The Pursued

Written for the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge with a word limit of 300.

The prompts: This story must contain the words: trail, ticket, cash

The Pursued

The spotted trail of blood in the snow was like a big sign that said, He went that-a-way.

The large cloaked man knew he needed to put some distance between himself and them. There was no time to zig-zag across town in hopes of throwing his pursuers off. A fast, straight line heading anywhere but here was his only hope.

Approaching the train station, he tried to hide his limp. The blood was a bit of a problem. The night was dark but any cursory glance would reveal his injuries. Hopefully, he could stay in the shadows until the last minute. He waited patiently in a dark corner of the station until the ticket line was empty then quickly strode over and shoved a fist full of cash through to the teller.

“One-way to Nome.”

“The next train to Nome leaves in thirty minutes.”

With a casual smile, he said that would be fine. Collecting his change, he walked back over to the shadows where he could collapse without drawing attention to himself. Medical attention was as needed as it was out of the question. They knew he was hurt. There would be no doctors for him tonight. There was not much he could do other than wait and hope he didn’t bleed out.

He saw them first. It was hard to miss the Alien Counter Taskforce uniforms. One pointed to some purple goo on the station floor while another brought a Geiger Counter into play. The familiar static confirmed what they already knew.

They followed the trail to the dark corner; weapons drawn.

He watched them watching him as his train carried him out of the station. The express would arrive in Nome in six hours. That would be plenty of time to come up with Plan B.