The brick wall looming in front of her looked intimidating, making Maddy wonder whether she should just turn around and let the cops put the cuffs around her wrists.

The street was narrow, a somewhat dark alley in between the hideous buildings of a notorious neighbourhood. Half-open bags of garbage were thrown all over the sides of the passageway, their filthy contents spilled on the dirty ground. Cartonboard boxes and a rubbish bin were visible in the near distance, pressed against the wall.

"Don't stop!" shouted Carter, his voice hoarse.

And he sprinted straight towards the brick wall.

He was fast, and didn't hesitate a second before making a jump. Supporting his muscular body on his large hands, he pushed his weight upwards. He was on top of the rubbish bin, his knees bent as he turned back towards Maddy.

Who hadn't moved an inch from where she was standing before, still staring at the brick wall.

Or at him.

"What are you waiting for? Get over here!" Carter's voice wasn't mocking or pissed as usual. Just worried. He stretched an arm towards her, palm open and impatient for her to rest her own hand on his.

"Stop where you are, kid!" a man yelled from close behind her.

She snapped her neck and turned around to face a police officer coming straight in her direction, only a few meters away. Her eyes widened, veins suddenly pulsing with adrenaline, limbs bursting with energy.

That was all it took for her to take off. Feeling her feet stable on the solid ground, she ignored the pain of her flesh almost peeling off her aching toes, and raced towards... well, towards a rubbish bin.

She could hear the cop's steps right behind her. If the man stretched his arm...

Her hand flied out, her palm landing on top of Carter's. His calloused fingers tightened around her hand, knuckles flexing white in a strong grip, and he pulled her upwards. Her feet left the ground. Someone else's fingers brushed her ankle. She shrieked and kicked at the man below her, yanking her leg up, one knee on the rubbish bin. She heard a loud thump, the sound of someone hitting the ground with a moan of pain. She didn't even bother to look. Carter dragged her on her feet and, before she could blink, Maddy was balancing on top of the brick wall.

Carter gave an effortless jump, landing on the other side of the brick wall in less than a second. He stretched his arms towards Maddy once more, and this time she didn't pause to think before jumping. His hands held her tiny waist firmly but softly at the same time, and she placed her own palms on his broad shoulders, feeling his strong muscles tensing underneath her touch.

"Let's go," he said when Maddy's feet met the ground, and let go of her waist. That burning sensation tickling her skin subsided along with his hold.

Then they kept running.

They crossed the road, rounded corner after corner, and after a few minutes passed, Maddy relaxed, relief taking over her body as the male voices faded away in the distance.

They lost us, she thought with a sigh freed of anxiety, and her heartbeat began to find its normal pace.

Until she heard a deafening siren on her right. She glanced at the corner on the other end of the street, and beheld a police cruiser flowing on the black, rain-washed tarmac in their direction.

"Fuck," cursed Carter.

Just how many of them are there? And how the heck did they find us again?

"How much more?" grumbled Maddy, barely breathing anymore.

"Stop complaining, princess. We're almost there."

"Almost? I can't feel my legs." She hated the whining tone in her voice, but she just couldn't help it.

"God, you're giving me a headache," he scowled.

Maddy gritted her teeth at that. "Well... I don't even know... where... we're going," she reminded him in between struggling breaths, as if he was stupid. Which he was, she told herself.

"Are you always so nosy?" he scolded her.

"Answer the question, Carter. Where... Where are we going?" She was still running next to him on full speed, but the effect of the adrenaline was subsiding and her bleeding toes were killing her. She winced at the pain.

"Okay, okay. The salvage yard."

"What?!" Maddy almost stopped running.

"Are you deaf? I said we're going to the salvage yard."

"But..." Maddy hesitated. She had overheard so many rumours about that place, spreading like wildfire from Clarke's mouth and straight to her ears. If Clarke was good at one thing, it was gossiping. The reputation of that place preceded it. And it was a bad reputation. But she pushed that thought away. It's not like she had much of a choice anyway.

"That's where I parked the car."

"You have a car?"

"Logan does."

"Then how is it that you parked it?"

"Can you stop asking so many questions? I just borrowed it."

"For what?" she asked before she could help herself.

He gave her a dirty sideways glance, smirking. "Do you want me to show you?"

Maddy blushed so hard she wanted to slap herself. "No, thanks."

She looked the other way to hide her burning red cheeks, and saw the entrance of the salvage yard.

Thank God.

