Run

Chapter 1

•Kierstin: Year Four•

Walking through the woods in the middle of the night had become a normal occurrence by now. We used to stop to find shelter, or water, or food. Now we only stopped to bury the dead. There used to be fifteen of us, before this all started. Fifteen girls who I had always trusted no matter what. We had gone to school together, lived within walking distance of each other, and were once as close as sisters. Now there were three.

My best friend, Meg, had been the first to go missing. I had to admit, I had truly believed she would make it longer. The last time I saw her was four years ago, on the day that all of this had started. We had been at school, when suddenly our first period teacher- at this point I couldn't even remember her name- suddenly passed out. She had been running a fever all week, but had insisted on coming to school. She was the first to turn in our small beach town. As soon as it happened the school was evacuated. Three students died that day, only two of which I knew. Meg on the other hand ran all the way home with me. Upon reaching my door she touched my shoulder gently.

"I have to go now," she had whispered, "I'll see you in the morning. Stay safe." At the time I had believed her. I had nodded and watched as she sprinted down the street, leaving me alone, believing she would come back. She never did. At this point I had accepted the brutal fact that had been lying in the back of my mind for years, just waiting to be embraced. She had died that day. That's why she never came back.

As for my sister Caroline and her friend Mackenzie, I had no idea what happened to them. One day as we were walking we decided to stop and rest. They agreed to take watch while the rest of us drifted off to sleep. In the morning they were gone.

Many others had died, brutal deaths that no one should have had to endure. I had been there for every single one of them.

Most recently we had lost Meg's cousin Kat, and our two friends Jackie, and Emily. When Meg never came back I couldn't stand the idea of not knowing. I had gone to her house to find her sister, Sarah, and cousin, Kat. They had decided to stay on the upper floor of the house and armed themselves with kitchen knives and Meg's fathers tools. Sarah told me that her parents and Kat's parents had gone looking for weapons and had never returned. Erica was with them. Meg had never returned.

Leaving a note incase their parents came back, we set off in search of a safer place to live. My cell phone was still working so I sent out a mass text, even including Meg, telling everybody to meet us at the football field.

When we arrived a group of about forty people had assembled. We split in to three groups, knowing we would never make it as one large one. Boys, girls, and people who chose to stay with their families. Those were the groups that we left in. Why, I am not sure. No one wanted to leave there families, but at the time it had seemed like the right thing to do, for some of us at least. Others had no family left, that they knew of. I knew my sister Kacey was in Maryland with my parents, and could only pray that they were safe.

That was three years ago. Now it was only Rachel, Sarah, and I. As we continued on our long trek to improbable safety, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if none of this had ever happened.