Disclaimer: I don't anything except the plot, and characters other than Pazu, Sheeta, Dola Gang, and Boss.
The echoing of footsteps came to a halt, there was no sound besides the beat of Mei's heart. She swallowed, then pressed a hand to her chest to dull to the pounding. Hours seemed to pass and still no one came to attack her. Slowly, Mei leaned slightly forward to see who had followed her.
There stood a boy the same age as her, in his very early teens. Brown hair curled out under his dirty cap. His eyes crinkled as a large smirk lit his face.
"Luke!" Mei shouted, shooting out from her hiding spot. She lunged forward and threw her arms around his neck. "I thought you were..." She couldn't finish her sentence, terrified to think of what might have happened to her mother.
"I'm glad I found you, Mei." Luke patted her head and let her remain there for awhile. He eventually pulled her off of him. With a serious expression he gazed down at her. "There are officers everywhere in the town looking for you. We have to run, hide somewhere safe."
Mei nodded, hardly listening to the words being said. She watched his thin lips curl gracefully around each syllable. A sudden urge to reach up and touch his mouth almost overcame her, but she resisted.
"We have to go now, Mei." He waved a hand in front of her face. She had an almost dazed look. "Are you hearing me?"
"Huh," She said, blinking awake from the trace. Silently, she cursed herself for being so dumb. "Yes, yes. We have to leave now."
Luke nodded hesitantly, still not sure she was completely aware. Instead of saying anything he shrugged it off. He wrapping hand around hers, pulling her after him. She quickly fell behind, not at all able to keep up with him. Constantly she stumbled, almost falling yet somehow keeping her balance.
They ploughed out of the alley and into the street. Luke tried to navigate through the crowd, but with Mei lagging behind they were bumping into many passerbys. At one point she nearly let go of Luke's hand when she was thrown violently aside by hitting a large man head on. They fumbled for a few moments, then again started sprinting. Turning a corner there was the sound of a car not far away. Mei glanced back just in time to see a man leaning out the side of a car and wrap his arms around her waist.
Luke shouted her name, grabbing both her wrists and pulled. She screamed, wriggling in the mans arms. Somehow she managed to kick him in the gut. Immediately Mei fell forward and on top of Luke. She let out a hysterical cry, completely frightened now. Luke pushed her off gently, keeping his grip on her wrist to pull her up. Mei was again pulled by him. He looked around frantically for somewhere to escape. The car was now turning, soon to be headed after them again.
Mei stared, then suddenly jolted forward as Luke spun to the right and lead her to another alley. Their chasers weren't far behind. The car was just barely able to fit in the small space. Mei heard loud crashes as the vehicle collided with anything in it's path. She let out a short scream when a shard of wood flew just past her head. As they rounded a sharp corner the car squealed to a halt and the two teens pummelled back on to the streets. Luke continued on, realizing they didn't have much time before their pursuers were on their tails again, he suddenly jumped into the small space between two buildings. Mei followed behind, pressing up against the wall of one building. Her body shook, her legs weak and threatening to fall out beneath her. Biting hard onto her lower lip was all she could do to keep herself together and not sob uncontrollably.
The car's horn sounded loudly as it tore through the townsfolk, passing by the teenagers' hiding place. Mei didn't even had time to let out a sigh of relief before Luke took her hand and headed back onto the road.
"Only a little farther, I promise," Luke was the first to speak in the longest time. He glanced back into Mei's terrified face, but said nothing else. He reached the city's edge, running down a ditch to a gigantic pit. It looked a huge hole in the ground and inside was the largest construction sight Mei had ever seen. It also seemed as if it hadn't been touched in ages.
She stood at the edge to gaze down at the distance from where she stood to the bottom of the pit. She frowned deeply, completely unsure if it was a good idea to attempt getting down. She looked over at Luke as if he were insane to even consider this. But he simply smirked, leaping down onto one of the platforms below. He dropped lower, grabbing a rope and throwing himself to the floor of one of the many scaffoldings. He stopped, turning to her.
"Are you coming, or would you rather go along with those men?" He raised his eyebrows, though from the distance they were from each other Mei could hardly tell. She sighed, hunching over slightly. She nodded once, then searched for a way down. Soon she found a ladder that lead to a series of scaffoldings which eventually lead to the bottom floor of the hole. She cautiously climbed from the platform to platform. Every time the boards creaked underneath her weight Mei would whimper, then hurriedly move along. It took much less time for her to reach the last ladder than she had originally thought. But then a step broke as she was moving, leaving her hanging on with only her hands. Mei let go out of shock, falling backwards. She screamed as she fell and squeezed her eyes shut.
There was pained grunt and an 'oof' as she landed on something not at all like the ground. Mei allowed herself to open her eyes to see what saved her. She rolled onto her stomach and was staring right into Luke's face.
"Oh, Luke!" She crawled off of him then knelt to his side. She helped him get to a sitting position, a worried expression on her face. Luke was taking deep, pained breaths. His brows were furrowed and made him appear even more hurt, though he was trying to make it seem like everything was fine. Mei apologized over and over again then asked if he needed assistance in anyway.
Luke simply shook his head, insisting that he needed only a few moments to catch his breath. Before long he stood up, smiling weakly, but said nothing negative to Mei. He motioned for her to follow as he started a fast walk across the bottom floor of the pit. He weaved between columns and ropes hanging randomly. Mei was close behind, not wanting to get lost. She had the urge to hold his hand, but ignored it in fear that it would seem extremely childish.
They came to the opening of a cave, it was dimly lit by the sun seeping in. The walls were gray and black, the rocks rough. There were a series of unlit torches hooked into place in the walls. Luke grabbed one, pulling a lighter from his pocket and setting it on fire. He glanced back at Mei with a familiar crocked smirk. She blushed, thankful that he couldn't tell in the darkness.
