“Drop. The. Ramen.” Her voice was a weird mixture of a chilling cold, the promise of death, and what I assumed what a nuclear bomb’s voice would be. It instantly triggered my ‘flight or fight’ response, and without thinking, I opened my mouth.

“Hell no! Get out of my face!” I cringed at my own cockiness. I knew it was going to get myself killed me one of these days and it looks like it was that day today. The girl tightened her grip I tried to take a step back. Her grip strength must’ve been off the charts because I could almost feel my shoulder bone warping.

 “G-Get something else! I can finally a-afford it s-so hands off!” I stammered, cursing at the sudden stuttering that had suddenly plagued my speech as I quickly broke out of her grip and dashed off. I didn’t even get a few feet when the girl slammed her arm in front of me, making all the packaged foods shudder on the shelves as she leered over me with such anger that I could’ve sworn I saw steam coming out of her ears.

"Hand it over. NOW!” She shouted the last word right into my face, trying to grab my shoulder. I instinctively ducked, and with grace surprising even me a little, I managed to roll right below her arm. Without even thinking, I quickly jumped forward, barely dodging the arm that shot out to barely miss grabbing me as I took off with a dash. I was sprinting as fast as I could in my ill-choice jeans as my jacket billowed behind me like a cape.

‘It’s been a while since I had a good run, but I wouldn’t thought I would have to run in a supermarket!’ I thought to myself as I quickly ducked down into a nearby aisle, praying to anyone up there to not let this girl find me-

“. . .” We both stared at each other blankly as I realized I just hid right next to where she was trying to cut me off. For a second, not a single muscle moved, before the girl dived to grab me. I ran for my life as I jumped over her, making her crash into the floor as I sprinted.

“WHY ME!?” I screamed as I took off, with the girl now just barely behind me. I jumped over carts full of groceries and what-nots that the employees were using to pick up random expired items as the girl just smashed through them. For a second, I thought I could make out where the restrooms were, and I was planning to go there and hide for a few hours… When suddenly... 

I tripped over a freaking CABBAGE.

Trip!

WHAM!

I completely flipped in midair, landing on my back with an ‘OOMPH.’ For a second, I was just lying there in pain as I contemplated if I could see my life passing through my eyes, then I heard a yip as the girl landed on my chest, headfirst as she, too, had tripped over the vegetable. Time seemed to slow down as we both stared at each other in horror as her hand, that was outstretched, slammed into my chest at full force.

CRACK!

I coughed up a bit of blood as we both rolled away from each other. The girl was clutching her wrist while I was holding my chest in pain, but I quickly realized it was a golden opportunity when I realized that she was winded from the fall. Taking my chances, I shoved the girl as she tried to get up and scooched away with a pained grunt, the push managed to knock her off her feet right into her wrist, causing her to cry out in pain.

Scrambling to my feet without wasting a second, I ran like the wind towards the cashiers as I took the opportunity. After a minute of looking around like a wanted criminal, the cashier gave me a weird stare as I did so, and finally paying for the ramen, I finally rushed out of the store, and almost ran right into a small group of people, which were definitely not there when I had entered.

"..."

"Cough..."

The group and I stared at each other awkwardly, before they went back to whatever they were doing, which was a lot of mumbling. It looked like they were waiting for someone, but I waved the idea away as a sinking realization appeared in my stomach. After a moment of awkwardness, I began to speed walk down the sidewalk.

“Guilty people don’t run. Guilty people don’t run.” I began to chant below my breath as I tried my best not to run down the street while screaming at the top of my lungs because of the pain in my chest. Just as I began to get my breathing down to a calm, more normal level, I heard the door crash open behind me. I looked back in surprise, and a thought went across my mind as I groaned.

‘Why couldn't I just have a normal day for once?’ I thought in despair as I looked at the girl, whose face was as red as a strawberry. She looked around the street and spotted me. She pointed right at me and opened her mouth. Oh... come on, not even a few more minutes?!

I was already sprinting down the sidewalk when she yelled out-

 “GET HIM!”

I didn’t want to, but I involuntarily looked back and paled as I immediately wished I didn’t. The whole group I saw earlier was sprinting after me now! I bit back a curse as I sped up. You know, it was a beautiful night outside, snow began to fall softly, as you could barely hear any cars in the nice, calming darkness, besides the fact you had a group of men chasing a pale guy that barely looked like an adult that was carrying two giant packs of ramen.

