It was almost winter. I walked against the cold wind as a long and bitter howl rang in the distance. I tugged slightly on the strings of my rugged hoodie, making sure the fabric covered my ears properly. My eyes were always swaying right to left as my senses were on high alert.

I never liked these types of places, I thought as my eyes landed on a ghost playground in the distance.

As I walked the only thing accompanying me this early in the morning was the quiet sound of my footsteps, the howling of the wind and the rustling trees.

When I was younger my father would tell me that the wind howled quietly because someone had died, and the heavens were crying for that soul.

My body stopped and I blinked at the path in front of me. Something felt off. I looked at every direction I could without moving an inch, the beat of my heart began to suddenly drum faster.

Hide!

His voice advised me like he's always done and I followed it. Taking two large strides I jumped and hid behind a nearby bush by a bench.

Don't make a sound and stay alert.

The bush was thick and peering over it would put me at risk, which rendered my eyes useless in this situation. I hushed my breathing to listen better, and although I didn't hear much at first, I eventually heard a distinct sound. Footprints. Heavy footprints. Most likely male.

Then I heard muttering. Two different voices. Hell, I thought, I hope they're not World League soldiers.

"Do you usually find anyone in this place sir?" The springiness of his voice was evident, but held the masculinity of a grown man, mostly likely early twenties.

"Nah, but we do patrol around 'ere just to make sure." An older, rougher voice chuckled. "I usually just take a nap 'ight over here."

You better not be pointing at my bench, I prayed.

"A nap on that? Isn't it uncomfortable sir?"

There was a moment of silence and I could clearly hear the blood flowing through my veins. "Are ya kiddin' me? You've never slept on a bench 'n the park?"

"Uh, no?"

"Sheesh. Young people never got to enjoy all 'em good things in life." The older man said, clicking his tongue. "Just sit on that 'ere side and I'll sit on this one. Close ya eyes and think of 'em nice things."

There was a creaking of metal beyond the bush, and my body froze. I took the moment to slowly look underneath my feet, thanks to my luck, there were no twigs there.

Be ready to run.

I cautiously shifted my feet, making sure that in case of an emergency, I would be ready to sprint.

"What type of things do you think of sir?"

"Hmm." Despite not being able to participate in the conversation, I still felt the sudden drop in the mood. "I think of ma wife. What a beauty she were, eyes like emerald and a smile that made ya crazy 'n love." Feet shuffled against the gravel. "Ya know, I would bring 'er out to places like 'ere and sit on benches like this one 'ere."

They aren't part of the World League, I thought, they wouldn't be speaking about such things if they were.

Moments passed, until the young man responded. "She sounded wonderful sir."

"Hmm, she was."

Not another word was said, only the rustling of leaves could be heard. Moments passed, then minutes, and I finally heard a gruff snore.

Get ready to run Snow.

I swallowed the spit that had accumulated in my mouth then took a large amount of cold air, preparing for a hell of a run and nodded to myself. Okay, let's do this. A second passed and I was already dashing towards the entrance of the forest, where I had seen several abandoned houses.

"Hey!" I heard yelling behind me, but didn't bother to turn around. "Sir wake up, there's someone here!"

Their voices grew farther and farther away so I took the opportunity of the large distance to glance behind. My eyes lingered over their bodies for some kind of hint as to whether they were some sort of rebel group looking to recruit or if they were scavengers.

Crunch.

My head swirled around to see several individuals waiting for me to run into their arms.

"Don't move!" One of them yelled, holding what appeared to be a gun.

Stop! Use the trees!

The leaves crunched loudly as I immediately put a brake to my feet, my hands reaching towards the closest tree without my consent.

In seconds I was scrambling up the tree and looking for the sturdiest branch as the people below me glanced up in awe. My legs with ease ran along the branch, and prepared to jump on an equally sturdy branch that belonged to another tree.

Keep going, you're losing them!

