The holding cell that the guards had directed us to was dark and cold and lonely. There was a stench in the air, one that reminded me of rotting food. The walls were made of stone and the entrance was a barred door. It looked like castle dungeons that were in books my mom had sometimes read to me. In the books the hero was kept in the dungeon and would find some igneous way to escape. I had a feeling that there might not be any escaping for Koura and me.

When I could, I would steel glances at her, she had a look of terror in her eyes. Even when she noticed me looking she said nothing. If she thought that living on the run was hard then she wouldn’t stand a chance as to what awaited in the next room. The room that we heard muffled laughter in, the room where the pounding made us jump, the room where our torcher was waiting for us with whatever cruel punishments it carried.


Koura came over to sit next to me,” You need to do it now.” She whispered in my ear.

“What are you talking about?” I whispered back to her.
“What you have been thinking about doing to me. I see the way you look at me. You think that I’ll tell them something of importance. You think that there is only one way to stop me from being hurt and stopping me from saying anything. So do it, it would be simple, I wouldn’t resist, all you have to do is wrap your fingers around my neck and squeeze until I don’t move.”
I look at her with guilt all over my face. Because I have been thinking about that option.
“Don’t feel bad, if the roles were reversed I would do it to you.” The way she says this isn’t with any sort of bitterness but genuine feeling. It was the voice that I had used when I had saved her from her dad, the voice you use when someone you care about gets hurt and you try to comfort them.” Just do it.”
“I…I…I… I cant.” I quietly confess.
“I know.” She said quietly and I watched her return to her corner of the cell.
When the guards return the pain will begin, there will be no stopping them, then, after they get what they want, death will take us with her welcoming hands. It is along time before the guards do come. But they do. And when they do they don’t even look at me, its Koura that they take.
I don’t know what form of torture they will lay onto her; I can hear no screams from the room that they took her to. When she returns she does not seamed harmed at all. In fact she seams to have an overly friendly dispossession this sets off alarm. “What did they do to you?” I ask.
“They fed me,” she says and as if to prove my suspicion she adds, “which is more than I can say you did.” For a moment I can tell that she can see the pure hurt on my face, and then I realize that’s what they did to her. Fill her head with lies; twist her story around so I was the bad guy. When she sees this to I can see the shock has over powered her face. The only thing I do is nod my head to show her that I know what happened in there. She retreats to her corner.
Then they come for me. My form of torture is not as pleasant as Koura’s, not nearly. They throw me in a small room and the interrogation begins, they ask me a question through an un seen speaker then if I don’t answer they make the room walls close in on me then they pull them apart and do it all over again. Not once do I say a word. Not once do I scream in pain. Not once do I beg for mercy. They stop for a while during which a man comes in to the room.
“Hello, Hunter how is your day going?” there is something familiar about this man, he’s not working for the government, or the guards that captured Koura and me. But I play the part so he doesn’t know that.
“It was fine until you and your little FBI goons showed up. And how do you know my name any way?” I ask trying to place this man.
“Oh Hunter you know that I am not with the ‘goons’, as you call them, I am with no one really. But I have known you, and your story your whole life.”
What? This man is confusing me. How did he get in here if he’s not FBI? Why is he here in the first place and did he just say that he’s been following me my whole life? Who is this guy? Then I have an idea. They’re playing me. This dude knows nothing about me. Or if he does its only things that they have in my file. But when I’m sure of this he leans in real close to me and whispers in to my ear.
“In five minuets time the ‘goons’ will go on a lunch break this area will be unguarded for 30 minuets. When I leave I will slip Koura the master key after she gets you out make your way to the floor above here there is going to be a window you are to climb out on to the ledge and to the next building over after that you climb down the fire escape of that building. And do not under any circumstances go anywhere the west side of town. Under stand?”
I can only nod my head yes as he walks out of the room. Taking his mysteries with him. Five minuets later Koura is bursting through the door. “Did he talk to you too?” she asked and again I only nod my head, lost in the confusion, trying to infer why he was helping us and, more importantly, who he was. But the attention goes to Koura and making our escape.
The mental map that I had made while the strange man was plotting our disappearances made me only more confused as Koura and I try to gather our bearings in this maze of a building. The halls had no elevators and hardly any stairs. Then I remember something. “Come on Koura, I know how we are going to get to the next floor.” We run back to the interrogation area. Just as I had remembered there, next to the holding cell that I was in was a ladder. The ‘goons’ have a very complex way to get from one place to anther. But I guess that’s why they left us unguarded, not only is it that we weren’t likely to escape but also the rooms are so hard to navigate that they would probably find us before we got outside.
The next floor was an exact replica of the first floor. Twists and turns, but now there were hallways that were dead-ended or ones that looped around. I look at a clock. Five more minuets, then our times up. I see no sign of light, or a window. Just then, BANG!!! There’s an explosion that sends Koura and I flying backwards. I look up and see that a window had just been made, and this is to be our great escape.

When Koura and I step out side its night we are disorientated. Then I remember what it was that we were supposed to do. ‘Go to the roof of the next building and climb down the fire escape’ I quoted I my head. When I look there is only one way to the next building. The ledge.

