Mai zigzagged all over the street, ducking into shadows and hiding behind corners. She knew that someone was following her, but she had had to lose tails before, so she wasn't too worried. Mai was more concerned about the fact that she hadn't been able to find any new meds for Muro.
Suddenly, someone grabbed her from behind. Without even thinking about it, Mai bit down hard on the arm wrapped around her chest. With a yelp, the man holding her let go and Mai ran flat-out away from him.
"Thorse!" Another man's voice called from somewhere to her left.
Mai veered hard right, not wanting to meet the other man coming to help that Thorse guy. Mai was starting to worry a little now, since she was drawing ever closer to the place where she and Muro were staying, Mai would either have to lose Thorse and his crony before she got back to her house, or she would have to go past it and double-back once she had thrown them off her trail. Mai was starting to think she would have to go with the second option, when Thorse and his buddy suddenly broke off and left.
Mai took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. Mai knew that she probably wasn't home free just yet, and she suspected that Thorse and his buddy were waiting somewhere just out of sight. She wouldn't give those jerks the satisfaction of being led right to her and Muro's house.
Mai turned in exactly the opposite direction, and started walking like she had somewhere to go. Careful not to look around too much, or appear unduly interested in what if anything was behind her, Mai continued on through the town. She ducked into an abandoned, dilapidated house, and waited. After about twenty or thirty minutes, Mai ducked out the back door and took a long, circuitous route back to her house.
Forty minutes later, Mai slipped back into the old shack that she and Muro shared. Mai saw that Muro was asleep. Walking over, she patted his side through the blankets and sighed softly, flopping down next to him.
"No luck today. Sorry." Mai perked up a little. "But I did manage to outwit another couple of morons who tried to follow me home." Muro shifted in his sleep. "One of their names was Thorse, isn't that funny? I mean, what kind of a name is 'Thorse'?" Mai yawned. "Anyway, I'm going to settle down for a nap, and then try my luck somewhere else."
Mai's pile of blankets had already been pushed up next to Muro's, but before she could lay down and drift off to sleep, the front door blew open and Thorse and his crony, followed by some guy Mai hadn't seen before, came stomping right into her house. Mai stiffened, she thought she'd lost these morons!
"You led us on a good chase, kid," Thorse said, grinning as if this had all been an interesting game.
It was probably the sound of the door being kicked open, or maybe it was just Thorse's big mouth, but Muro suddenly woke up. He sat up suddenly.
"Mai, wha-what's going on?"
"Oh, so your name is Mai," Thorse's crony said, giving Muro a quick once-over.
Mai didn't want to give them any more information than what they already had, so she didn't say Muro's name. One of the guys, not Thorse or his crony but the one Mai hadn't seen before, moved forward to try and grab her. Muro saw this, and quickly stood up. No matter how sick he was, nobody threatened his sister and got away with it.
"You stay away from my sister, you jerk!" Muro yelled defiantly, but was overcome by a fit of coughing before he could actually do anything.
Muro felt someone wrap an arm around him from behind, then there was a soft sting in his neck, and everything went dark.
Mai saw her brother go limp in the arms of Thorse's crony; something purple pressed against his neck. The guy lifted Muro like he was a rag doll, slinging her brother over his shoulder. Mai lost it then, shouting her brother's name, she charged headlong at the man holding her brother. Hoping to trip him up, or stagger him, or do anything that might make him let go, so she could grab Muro and run.
Someone grabbed her from behind, and Mai felt the same sting in her neck that Muro had only seconds earlier.