A dull ‘thwap’ echoed over the street, followed by a male voice yelling. “What’d you do that for, you stupid girl!?” Ever looked over their shoulder to see Tesla holding her cheek as one of the men gripped his pistol tightly. He looked at the other two men and yelled. “Don’t just stand there! After them!” 

Ever watched as the two men started after them and they look forward, pushing themselves forward as fast as they could. Their chest rose and fell as they scanned the edges of the street for nooks to hide in or alleyways to escape down. 

Desperate for a way out of the situation, when the sound of a gun being fired reached Ever’s ears. They had never heard a gunshot in person, but they had seen enough action movies to recognize the sound. Ever watched a bullet whiz past their face and adrenaline flooded their system, feeding the flight part of their fight or flight response.

Ever’s legs carried them down the first alleyway they spotted and turned down it only to find. “A dead end. Fuck” 

Ever came to a stop at the mouth of a blind alley, staring at the gray walls as the sound of pounding feet got closer and louder. They struggled to catch their breath, Ever noticed a spot of green against the gray back wall, and they were moving again. They pulled themselves up onto the lid of a dumpster and hauled themselves over the wall as fast as they could.

Ever landed on the ground with a quiet thud and pressed their back against the cool brick as the sound of feet got ever closer until they stopped. They heard feet on metal, followed by a male voice speaking. “She came down this way, right?”

“Obviously, she is a he.” Came the other voice and Ever prayed to whatever god would listen that they wouldn’t look down.

“I don’t care about their goddamned gender. I wanna know whether they came this way.” The first voice spoke agitation, clear in his voice. 

“I think so. Should we look fer ‘em?” The second man said, and Ever really hoped that God was listening.

“No. Let’s go get Drax. We’re gonna need more people for this.” The first man said and Ever listened as they dismounted the dumpster and left the alleyway. They waited until they could no longer hear their footsteps before beginning to move once more. Ever ran as fast as the uneven ground would allow, the cold air burning their lungs as they struggled to breathe.

“Look! There they are!” Came the voice of the second man, and Ever felt panic fill their chest, blood pumping in their ears and adrenaline coursing through their veins.

Ever turned into the trees and low-hanging branches whipping against their face, leaving stinging scratch marks. As Ever looked over their shoulder to see if they were alone, their foot caught on something, causing them to fall flat on their face. They turned around to see that their prosthetic foot had gotten caught in a root. “Fuck.”

Frantically, Ever pulled at their foot, trying to remove it from its wooden prison. They looked around desperately searching for a place to hide from their pursuers and noticed a small cave made from the roots of a tree. The sound of voices echoed through the forest, sending the panic Ever felt into overdrive. Twisting their foot from the connector, they scrambled into the makeshift cave, Ever tried to calm their breathing as they watched four pairs of boots come into view.

“I coulda swore I saw ‘em come this way.” The second man spoke and Ever pushed themselves further into the cave, knots on the roots digging into their back. 

“Maybe they're faster than you are.” Tesla said, her accent decidedly muted, and Ever flinched when there was a dull thump and Tesla’s feet shifted. Ever knew she had been hit again. “What was that fer?” There it was. Just a hint of her accent eking through.

“What was it for?” The man who seemed to be in charge yelled, his voice echoing through the forest. Ever held their breath to try and stay as quite as possible. “The only reason we’re in this mess is because of you! Why’d you have to go and tell the damn drifter to run!?” 

Ever did not like how he said the word drifter. They’d known there was something about the word drifter that felt wrong. It really sucks to be right. 

Tesla’s feet shifted awkwardly. “I dunno.” Tesla’s feet suddenly stopped shifting, and she moved so that she was standing directly in front of Ever’s foot, kicking dirt and leaves over it as she continued. “I guess I wasn’t thinkin’.”

“That’s right, you weren’t.” The man in charge spat before sighing. “I swear, I’m surrounded by idiots.”

“What do’ya want us ta do now, Cap’n?” The second man said, boots turning toward the man in charges.

“We’ll search the area. Thresh, you search the western woods. Jace, you take the northern woods. Tesla will take the eastern and southern woods. I’ll search in town.” The man in charge barked, and the two other men ran off, leaving just Tesla and him. He turned to look at Tesla, growling. “What’re you waiting for? GO!”

“Well, it’s just I were thinkin’ that maybe I should search the town, since I’ve been livin’ here for almost two years now.” Tesla spoke, and the man in charge’s feet moved slightly, getting a little two close to their foot for comfort. 