We set off. It’s a thin narrow ledge with hardly any thing to grab on to. This proves to be a problem. There is no way that we can walk on it. So instead we hold on to the ledge with our hands and let our bodies dangle off the side. We slowly make progress, one hand at a time it reminds me of what little kids call monkey bars, on the playground. We reach the next building and detach from our little jungle gym and run.

By the time that we reach the ground it’s starting to rain. We have nowhere to go. We have no way to get warm. And now we have no bargaining chip (the last thing will be the biggest problem). What do we do now? We find shelter. We run a block down, to the nearest vacant building. I have nothing to protect my skin as I smash the glass with my bare hand.

It’s cold and damp and drafty in this little vacant building. Koura attempts to pull the glass from my hand. But she can’t stand the sight of blood. And she shakes so bad that I tell her that I can handle it on my own. We make a fire in the room; the heat of it wards off some of the cold. But not enough. We decide to take turns on watch. When I wake for my watch the fire is nearly dead. I feed it with the last stack of books that has fueled it through the night. It hasn’t stopped raining in fact it looks worse then it did before. I look to Koura who fell asleep soon after she woke me, she is shivering and I hear her stomach howl. We have no food. We have no money. And our chances of survival are slim to none. “This,” I say to the emptiness, ”Is not what was suppose to happen.”

Quietly I slip out into the cold rain. I watch in the shadows until I spot my victim. A man in his 50s. Not too much trouble, but not an elderly women either. I follow him for two blocks and when he turns to ask me why, I strike. Not hard enough to kill. But enough to knock him out. I turn him over and take what little bit of money he had. I have what I need the last contents of his wallet. 20 bucks. If we use this right it can last a week. I then put him in a safe dry place so when he wakes he wont be soaking or have the chance of being kicked in the middle if the sidewalk.

When Koura wakes the meager breakfast of eggs and one slice of bacon is cooked and waiting for her. ” Eat.” I tell her. ”I’m not hungry.”

“How did you get this?” she asks.

“I’m not proud of it, but we had to eat.” There’s a long pause before speak again, “I had to mug a man for it.”

She nodes her head and eats. The breakfast may be small but after not eating for a long time she’s full and cant eat any more by the time she finishes. I smile at her as I see the life come back into her face. ”What do we do today?” She asks.

“Today we find other runners and hope for the best.” I tell her… Is this all that I can do now? I wonder to myself. Hope for the best? But I realize that’s t that anyone can ever do. Is hope for the best. The best that our parents can provide. Or the best that we can do on our own. The best that the government can do for us. But all this hoping comes at a risk. That’s the only reason that the government allows it. Because if there is even the tiniest bit of hope then you can always use that against them. How long will this continue? I have to ask my self. How long will it take for people to stop just hoping and actually start doing something, something to make the hope real?
I snap back to reality and watch as Koura tries to gather the few things that we posses. Cloths, the food, a blanket that I had found in the closet, and the key that the strange man had slipped to her.

“Never know when it might come in handy.” She explains when I give her a questioning look. I nod and think about how much how she had learned about the street life since I found her.

We leave the small shack that we’ll never see again, and head to the east side of town. That’s when it hits me. On the west side of town (the side that the man told me not to go to) lays the headquarters of the ‘Goons’. Where the most extreme torture takes place. But why would that man tell me not to go there? If he knew that I was smart enough to tell that he was not with the FBI. Then why was he telling me not to go to the one part of town where I would never go? This man made no sense.

I brushed it off. Not thinking about the strange man seemed like the best thing to do right now. Because when you think about it a man that’s in his 40s following around somebody for nearly six-teen years it’s a little strange.

I look at myself as we go by the windows of the shops. My hair is pitch black and short it came down to my eyebrows and hangs there lazily, my mom said it looks like the darkness that swallows the world at night. My eyes as green as the lawns that were in the suburbs. I am buff. But not a work out nut, I have a perfect six-pack underneath my black shirt and my arms were toned so that I could lift 250 pounds. My facial expression is as it was most times, ‘burning with hatred that could burn the prisoners’ my father often said to me.
I hated that comparison. To be compared to something that caused so much pain as the slow burning fires in the prisons, to me was horrible. The way that the prisons punished people was by slowly burning them. From the feet up they would give the fire enough fuel to eat the feet of the prisoners’ but not so much that it happened fast. They liked the pain it caused the prisoners. And laughed at the screams of the other inmates awaiting their fiery death. No the guards didn’t just like this pain and suffering, they got off on it, the thought sickened me. I never told my dad that though, he said it so many times I think that he liked the way it sounded.

I look at Koura. We are about the same age. I might be a year older than her. Her face was round and looked almost babyish. Her eyes were the color of wisdom, pale gray and her nose was medium sized. She was tall for her age, stood about five foot ten. Her hair is strawberry blonde and came just to the bottom of her ears. She looked like the teenage version of my 10-year-old sister.

