Siren Song 100 Don't Stop

Chang just barely managed to squeeze through the narrow window that led outside. The jagged gla.s.s ends poked through her shirt, raking her upper torso and her legs, leaving long red trails on her skin. After being tied up without food for so long, she felt weak, and it was a monumentous effort to drag herself through the window as quietly as possible.

She almost wept and kissed the ground and the sweet smell of fresh air and the sight of stars twinkling over her head. The moon was full illuminating the barren area she was in, giant black jagged mountains loomed before her, dark and imposing.

She set off in a northish direction, making a wide loop around the bunker where she had been held, putting the mountains behind her right shoulder.

She wanted to run but she did not have the energy for that. Instead she set off at an even pace, trying to avoid bramble and thorns with her bare feet. She crossed her arms across herself trying to keep in her warmth, holding her bare arms. The faint clouds of her breath as she walked let her know just how cold it is.

'Just where am I? It wasn't that cold in Lahat.'

The question plagued her as she continued on forward. Anywhere had to be better than where she came from.

After a while, she had to stop, noticing she was leaving b.l.o.o.d.y footprints from her cold-numbed feet. Chang stopped to tear a couple of strips from the bottom of her long undershirt, and wrapped the strips on her bare feet.

Her poor feet screamed in distress as she wrapped them as best she could to help protect them from further damage. She hoped it would be enough as she couldn't take more from her shirt. The thin material was barely keeping any heat in, or providing any covering stopping just at the end of the swell of her b.u.t.t.

Chang shivered rubbing her arms, as she swayed to her feet.

'I gotta keep moving, no matter what. Stopping equals death or worse..'

Shortly after she made a few steps she heard a few cracking noises behind her, almost deafening through the night. The growling of the engine started to come from behind her, the lights shining over the dunes. A few more of the noises cracked out and she screamed involuntarily, recognizing them as gunshots.

Fear truly can be the best motivator. It pushed her on heading to the nearest high swell to hunker down an hide. She was more in the open, trying to walk on the flatter, more easier traverse areas.

Lights flashed across her once illuminating her in the darkness before pa.s.sing on. They quickly came back to her though as her grimy white undershirt gave her away like a beacon.

Chang ran desperately feeling tears and snot run down her face.

'No this isn't fair, no, I just have to run faster. I can make it, I can make it!'

Like a monster chasing after her, the engines growling grew louder and more fierce as it caught up to her. She tripped and stumbled but kept moving, little panicked sounds came from her chest as she ran.

The sand in front of her feet exploded into columns before her, stopping her in her tracks. She turned to head a different way, but was stopped by the shots planted in front of her. It was too late already. The truck rolled to a stop in front of her, the headlights blinding.