Matt braced himself under the tall, cool grass and tried not to breathe. His thoughts were racing for a plan, a distraction, anything.

The clouds just stared back. None of the endings his vivid imagination conjured were happy. If the guys with guns didn’t see him hiding feebly, he might be able to wait them out. If they did, however…

He heard the footsteps of two men now, quickly moving around the corner. They must have seen him enter the large culvert. He buried his shoulders deeper into the ground and wished to disappear — the same way he’d always wanted as a kid, studying magic tricks, indulging a silent disappointment when he found they weren’t real.

Normally, he would’ve been happy to lay in just such a spot and gaze upwards. The movement of the clouds could’ve entertained him for the entire afternoon. Maybe if he could just forget everything from the past few days and mentally escape, it wouldn’t matter what they did to him. Maybe he could pass away with a smile right here.

He thought he saw a horse in the clouds, just for a moment. A brilliant, enormous thing, snorting and pawing at the sky, completely unafraid. It looked him square in the eye, threatening to trample the earth and his pursuers below.

Another sound, further now, but still from the concrete just thirty feet away, and the flurry of panic took over again. Who where they? What did they want with him? Is this happening because he saw what went on behind Danny’s shop last night? Could he get away with his life? More importantly, if he did make it out, what were the odds of surviving if they came at him again?

“No time to think ahead of yourself now,” he almost spoke. No opportunity even to look up and make sure they were gone. A breath knocked at the door of his throat, willing to force its way out. He blinked once and allowed it to exit, slowly.