Ashlynn, that’s what her name was. Her name was supposed to be Willow but the moment that they saw her they knew that her name was really Ashlynn. Summer was meant to be her middle name, but my mom and dad liked Willow better so her middle name changed from Summer to Willow. She had the same fate as my parents. Only worse... Much worse.
When I came home that day, the day the government took everything from me, I had seen that someone had killed my mom and dad. So after I checked on them I heard Ashlynn scream. I grabbed our kitchen knife and ran to the back bedroom where Ashlynn had been tied up and a man was punching and slapping her. I screamed for this man to stop but he wouldn’t. I poised the knife so I could throw it at him, I brought it over my head then swung it back down and released. It found the man’s chest perfectly where I had aimed. I looked at Ashlynn who was now unconscious, and her face bloodied. I untied and held in her in my arms. Cradled her in my arms and saw that the man had carved her just cut her up like a chicken to be eaten. But nowhere near the organs she needed to live. No the cuts were only on her arms and legs and the bottom of her feet. The cuts were so deep that nothing I could do would stop the bleeding. This murder was meant to be slow and painful so that I could see it and be tortured by it every night and day, in my dreams and when awake, in my head and on the streets. This was meant to break me, even more than mom and dad.
“Hunter?” she asked softly.

“Y-y-y… Yeah Ashlynn its me.” I told her through the sobs.

“Its so cold. Why are you here? You have to run. A man he… he… h-h-“ she tried to tell me

“Oh. Sh I know what he did. Sshshsh.” I couldn’t contain the tears now; they were running down my face and made the world hard to see.

“Hunter you have to leave its not safe here anymore.” I looked at her. She was so sweet. So harmless. Why would anyone do this to a poor little girl? “Hunter they might come back you have to leave now! You have to go!” she started yelling at me. And I knew why someone ‘they’ would do this to her. Because that’s what they do. Murder, harmless little kids and then us them to break the rest of us, use them as examples so we stayed in line.

“I’m not leaving you here by your self. Not like this.” I tell her. But it’s mostly me trying to tell myself that.

She smiles at me and speaks softly, ”I’m not going anywhere. You know that. I’m not stupid Hunter I now what’s going to happen to me and I’m okay with it.” There’s a long pause before she speaks again, “What I’m not okay with is you risking your life to save me when you know that you can’t. You have to go. You have to go…. You… have… to… go… Y… Y… Y” She coughed up blood and drifted into the hands of death silently.

The man that had done this to her was still alive. I grabbed the knife and went over to him. I turned him so he was on his back and I could see his face as I killed him. I stuck my knife under his chin. Where the tip of it was at his throat. “Who did this to her?” I asked him. He only smiled at me. His teeth were rotted and his breath reeked. I knew I wasn’t going to get an answer out of him. So I took the knife and with tear filled eyes started stabbing him and yelling, “SHE WAS ONLY TEN YOU MONSTER! SHE NEVER HURT ANY ONE! HOW COULD YOU! SHE WAS ONLY TEN.” After doing this time after time again, for 48 times, I finally slumped into a ball and cried.

But Ashlynn was right they would come back and it was stupid waiting here. I ran to my room and grabbed a bag, the one that had every thing I needed to survive on the streets. When I had that I ran back to the room where the man and Ashlynn were. I picked up Ashlynn and took her outside were I had also laid my parents in the back yard. There was a shovel in the garden shed that I was going to use to burry them in the ground with. When they were in the ground and had been buried I ran to the house and threw a lit match on the gasoline-covered floor. In no time the whole house was engulfed in flames. The next week I found Koura and now I’m here.

Koura spots me looking at her, “What?” she asks me.

“Nothing” I tell her “Its just that you remind me of my…”

“Your what?” she asked me in a wondering tone.

“My sister,” I say softly.

“Oh. Thank you, she must have been beautiful.” She said with a small smile.

“Yes,” I say with out making eye contact, “she was. Her name was Ashlynn.”

“What a pretty name.” she says looking at her feet. “What was her whole name?” She asks.

“Ashlynn Summer Willow Rye.” I try to tell her but my voice breaks before I can say Rye.

“They are saying what!” Koura was furious.

“That you were kidnapped by me.” I repeated, leaving out that they were about to interview her father.

“But you didn't. I went with you, willingly, glad to get out of there.”

“I know that, but the 'Order' thinks that if I kidnapped you it would make the Runners look worse than what they are.”

“Thats nuts!” she paused for a second, “Wait. i bet that they are offering up a reward for anyone that turns us in.” she looked at me waiting for a response.

“I dont know but they could. And they most likely are. At some point.”

“But if they do then how are we going to convince the others to help us and not turn us in?”

“There is a rule of thumb over the Runners, we stick together, like I said it is a rule of thumb and not everyone operates by it, but there are a few Runners that took me in before I found you, and they operate under that rule. We can go there in the morning and see what they can do to help us. Right now we need to make a fire and set up watches.”

“Your not doing anything until that hand of yours is completely treated.”

She took the scarf fourthlet from her pocket and wrapped my hand in it. "You'll need to keep this covered. Only take the bandage off when you have to and then make sure you clean your hand, and the scarf, then cover it with another fourthlet."