With little effort I jumped from tree to tree, not daring enough to glance behind me. If they wanted me dead, they would have shot me the moment they saw me, I concluded in my head.

Soon enough I was far ahead and with a final jump, I grabbed onto the next branch and rolled onto the ground, the earth crunching below me.

Then with ease I stood up, slightly glancing behind to see the accurate distance between me and the angry mob.

At the same exact moment, I heard a familiar click. My body instantly stopped moving forward and screeched to a halt as my head swirled forward. The butt of rifle meet my face, I glanced at it carefully, looking at it's model in order to use it to my advantage. It was a semi-automatic, a AR-15 to be exact. Pro, it could shoot multiple rounds in a matter of seconds. Con, it malfunctions easily, from jamming to failure at ejecting bullets.

A young man with sharp eyes stared back at me. "Who are you?"

I took a small step back so the gun wouldn't be touching my nose.

Don't move.

"I said, who the hell are you?!" He repeated, and I continued to use my right to remain silent.

I opened my mouth and hesitated before closing it again. No, I shouldn't say anything. I stood still and made no movements that would cause any problems.

"Not speaking huh?" He narrowed his sharp eyes.

I was stuck, and he knew it too.

We've got no choice, use it.

No!

Do it!

My hand suddenly flickers slightly then balled up into a tight fist, and I know the rifle's barrel and magazine had been frozen shut. I felt my shoulders drop slightly as I knew his gun was now unable to shoot me.

Something flickered in his eyes as I heard multiple people stomping behind me. "Sir!"

He didn't take his eyes off me. "Where did you find her?"

"She popped out of a bush." The young one from earlier spoke.

"A bush?"

"Yes Sir." I could imagine him nodding behind me.

Sharp-eyes turned to look at me once more. "What are you doing here?"

I didn't flinch and stared back at him instead.

"Are you mute, or something?" His unnerving eyes didn't move from mine. "Are you not going to talk? I can shoot you at this very moment."

"Let me go." I finally said, loudly and slightly gruffly. I almost shuddered at the sound of my voice which was not used to speaking at all.

He didn't seem fazed, in fact, his face didn't change at all. "I won't repeat myself again, what were you doing around here?"

"I just want to pass through this park, I didn't mean to come so close to your base." I stated roughly.

"Base?" He asked.

"You're threatening me." I pointed out. It made sense, a whole mob of them isn't going to travel miles only to find supplies.

He didn't reply.

"Let me go."

He ignored my request and instead looked at hood with narrowed eyes. "Put down your hood."

You had to bring in my hood into the conversation. "Why?"

"Because it makes you look suspicious." He said bluntly.

I nodded slightly. I reached slowly for my hood, my lungs expanding steadily and my heart beat slowly.

Now!

I dashed to my right, hearing a jammed click and a couple of surprised gasps.

"Bring her back! Alive!" Sharp-eyes shouted angrily behind me. With small but many steps, I quickly made a plan to head to the small playground that I had left behind as I ran away from the earlier crowd.

If only there were more places to hide, I thought with frustration. Due to the forest being to spacious and wide with only trees scattered around it was difficult to hide, much less lose a large crowd.

After making sure there was nothing obstructing my path, I glanced behind me only to see a few people that were able to catch up to me. I just need to lose these few then I'll be out of this storm.

A total of two people were still hot on my trail by the time we got to the playground, I could hear them panting like dogs. I ran up the slide with ease, touching the edges slightly so that the slide would freeze and become slippery.

I heard a shout and a loud thump behind me. I snickered as I jumped across the broken bridge that connected the upper part of the playground. It was when I ran down the stairs of the playground when a hand shot out and attempted to grab me.

Without a thought, my free hand grabbed the person's arm and twisted it behind them.

"Ah!" The arm's owner was a man, and I could tell due to his low, gruff voice.

I, as quickly as I could, kicked the back of the person's knees, leaving them crying on the floor due to the pain. I then jumped over them to continue running, left with one more person to lose.

