A Bit Of A Lark

by Maryam in A Land Of Desert And Sun

** This story will be written for no apparent reason; chances are, it'll come across as being a bit raving, but :) **

She - needed - to - breathe -

Was the only thought darting through her brain. Her consciousness could hardly be called so - her mind, though it felt like it was in high overdrive, was completely blank, focused on only one thing -
Getting away.
She swerved and dodged the bullets whizzing past her and jumped over tiny pools of water that occasionally appeared in front of her, looking like collected snatches of moonlight.
But this was her only thought. Her only prayer. Her only goal.
To get away from these chasing her - to escape - to breathe.

Her reflexes got her wrong - she flew outright into a tree branch; a tingling sensation crept over her face as she stumbled once but regained her stride, not looking behind her. A moist feeling became known on her cheek - instinctively, without giving it even a second thought, it was blood. Wiping it away with the kefiyyeh she had around her neck - Ahmad's kefiyyeh - she stopped. She had to. Her nerves and breath were in rags, and unless Israelis had superhuman power along with the mechanical kind, they would be tired too.
Hopefully. They were perhaps ten; she was one, having been separated from her mother, Rabia, and two sisters and younger brother not too long ago. As for Ahmad -
She bit the inside of her cheek. Her brother. Her older brother. The brother that was -

Her thought were abruptly snatched away from her, and her brain went once more into the all-too-familiar drive -

The Hunted.