I nodes my head. "Koura," I asked her, "How do you know to do this? I mean nursing."

"Well when I was little and before the all the bars were disbanded," she started to explain while throwing a few books in the center of the room, "momma would have to treat dad's wounds.” There were now at least ten books piled and they had to have at least 300 pages each. “Do you have something to light this with?” As she tore a page from random one.

“No, not on me they took it with the food.”

“Great.” She said as she disappeared to the back room looking for something to start the fire, from the next room I could hear her start her story again, “From when he would get into bar fights, and I guess hanging around that you pick up a few tricks." She returned from the back room “I found this back there,” she explained holding up an orange transparent lighter, “It may not have much fluid in it but it looks like enough to start them.” pointing her head to the pile, and trying to end the discussion.

I nodded at her as she started the fire, soon the books were blazing. I could tell that it was more than that but I was not going to push the subject; I could already see the tears starting to form in her eyes. “Well we need to take turn on watch tonight.” I tell her hoping that this will distract her from the topic.

“Right,” She resonates. “I'll take the first watch, and I’ll wake you up whenever I get tired.” I smirk at the thought. “What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I tell her, “I was just remembering something.” I’ll tell you about it later.” I walk over close to the fire and lay down trying to get comfortable on the cold hard concrete.


The heat from the fire wards off some of the cold. But not enough. When I wake for my watch the fire is nearly dead. I feed it with the last stack of books that has fueled it through the night. It hasn’t stopped raining in fact it looks worse than it did before. I look to Koura who fell asleep soon after she woke me, she is shivering and I hear her stomach howl. We have no food. We have no money. And our chances of survival are slim to none. Quietly I slip out into the cold rain.

I watch in the shadows until I spot my victim. A man in his 40s. Not too much trouble, but not a defenseless little granny. I follow him for two blocks and when he turns to ask me why, I strike. Not hard enough to kill. Just enough to knock him out. I turn him over and take what little bit of money he had. I have what I need the last contents of his wallet. 20 bucks. If we use this right it can last three days, enough time for us to make it to the others, I think to myself. I then put him in a safe dry place so when he wakes he won't be soaking or have the chance of being kicked in the middle if the sidewalk.

When Koura wakes the meager breakfast of eggs and one slice of bacon is cooked and waiting for her. ” Eat.” I tell her. ”I’m not hungry.”

“How did you get this?” she asks.

There’s a long pause before i speak, “I mugged a man for the money then i bought it. The rest,” I tell her, “Is in the bag, so that we can bargain, some what, with the others.

She nods her head and eats. She understands now; this is what we have to do, and she doesn’t question it anymore. The breakfast may be small but after not eating for a long time she’s full and can't eat any more by the time she finishes. I smile at her as I see the life come back into her face. ”What do we do today?” She asks.

“Today we find other Runners and hope for the best.” I tell her… Is this all that I can do now? I wonder to myself. Hope for the best? But I realize that’s that anyone can ever do. Is hope for the best. The best that our parents can provide. Or the best that we can do on our own. The best that the 'Order' can do for us. But all this hoping comes at a risk. That’s the only reason that the 'Order' allows it. Because if there is even the tiniest bit of hope then you can always use that against them. How long will this continue? I have to ask myself. How long will it take for people to stop just hoping and actually start doing something, something to make the hope real?


I snap back to reality and watch as Koura tries to gather the few things that we posses. Cloths, the food, a blanket that I had found in the closet, and the key that the strange man had slipped to her.

“Never know when it might come in handy.” She explains when I give her a questioning look. I nod and think about how much how she had learned about the street life since I found her.

We leave the small shack that we’ll never see again, and head to the east side of town. That’s when it hits me. On the west side of town (the side that the man told me not to go to) lays the headquarters of the ‘Goons’. Where the most extreme torture takes place. But why would that man tell me not to go there? If he knew that I was smart enough to tell that he was not with the FBI. Then why was he telling me not to go to the one part of town where I would never go? This man made no sense.

I brushed it off. Not thinking about the strange man seemed like the best thing to do right now. Because when you think about it a man that’s in his 40s following around somebody for nearly eighteen years it’s a little strange.

I look at myself as we go by the windows of the shops. My hair is pitch black and short it came down to my eyebrows and hangs there lazily, my mom said it looks like the darkness that swallows the world at night. My eyes as green as the lawns that were in the suburbs. I am buff. But not a workout nut, I have a six-pack underneath my black shirt and my arms were toned so that I could lift 250 pounds. My facial expression is as it was most times, ‘burning with hatred that could burn the prisoners’ my father often said to me.

I hated that comparison. To be compared to something that caused so much pain as the slow burning fires in the prisons, to me was horrible. The way that the prisons punished their inmates was by slowly burning them. From the feet up they would give the fire enough fuel to eat the feet of the prisoners’ but not so much that it happened fast. They liked the pain it caused the prisoners. And laughed at the screams of the other inmates awaiting their fiery death. No the guards didn’t just like this pain and suffering, they thrived on it, the thought sickened me. I never told my dad that though, he said it so many times; I think that he liked the way it sounded.