“THIS IS WHY I HATE SOCIETY! THIS IS WHY DAMN IT!” I yelled aloud as I kept sprinting for dear life. I would have laughed at this sheer absurdity of the situation if it hadn’t happened to me! In a panic, I wasn’t watching where I was going and took a turn right into a dead-end alleyway. I quickly looked around in a desperate way to find a way out, but not even a door was present. I spun around towards the entrance, praying I had gotten lucky and that somehow they had just passed by me. The hope was crushed when they entered the alleyway, blocking my only chance to escape this utterly stupid situation.

They all stopped in front of me, all of them looking utterly bored or simply annoyed. Then, the men began shuffling to the side to allow a path for the girl to pass through. I scoffed at this... over-the-top display as I tried to distract myself from the pain. I just wanted ramen damn it, and now this girl was being way too dramatic for junk food. I desperately tried to figure out a way out when I spotted a dirty, brown, rusty fire escape a few feet away from me. An idea slowly formed in my head as the girl growled.

“Hand me that ramen now!” The girl yelled as she began slowly walking towards me. I couldn’t help it and deadpanned at her while panicking at the same time. Drama Queen much?

“Y-you have a whole goddamn entourage of bodyguards, s-so just go ask daddy or mommy to buy you some on the internet!” I yelled right back at her, cursing internally at my nervousness as I started inching towards the fire escape. Gotta time this juuuuust right...

“So, what if I have bodyguards? Can’t a girl enjoy some protection?” she asked as she slowly began stepping towards me. I rolled my eyes at her as I managed to get under the fire escape. Just a single foot more...

“Oh, so you’re into that kind of stuff.” I said with a serious expression, not even thinking as I shuffled a little, positioning myself for a jump. Perfect, now if I could just-

Woosh!

“WHOA!” I yelped as the girl lunged at me, completely red in the face as she snarled in rage. I barely managed to twist my body out of the way, my spine popping as I almost slipped on the dirty black asphalt full of mud and slush.

‘Now or never!’ I thought to myself as I spun, and jumped up towards the ladder. I almost missed it as I slapped against the lowest rung, but with the edge of my hand’s fingertips I just barely grabbed onto it.

‘After I escape, I promise I’m going to start exercising again!’ I thought as I clambered onto the fire escape, groaning with effort and agony as I realized how weak I’ve become. I could still fight, but my body just wasn’t used to such strenuous exercises with such a bad injury. Too bad this wasn’t Orb...

Smirking, I looked down and realized with no small degree of smugness as all of them, even the girl, gaping at me as I stumbled my way up the stairs. Unfortunately, the shock wore off quickly, and soon I could hear the girl yelling at her people to chase me. Crap. I ran up the stairs faster than I thought I could have, getting onto the roof, and with a deep breath, jumped off and rolled on to the next roof.

I can hear them running across the nearby rooftops, and that spurred me on as I jumped onto the fifth rooftop. Damn and blast! Where can I go? The rooftops were ending, and I couldn’t just jump off a third story building, I could break a leg or worse! I desperately racked my head for an answer as I ran closer and closer to the edge.

Unfortunately, and way too soon, I could see the perilous fall right in front of me. I spun around, hoping to whoever was up there once again that I had somehow lost them. Alas, the girl and one of her guards stood in front of me as they both glared at me with vicious intent.

The man stepped forward, but the girl stopped him. She glared at me, and instinctively I took a step backwards. Big. Mistake. I almost fell off if it wasn’t for the girl lunging forward, grabbing onto my shirt at the last moment. For a second, it was like time stood still as I gulped nervously. Then the girl smiled like a lion that had caught its prey after a long hunt.

I looked down at the street desperately, almost puking at the height. I was about to give up... when I spotted my savior. I quickly looked back at the girl, who was reaching for the ramen in my arms, but I slapped her hand away as I quickly flipped her the bird, making her surprised for a second, then twisted out of her grip. She yelped as she rushed at me, trying to grab me again as I fell backwards with a smirk. I managed to face the girl in the air, positioned myself, and aimed.

FWUMPH!

“Ow, that hurt more than I thought-! Ugh it smells! It stinks- how is it in my mouth?!” My cries could be heard from all over the city as I landed on the garbage truck. For a few seconds, I could only think of the disgusting stink that was somehow in my mouth. Then it struck me that I was alive! Forgetting all about the gross smell coming from my savior, I turned back towards the girl, who for the second time was gaping at me. I smirked at her and waved mockingly at her.

“SMELL YA LATER!” I bellowed at her as I laughed. The girl’s face turned red, and she stamped her foot onto the ground like a toddler in a tantrum. She then turned back to her guard and yelled at him, hearing only her angry tone as I got further away. The man simply nodded and seemed to talk into a radio. It was now too far to even try to hear, but I got the gist of the situation. I had to get off this truck as fast as possible.