I sprinted down the hallway and as my feet slapped against the cold wooden boards, my gaze met with the youngest child of this doomed family. The daughter. Younger than myself at age five. The age I was when my parents sent me here.
I mouthed the word wait to her and she nodded slightly. Smart girl. I gritted my teeth and entered the living room where the murderers were beating the farmer's wife. She was conscious, perhaps she wasn't alive. I could only watch, it was then they noticed me.
One advanced, then two. Soon I was running from five of them. My legs ached as branches lashed and scratched my cheeks. They were gaining as the sting in my tendons worsened. I would be caught, they would kill me. I wouldn't even make it to fifteen. I sobbed as I continued to run. I wouldn't give up until my final breath. I would keep running and running and running until no more was required of me.
I stumbled and a large fist slammed into my face. I blinked hard as I tried to remove the black dots from my gaze. They'd caught up to me, they'd been able to run, hide and capture me. It was over.
I spat in their face before one more punch my face sent me into rolling black oblivion.