I looked around us to observe our surroundings. That's when I noticed that people were staring at us. Trying to decide if we were the ones to turn in to the authorities. There was no way we could stay here and not be noticed. "Koura, we have to get out of the city."

"I thought we were going to find the other Runners."

"We are but do you remember what we talked about last night?"

"Oh you think that someone will turn us in"

"I just want to be safe."

"Okay. Well how are we going to get to the others and get out of here?"

"Hold on I know." Making sure no one was watching I jogged over to the middle of the street. Looking down I smiled and waved over Koura, she was not going to like this. ¨Here,¨ I told her pointing to the ground.

¨The sewer system? How is this going to solve any of our problems?¨

I looked at her waiting for her to understand. As soon as she made the connection the expression on her face went from curiosity to anger. ¨I dont like it anymore than you do but its what we have to do to stay hidden.¨ To my surprise without protest she opened up the lid and slowly climbed down.

The sewers were wet and sluggish, the heat stung my eyes and hand. The walls were made from old cobble stone, and mildew was growing from them, I could smell it in the air, it smelt like somebody took a water treatment plant and turned it into a retirement home. I'd never been down here before and the few stories that Heard about the sewers had always made me want to stay away from them, according to these stories there was suppose to be a secret society of people that are beyond description. People that had fled the surface world and hid here hoping that the 'Order' would never bother them, this was false hope, the 'Order' would soon show the people that no one can escape their grasp.

I push the thought out of my head and look at Koura. We are about the same age. I might be a year older than her. Her face was round and looked almost babyish. Her eyes were the color of wisdom, pale gray and her nose was medium sized. She was tall for her age, stood about five foot ten. Her hair is strawberry blonde and came just to the bottom of her ears. She looked like the teenage version of my 10-year-old sister Ashlyn, she had the same fate as my parents. Only worse... Much worse.

Koura spots me looking at her, “What?” she asks me.

“Nothing” I tell her “Its just that you remind me of my…”

“Your what?” she asked me in a wondering tone.

“My sister,” I say softly.

“Oh. Thank you, she must have been beautiful.” She said with a small smile.

“Yes,” I say without making eye contact, “she was.”

“What was her name?” She asked me.

“Ashlyn Summer Rye.” I try to tell her but my voice breaks before I can say Rye.

"Oh. What happened to her?" She asked me with empathy.

I knew that there was no way to escape this. I would have to answer this question eventually. "When I came home that day, the day the 'Order' took everything from me,. After I checked on the dead bodies I heard Ashlyn scream. Not taking the time to process what was going on I Grabbed our kitchen knife and ran to the back bedroom where Ashlyn had been tied up and a man was punching and slapping her. I screamed for this man to stop but he wouldn’t. I poised the knife so I could throw it at him, brought it over my head then swung it back down and released. It found the man’s chest perfectly where I had aimed. I turned my attention back to Ashlyn who was now unconscious, and her face bloodied. I untied and held in her in my arms. Cradled her in my arms and saw that the man had carved her just cut her up like a chicken to be eaten. But nowhere near the organs she needed to live. No the cuts were only on her arms and legs and the bottom of her feet. The cuts were so deep that nothing I could do would stop the bleeding. This murder was meant to be slow and painful so that I could see it and be tortured by it every night and day, in my dreams and when awake, in my head and on the streets. This was meant to break me, even more than mom and dad.

“Hunter?” she asked softly.

“Y-y-y… Yeah Ashlyn its me.” I told her through the sobs.

“Why are you here? You have to run. A man he… he… h-h-“ she tried to tell me

“Oh. Sh I know what he did. Shshshsh.” I couldn’t contain the tears now; they were running down my face and made the world hard to see.

“Hunter you have to leave its not safe here anymore.” I looked at her. She was so sweet. So harmless. Why would anyone do this to a poor little girl? “Hunter they might come back you have to leave now! You have to go!” she started yelling at me. And I knew why someone ‘they’ would do this to her. Because that’s what they do. Murder, harmless little kids and then use them to break the rest of us, use them as examples so we stayed in line.

“I’m not leaving you here by your self. Not like this.” I tell her. But it’s mostly me trying to tell myself that.

She smiles at me and speaks softly, ”I’m not going anywhere. You know that. I’m not stupid Hunter I know what’s going to happen to me and I’m okay with it.” There’s a long pause before she speaks again, “What I’m not okay with is you risking your life to save me when you know that you can’t. You have to go. You have to go…. You… have… to… go… Y… Y… Y” She coughed up blood and drifted into the hands of death silently.

The man that had done this to her was still alive. I grabbed the knife and went over to him. I turned him so he was on his back and I could see his face as I killed him. I stuck my knife under his chin. Where the tip of it was at his throat. “Who did this to her?” I asked him. He only smiled at me. His teeth were rotted and his breath reeked. I knew I wasn’t going to get an answer out of him. So I took the knife and with tear filled eyes and stabbed him yelling, “SHE WAS ONLY TEN YOU MONSTER! SHE NEVER HURT ANY ONE! HOW COULD YOU! SHE WAS ONLY TEN.” After doing this time after time again; I finally slumped into a ball and cried.

