Keep Running

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I've been running for what feels like hours. They stopped chasing me a couple of miles back. My clothes are sticking to my body, caked with, now dried, blood, dirt, and sweat. I feel as if I'm going to drop at any second, but I can't. 

Keep Running!

I have to keep running. 

Keep Running!

I can't stop just because I'm tired. 

Keep Running!

I can't stop to inspect the damage to my body. 

Keep Running!

I have to keep moving for my own good. 

Keep Running!

I need to get as far away from Battery City as I can before the sun goes down. 

Keep Running!

I need to get home.

Keep Running!

This is the only thought in my mind as my vision goes fuzzy and the darkness of my peripherals takes over my entire line of sight. 

No, no, NO! I have to keep running!

The world fades to black around me and my battered body falls to the dust below my feet. 

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I slowly blink the dirt from my eyes and look around. I've been out for at least a couple of hours. Sitting up, I look down at my white shirt and grey sweatpants stained with blood and dirt, ripped and tattered exposing bloody skin and wounds underneath. 

I struggle to stand, and now feel every ounce of pain the adrenaline has been hiding. I fall back to my knees in the dirt, a whimper/scream escaping my chapped lips. 

No, I have to move. I have to get out of the open desert.

I look around, spotting a small gas station about a half-mile away. Slowly, I ease myself back to a standing position, picking up my ray gun I had dropped in my collapse. I clutch my right side and favor my right leg over my left. My head is pounding with the beat of my heart. 

As soon as I'm on my feet I start to make my way to the building hoping no one is occupying it, at least for tonight. 

I push open the glass doors and collapse onto the tiled floors. Again, everything begins to go dark, this time though, I let it take me.

At least I'm not dying in the open. I think as I drift away into the fuzzy darkness. 

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