Run.

Instinct

Everyone crowds around me. I feel hands touching my hair, hands, waist, and legs. I flinch away from their touches.

"Get off me!" I scream, batting their hands away. I feel like I can't breathe and I take off running in a random direction, anywhere from them. I see an opening in some woods. I mentally debate on entering but I suppose it's the only plan I've got.

I hear yelling from behind me but I can't hear what they're saying with the wind in my ears. So I just keep pumping my arms and legs.

I don't remember anything about myself from the past but I know for sure that I am a very fast runner. I don't look back and break into the woods.

I realize some of the boys are chasing after me when I hear their feet crunching on the fallen leaves. I learn from their mistakes and note that I need to be stealthy if I'm going to lose them. So I slow my running, almost... prancing through the woods, light on my feet. I continue to make fast decisions as i go deeper into the woods.

Left, straight, left, right, straight, right, right.

I hope my random path lost them as I peek over my shoulder, not a soul in sight. At this point I'm heaving for air as I rest my hands on my knees.

My little break ends shortly when I see someone a few yards away. He hasn't noticed me.. I quicky crouch behind a tree, holding the small amount of breath I have left, feeling my lungs burning, until he's gone.

What do they want from me. Why can't they let me leave?

Something in the back of my mind tells me I should climb a tree and hide.. I go with my instinct and start to climb the nearest tree. I wince as my injured hands grip for life on the rough bark. To my surprise.. I'm actually a pretty good climber as well.

Maybe I used to climb trees before all of this?

In just a minute I'm high up in the tree and find a sturdy branch to sit on and rest my back on the hard trunk. I feel relieved but all too soon I see three boys marching in my direction. As they near the tree I'm hiding in, I recognise two of them as Newt and Gally.

They haven't seen me yet and they stop directly under the tree I'm in and Gally speaks up to the boys angrily,
"Maybe we should just head back. She can't stay out here forever. She'll probably come out sooner or later."

Newt shakes his head, "No! We can't stop looking. She can get hurt."

HURT? Who or what here is going to hurt me?

A boy I don't recognize nods his head, "Newt's right. We have to find her before she finds one of the walls and gets herself killed."

My leg skids on the bark when I hear the word killed.

They seemed to have reacted to the noise and start looking around themselves.

Damnit.

Newt looks up in the tree and spots me. "Bloody Hell??" The other boys follow his gaze and spot me too.

"Well thats a first. Shes like a shucking ninja!" Says the boy I don't know, seeming amused by the situation.

"Slim it Minho." Newt said hitting his arm.

"How the hell did she get up there??", said Gally, throwing his hands in the air.

Newt replies, "That's not important right now." He returns his eyes to me,"Hey listen I promise we wont hurt you. We just want to talk, find out what you know that maybe we don't. Sound okay?"

I think about it for a second.. "No!"

Newt chuckles and turns to the other two boys and whispers, low enough to where I can't hear from here. Gally huffs and the other boy Minho nods as they turn and head back to where they came from.