I laughed at the joke that my brother Dimitri had told me. "A duck walks up to lemonade stand and said to the man..." I sang jokingly as we sat in our tree fort. I was just a floor, and a railing, about 10x10 feet. We built It when we moved to Edmonton, as our house was on the edge of a forest. I grinned at his voice, and scampered down the tree, making my way quickly down. I heard a thump as Dimitri joined me. I felt his finger trace something on my back, what we had so desperately tried to escape from. We laughed and bounded home, but a crashing noise made us freeze. I heard a faint voice "She's done for do what you want." him. It was him. "Dimitri no!" I shrieked as he bolted for the door
"No!" I screamed, and bolted after him. I shrieked as I heard his body slump down, after a horrific crack. They had snapped his neck! I ran in, one second after, one second too late. "No!" I shrieked as a man grabbed me, his teeth near my neck. I shrieked and tried to twist out. A loud Ka-thrack! And a splatter later, the man fell down. A gun, I thought to myself. Now that I was free I ran, abandoning the bodies of my mother and brother. I had only went in to save him, and he was dead. Tears streaked down my face, and I found the tree fort. It was well hidden, and I scrambled up, in the protective cover of the leaves and branches. I picked up a branch, and stood, listening for a noise, ready to smack someone with the makeshift club. A small rustle sounded beside me, and I turned and swung. "Ahh!" the man yelled, but the would smack into something metal and big. I swore in Russian, turned and jumped, landing on a branch. I promptly jumped down, branch to branch, and sprinted to another tree, easy to climb if your as light as me, any heavier and down you go. I perched there and listened, a rumble of footsteps coming towards me. Five people I'm guessing "Go away!" I shrieked "You MONSTERS!" I screamed. I heard a rustle as one of them tried to climb it, so just bolted higher. "It's OK, we don't want to hurt you." It was a boy climbing the tree, he didn't want to hurt me. I barked out a rusty laugh, and threw a stick retrieved from a branch at him. A thin pweew this time, and the familiar feeling of a tranquilizer dart embedded itself in my thigh. I very nearly blacked out, my immune system fighting the drug. Needless to say, I fell from the tree. I thumped heavily on the ground, and made a wheezing noise. I couldn't breathe. I was slapped hard on the back, three times, and I gratefully sucked in a breathe of fresh air. I suddenly sprang up, and ran, but something tackled me down, and the familiar shrieking pain of teeth tearing into my flesh made me shriek and pass out.
