CHAPTER 1
WHY SHE STARTED RUNNING
From where she was placed in the tower, she could only see a couple of feet out the window. She couldn’t move or they would see her, the Watchers. She had to get out before they caught her, or she would have to live the life she was trying so hard to escape from. Despite the fact that she was 50 stories off the ground, she jumped out of the window. As she flew through the air, the smog dissipated around her, and the river became clear. The chill of the water below froze her. The water consumed her whole body and mind. She started to panic and frantically tried to swim. She grabbed hold of a pipe that lead to the surface. She slowly rose to the top of the river, and she started gasping for air. She knew that the Watchers couldn’t see her here, there was a thick layer covering the river bank from sight. No one ever used the river because it didn’t flow, it was stagnant.
She knew of no one that she could trust, because she grew up in a tower, locked up for safe keeping. But growing up alone had its advantages, because you have to learn how to survive without other help than your own. Her mother had died of her birth, but she was never told. She was the Diplomats daughter, the only one who was able to take over for her father, the only one of pure blood. The only reason she was running is the fact that her father would make her marry someone soon so that she could rule. But ruling wasn’t in her future. Her name was Melanie, a name her father had given her, it meant dark. Melanie had heard stories that the guards had told about a place of refuge under the city. A place of color and light, where no one ruled and no one was forced to be someone they didn’t want to be. This is where she was headed, or so she thought.


CHAPTER 2
MAKING HER OWN PATH
Yes, she was a leader, but she didn’t want to be hated by those who would have to trust her most. Melanie lived in a city called Dystopia, an older word meaning a place where fear lives in the hearts of the locals. That word accurately described all of Dystopia, the darkness had consumed all of the souls of the people who lived there, even all of the girl’s family. Her mother never wanted to be there, Melanie wasn’t meant to live the life she did, and neither was the girl, and she knew this. The fear of the life her father wanted for her was overwhelming. A life meant for nobody in the city because of all of the cruelty. The Watchers killed anyone they wanted for fun, and Melanie was there number one target.
She got out of the river and attempted to dry herself off. All she had was an old one-strap bag and a staff that she had found in the river. This was all that she had ever had, the clothes were made of fabric that the soldier John had bought her for her birthdays. He was nice and sweet, he taught her all about what was happening in the city and what her father’s plan was for her. John was the one who let her escape from the tower and was probably being tortured by Melanie’s father. Melanie was frightened by this; John was her only true friend. He was either dead or dying and there was nothing she could do about it. Melanie was strong and so she carried on toward the land.
She had no choice but to follow the tunnels as far as they went. She hadn’t heard the exact location of the land, but she knew it had to be connected to the tunnels, that’s how the locals got there before the End. The End was when all of the money was burned and the locals started being hunted by the Watchers. The Watchers are a group of mutated humans that feed on people like Melanie. They were like wolves, rabid hunters all day and all might. Melanie had always wondered where they came from, and she soon would find out.
As she slowly wandered through the pitch black tunnels, she could start to hear machines working, like metal scraping across a grinder. She followed the sound until she came across a door in the tunnel wall. It was opened and she burst through it, not knowing what was on the other side. When Melanie saw the sight of the locals being made into the Watchers, she slammed the door back and started to run. Melanie started to realize what happened to John, now that he had let her escape. John had become one of them. He had become a machine of death and evil, made by her father in way of finding her. She thought of all of the others that had been changed, the people she may have met once that where now the only thing she feared more than her father.



CHAPTER 3
THE LAND OF THE LIGHT
She fell asleep near the end of the tunnels, but when she woke up, she found herself surrounded by light and color. She had made it! All the way to the land of the light. The land that she had dreamed of her whole life and it was too good. It was too easy; it had to be a trick. The Watchers must have caught her and brought her back to Dystopia. But how could they have, she was hidden in the tunnels when she fell asleep and she would have heard them opening the door that they were inside of. But this didn’t matter now; she had to find out where she was.
Melanie stumbled around when she started to walk because she wasn’t used to the soft, green grass beneath her feet. She squinted her eyes because she wasn’t used to natural sunlight, only the harsh, artificial light that she was raised seeing. The thought of John’s kind word, spinning through her head caused her to fall into a small bed of moss. Melanie felt a sensation of relief after she ran her little hands through the soft fur of the moss. The green so opaque and the scent of fresh, newly growing and all natural, consumed her mind and drove her crazy. This was too much for her brain to handle at once. She could hear the sound of people, talking and singing. There was music filling the air as she stood.
Melanie followed the melodic noise until she found a small village. There were so many people laughing and happy, she stuck out like a sore thumb. While they were dressed in warm summer colors, Melanie was dressed in a black body suit. This was where she was meant to be and she knew it. And all she had to do was to not get caught.