A woman ran, barefooted and wild-eyed, crashing through undergrowth that tore at her legs, snagging the white fabric of her dress in shreds along brambles and broken branches.
In her arms, a small boy lay cradled, limp and pale as a ghost, a faint wheeze slipping from his parted lips with each labored breath. Behind her, another boy, identical in every delicate feature down to the last freckle, clung to her tattered dress, his small hand gripping a strip of torn fabric, unaware of the danger in the shadows.
"Shh, baby, please," she whispered, barely a breath, glancing down at the child in her arms before looking back at the other. "We're almost there."
The boy behind her smiled wide, a devilish joy lighting up his eyes.
"This is a game, isn't it, Mama?"
His voice was soft, innocent—and it filled her with a dread that reached deeper than her wounds. She forced herself to nod, though her face twisted, barely hiding the grief tightening her chest.
To her little boy, to this wide-eyed, unaware boy, it was a game—something exciting, something adventurous. But he didn't know, he couldn't know, what they were trying to escape.
"Yes," she breathed, choking on the lie. "A game."
A fresh pulse of fear surged through her as the distant growl of dogs and the high-pitched hum of alarms echoed through the trees. Shadows flickered on the horizon, guards moving with calculated precision, each step bringing them closer.
Every sound, every rustle, seemed amplified, a threat.
The boy in her arms, groaned softly, his head falling back as he shivered in her grasp.
His small chest rose and fell with a painful slowness, his face pale, nearly blue in the thin light breaking through the canopy above. She clutched him tighter, her fingers curled into his frail body, fingers dirtied and raw from hours of clawing at soil and stone.
Her nails, ragged and cracked, had scraped and dug until her hands bled, all to carve out the one slim chance of freedom they had left—a tiny gap beneath the high electric wall.
Her body ached, bruises painted her skin in violent colors, blooming in purples and blues along her arms and legs, dark smudges ringing her wrists like bruised bracelets. She could feel the dull, persistent throb beneath her left eye, the swelling pressing her vision into a tight tunnel, but she forced herself to ignore it.
Nothing could matter now but her two boys.
The boy trailing her tugged on her dress again, his laugh softer, a curious wonder in his voice.
"Are we hiding, Mama? Like hide and seek?"
She stopped, dropping to her knees near a thick cluster of roots that masked the tiny, concealed hole she'd spent nights digging. Her voice was barely more than a whisper as she looked back at him, her lips forming words even as her voice cracked.
"Yes, baby. Hide and seek. But now, we have to be very, very quiet. Do you understand?"
The boy's eyes sparkled, his face a picture of childish excitement, nodding as he crouched beside her, grinning as though nothing beyond this game existed.
She reached out, her hand trembling as it brushed his tangled hair, and pressed her other arm more tightly around the boy in her grasp, feeling the faint, erratic flutter of his heartbeat against her chest.
She couldn't lose him. She couldn't let them take her boys back to that place.
Her gaze flickered to the wide, curious eyes of the boy behind her.
"Go first, okay?" Her voice was strained but steady. "Just like we practiced—crawl through."
The boy nodded, grinning. She can't fault him for it, they only get to play and act like kids in small moments. He crouched down, pushing his small body through the narrow hole, his giggles echoing softly as he disappeared beneath the fence.
With the other boy through, she turned to the boy she was holding, pressing a trembling hand to his cool cheek. His eyelids fluttered, breath shallow, his tiny chest rising and falling as though each gasp took everything he had left.
"Hurry, Mama," Her other boy called from the other side, poking his head back through the opening, his eyes flashing in the dark. "Leave him. He doesn't want to play—he's sleeping."
Her heart twisted.
"Be quiet! Never in your life should you think about leaving your brother, you understand?"
She hissed, her words barely more than a breath. The alarm in her voice softened his grin, his eyes blinking with surprise as he watched her push the other boy gently forward.
"Yes, mama," The boy whispers, eyes blank. "I understand."
The sound of snapping branches behind her tightened her spine. She forced herself to crawl forward, clawing at the earth as she slipped through the gap.
"Mama, I see shadows! They're coming!"
"Shh!" she hissed, terror coating her voice. "Please. Be quiet."
And just as she began to crawl through behind them, a searing pain shot through her ankle. Her scream sliced through the silence as she was yanked backward, the sharp, brutal teeth of a dog digging into her flesh. Her little boy's laugh rang out on the other side, his voice lilting with innocent delight.
"It's okay, Mama!" he whispered, reaching one hand through the hole, fingers brushing the dog's snout as if to calm it. "I'll help you hide."
The dog's teeth sank deeper, dragging her leg back.
Her fingernails clawed at the earth as she tried to yank herself free, but the weight of the animal held her down. She gasped, a strangled sob escaping her lips, her hands slipping in the dirt. Blood seeped from her torn skin, warm and slick between her fingers, and the animal's growl rumbled against her, vibrating through her bones.
"Baby, go!" she cried, her voice breaking, but he only tilted his head, smiling as though he hadn't heard her. "Take your brother, go!"
The dog's grip tightened, pulling her away from the narrow hole, its claws tearing into her flesh. Panic surged as she glanced back, catching the glint of her little boy's teeth in a grin as he watched her struggle, fascinated.
"Go!" she screamed, desperation consuming her. "Just like we practiced!"
Nothing. The boy smiles. Watches. Eyes wide.
And so, in desperation, she kicked at the dog with her free foot, the blow landing with a sickening thud, but the beast only tightened its grip.
With one final wrench, she tore her leg free, pain searing through her as she scrambled forward, dragging herself through the hole. She pushed her son ahead, nearly shoving him across, his soft laughter echoing as she heaved herself after him.
Blood seeped from her leg, hot and thick against her skin, as she stumbled, pulling the two boys close, feeling the fragile warmth of their bodies pressed against hers as the shadows drew closer behind the fence.
From beyond the fence, the guards' voices grew louder, blending with the dogs' furious barking, their shadows moving closer. She clutched her boys tighter, pressing her lips to the sleeping boy's forehead, feeling the faint flutter of his heartbeat, her silent prayer filling the air like a whispered curse.
"Mama, we won!"
"Oh, god," she whispered, her voice trembling as she cupped his cheek. "Are you okay, baby?"
Her little boy, the one awake, looked up at her, his eyes wide with the innocent wonder of a child who didn't know the meaning of fear. He reached up, his hand brushing her cheek, his fingers tracing the dark bruise under her eye.
"But... we won. So why are you crying, Mama?"
Forcing a smile, she gazed down at him, her words barely a whisper as she stroked his hair.
"Because I love you both. And because..." She drew in a shaky breath, looking past him at the murky shadows moving beyond the fence. "Because we're free."