Rhys

His face became warm and wet. For a moment, he thought he had been shot, but he felt fine. Nothing except his arm hurt and everything felt intact. Soft gurgling and wheezing filled his ear and the grip on his arm loosened. His eyes went wide and he began to shake as he saw what stood in front of him.

     The older man's eyes almost popped out of his head as they barely were able to look at the tip of an arrow that was dripping in his own blood. His mouth was parted and his red blood just spilled out of the corners.

      Suddenly, his knees landed on the ground with a loud thud and the sudden movement caused Rhys to jump back. Reese jaw dropped as he tried to scream, his emerald eyes drained of color as terror was slowly sinking in and his small body didn't stop shaking. He just stared straight at the man on his knees, his small brown eyes looked empty except for the small amount of shock that stood in them.

     Rhys finally moved when he heard glass shattering and the small shining crystals came flying in his directions. He turned his back to the man and crouched with his hands over his ears. The evil laughter and barking orders went silent and drowned out by bullets flying, glass breaking and Reese's own crying.

     Rhys noticed slowly the many gunshots being fired were decreasing and decided to turn and look to see what they were shooting at. He turned around and with his tear-filled eyes he saw a shadow figure holding a bow and shooting arrows. He wiped the tears out of his eyes and looked back up in disbelief as what he's looking at would disappear. It didn't. He saw more shape to the shadow and realized it was just a cloak draped over someone. The hoodie was large and covered the person's face. He couldn't tell whether it was a man or woman since the cloak gave no hint of any type of figure but whoever it was stopped the man from taking him.

     He heard muttering something under their breath before grabbing him by the arm and pulling him along for a run. The shadow person ran zig zag between buildings and didn't hesitate on any turns they took.

      He watched as the cloak flagged around the person and the hoodie widened but never fell off of their head. He wondered how that was possible. His hoodie always came off when he was running too fast or even when the wind picked up.

      Rhys flew backwards and collided with a fence that rattled at the impact and he dropped to his feet. He dropped to the floor and looked up in time to see the cloak fly out as the person spun around, lifted the bow and arrow in position and fired two arrows.

      Then, he was up on his feet again, his arm in the hands of this shadow person, his savior. They ran past an open doorway where the person threw their bow in without hesitation and without a stumble.

     He looked past to see where they were going because god knows he really wanted to get out of the city and never come back. Instead, what he got was a body in his way and an almost twisted ankle, if not for the person holding him up right and catching him.

     "Give up." A tall chubby man told them as he blocked their path with three other men that looked just as unwashed as he did. "Just give us the kid and you could walk."

     Instinctively, Rhys pressed himself closer to the cloaked person and turned his head to look behind him only to see others run in blocking that side too.

     We're trapped ! Rhys thought with a whine. He shut his eyes closed real tight and moved closer than ever to the person hoping that whatever they were going to do didn't involve giving him up to them. He felt the person move away from him, and when he opened his eyes, the person took another step away from him.

      He felt his heart sink at the thought of being left to these unclean killers. His flicked his head from one side to the other as they were slowly approaching him. They reminded him of predators and werewolves with the way they looked at him. Their beady eyes locked on him and their smiles spread wide as the Cheshire cat.

     He felt his eyes becoming hot and his vision began to blur as he watched them pray on him. He was going to let out a sob but instead what came out was a surprise shriek as his feet lifted off the ground. He heard a thunder of monstrous groans. He heard loud banging and angry voices before hearing footsteps disappearing. His legs dangled like a doll, his body was swaying and his vision was blurred due to seeing bright lights then shadow and darkness until he heard a creak and the sun blinded him for a minute. He realized he was being carried when his feet landed on the floor again.

     For a moment, he felt a bit of joy rush through him when he saw the same shadowy person looking around. He noticed they were on a roof and they were looking down.

     Probably looking for a way out.  He thought.

     His moment of joy was crushed when he heard a rush of loud footsteps getting louder and louder. He moved away from the door and the shadow person rushed over and put themselves  between the door and himself. One of the men burst through the door and men flooded the roof as they cornered them at the edge.

     "My back." He tilted his head up at the person as he tried understanding what they were saying. "Get up." They whispered as they crouched down enough for him to hop on. He didn't understand but got on anyway.

     "Are we really going to do this?" A man with a large raven black beard held out his arms to the side. The man stared at them as he shook his head. "We could have just done this the easy way. Now look where you are. Trapped and not only are we going to take the kid. We're going to take your life as well." A wicked smile spread on his face as his eyes glistened. "Maybe then we'll see for ourselves, if shadow people have magical powers as everyone claims they do." He laughed.

     His men laughed along with him as they let out a light chuckle. The raven bearded man noticed the shadow person's dark pink full lips pull into a small cocky smile that exposed a small fang. Rhys noted that the closer the men got the closer they got to the ledge. Half his face was covered by the person's hoodie as they turned their head to look down and let out a sharp whistle. An empty alleyway laid beneath them with only fire escapes on the other building across from them.

     So they do know how close we are from falling to our deaths.

     Rhys felt them adjust him on their backs to where his arms went over their shoulders comfortingly. Rhys took that moment to grip a little tighter and wrapped his legs over each other.

     "You'll have to hold on a little bit tighter." They whispered to him. So he did just that, gripped as hard as he could with his eyebrows knitted together and his head tilted at them. Just then, they took the last step on the edge.

     Oh my god don't jump.

     They're gonna jump.

     Please don't jump.

     He quickly readjusted himself with more grip on his arm and on the person and even tightened his legs grip.

     "We are six stories high, even a shadow person won't survive that fall." The man said as if he just read both their minds. "The kid definitely won't survive. You really gonna risk his life?"

     The person looked over the edge again. Then took a couple steps forwards towards the men as if they thought about what he said.

     Please don't.

     "That's right, come here." He cooed.

      Before they could get in arms reach of the men, they turned around and launched themselves off the building.

      Everything happened all at once, Rhys's scream bouncing off the brick walls, one second he felt as if he was flying and the next he was gripping onto the person with all his might afraid they were falling. He felt his grip slip a bit and his arm gripped a little too tightly then he'd like around the person's neck. He heard a groan and choking sound coming from them as he felt gravity pulling his weight down; and,  the man chasing them screaming as if they witnessed their own killing themselves.

     Rhys felt his legs dangling in the air as they came undone in the process of the jump. He could feel the person's chest rapidly going up and down as groans hit his ears. He felt a hand grab the back of his shirt and pull forward causing him to slide off the person's back and fall on his butt. When he opened his eyes, he saw the person climb over railings and that's when he noticed the stairs going up to his left and a window just next to it. He saw the man looking over the building at them, his face tomato red, nose scrunched up and eyebrows knitted together.

     "Come on." The person kicked in the window and rid it of any glass that could harm them. Then, they pulled him up by his arm and pushed him through the window.

     Bullets hitting the metal stairs rang through Reese's ears and caused him to drop to the floor. He watched as the person threw themselves through the window and dropped to the floor on their back. Rhys noticed they were in the living room. With a tv on the wall to his left and three crouches on the side and one in front. The person quickly got back on their feet, picked Reese up by the arm and they ran out the door. Reese felt like they were flying through the building as they raced through the hall and down the stairs.