I kept running...

Far away...

My lungs hurt. My chest hurts. Every part of me external and internal seemed to ache with both agony and exhaustion. But at least I was far away from Ellisburg. It's former beauty and glory was gone. It wasn't what I thought would always remain. The town was on fire...homes were destroyed...there were corpses everywhere and it was just pure chaos.

I'd never forget the image.

But now here I am with my body collapsed on what feels like sand back first, reading a sign standing out front.

It read: Pearlrock Beach.

That had to mean I was in Pearlrock City. It also meant that I ran 6 miles just to get to safety.

I've ran 6 miles to get to safety. I've ran 6 miles to get to safety. I've ran 6 miles to get to safety. I've ran 6 miles to get to safety...

Unbelievable. It was no wonder my heart was pounding so desperately and violently against my chest. Why my throat burned. Why I was drenched in sweat head to toe. Why I felt as if I was about to die.

The waves of the ocean sploshed around recklessly. With no care in the world for anything. Not for the sand, the rocks, nor the shells.

They gave me fond memories of the happier moments of my childhood. When me, Eiriam, and mother would come take walks on the beach. Eiriam and I would spend hours on end collecting shells. Afterwards, we'd display them and make necklaces out of them.

I tried to hold back the downpour of tears that threatened to roll down my cheeks and onto the damp sand. But it was no use.

"How could I let any of this happen, mother?" I sobbed endlessly, looking down at the locket around my neck. The very same locket Eiriam gave to me on my sixteenth birthday.

Inside, there was a picture of us back when I was twelve and Eiriam was ten. I was smiling brightly with an arm around her. It was bittersweet.

And now here I am.

Separated from my family because of those vile imbeciles. Those vile things called 'The New Burtiontions'.

Those three words brought about a bitter taste in my mouth, filled with emotions of pure disgust, antagonism, abhorrence... The only thing I could think about when it came to them was one and only one thing: revenge.

Gradually, my body, at last, started to give into my exhaustion. My eyelids got heavier and heavier until I fell into darkness, the last sight being the stars up above...