But Ashlyn was right ‘they’ would come back and it was stupid waiting here. I ran to my room and grabbed a bag, the one that had everything I needed to survive on the streets. Then I ran back to the room where the man and Ashlyn were. I picked up Ashlyn and took her outside where I had also laid my parents in the back yard. There was a shovel in the garden shed that I was going to use to burry them in the ground with. When they were in the ground and had been buried I ran to the house and threw a lit match on the gasoline-covered floor. In no time the whole house was engulfed in flames. The next week I found you and now I’m here"

“Hunter I’m…” Whatever she was going to say was cut short by a loud crash. “what was that?”

“Our tour guides.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Have you ever heard the story of the abandoners?”

“Do you mean the people that gave up on the 'Order' and came to live here in the sewers?”

“Yes.”

“What about them?”

“We need them to find us.”

“Why?

“I can't navigate the sewers on my own,” I scoff, “I’m good but I’m not that good.”

"But all the stories I've heard about them say terrible things, like they decapitate all outsiders, they steal children, they never let anyone leave...alive."

"And who told you this?" I asked dryly, "the same people that told the media that I kidnapped you, the same people that told you how bad Runners are, the same people that captured us?”

“How will we be able to trust them?”

This stuns me for a second, but I have to remember that she didn't come from the same place I did, she didn't have to see the truth of what the 'Order' was doing every day. She grew up naive and not even wondering if what they were being fed was truth or lie.“The sooner that you understand that you can't trust the things that you've seen, read, heard, or taught; the easier life will be for you.” I let that sink in as we hear another crash and light appears in front of us. “Come.” I whisper to Koura, “we can only be seen at the right time, otherwise they'll attack us.” I drag here to the nearest crevice in the wall.

The light washes over and blinds us. We wait, our breath coming out in short shallow huffs. There is a long silence. Soon we can hear the movement. And suddenly it stops.

“If there is anyone seeking refuge,” said a shaky and raspy voice, “I invite you to step out from the shadows now.”

I moved forward, but Koura grabbed my arm. “Hunter…”

I shot her a warning glance, letting her know that she would just have to trust me. “Stay behind me and stay silent.” we stepped out into the light. Standing before us was an old shakey man, he carried a torch which gave enough illumination for us all to see by.

“State your name and business here in the sewers.” Came a raspy but powerful command.

“My name is Hunter Rye, and this is my sister Koura. We are seeking refuge and concealment from the 'Order'.”

“You will have to speak with the head of village before anything is agreed to. I will take you there. But the girl…”

“My sister.” I responded panickedly. “We must stay together.

The old man nods understandingly, “She can come,” her rasps, “But she mustn't see the way to Village.”

I nod at the man rapidly. “Take a fourtlet from the bag,” I whisper to Koura, “and tie it around your eyes so that you can't see.”

“Wha…”

“Koura trust me and just do it.” I snap at her in a hushed command. Reluctantly she reaches into the bag and does as she is told. After the blindfold is in place the old man comes and spins her; then leads on to a tunnel at our right.

“Village has been an establishment that is as old as the ‘Order’ itself.” The old man started. “The ‘Order’ was first founded after World War Three ended. Our government at the time believed that the people no longer knew what was best for them.,” He paused for a second, as if trying to block the pain out, “There used to be a republic. Our country was aweinspiring. People traveled from all around the world just to live here. But that was before the ‘Reform’ after that no one was allowed to enter or exit the country. Anyone caught trying was shot on sight. The rest of the world signed a treaty, the treaty of tribulation, saying that they wouldn't interfere with this choice, nor would they aid refugees. Under the treaty our government would leave the others alone. And if the others didn't agree to sign it we threatened nuclear war. The others had no choice but to abandon us. The ‘Order’ was a group of people within the original government. One day they stormed the capital, and the war began. It was horrible year after year for 5 years our nation fought against itself. It was the Civil War all over again. On july 4th 2022 the ‘Order’ had complete control over our nation.” I knew all this from the history classes at school but they never described it as horrible, they told us that the ‘Order’ was liberating its oppressed subjects. But the man continued with a part of history I was never taught. “Village were the ones that saw the ‘Order’ for what they really were and didn't by what they were telling the media and giving the public. Village is for those that long for things to return, when we could speak when we pleased, when we could think for ourselves.”

Wow, I thought to myself, these people have an actual reason to bring down the ‘Order’ I just want vengeance.

The old man became quiet, “We are almost there,” he whispered, “When we enter Village you do not look at anyone, you do not talk to anyone, and the girl is to stay quiet and in between us. You at the end and me at the front. Understand?” I nod

“Koura,” I murmured, “trust me for just a few more minutes and then you can take that blindfold off.” She nodded at me, either truly trusting me or too drained to argue.

The old man pushed on an old cobblestone brick that was to his left; just then the wall in front of us slid to the right, revealing a lightless cavern. The man stepped out first then I guided Koura to follow him. Then I followed her to the cavern.

