The Run - Episode 7

We made for the door as quickly as possible, scooping up our belongings as we left the pew. The preacher stopped us short. “Wait”, he said as he spoke softly. “Let’s go out the back” he said as he pointed in a dull fashion towards the back of the church. We walked quietly until we reached the door in the back room. It was late and the clouds gently broke to show the pale moon traversing the night sky. The preacher motioned silently with just a gesture of his head for us to head to his right. We did so whilst we accustomed our eyes to the night and began to survey the countryside for assailants. I looked back toward the front of the church and caught sight of a man heading towards the front of the church. The hour was far too late for most people to be out so we assumed the worst. We slipped into shadow as he drew nearer. I silenced my breathing until he slipped out of view, as we were now blocked by the back side of the church. There grazing in a small fenced area was a young strong horse. The preacher pulled a saddle from the fence and threw it over the horses’ side. The horse was undeterred from eating until the preacher wrestled his mouth away from the ground to slip his bridle on and slide the bit into his mouth. We began to hear banging from inside the church which undoubtedly spoke of our next assailants’ aggravation with his targets fleeing from their supposed destination. Lou and I mounted the horse and pulled up on his reigns. The horse turned back to look at us as he was obviously only accustomed to carrying a single rider. I spoke softly to him and rubbed his nose. Suddenly the back door of the church burst open with a loud bang and wood splinters projected forward and then onto the ground outside. The man jumped down from inside the church which was about one foot off of the ground on its raised foundation. He looked left and then turned his gaze to the right to spot us there on top of the horse. The preacher, who had been holding the horse steady by the reigns as we mounted it, released his grip on the horse and turned towards the man. He shouted out at the man which surprised us greatly. His voice was stern and cut the midnight air like a razor blade. “STOP” he shouted. However, this did not stop the assassins’ forward progress as his eyes affixed on Lou and I. Lou sharply kicked the horse with her heels turned in towards its gut. The horse snorted in disapproval and lurched forward. He burst through the gate and nearly ran over our assailant who, just before being hit, brandished a crude homemade knife and jumped to the side as he sliced wildly. I kicked my left leg out as we were running past him and managed to squarely knock the knife from his grip and out into the tall grass field to the side of the church. The horse pursued his forward progression as Lou and I both turned to watch what the assassin would do and caught sight of the preacher running at him full force and tackling him. I purposed in my mind to turn the horse around to help the preacher when, from my periphery I caught sight of another assassin on a horse riding in full gallop after us. My short glimpse of hope at the thought of our escape immediately retreated as this new threat took precedence in my mind. I leaned forward over the horses’ neck and squeezed tightly with my legs which transitioned our horse from his previous lope into a full gallop. We headed straight for a bridge which spanned a river that glistened in the moonlight. I turned my head back toward Lou and shouted, “Grab the Liberation 11 from my pack and disintegrate this bridge!” Lou followed my instructions and as we passed over the bridge let fly a haze of the Liberation 11 onto the bridge which immediately ate into its structure. The horseman behind us did not know of our plan to rid ourselves of him and continued toward us at full speed. His horse mad a few steps onto the bridge before sensing something wrong and immediately pulling its hind legs under itself as it screeched to a halt. The rider was forcefully ejected forward over the horses head and went directly through a hole created by our chemical cloud and landed in the cold waters below. We felt relieved and terrified at the same time. They had never sent two people after us at the same time before…