1. Dominic

I searched the dusty shelves frantically, I knew there wasn't much time. I knew I shouldn't have taken that bracelet, even though it's so clear that it belongs to me. I started grabbing everything I could think of, anything that could come of use, and started shoving it all into my old elementary backpack. I took off running, trying to put as much distance from me and that old house. I don't even know how it's still standing. I try to think of somewhere I can go, anywhere I can hide, but only one place comes to mind. There is no way I'm going there, anyplace but there. I can't help it, there's nowhere left. I continue running when I hear them, they're not just yelling, they're screeching my name.

"DOMINIC! RETURN THAT BRACELET NOW!" I hear their voices, their piercing, shrieking voices pounding on the inside of my head. Over and over and over again.

Luckily I was fast enough they still thought I was in my house. They pounded on the door until it finally came down, my front wall with it. Good thing I don't plan on going back any time soon. I thought as a smile creeped its way onto my face. Here we go, I thought. Right back to where it all started. I remember it like it was yesterday. Her parents were both from different regions, her mom from the Underlye, and her dad from the Shallows, so none of them have ever looked how the people from the Maru usually look, with our pale skin and blonde hair. She had the most beautiful sun kissed skin, like she was made out of gold, and she had the faintest freckles right on her nose. Her eyes were what made everyone stare with awe; her right eye was pale green, and her left brown, but in the sun it was almost the color of honey. No one had eyes like her, everyone here had blue eyes, some light, some dark, but if you were born here, your eyes were blue. End of story. The thing about her that made me the most jealous was her hair. It was dark brown, almost black, but her caramel highlights from her days on the beach as a kid were what made me crazy, because with how blonde my hair is, I could never accomplish this, and there wasn't a beach in sight to even give me a chance. The first day she was here, people called her names I hadn't even heard before, names I can't even recall. They did this because it was completely illegal to go from region to region, and she is the first, and only person with parents from two different regions. The people from the Maru call this a Hape. Yes, we made a whole term for this one, special girl. Her name was April.

I knocked on her door repeatedly until I heard footsteps walking towards me.

"Yes? Who is it?" Her mother sang as she opened the door.

"Domonic? Come in, be quick." I stepped inside and looked around. It was exactly the same. Her arch shaped door came into a cozy little house, with only a few pictures hung from the walls, all of her swimming on the beach before she was sent to this cold desert.

"Thank you so much for letting me in, they've been chasing me for months now, but I finally got it."

"Good, put it in here." She motioned to a picture frame that opened into a box. I set it in gently, and turned to face her again.

"Where's Mr. Katz?"

"He's with April building a new shelf in her room, you're welcome to go in and help." She said with a smirk. I smiled back and shook my head, walking over to her bedroom door. I knocked faintly, and Mitch told me to come in. I opened the door and expected it to feel like old times, but it felt different, awkward. They put the last screw in place and she turned to see who was standing there. At first she seemed confused, but when she realized it was me her eyes lit up and she ran over to give me a hug. She embraced me for what seemed like half an hour, and I never wanted to let go, until her dad broke in,

"Alright alright, save that for when we make it out of this mess."

We let go of each other, and I walked out of her room, and over to the kitchen. Her mother Veronica was pulling something out of the oven when she proclaimed,

"Let's all sit down, and figure out what all has happened." None of us disagreed, so we walked to the table and sat at our usual places, Veronica and Mitch at the heads, and me and April across from each other.

"How long have you been running Dom?" Mitch was the only person that called me that.

"14 months, but the first 4 were before they knew it was me, just a head start."

"Good thinking, I wish we'd have thought of that way back when."

I didn't know how to respond, I never knew when he brought up their travels here. April broke the silence with, "Should we get another head start and run away ourselves? Dominic tag along?"

"Not a bad idea, but where would we go? We're banned from the three other regions, and the Maru is the smallest of the four."

"Actually, I think I have a spot." I hadn't told anyone before, and hadn't thought to go while I was running.

"My parents had a bunker in the forest across from the butchers, I have a hard time finding it myself sometimes."

April was the first to respond. "Perfect, we'll go there."

"Well hold on, how are we going to sneak Dom across the busiest road in town, while the government has its best security everywhere?"

"We could stay here until morning, and as soon as the sun touches the sky we could make a run for it." Veronica suggested.

"I like it, let's do it." I replied. Everyone agreed to go to bed early so we could get up earlier and pack. Her parents went to bed right away, but me and April stayed up talking for a while.

"Were you scared?" I wasn't expecting for us to talk, but she made it so easy.

