Free The Compass by Cindy Charity

she was seeing was impossible, she couldn’t look away. It was like a scene out of Braveheart. The men lunged and pivoted away from one another, curses filled the sky. Above them, thunder boomed and lightning flashed. She supposed she should be grateful that it wasn’t raining. She immediately chastised herself for tempting fate. With the way this day had gone, it would be surprising if there wasn’t someone controlling the weather.
    In the midst of the action and noise, the thought of escape came to her. With them fighting, now would be time to sneak off. They were too busy trying to kill one another to worry about what she was doing. Slowly, Ali scanned her surroundings. What she thought was a dead end—wasn’t. There was a narrow opening to her right. It would be a tight fit, but it was her only chance. She took one more glance to make sure that the two men weren’t going to be an issue. Making her move, she descended down the three steps and shimmied through the opening. She closed her eyes at the sound of her leather jacket scrapping against the brick. Her purse got jammed and she played with the idea of just staying put. Sandwiched between two brick walls gave ample protection in her opinion. But as tempting as the thought was, she preferred to get as far away as she could from the sword wielding maniacs.
    It took some effort to free her purse and continue moving. When she got through, her elation was short lived. She was in another ally. This one just had boxes instead of dumpsters. “Wonderful.” Huffing out a breath, she scrambled for an idea. Her phone—of course, how could she have forgotten about it? Digging it out of her purse, she hit the home button. Her euphoria of possibly getting assistance was crushed when her phone immediately died. Great, fantastic. On top of everything else, she had forgotten to charge her damn phone. Biting her lip, she weighed her options. Standing still was not one of them. “Come on Ali— think .” She turned her body towards the sidewalk and possibly freedom. A brief flash of the empty streets gave her pause. Had that been just a trick? It was possible; this whole night had been one weird thing after another.
    She took a step, her ears trained on the sounds from the next alley. What if the trick—if it had been one, had worn off when Finn had dragged her off of the sidewalk? And now tons of people were milling about, and cars—in other words, help. If she went out there, flagged down the first person she met, or a cab—she would be placing people in danger—wouldn’t she? She took another step. Her head pulsed, the headache gathered, making her feel foggy. Whether or not her thoughts, her theories were true, she couldn’t take the chance that someone, other than herself, would get hurt. Another thought hit her, what if Lugus had friends waiting for her? Her stomach rolled. She just couldn’t stay here, even if it was a slim chance of escaping this, she had to risk it.
    Pushing down the queasiness, and fighting through the throbbing in her head, she took several more steps. The pain that exploded throughout her body had her faltering back. It was though something wanted to prevent her from leaving, but that was ridiculous. She dug down and pushed forward once again. This time, the pain had her doubling over. Breathing through it, Ali closed her eyes. Immediately, visions flashed colors and events, swirled together like a kaleidoscope.
    Her eyes snapped open. The combination of what she saw, and the growing heaviness of her head, had her moving backwards, away from the sidewalk. Tears stung her eyes. She wasn’t going to be able to get away. “Okay, Ali. It looks like it’s the boxes. I only hope I won’t be heading into someone’s house.” Going over to the biggest pile, she got down and began to crawl forward. She grimaced as her hands went through something slimy. “Don’t think about it, just keep going.” The smell had her gagging, but she kept moving.