The Lost Luna of Silver Lake

The moonlight reflecting off the wet paving stones was the only light she could see as she ran down the secluded alleyway. The crisp spring air was the only relief as she gasped trying to take in as much air as possible while jumping over abandoned boxes and trash strewn down her path.

Unable to slow her pace, she slammed into the wall at the end of the alley. Panicked, she looked around wildly for the fire escape she knew had to be there. Looking up, she found the retractable ladder still lodged in its place. Without a moment to think, she easily jumped the four feet to grab the ladder making it slide down a little before locking in place again.

“Shit!”, she gasped as she struggled but managed to pull herself up one handle at a time until she climbed up to the first landing of the fire escape.

She took a moment to catch her breath before noticing the approaching shadows coming down the alleyway. Grabbing the railing, she ran as fast as she could up the fire escape as she heard a wolf’s howl get closer. And in that moment, she knew that they had caught her scent.

So she ran and ran.

Jumping across the desolate city rooftops as fast as her legs would let her.

She knew that her destination was a long way away, but maybe she could slow them down at the old printing press. So she grabbed the edge of the roof she was on and slid down the drain pipe attached to the building. When she was halfway down the building, she tightened her grip on the pipe slowing down her descent before stepping hard on the old brick wall, jumping off and crashing through one of the large industrial windows of the old printing press.

Thankfully, the window opened into an old office and not the large machine room. The fall would have been a lot worse if she had been unlucky. Old desks and chairs broke her fall, bruising her ribs at her back and knocking the air out of her lungs. She didn’t have time to recover, so she scrambled to her feet and ran out of the office and down the corridor.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw one of the rogues who had been chasing her crash through one of the old office doors in front of her. Without thinking, she jumped through one of the broken windows landing on an old steel walkway overlooking the large machine floor. She then slid under the railing and held onto the floor of the walkway reducing the distance she would have to drop onto the floor of the machine room.

She dropped to the ground, thankfully without breaking or spraining anything. Looking up, she noticed that the three rogues were now on the steel walkway looking at her.

She ran.

She knew that if you are alone you don’t fight rogues, you run.

She ran to the end of the long rows of machines where the large roller shutter doors were usually slightly ajar. She gasped in horror and slammed her hand against the doors when she noticed that they were shut this time. Turning around, she saw the three rogues were now walking towards her playfully.

The chase was over and they knew it. They had won the right to claim their prey.

“Here kitty, kitty, kitty…..”, one of the rogues taunted as their eyes glowed in the darkness.

Trying to catch her breath, she walked slowly towards the rogues while she reached for her lower back and pulled out a silver-coated hunting knife underneath her leather jacket which seemed to catch what little moonlight was seeping into the space.

Seeing the knife, the rogues paused for a moment then began to laugh.

“That won’t help you little kitty”, another of the rogues said amused by her foolishness. After all, who in their right mind would think to fight three full-grown rogues all alone.

“I know….”, she said taking a glance at her blade. “But this might!”

She then lunged to her right, slashing her blade at a rope that was anchored to the ground next to the large printing press machine. The rope broke with a loud snap as the machine began to rumble. The machine was draped with a large tarp that hid several large spools of printing paper which had been stacked one on top of another. And now they were all tumbling down as the only thing holding them in place was now gone.

The rogues turned and ran the other way as the large spools of paper tumbled towards them. She didn’t wait to see if her plan worked. She turned while quickly sliding her blade back into its sheath on her back as she ran straight for the door next to the roller shutters and used her shoulder to ram it open, dislocating her shoulder in the process.

Groaning, she held onto her shoulder and continued running for the train station. If she was lucky, that distraction would have killed at least one of them and slowed down the other rogues.

She wasn’t that lucky.

She was in the train station car park when she heard the familiar howl of the rogues. She hurried into the station and quickly scanned the departures board looking for the train she needed. Knowing that the rogues were not far behind, she scurried to the platforms trying to avoid station officials as she jumped over the barriers and onto the departing train as the doors began to close.

When she was on the train, she hid behind the stack of luggage next to the doors and slowly peeked through the window at the door. The rogues were there on the platform but they didn’t see which train she got on so they spun around looking for her and then ran towards another train.

She tucked herself back behind the stack of luggage and finally took deep breaths trying to steady her heart beat which was still racing. Her back and shoulder hurt with every breath she took, making her contort her face in pain. She pulled herself towards one of the walls holding the luggage and readied herself before slamming her shoulder into it, resetting the joint.

She then slowly made her way down the train looking for a less crowded carriage. When she found one, she took off her backpack and placed it on her lap as she sat in one of the empty two-seater rows and tucked herself in behind the window.

The exhaustion was starting to catch up with her now. She had been running and evading rogues every time she entered a new city. She had foolishly thought that she would be able to live a simple life away from these creatures, but for some reason, they always seemed to find her.

As her body started to shut down, she noticed a mother comforting her sleeping child on the opposite seating aisle. Seeing the mother with her child made her wonder about the last time she had a home-cooked meal. She remembered the wonderful smell of pancakes and hot chocolate and the smile of the woman who placed the plate before her.

“Eat up, peanut”, she said resting an elbow on the kitchen counter and cupping her face with her palm.

The woman suddenly stood up straight and screamed a high-pitched scream which made her jolt awake. The train horn blared as it rolled towards another stop.

That was when she realized that she had fallen asleep almost the moment she sat on the train. Panicked, she looked around her and at her watch. She had slept for two hours, more than she had managed to sleep in one go during the last two months.

She carefully looked out of the window trying to gauge where she was and if she was clear to move again as the train pulled into another station. The sun was still rising and the air was a bit misty so she might have a little cover when she hit the road again. What she saw next jolted her back into her seat and away from the window.

The rogues were on the station platform.

“How?!”, she screamed in her head.

There were only two of them this time so she assumed that one of them might have died or been injured by her little stunt at the printing press. That would explain why they were still after her. She guessed that they might have gotten on the train and gotten onto the platform at each station hoping to catch her as she got off the train.

She watched them as they looked around the platform, scanning the crowd of people looking for her. Then they ran forward and got back onto the train in the car ahead of the one she was sitting in as the train started to leave the station. She slowly shuffled onto the seat on the aisle and slowly looked down the aisle and saw that the rogues were making their way down the train towards her. She stood up, pulled her backpack on and slowly started walking towards the back of the train taking care not to run so as not to draw attention to herself.

She carefully looked back down the aisle, watching the