"What is this place anyway?" Mei asked, following behind Luke as he ventured further into the cave. She carefully climbed over large boulders, avoiding random pools of water. Soon her hands were browned with grim and her toes were numbed with the surprising coolness as they carried on.
"It used to be a mine," Luke answered. He trekked forward without any sort of trouble. It seemed almost as if he was headed on some sort of invisible trail. He definitely knew where he was going, Mei noted. "Ran out of resources a long time ago, so they gave up on it."
Mei gasped loudly, biting her tongue when her foot got stuck in a small crock underneath a rock and she fell to her knees. She scraped her palms, but managed to save her legs from injury. Quickly she got to her feet, hurrying after Luke who hadn't even noticed her plunge. Once she was on his heels again she continued questioning. "Then what's with all the construction stuff?"
"I had the same thoughts when I found this place." Luke didn't stop as he spoke. He held the torch out in front of him as he lead Mei through the tunnels of the mine. The torch cast shadows across the inside, the rocks glittered sinisterly, so Mei thought. It gave her even more reason to reach out for Luke's hand, but he needed his free hand to navigate across the rocky terrain. "After they'd lost all profits somehow they'd convinced officials that an underground tunnel was necessary and they'd build it. So construction began, but then officials regained their wits soon enough. Called off all funding for it. So the project was abandoned."
"They just left it? After all that work?" Mei stopped momentarily, her mouth fell open. She shook her head, forced to keep moving when Luke didn't even so much as glance back at her.
"Sure. With no money to fund it, what else could they do?"
The question was rhetorical, so Mei didn't bother answering. Instead she listened to the sound of their footsteps echoing repeatedly in the shallow tunnels. She nearly ran into Luke when he stopped at what appeared to be a dead end.
"What now?" She asked, looking back to see if maybe they missed a turn, or something. She had to admit that she wasn't exactly pleased they might have to turn back, but it was better than the alternative.
"We climb up." Luke moved out of the way to show her the series of footholds made in the rock. He lit a torch hung up in the rocks, then shoved the end of the one in his hand into a crevice. He began the climb, taking his lighter and using it set fire to the torches along the way up.
Mei wanted desperately to sit down and rest, but she went against her better judgement, grabbing onto the first foothold. The rock was smooth. It wasn't made by some novice. Not only that, the surface was terribly cold. She recoiled as she touched the rock. It felt almost as if she had grabbed a handful of snow. Mei sucked in a breath, grabbing onto the hold again. Her fingers lost feeling rather quick, the chill spreading up along her arms where goosebumps formed and to the back of her neck, hairs rising uncomfortably. The thin clothes she wore weren't any help. Then to make matters worse the walls seemed to ooze water. The rocks were covered in dew, dripping and making it very likely for Mei to fall.
"Luke...?" She watched as a bright light came from an opening above. Luke had reached the surface and now knelt down in front of the hatch from the ground up top. He reached down, his arm outstretch and his hand open.
"Mei, it's just a little further," Luke insisted.
Her pace grew, trying to get out of that terrible mine already. Mei grunted, her muscles felt stretched yet numb at the same time. She grit her teeth from exhaustion, trying even harder to reach the end. She was careless and lost her grip. Mei shouted in panic, swinging her arms out to grab the wall. When she couldn't reach that she flailed upwards in Luke's direction. One arm made contact with something warm, and she felt a familiar grasp curl around her wrist. Then she collided with the rock wall. She groaned, her face twisting in pain.
"Hurry," Mei's voice was little more than an exasperated whisper. She reached up with her free arm to grab onto Luke. His hold on her tightened, almost crushing her arm in his hands. He struggled for a few moments, nearly letting her go, but managed to get her to the ground above.
For a long time they laid there on the floor, panting and staring at each other. Luke was the first to rise, closing the hatch to the mine, then he walked around the room checking to make sure it was safe. Mei got to her feet, watching him.
"Where are we?" Mei wandered around the room. It was spacious, but it seemed as if the building only really had one room. There was a ladder that lead to an upper level. Along a couple of walls were bookcases that were – for the most part – filled with books. The rest of the room was blandly decorated, and had random things lying around.
"My parents inherited this place from my great uncle. He moved out, decided to live his days out in the country. Besides, he couldn't stand the constant noise from the workers," Luke gestured towards the hatch in the middle of the floor.
"How did they end up under his house? And why is their a ladder leading right up to the floor of his house?" Mei stared at a picture of some ancient aircraft.
"Well, the mines had been here for years. They were there when my great uncle built the house. Back then the mines weren't as active, so it wasn't a problem." Luke headed over to the ladder, already climbing up the first step. "He made the ladder down to the mines after they'd given up on it. He would disappear down there for hours."
Mei followed behind him, going onto the second level. There was a small table with plates on it and two twin sized beds. Luke was spreading a blanket over one of them, smoothing out the wrinkles afterwards.
"Your uncle sounds like an interesting man," Mei took off her cap, letting her braid fall down. She wanted to trade the itchy clothes for a nice skirt and blouse, but she assumed that this wouldn't be the place to find those types of clothing.
"He is," Luke sat down on one of the bed, kicking off his shoes. "We have to sleep now, prepare for tomorrow."
Mei bit her lower lip to prevent herself from smiling like an idiot. She was thrilled to lay down on a bed – whether it be comfortable or not – and relax. She instead simply nodded, untying her shoes and curling up under the sheets. It didn't take long for sleep to take her and the long day was soon forgotten.
I know this took months, but I finally found inspiration. Kind of a lame chapter after I read it through again. I should probably add in some stuff to explain some things, so I'll do that throughout the next chapter perhaps. Reviews are very much appreciated.