Their footsteps weren't far behind, but because of their faltering pace, they would be easy to lose. We ran once more through the trees, the entrance getting closer and closer with every stride.

"Now!" The person behind me shouted suddenly.

A hand then shot out in front of me, the rest of the person hiding behind a tree. To avoid getting grabbed, I leaned backwards slightly which caused me to fall and slide through piles of leaves.

I quickly recovered but was ambushed by yet another person. We rolled on the ground, grunting as both of us struggled to gain control and in the end, due to his size, he had won. Before he could push his full weight on me I lifted my knee.

"Argh." The man whimpered and held his parts instantly.

Pushing him aside, I scrambled to my feet only to be shoved against a tree. Pain seared up my back and I grit my teeth. With their hands on my shoulders I pushed them away with force and poked their eyes.

"A-" I quickly hooked my foot under theirs and pulled, causing them to lose balance.

I was about to jump over the fallen man when someone grabbed my leg. I looked down and it was the man I had kicked earlier. Why won't you just stay down! My other foot lifted to kick him once more only this time on the face but other hand grabbed my free foot with precision.

Damn it. I stomped like an angry bull, but couldn't shake either of them off. They were holding on with both hands and with all their might. Suddenly another person pounced on me, causing the both of us to stumble on the ground.

The person was smart enough to cover my face and I couldn't see what I was going against. I had no choice but to wave my only limbs available like crazy, scratching bits of skin and punching whatever flesh I could touch. Despite my efforts I couldn't move, I was definitely stuck.

"Argh." I grunted while continuing to struggling. If they had a gun, they would've pulled it out already. I thought as I felt them slowly push my legs together. So then what do I do? I felt them cuff my legs as I continued to fight with the person who was currently pinning me down.

"Her feet are cuffed!" Someone panted. "We're going to go call the others!"

"Go, hurry!" She told the others, then she spoke to me. "There's no point in fighting anymore, you're tied up already!" The girl on top of me growled as she struggled against me.

Your hands are still free!

Acting quickly, I felt around for the girl's eyes and pushed as hard as I could.

"Ahhh!" She screamed.

I grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled down to my side, and she landed on the floor with her hands over her eyes. Thankfully she was alone, making it easier for me.

"Over here!" I heard one of the men from earlier shout.

Panting, I sat up, quickly reaching towards the small pocket knife tucked away in my sock. I flipped it open and with force drove it down the small chains that linked the cuffs together.

I scrambled to my feet once more, and this time, I was free to run.

"She's getting away again!"

I huffed and ran as fast as I could, the edge of the park was so close. A pair of feet was gaining speed behind me, and I knew it be a matter of time before they caught me.

The person tackled me to the ground where we struggled against each other, the struggle ended with me under him and one of my arms pinned on the floor. I quickly snaked my arm behind my back so he wouldn't be able to pin it as well. I looked up to see Sharp-eyes with a menacing look on his face and tried to wiggle myself out of the current situation.

"Stop struggling!" He snarled.

I wiggled even more which distracted him from my leg that was wrapping around his. Once I had a firm grip, I bent my knee as far as I could and Sharp-eyes let out a grunt of pain.

Sensing the slight grip on my arm loosen, I pull out my arm from behind my back and as quickly as I could punched him hard on the face. He wobbled, allowing me to push him off me and scramble up in my feet again.

He caught my leg, causing me to fall on my stomach and dragged me towards him. Damn it, I growled in my head as I continued to wiggle underneath him.

It wasn't until I heard the click of a pistol right next to my ear that I froze. "Don't move or I'll blow your brains out." I huffed on the ground, my face shoved against the dirt. Another guy showed up with a gun, I growled inwardly.

"Pass me the cuffs, preferably two." Sharp-eyes panted above me, grabbing and cuffing both my hands behind my back and my feet.

Damn it.