Clumsily, Jane vaulted the central reservation as another dart whistled past her head. Fatigue and panic finally took hold, and she stumbled forward. Jane knew she needed to find a safe place to rest. If her pursuer didn’t catch up to her soon, her own clumsiness would.
A large red blur sped past her (Too close!), its angry horn brought her back to the present even as the sound and taillights faded into the late evening darkness. A dizzying assault of lights, horns and engines surrounded her, and the cacophony rooted her to the spot. Fighting the urge to curl up right there at the roadside, she darted between the cars and once across the hard shoulder slid hurriedly down the bank that curved away from the road to a wide ditch.
Daring another look, Jane lifted her head level with the road and strained to look between each flurry of cars for the source of the projectiles. She blinked the sweat from her eyes and scraped her dark hair back purposefully.
On the far side of the dual carriageway a tall and wiry figure dropped to the pavement from the bridge above. In one fluid movement the figure lifted a long pipe to its shoulder and with the other hand inserted a small dart from a small black satchel. With a flick of its forearm the pipe became a brief blur and the dart embedded itself in the concrete pillar inches from Jane’s head. In the time it took Jane to look back the figure had repeated the move twice more and two more darts hit the pillar, each closer to Jane than the last. As the attacker rose to full height the dark robe blew open in the night wind, revealing a multitude of intricate electric blue hieroglyphs covering the length of the dark suit and the lining of the cloak. The rain drenched pavement and benches were suddenly bathed in the mesmerising blue light, and then dark once again.
Crouching again, the pursuer sprang forward, and with a second bound was at the central reservation and preparing to leap again. Jane spun on her heels, slid down the remainder of the bank and sprinted along the narrow ditch into the immediate darkness of the underground channel.
Carry On The Story
What will happen next?
How will Jane get away from the figure casing her?
How will you add more detail about both characters during the chase, without breaking the excitement and urgency of the moment?
How will you tell the reader why she is being chased?
Considerations
How will you use the clues about the hunter’s description to build a more detailed picture of the character?
How can you use the thoughts in Jane’s head to move the story forward?
As the story continues, will you introduce details that set it in the current time and reality, or will you introduce futuristic, science fiction or fantasy elements as well?
Next Step Ideas
Draft a timeline of what will happen, or storyboard a plan.
Brainstorm all the great descriptive language you will use for the locations, the unusual characters, the exciting language that will describe movements, actions and feelings.
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