Here's a bit more of that Blood Run story.

Blood Run 2

Eye Hawks were circling above so they kept to the shadows, scrambling from one doorway to another. Hiding in shadows. The older girl holding her younger brothers hand. And in their ears they could hear the gentle pit pat of trailing feet and the frightening whirr just above them.

Today the girl had grown up. It came upon her the night before, bold as brass, sat in the room with her as she slept and made itself known when she woke. She pulled her little brother along, his little self trailing behind desperate to keep up. They didn't talk.

The windows at ground level were blank some shuttered and some with blinds down. As was the way in the early hours. And as she drove them on she could see her parents helplessly looking on. The smaller brother running on with eyes to the floor careful not to trip.

Her back was getting tired. The little sister was weighing her down. To an adult she would have me knee high to a grasshopper but to her she was half her height and as she had never been close she had never made a thing of lifting her. Her body was unpractised for her. There was something of the new parent about her now, kind of lost and unknowing.

I have to stop his little voice said.
She came to a halt. We have to keep going.
I need a rest. And wide eyes looked at her.
But they might catch us.
He looked up and said that the Eye Hawks had gone.

She saw that the sky was clear but something in her heart said don't stop. But her back was aching. She looked up and down. The street was narrow and dark. There was an alley.

We'll rest down there.

He wasn't convinced. When he slept these were the places that he avoided.

We have to get out of the way, she said, where no-one will find us.

She pulled him to the edge of it and they looked down. It was in shadow and cold and damp but there was no choice she said to him. Half way down was a dumpster.

We can hide behind that she said.
Ok.

They took one look behind them stepped into the half dark.

It's ok, it's ok, she said to him. He held her hand tight. The little one held on her collar. There was a wind down there. The dumpster became a giant over them.

She took the girl off her back. You have to stay in she told her. She did not dare to let her out because the girl had spirit and she was too young to understand the peril they had found themselves in. But her little legs were kicking. She was about to scream. Please, please I daren't . But her face was screwing up.

Ok. Ok.

The little boy sat on the floor behind the dumpster, away from the view of the street.

The Elder girl lifted her sister from the pack. And the three sat side by side together.

What was that?
What?
Sssh.

There were feet and voices. There was banging on doors. There were tired voices being woken as if from the frost.

Her small heart began to beat fast. She held her brother close, the little one was between them.

Don't worry she said it will be fine. She sounded like her mother. Even so it was obvious that she was scared and this kept them quiet. The voices were moving down the street. There were Hawk Eyes with them too.

Under here, he said.
No we won't fit.
If we were smaller we might.
Yes.

And she wished a door would open in the wall. She wished hard for it but nothing.

The voices were getting closer.

All three of them quiet.

Then they heard someone running they heard shouting. Voices screaming and then a series of bangs, which made them jump and cry of pain, then calls for silence and keep back, get back, it's all over.

She was squeezing them so tight.

A woman's voice was wailing. And then there were two more violent cracks and then silence.

The three children were frozen. They sat silent for two hours. By the time they emerged it was all over and the world had moved on. When they crept out into the street the only evidence was where there was blood. People were going about their business.

What happened, he asked?
I don't know.
He held onto her hand.
Come on.
Where are we going?
She looked ahead and just said there.