Chapter Five

It had already been seven hours since Abby had left Tracy's house. Christie had been kind enough to pack a small backpack containing a small wad of money, some snacks, a pair of pants and a hoodie. Somehow she had been able to squeeze all that into the bag.

Pulling the hand of the bag off her shoulder, she shakes off the pain surging through her shoulder. The sun had already gone down and so had the heat. A drunk man stumbles out of a club a few feet away from her and throws up, his clothes stained of bile, sweat and alcohol. She frowns at him but doesn't say a word.

The distant rumbling of thunder draws her attention to the sky, so she looks up. Even amidst the dark sky, Abby could make out the dark storm clouds which were brewing ahead. She had to find a place to sleep and fast.

Trudging down the sidewalk, she turns into an alley and leans back against the cold wall, exhaustion flowing through her veins. She shuts her eyes, heavy breaths living her mouth. Looking around her, she sees nothing but darkness and huge dumpsters scattered all over the place.

A door next to her flings open and a man dressed in a black cloak walks out, his face hooded by the dark shadows formed by the buildings. A sense of déjà vu creeps into Abby and she frowns. Quickly grabbing her bag, she scurries out of the alley. This was the same way she had gotten into her past life.

She had ended up getting drunk after breaking up with Simon. Things had been going well but she had gotten bored and tired of everything. Unfortunately while enjoying her new found life as a single after three long years, she ended up in an alley one unfortunate night and saw things she shouldn't have seen. That night, she was separated from her parents. Neither of them had heard from her for five years.

A drop of water hits her on the nose and she blinks on instinct. Looking up at the sky, she narrows her eyes. Another lightening flashes through the sky and rain begins to pour down suddenly on everyone.

Without giving as much as a second thought, she clutches her bag to her chest and dashes into a club, slamming into the bodyguard in the process. He scowls at her and lunges for her.

"Get to the back of the line," he spits angrily, eyeing her old jacket and baggy pants. She tugs her arm out of his grasps, scowls at him and walks away. By the time she had found a place to stay, she was already drenched from head to toe.

She had found an old abandoned building where a couple of people sat huddled over a fire. Abby silently watches them, her eyes fixed on one of them, the most attractive of them. He had dark curly hair which toppled over his left eye, a sharp jawline and a nice physique. He had on a blue t-shirt which clung onto his biceps and arms, accentuating every curve and every bump.

While admiring the man seated a few steps away from her, she steps on a glass bottle. All heads turn in her direction.

"Who's that?" comes a feminine voice. The man stands up, his eyes fixed on Abby, "Who are you?" . Abby studies him silently. So far, he didn't seem a threat. His left arm was bandaged and there seemed to be a red bruise under his bandage.

"Sorry, just looking for a place to stay for the night," she replies her eyes trailing everyone's face. "Or she could be here to steal from us or even worse," someone gasps, "She could've been sent by Dominic." Murmurs begin to flare again as angry eyes glare up at her.

"Okay calm your a** down, I wasn't sent by anyone and I'm not here to steal anything," she replies, biting down on her lower lip to prevent herself from making some mean comment on how broke they all were... Not that she wasn't too.

The man stares at her, gives a slight nod and walks back to the group. Abby doesn't move towards them but walks in the opposite direction. There was no point in trying to start any kind of connection with them, either as acquaintances or as friends. If she didn't like the way things went here, she'd have to keep moving. Moving to where? She didn't know.

She takes off her bag and makes herself comfortable on an old table. Taking off her shirt, leaving her in only her sports bra, she pulls out the hoodie from her bag and slips it on, relishing it's warmth.

Abby leans back in the wall, listening to the drops of raining drumming against the roof and the howling of the wind. Slowly her eyelids begin to close and in a matter of seconds, she's fast asleep, her arms tightly wrapped around her backpack.

.....

A sharp pain in her stomach rouses her from her sleep and she slowly opens her eyes, another flash of pain hitting her neck and she winces.

Massaging the spot slowly, she sits up, wiping at the corner of her lips before sitting up. The building looked a bit empty. Some of the people Abby had seen the previous night were gone, just a few others who were silently busy doing one thing or the other.

She pushes herself off the table and stretches her stiff limbs. "Someone slept well," comes a smooth voice beside her and she spins around. It was the good looking guy from the previous night. With the sun now up, Abby could spot his facial features off clearly. His hair was in fact hazelnut brown and his eyes were green. A slight cut could be seen on his upper lip.

"I'm Justin," he says, stretching out his good hand for a handshake. "I'm Abby," she replies, shaking his hand. "How long have you guys been here?" she blurts out. His face hardens a bit and then softens, "About two weeks now. I don't really know everyone here, just a few of them, " he replies. Abby nods in assimilation. "So you're all... homeless or what?". He looks at her, an amused expression on his face, before looking away, an unreadable glint in his eyes.

"Well not all of us. Some of us are just running from things while others are just, like you said, homeless," he replies softly. He glances down at his feet.

"What are you running from?" she asks and almost immediately, she spots...fear?

.......

"Has anyone found anything yet?!" Richard yells, his hands balled into fists. Ever since Abby had left, he hadn't been the same. He had been snapping at everyone and even putting bullets in some of his workers heads. If anyone was smart enough, they'd stay off his path.

Now that Abby had disappeared, he couldn't phantom what could happen next. Would she rat him out to the police? He didn't know. Being the most feared and wanted criminal in the United States meant that no one needed to know his location no matter what. The cops had been after him for years but never found him and now with one person missing, he could feel judgment day approaching.

After he had left the tracking device under Christie's car. he had gone back to HQ and began to monitor their movements. The last place he knew they had stopped was at a gas station off the highway but when he and his men had gone there to check if they were there, they'd found nothing but an empty gas station and a boring cashier.

"I think I have a suggestion," Samuel says. "You think or you have?" Richard seeths. " I have... We could get a record of Christie and her relatives. From the last known location we knew they were at, it looks like they were on their way out of Chicago and towards either Kentucky or Wisconsin. If we can get the names of her relatives; cousins, sisters, uncles or aunts, we can find out their address and then anyone that's in any surrounding state, we can check that out. "

Richard rubs his chin thoughtfully and nods, his demeanour suddenly calm. "Good thinking. Run a scan on all her relatives and give me a report once you're done. You can all leave," he replies.

.....

Abby tosses the last potato chip into her mouth and throws the empty wrapper into a trash can. The building was now empty and she was the only person in it. Justin had left, saying that he was going to get something important and would be back in less than hour but it had been three hours now and there wasn't a sign of him anywhere.

Abby had even begun to wonder if he was in trouble but keeping in mind that her own case was worse, she decided not to bother herself.

She pushes herself off her usual spot, the table and trudges out of the building. As she walked down the streets, the cold wind ushered in by the storm last night, caresses her hands, crawling into her sleeves and she shivers. As she comes to stop in front of a traffic light, she spots a familiar pair of green eyes staring at her.

It was a man dressed in a white flannel shirt which made his pale skin look even paler. His black hair was cut into a stylish manner. The man frowns at her, trying to remember where he had also seen that face and suddenly Abby's eyes widen in shock and recognition.

Simon?!

Her mouth flies open and she begins to back away, ignorant of the stares she was receiving. She makes a dash back into the building and shuts the door behind her, her vision suddenly becoming blurry. Of all the people Abby had hoped to see, Simon would have been the last.

Clutching at her backpack, she heads towards the table and sits down, pulling her legs up to her chest and hugging it tightly. Her eyes wide in shock.

Suddenly the door swings open almost quietly and a head peeks in.

"Abby?"

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