"I guess so, but it was nice being alone." I lied. I was terrified of being on my own, not having anyone to back me up, cover for me, it was very scary.

"Really? I feel like I would've lost my mind alone for 14 months."

"I do wish I had some company, but overall it wasn't too bad." I could tell she didn't know how to respond. So I steered to a new topic, one she knew.

"There's a lake by the bunker, we could swim in it."

"No way! I haven't swam in like 7 years!" She seemed relieved. "What if I forgot how?"

"I'm sure you remember, you spent your whole childhood on the beach."

"My childhood from a million years ago sure, but I don't remember most things I did there." We were both very clearly tired, so we said goodnight, and I walked down the hall to their spare bedroom, and almost instantly fell asleep. The next morning we were packed within half an hour, and got out on our way.

We were making our way through the town, silently, seamlessly, when all of a sudden someone was yelling at us, telling us to stop where we were. We all froze, not knowing what to do or how to get out of this situation. I heard them getting closer, so I did the only thing I knew how to and screamed, "RUN!" My voice echoed off of the empty shops while we all made a bee-line for the edge of town. We climbed the fence over, and ran for a 400 foot stretch, until I saw it. Last time I was here I tied a red bandana around a rock near the entrance. I got to the rock, turned left, and ran to the door. The door was in a tree, hidden so well I always forgot which tree it was. I twisted a branch, the door swung open, and we all ran inside. We went down a windy staircase and into the lower level of the bunker where I had two fifty gallon tanks of water, and tons of canned foods. After I showed them where everything was, (everything being a couple of toothbrushes, a hole for a restroom, and where my hidden candy stash was.) we set up our bunkbeds neatly, and I went to the top of the stairs to try and listen for people. After a few hours I opened the door ever so slightly, but as I started to walk out I heard a stick break and retreaded immediately. We stayed in the bunker for a week, but when supplies got low we had to leave and relocate. We packed our things, grabbed what little food there was left, and started hiking. We got halfway up the mountain when April suggested we stay where we were overnight. Everyone was out of shape from staying locked up for so long, that we all agreed it was a good idea. We found a glade and layed out our sleeping bags again to go to bed. It was a really cold night, and we all ended up bundled together by the morning. We woke to a loud whirring sound in the sky above us, and suddenly bullets were coming down from the sky like raindrops. April's mom had already been hit. We all put our bags on our heads and ran as fast as we could. We were running through the woods stepping on branches, and twisting our ankles on rocks. April fell completely on top of me at one point but we had to keep going. Finally, we saw our ticket. A small tool shed 200 feet away. We kept running, faster and faster. All of a sudden the whirring stopped. The bullets stopped raining down, but could still hear a loud noise from the plane. Mitch looked up, and yelled for us all to run faster. He said something along the lines of "Remember who your family is" then he gave us all one hard push to the right, and the plane landed on top of him. We all sat there, staring in terror. April burst into tears, so I grabbed her and ran into the tool shed, her mom right behind us. No one knew what to say, or how to react, so we all sat there in silence replaying what had happened over and over again in our heads. Finally the silence was broken by her mom.

"Are either of you hurt?"

"I'm fine," I responded unsurely. "Maybe a few cuts from branches but I wasn't shot."

"Yeah I think I'm okay too."

She nodded, "Which one of you has the first aid kit?"

"I do." April responded quickly. She rummaged through her bag and got the kit out. She opened it and handed it to her mom.

"Give me just a minute to bandage my leg, and I'll help you too."

"Don't worry about it Mrs. Katz, I'll take care of us."

I got out alcohol pads and bandages, and took care of April first. One of her cuts was on her arm, while I bandaged it up I was holding her hand. When I finished helping her, I started to sterilize my own wounds, but April wouldn't let me. We all got ourselves feeling better, ate some food, and rested for an hour or two. We got up again around noon to get going. I put all of Mitch's stuff in my bag, except for one of his jackets, April wore that.

The next place I knew to go was 6 miles away, all of it downhill. We started walking, and along the way we were able to catch some rabbits and pick some fruit from trees. We stopped 4 miles in to cook two of the four rabbits and ate some of it. We were all pleasantly surprised at how the rabbit tasted.

"How much longer do we have to walk?" April asked me.

"Probably only three or four miles more." She nodded, trying not to look upset.

"If you guys want we could build a little fort to sleep in tonight and walk the rest of the way tomorrow?"

"Oh lets do that, my leg is killing me." Mrs. Katz said relieved.

"Okay perfect, I'll go find some logs." I turned and walked off.