She ran as fast as she could across the cold sand. They weren’t that far behind her now because she had tripped over a stupid stick. If only she had the strength to run faster! Ahead of her, she saw some rocks. There was a way to get around them but an idea sprang into her head. She reached the rocks and without thinking, put her idea into motion. She jumped up and started climbing. She had always been a good rock climber and now was her only chance to get away. It was harder than she thought. Finally, she made it to the top just as the men reached the bottom. One started climbing and motioned the other to run around the other side, to try to cut her off, but before their plan could happen, showers of rocks came tumbling towards their heads. The man who was climbing screamed and jumped off, landing feet first on the others head.

The woman didn’t have time to witness the scene. She had to get out of there as soon as possible. She ran. She ran for all that she was worth and didn’t look back. Soon the highway came to view and she slowed her pace to a brisk walk. Not that many cars were on the road now, considering it was almost one in the morning. She looked around. No one was in sight except for a pair of car headlights in the distance. Good. She started running again. She didn’t know where she was and didn’t know where the road would lead her. She didn’t care. As long as the road didn’t lead her to death itself, she was fine. The sound of the car came to her ears. Two questions came to her head. Should she jump out of view, or should she flag it down and get it to stop for her? There would be the chance that it could be a highway kidnapper or an enemy, or there would be a slight chance that it would stop for her and bring her into town. She decided on the latter. She turned around and started waving her arms. To her surprise, the car stopped and the driver rolled down the window.

“What is a woman like you doing out this late?” The driver asked. It was an older man, maybe around sixty, that was wearing a baseball cap and a red sweatshirt.

She had to think up a lie. “I was on my way to L.A. but my car broke down about ten miles back. Do you think I could get a lift into town?”

“Sure thing. Come on around to the other side and hop on in.”

“Okay, great,” she said as she made her way around. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two figures running along the side of the road.

“Okay, are you all buckled in?” he asked. She quick buckled herself. “All right, let’s go.” He pushed on the gas pedal and the woman looked behind her. The two silhouettes were quickly diminishing into the blackness.

“By the way,” the man said, “my name’s Teddy. What’s yours?”

She thought of a name. “Shelby.”

“That’s a pretty name. We don’t get many of those around here.”

“Thanks. It was my Grandmothers name,” she lied. They were quiet for a while.

“So,” Shelby said, breaking the silence, “what are you doing out this late?”

“Me? Oh, just thought I’d take a little drive. When I can’t get to sleep that’s what I usually do. Scares my wife half to death if she wakes up in the middle of the night and finds I’m not there, though.” Shelby laughed. It was the first time she had laughed at anything in a long time. It felt good.

Twenty minutes later, they saw a sign telling them that the next town was two miles away.

“Well,” said Teddy, “we’re almost there.”

“Yep, sure looks like it. Thank you so much for the lift.”

“Oh no problem. I had nothing else to do but go to sleep anyway. That’s never much fun.” Shelby laughed again.

At Motel 8, Teddy and Shelby said their goodbyes.

“Here,” Shelby said to Teddy through the window. In her hand was a ten dollar bill.

“Oh no,” he replied, pushing her hand away, “You gave me someone to talk to and that’s good enough.”

“Well, thanks again.”

“No problem. You take care now.”

“I will. Bye!” She watched Teddy drive away. As soon as he was out of sight, she turned around and faced the motel. It was time for her to get some sleep.

The next morning, ‘Shelby’ checked out of the motel after grabbing some breakfast from the buffet. She wasn’t sure where to go next. All she knew was that she had to get far away from this town. She bought a map from the small gift shop and scanned through it. She decided that the bus stop was the best place to go first. She flagged down a taxi and told him where to go. As soon as they arrived, she paid the taxi