“Fine. You’ll search the town and the Eastern woods, Go!” Ever imagined him pointing in the direction mentioned.

“Sir, these are the eastern woods.” Tesla deadpanned. “I’ll start here and make my way back to town.” 

The boots of the man in charge stomped out of view as he yelled. “Fine. Just don’t slack off!” Tesla turned to watch him go and, after several long, tension-filled moments, she leaned down into Ever’s view. They could see the blueish-purple bruise forming on her cheek as she brushed the dirt and leaves from their foot, unhooking it from the root.

She looked around before noticing Ever’s hiding hole, they pressed their body further into the back of the cave into the knots of the tree as Tesla looked inside. “Hey.” Ever stared up at Tesla, unwilling to speak for fear that the men would hear them. 

The traitor held out their foot and Ever hesitantly crawled forward, snatching the offered item before returning to the back of the cave. Tesla looked around cautiously before speaking in a hushed whisper. “I’mma go look for you, but I need you to stay put ‘ere for a couple hours. Then head towards the airship station and jus’ go as far as it’ll take ya, okay?” Ever clutched their foot like it was a lifeline as they nodded mutely up at Tesla, who looked sadly at them before muttering a quiet. “I’m sorry.” 

And then she was gone. Disappearing to look for someone who had already been found.

Now alone, Ever began to process what was going on, and they began to try and decipher what they were feeling. They sifted through the mess of emotions, all vying to be felt. As they began to put names to the emotions, they found that the main emotions that clouded their mind were shock, fear, and confusion. 

Shock at how fast their life had gone to hell in a handbasket. 

Fear of what would happen if those men caught them. 

Confusion as to why they were after them in the first place and why Tesla was helping them. 

Ever pulled their knees up to their chest, burying their face in their thighs as they closed their eyes. ‘What’s going on? Why is this happening to me?’ 

Ever jolted awake, looking around their small cave, the unfamiliar surroundings filled them with panic before the events that had led them to their current situation came rushing back to them. Looking down at the foot that they still clutched to their chest, they let out a sigh as they reattached it to their foot. 

Cautiously, Ever poked their head out of their hiding place, noticing that the sun had made its way across the sky, causing shadows to be cast throughout the forest. They crawled out of the small nook, looking around at the now empty forest, at ominous shadows which stretched out like claws waiting for unsuspecting prey. Ready to snatch them up and devour them whole, bones and all. 

Taking a deep breath, Ever began making their way back the way they had come, back toward town. As they jogged, the sound of singing hit their ears, and they were pulled off the path, away from town. They followed the sound, which got louder and louder, until they came upon a statue. It was worn to hell and covered in moss, with birds having made​​ a nest in parts of it. 

Ever walked up to the statue which was missing arms and the pedestal that the life-sized statue was situated on had a worn plaque. They leaned down wiping away some moss, just barely able to make out a ‘G’ and a few ‘Ds’. They furrowed their brows, looking up at the statue, the singing getting louder and louder until it was almost nauseatingly loud. 

Ever stood up, taking a few steps back, looking up at the darkening sky before turning and making their way back toward town. They did everything they could to be as quiet as possible as they moved back onto the main path, making their way back to the wall they had jumped over, stopping in front of it. 

It was nearly twice Ever’s size, and they couldn’t see any way over it. ‘Shit.’ They looked to their left and then to their right, noticing what looked like crates stacked on one another. Ever guessed they had been put there by kids who used them to get to and from the forest. They jogged over to the crates, using them to climb up over the wall and into an alleyway.

Ever used their hands to break their fall, they pushed themselves to their feet and started running again. They ran out of the alleyway, pushing their way through the crowd that filled the street. 

Ever suddenly realized why Tesla had told them to wait a few hours. The streets were packed with people here to see the start of the Celebration. People visited stalls and walked a little too closely as they headed toward the town square. Ever dove into the crowd, following the flow of people toward the town square, from which they could make their way to the airship station. 

Toward safety.

A stream of people poured into the small square which was already packed with people and Ever forced their way through the crowd pushing through the throngs of people, ignoring the noises of protest and indignant curses that they received. They couldn’t give them any thought, they had to worry about surviving. 

Finally, they reached the edge of the sea of people and broke into a sprint toward the airship station. It had just barely come into view when somebody grabbed their wrist, causing Ever to look up to see the man in charge glaring down at them with a victorious smirk. “Caught ya.”