Quietly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled himself for what he knew was coming. In the shadows, he could see the shadowy figure of the giant man towering over him and holding the big knife above him. He was so close he could feel the man’s hot, smoky breath on his face. “W-What?” Quiggly stammered out, his eyes widening. “I’m the one who hired you,” the figure chuckled. “No! I don’t work for you!” Quiggly protested. “Oh, but you will,” said the giant, his voice reverberating through Quiggly’s brain and rattling his heart as he remembered the words of the giant. “Do as you’re told or you get hurt.” “What did you say?” Quiggly yelled, his heart pounding harder. But the figure merely chuckled again as he reached into his pocket and withdrew a thin rod and handed it to Quiggly. “You won’t like this,” the man whispered, before stepping back into the shadows. Quiggly looked at the wooden stick in his hand and a thought flashed through his mind. The giant had meant for this to happen. The only question was, would he succeed? Dashing away from the shadows, Quiggly hurried back toward the road. Suddenly he could hear the sound of car engines coming closer and closer, and soon he could feel the heavy thumping of cars on the road, vibrating his entire body and making his eyes feel even heavier than they were. Quickly and silently, Quiggly darted up to a tree and tried to pull out some more clothes that he could put on. He quickly yanked a pair of old jeans up over his legs and pulled a hoodie over his head. With his clothes pulled on as quickly as he could, Quiggly was ready. He waited there, hidden behind the tree, watching as the car engines slowly passed him by, coming closer and closer. Soon, two more cars could be seen approaching him, and two more were passing behind him. Quiggly quickly put his head down and took off, darting across the street toward the opposite side and running on foot across a vacant lot and across a field until he was out of sight from the street. He could hear footsteps behind him, and he knew it was time. He took out the wooden stick he had gotten from the giant and started to run, the stick in one hand and his hoodie in the other, as he desperately tried to hide from his pursuers. Before he knew it, he was out of the yard of the house and running across the streets of the residential neighborhood. Quiggly glanced back and was surprised to see the two men had stopped running and were now following him on foot and yelling as they came. Quiggly didn’t know what was going to happen to him. A wave of terror swelled inside him, but he also remembered the giant’s words. The men behind him would not be able to catch up with him if he remained calm. It was now or never. He ran faster and faster, his feet slapping against the asphalt as the men behind him continued to scream and yell and chase him through the streets. Before Quiggly knew it, the houses were behind him, and he found himself in a busy, densely populated residential neighborhood. People milled about the streets, but the men behind him stopped running and simply walked. Quiggly heard one of them mutter to the other, “He’s too fast, we’ll never catch him!” “Yeah, but he’s making it easy on us,” the other man chuckled. At that moment, Quiggly, feeling sick to his stomach, dropped his hoodie and the wooden stick, and started running through the neighborhood, trying to get away from his pursuers as fast as he could. The men started to chase him through the neighborhood, yelling at him to stop. Quiggly ran from tree to tree and through narrow alleys, his head ducking down and his eyes looking up to see if anyone was in his way. He could tell they were gaining on him, but at least he still had an escape route and a hiding spot. Suddenly, the sound of sirens could be heard. The two men stopped chasing Quiggly and looked at each other, and a smile crossed the first man’s face. “That’s great,” he said. “I’m glad he’s getting away,” he said. The other man nodded and sighed, feeling a sense of relief knowing that the giant had been able to pull off his plans. Quiggly continued running, and in a panic he quickly looked over his shoulder at the men chasing him, but they were no longer visible. A siren could be heard approaching, and the men quickly turned around and ran back into the shadows. Quiggly dared not look over his shoulder again. He could not afford to lose concentration, and he knew if he did, the chase would be on all over again. He was on his own now. If he could just make it to the end of the street, maybe then he could find an escape route, or at least slow his pursuers down. After a few more turns through the deserted streets, Quiggly reached an intersection. A sign told him which way to go, and Quiggly ran faster and faster, hoping the siren would be behind him. Suddenly, he was aware of the sound of a car approaching from the other side of the street, and it slowed down to let him by. He didn’t have to look over his shoulder to know it was the police. He could hear the siren drawing nearer as it came around the bend in the road, and the police cruiser seemed to come to a full stop just a few feet in front of him. He glanced over his shoulder and watched as the two men that he had followed from the house emerged from the shadows behind the police car. “It’s them!” Quiggly heard one man yell. “After him!” The police car quickly began to move off, leaving Quiggly behind. His first thought was, What am I supposed to do now? He quickly ran down the street and down the block, until he was safely out of sight from the police. He wasn’t worried about them, though. He had the feeling they weren’t the only ones looking for him. The men that he had been chasing for so long were after him. As he continued to run, he could see the man again. He was across the street, and when he looked at him Quiggly’s heart stopped as he knew who it was. The tall man in the yellow sweatshirt and hoodie appeared to be a few inches shorter than Quiggly, and he was holding the wooden stick he had gotten from the giant in his hand. Once again, the man had his back to Quiggly and was calmly talking with a group of three other men. They were standing in the middle of the street, blocking any easy escape route. With no time to do anything, Quiggly ran as fast as he could. He ran through the yard of a house and across the street, heading down the short hill behind a row of houses. He desperately hoped that the giant had hired someone else to help him, but he didn’t really want to waste time thinking about that. He had to get away. He took off running across the street, jumping over a short wrought iron fence as a car drove by. He heard the driver shout at him, and he darted into a backyard, only to find the backyard was a short block in the opposite direction from the direction he was running. He turned around, feeling lost and frustrated. After a few minutes of walking in circles, he began to notice more signs directing him in a particular direction. He was finally getting close to the freeway he had been following, and he started to see signs that said gas stations and rest stops on the other side. He quickly stopped and began to pull his clothes off, taking his hoodie off first, and realizing he needed more time to complete this act. He looked at his timepiece on his watch, and it was almost 1:00 a.m. For the first time since he had gotten to this point in his ordeal, Quiggly wondered what the giant had planned to do to him. Would he ever see his parents and his family again? Would he go to jail? Would he ever see his girlfriend again? As the thoughts of his family and his life came flooding through his mind, he threw off his hoodie and threw on his jeans. Just then, the sound of an approaching car could be heard. Quiggly stared at it and felt his heart skip a beat. If the police were going to be after him, then the giant would have to stay with him until they got here. Feeling suddenly weary, Quiggly removed his shirt and threw it on, covering up as much of himself as he could. He slowly pulled his jeans up over his legs and zipped them up. He was ready. He turned around and the tall man in the yellow hoodie looked over at him, his eyebrows furrowed and a stern look on his face. Quiggly stared at him and realized how truly tiny he was, and how weak the man looked. For the first time, he was afraid of the giant, and he felt angry at the