The air was hot and stiff, not letting me breath easily. The secret cavern door slid shut leaving the only light from the old mans torch. This was the first time that could actually look at him, and have time to process his details. The gray hair on his head was thinning but the little that he did have was long and ran down to the small of his back and in the front it entangled with his beard. His eyes were gray as well, as if something had drained all the color from him and his body. His lip quivered and was dried from the lack of water. Evidence of starvation was apparent; you could take your finger and point to each and every rib the poor man had. He hunched over, as if the weight of the world had come down onto him, his arms were skinny and frail like the rest of him. The torch looked like it was going to tip him over. I wanted to offer to take it but knew it would raise a suspicion. These people had lost everything, even worse than I had, and I knew that to get what we needed we would have to do exactly what we were told. The man traveled on through the dark cavern; which just kept on getting more and more narrow. until finally we had reached another dead end. I waited for him to press on another brick but he never did. He tapped 3 times in the upper right hand corner of the wall. We could hear the gears shifting and the wall pivoted so it was now perpendicular to the rest of the wall.

The opening lead to another cavern this one was wide and the ceiling spread at least 15 feet in the air. The walls were lined with torches. There were small tunnels all around, that probably lead to the sleeping quarters. The water from the sewers seemed to allude this place leaving it bone dry. There were people scattered about some in the center and others at the openings of the tunnels. All of them were staring at the three of us, we were dripping wet from the knees down, thanks to the sewer water, Koura and I already looked rough and wild without the help of unkempt hair, bruises on our face and cuts on our arms.

The man was about 4 yards in front of us conversing with one of the people. They both looked un happy and very heated. Finally the other person gave up and pointed to the wall closest to us. I followed his point. About twenty feet in front of Koura and I there were stairs that lead to a door at the top with an overview of the entire cavern. That must be where the Head of Village stays. I mused.

The man came back towards us, he passed us and headed to the stairs, “Follow.” He gruffled again. This time the old man tookus to the steps. “Wait.” he told us pointing at the bottom of the staircase, where we now stood, he marched up to the top of the stairs, to where the balcony, leading to the door was. I could see him sigh hesitantly and then knock on the door. After a second he went inside.

We waited for what seemed like an eternity, but soon the man came out of the room, his eye brows were knit together and he had a scowl of disapprovement on his face. Soon another man joined him at the balcony. This man was familiar in an eerie sort of way. He looked at Koura and I and smiled. They both came down the stairs to Koura and I.

“Zahar,” The familiar one said, “Go and prepare a room for our guests.”

“Yes, Dux Ducis.” The frail old man, apparently named Zahar, responded.

"You two," the man said pointing at us, "follow me." Leading us up the stairs and disappearing through the door.

“Welcome to Village, Hunter.” Dux Ducis said to me. “I hope that you found your way well.”

Wait, what…. Were they expecting us?

The thought must have been on my face as well as in my head because the man smiled and said, “Yes Hunter I have been expecting you. The both of you.” He corrected himself and motioning to Koura with his hands. “Oh and you can take that blindfold off of her. We won't be needing that now.” I reached over to her and untied the knot of Koura’s blind fold. When the fourthlet came off her eyes I could hear her gasp; she looked at me in shock, and then to the man, and then back to me. Her eyes were knitted together in confusion.

“Hunter where are we?”

“You are in Village.” The man replied before I could and looked at us both with a cold smile.

“What is it Koura?” I asked her, surely she had been listening to what she had been going on around us.

“Hunter, what is he doing here?”

“What do you mean Koura? He is leader of Village Dux Ducis.”

“Hunter don't you know who he is?”

“Koura I just told you who he is.”

“No Hunter don't you recognize him?”

“Wha… I don't know, he looks familiar to me.”

“Well he should Hunter.” She said, and then lowering her voice, “Thats the man that rescued us when we were captured by the ‘Order’.” I looked at the man and then it all made since. That’s where I've seen him before… He was there to break us out. He is the one that told us to stay away from the west side of town. What was he doing here?

Dux Ducis walked closer to us. “You are a smart girl aren't you… But you aren't his sister are you?” She shook her head no. “But you do look like her.” I tensed when he said that. He shouldn't be talking about her. He doesn't know her. Then I remembered, ‘But I know you, and your story, I have known your whole life.’ This is what he told me in the interrogation room. Of course he would know about Ashlyn. But then I panicked… What does he know about her? Dux Ducis continued. “She was killed a long time ago wasn't she Hunter?” Shooting a look at me. This made the anger and hatred swell inside me.

I had to control my anger, “How do you know this?”

“I have told you Hunter. I Know you, and your…”

“Not that,” I interrupted him, “How do you know me and my story? How do you know who I am and how do you know who my sister is?”

“Because the ‘Order’ has an interest in you, so do I.” Dux Ducis looked at me with careful eyes, trying to read me.

“The ‘Order” has an interest in all the Runners, it isn't just me.”