Carter led her through the old, rusty scrap and discarded pieces of cars, the sound of their pursuers following close. They'd better hurry, because that police cruiser was damn fast. As they were running, Maddy saw homeless people muffled in dirty blankets, thugs smoking weed, the orange fume lingering at the end of their cigarettes, and men dealing... drugs. All staring right towards her direction in her passage. Somewhere in the back of her head, she was aware of the fact she was still wearing a skirt, and she was suddenly glad she was also wearing safety shorts. Turning her head in every direction, she gulped down her dread at how the place was literally full of such thugs, lurking in every single god damn corner.

Driving into a corner, she finally saw it, and almost cried from relief.

A sleek, ink-black Ford pick-up with tinted windows sitting low on their chassis was parked near the ruins of disassembled cars, Logan's tousled blonde hair in the driver's seat. Maddy squinted. Mia was sat on the front passenger's seat, and Sia in the back seat.

Logan smiled at them, but, seeing them running for their lives, his grin soon got replaced by a confused frown. And finally, when the police car came into sight, his ocean blue eyes widened in panic. He turned on the engine.

One, two, three seconds, counted Maddy in her head.

She jumped into the trunk of the Ford Ranger right before Carter, and the boy yelled: "Get this bloody car going right the fuck now, Logan!"

Logan stepped on the gas without any objections, making the tyres howl, raising a cloud of dust from the ground.

"Stop the vehicle, kids!"

You wish.

"Step on the gas, Logan!" yelled Carter, his voice hoarse and aggressive.

Maddy slammed her back against the top railing of the truck as Logan pressed hard on the accelerator pedal, transforming the car into a roaring beast.

But the police were following close. The distance was not big enough. And all those greasy thugs were watching from everywhere, eyes wide open at the sight.

How many are they, huh? Fourty? Fifty?

She didn't have time for such unimportant calculations. Now her only concern was: What were they gonna do? They had to get rid of the cops before it was too late. What if reinforcements arrived?

Think, Maddy, think.

But she didn't think. Instead, she just grabbed the first thing she saw in front of her: a large, heavy wrench, and threw it at the police car with force. She took a glimpse of the cops inside the car, pure shock and panic reflecting through their expressions. The air was suddenly rent by the sound of breaking glass, and Maddy flinched. She hadn't even aimed when she tossed that wrench, but she had actually broken the windscreen of the police bodywork like it was nothing. The front glass smashed into a thousand glittering fragments, a wild, deadly avalanche. The officer behind the steering wheel slowed down the car, jerking his arm to protect his face from the million knives attacking him.

The Ford Ranger had already started to gain ground, but Maddy couldn't allow herself to relax, too shocked by her own boldness.

Holy. Shit. What did I just do?

Silence settled in after the crashing sound of glass, and Maddy felt it was the type of defeaning silence settling in right before a storm breaks out. She held her breath.

Everyone in that salvage yard did.

But the quiet only lasted moments before an unshaved, gangly man threw his head back and gave a triumphant howl, his few, yellow teeth torn in a mad smile. Maddy stared at him, a tremor passing through her spine. Last thing she expected was for the rest of his fellow companions, all those thugs filling the place, to join in, barking and yapping.

What the...?

Another man stepped forward, grabbed a scrap iron from a pile of discarded car parts, and threw himself against the police car, yipping. Then another man followed him, doing the same. And another one. And another one. All rioting against the police cruiser, swearing at them.

"You bloody cops! Get out of our neighbourhood!" they screamed as their self-made "weapons" crushed on the bodywork and the glass of the police car, which had now fully stopped.

Another wave of dread washed over Maddy. They're mad. They're all mad.

But she didn't care. Because those thugs were actually saving them without even knowing it. The Ford was still speeding, getting the five of them far away from that place, far away from the police, far away from all that trouble.

Maddy sat back, letting out a heavy, shaky breath as the car turned right, and the dreadful sight of those savages throwing themselves against the cops vanished, their barking and yapping of madness faded in the distance.

She lost track of time, and the pick-up truck soon entered the smooth gravel highway. The car seemed to suddenly float after all that jostling and bumping on the uneven, dusty road of the salvage yard. Everything was so quiet now, so quiet that Maddy wanted to scream. No one in the car spoke, but she didn't dare be the first to break the silence.

Minutes turned to hours, and, as the crowded streets of London gave way to green fields, a meadow-sweet scent wafting in the air, Maddy closed her eyes at the chilly breeze caressing her cheeks. She could feel the car below her shifting a bit, but it was nice.

Until Logan stepped on the brakes out of nowhere, and she almost flew out of the pick-up trunk. She grabbed at the railing.

Logan got out of the car looking like fire would start coming out of his ears and nostrils any moment.

"You two. Get in the car NOW. You have a lot to explain, now, don't you?"