into the dining room.
Landon determinedly bit his lower lip as he reached the door and lowered a shoulder, busted through it, and unexpectedly collided with a bus boy carrying a tray of dirty dishes. Their bodies flew to the ground in a heap, dishes crashing and glasses shattering as he and the bus boy bowled into a table. The diners rose to their feet to get a look at the cause of the commotion. Landon popped up to his feet amidst the gasps and hollers, and looked around at all the staring faces of the shocked patrons. Once he spotted the front door, he dodged back and forth around the tables, making his way to the exit. When he pushed the door open, the bell dangling from the handle made a short melodic ring. It prompted him to glance back only to see the suited men emerging from the swinging service door, and he knew he wasn’t in the clear yet.
Landon sprinted to the end of the block, but he could still hear the screams of the two men behind him as they tried to convince him to stop and talk. Landon had no intention of turning himself in for something he wasn’t sure he had done.
He turned the corner and rushed down the sidewalk. Sweat streamed down his face and his legs started to feel like Jell-O. He also cringed with pain. He hurt his shoulder in the restaurant, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. Moving quickly, he turned, zigzagged through the cars that were stopped in traffic to the other side of the road, and dipped into another alleyway. This time it was one he recognized.
It was much wider than the last and there wasn’t much litter. For a brief moment, Landon’s mind wandered, and he contemplated why he hadn’t slept in this one for the past few nights. It seemed much cleaner than the alleyway behind the convenience store.
“Landon! Wait! Please! We aren’t going to hurt you! We just need to talk to you! We can help you!”
Landon halted to a stop at the intersection of another alley. But with no time to think, Landon just went to the right. Luckily, Landon found almost no one on the sidewalk. The street was congested with cars, but the sidewalks were empty, except for the occasional person or couple strolling. He ran down the street at a full sprint, but exhaustion started to take hold. Having eaten very little for days, he’d depleted all of his energy and his body wasn’t going to support the physical exertion much longer.
To make matters worse, he could still hear the clicks of their shoes on the pavement amid the city’s sounds, and it was getting louder by the second. The men seemed to move faster than ever when they didn’t need to dodge people or jump over garbage. Landon winced as