The wall was high. It looked down on Matt like a school yard bully, leaning in like it was about to insult his mother. Why is it, he pondered fatalistically, that when faced with running away from men with guns, one must always find oneself confronted with a dead end? The men would arrive soon, he could hear their running feet, finally knowing what dead sounded like. The first shadow rounded the corner, followed by the end of a snub-nosed shot gun. The first bullet would soon be streaking towards him, bringing an end to the endless round of fuck-ups that he called life.

But if it all ended at this point there would be no need for me to be telling you this story, and so the reader will be pleased to know that a brief momentette before the first gun wielding psychopath rounded the corner, a previously unnoticed (or previously non-existent, one can’t be sure) door opened, and Matt was pulled to safety by a luminously beautiful redhead. She was holding a large mug of tea, and grinned in the dark.

“Fresh blood”, she murmured.

“Oh fuck”, said Matt. The girl let out a low laugh and pulled him away from the door. She listened carefully for a moment, then began walking back down the corridor they were standing in.

“Don’t worry, precious!, she called back over her shoulder. “Who are you, and what did you do?”

“I’m Matt and I’ve fucked up.” He began to follow her. She was only small, he thought. If she is a psycho, I’ve got this one.

“I gathered that.” The corridor widened into a large, low ceiling-ed room. There were four sofas arranged in a square in the centre. She gestured him to sit.

“Do you want some tea?”

“Errm, yes please?” He said. Then had a thought. “Hang on, how did you know I was out there?”

The girl flicked a switch, illuminating a kitchen just off the main room. A kettle began to boil. Matt realised, with a certain twinge of apprehension, that there weren’t any windows.

“The CCTV told me”, came the eventual reply.

Matt looked around, sure enough in the corner were four computer monitors, showing different sides of the building. He could see his would-be murderers conferring on one of the monitors. and flicked a casual V at the screen. The girl emerged bearing mugs of tea, and sat opposite him.