“We will have to see about that.” He simply responds. A long moment passes “I can give you refuge for the night but tomorow we will have to present this to the ‘Heads of Family’ then we will vote on weather or not you can stay permantly.”

“That is very kind of you sir but we were going to leave as fast as possible, in the morning.” I say shortly.

“And go where? to track the others like you? Thats a good one Hunter, Your brave but you don't have to be stupid at the same time. You may have street smarts but thats where the advantages end for you, and as for your Sister she doesn't even have that much does she? If you want to be effective then you are going to have to stay and train with the rest of Village.”

“Stay and train with the rest of Village.” Dux Ducis’ words echoed into my thoughts as I stared at the ceiling of my sleeping quarters. I had never thought about it before but he was right. I don't have any kind of training. I wouldn't know the first thing about how to fight. The ‘Order” had banned all weapons when they wrote the ‘Treaty of Tribulation’ The moment that Koura and I stepped out into the streets the ‘Order’ would take us prisoner and not thought a thing about it. I would be killed and Koura would have to suffer a fate far worse than death.

Movement caught my eye, the curtain that separated me from the rest of Village fluttered. My first thought was Koura, but would she really be bold enough to track me down? I had no weapons to defend myself with, no way of fighting off anybody if they were an enemy. I only had brute strength.

The curtain flew open and a young man came running into the room. He was 6’ tall and had anger painted on his face. He came over to the bed and grabbed my neck throwing me on the ground GET UP! A voice inside my head screamed. I tried to stand but was too late the man had turned around and kicked me in the stomach. there was something about the kick… it seemed controlled. Like he was holding something back from it. This time I was faster and stood up before he could land another blow to me. I threw myself at him and he sidestepped dodging me and then he forced his fist into my jaw. A shock wave rippled through my entire body and sends me stumbling back to the doorway of my quarters. The man turned back to me, but I studied him more this time. My adrenaline taking in every single detail this time. He couldn't have been a day over 19, this was just a teenager, only a few years older than me, his eyes were focused on me and he knew what he was doing. He had been trained; it then was clear that I could not win this fight. He charged me and this time I spun around into the curtin and threw it at him, hopefully blinding him for a few seconds.

I was going to break into a sprint out of the hallway but noticed that there was a group people surrounding me. They all looked the same as the teenager in my room but they didn't make an advance to me. A second later the boy came out of the room and stood next to them.

“What did he do well?” The boy asked after a minute of silence.

“He knew when to run. He didn't try to challenge you to a fight that he was bound to lose.” Says a girl in the group. She was blond and stood about 5’8” her eyes were the scariest thing about her; they were piercing through my body as she studied me. “He also used his surroundings to his advantage, by throwing the curtain in your face.”

“Very good, Domitia. Now, who can tell me the things that he did wrong?” Asked the boy, with the same amount of coldness when he asked the first time.

This time some boy in the back answered the question. “He wasnt aware of his surroundings, he was too open and, too quick to attack.”

“Take this into consideration for next time.” The boy told me. That sent my mind reeling… This wasn't a real attack, this was a learning experience, a mere exercise. “Everyone, you have ten minutes to prepare for the day and then meet in the 'Mess Hall' for breakfast.” The crowd dissipated. Until all that was left was me and another girl. Domitia. Her blond hair came to her ears in a messy style.

“Meet me out in the court and when you get done and I’ll take you to the 'Mess Hall'.” She said and walked away, following the others down the hall.

There was no showers in my room. So I would just have to settle with brushing my hair and changing my clothes. Domitia was the only one in the court when I arrived. Neither one of us said anything as she lead me through the underground maze that is Village. “You might want to start trying to make a mental map of this place because I don't want you following me around like a little lost puppy dog the whole time that you're here.” There was something in her voice that sounded strange, resentment. But I was resistant when someone had just come into my world, plus the Village was wasn't used to visitors like Koura and I. We kept walking in silence.

Soon we arrive at a pair of double doors marked ‘Mess Hall’ Domitia pushed open the doors. It isn't what I expect a mess hall to look like. Instead of tables that were in rows there were circular tables that could seat at least twelve people. In the center of the room is the boy that attacked me this morning and the rest of his group.

“Stay at the door, I’m going to go get Titanius” She said before walking in the direction of the group and right up to the one who hurled himself at me in my room. The ‘Mess Hall’ walls were the same droopy gray cobble stones that the entirety of Village was made of. The top of it curved like a dome. How have they been able to keep this place hidden so well, surely the ‘Order’ was looking for them.

Domitia and Titanius were now in a very heated argument. Domitia was motioning her hands towards me; while Titanius stood with his arms crossing his chest. They both turn, look at me then back to each other. Exasperated Domitia walked back to me with Titanius on her heels.

“You've met Domitia, I trust.” Says Titanius “she will be escorting you to your hearing with the heads of family this morning, and if you and your sister Koura are allowed to stay here she will be the one that shows you the ropes around here.” He looked at Domitia sharply, as if daring her to object. She didn't. Titanius gave us a curt nod, as if assuring himself that was all the discussion there was on the subject, but from the look on Domitia’s face this was far from over.