Pursuit

**Chapter One**

The relentless downpour lashed against the dense foliage, forcing the fertile shrubbery to bend at the waist under the assault of large, heavy raindrops. A solitary black silhouette pushed forward through the deluge, oblivious to the frantic shouts that chased him.

"Fuck! How the hell did he get out?!" a voice bellowed, struggling against the drumming rain.

"That's not what matters now. What matters is that we catch up to him and put him back before that person comes!" another man roared, his voice strained. The chase was made more irksome by the seemingly weak figure ahead, who somehow maintained an improbable speed on the slick, wet ground.

A faint, weak mutter cut through the din from behind the group, bringing the pursuit to an abrupt halt. "B-but… but isn't that my bag that I was going to use for camping next week?".

Silence hung heavy for a few seconds before one of the men spoke. "What? What do you mean your bag?".

"…Umm, boss, I think he means the one he said he was going to use for vacation," another stammered.

The leader's eyes widened in disbelief. "You mean to say that bag that has a gun in it? Your gun, at that??".

"Ye…yes," the man conceded.

"Are you crazy?!" The leader whipped his head around, fury contorting his face as he stared at the idiot responsible for such a colossal blunder.

Just as their rather important discussion reached a crescendo, a message came through. "Boss, I… I got a message from number six saying that he's searching for the kid".

"Damnit! Chase him quick!" The halted pursuit resumed with renewed\, desperate speed. The man with the cellphone checked the time the message was sent – exactly ten minutes ago\, before the rain had started. The victim of the stolen bag\, faintly bleeding from a head injury he'd sustained earlier\, offered a weak apology\, "I apologize for causing trouble\, boss". He'd been hit after dropping the bag and leaving his room in the sprawling house\, big enough for fifty people\, where the rule was strict: the young man must not leave his room\, much less the gate. And now\, not only had the young man fled\, but he’d also taken a bag with *his* gun inside.

"Hey, 2, what were you going to say?"

As if reading his mind, the second-in-command from the Eagle Clan, known as ‘2’, blurted out simultaneously with the bag’s victim: "Doesn't that path head towards the cliff?".

They glanced forward just in time to witness the black figure slide, then vanish from their line of sight.

"Do you think he's dead?".

"Probably," came the nonchalant reply.

"You little fucks, we need to go back immediately and act like we saw nothing. Forget there was ever a bag. After all, he was going to get killed when that man came, just see it as us not having his blood on our hands".

Only a fool would stop when being chased. The cliff edge materialized just as Hao Yu missed the precise timing to step on a flat space, sending him tumbling headlong over the precipice.

"Ahhhh!" The cry tore from his throat. **BANG!** A searing pain shot through his side\, and then darkness consumed him.

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