I couldn't breathe enough. Each strangled wheeze made my heart skip another beat. I'd practiced parkour many times before, but all of this was too much. I could hear them behind me-shouting, organizing, gaining. I was no more than a frantic animal, while they were trained killers. I couldn't possibly put up a proper fight against them.

I ducked under another fallen branch. A right, another right, a left at a flash of red. I lept over rocks, bushes, logs-anything in my undetermined path.

I skidded to a stop at the sound of water.

I couldn't swim well, but if I had to choose between the red-clad men with guns and water… At least the water's quiet.

I took a look back, I'd remained here, slumped over, for five seconds already. They'd catch up eventually, find me, take me back to… to wherever it is I just ran from.

Crack!

My head whipped to look at the source of the sound, and my eyes were level with a bayonet, with the narrowed eyes behind them. The face, though flushed, looked pale next to the crimson coat he donned. My decision was made.

As I dropped into the water, the past 24 hours flew through my mind.

Waking up, eating breakfast, school, working on ceramics. A brief conversation with my dad in the car, retreating to my room to wash off makeup before going on a walk. A flash of gold, ringing in my ears-color doesn't have a sound-, a compulsion to touch it, to pick it up, to feel it. The inability to not obey. A flash of gold turned to a flash of light, a shortness of breath turned to my lungs being crushed-light doesn't do that.

Yelling, startled men, weapons that were ancient to me, but modern to them. Red, red, red-green. I bolt, I leap over a table covered in mechanisms I'd never seen, maps underneath them like carpet in a room.

Nothing but instinct, get away from the noise get away from the danger. What happened? Where am I? Where is home? Why did I do that?

Questions, questions, questions. Not enough time to dwell on them. A chase by demons, then a plunge.

My lungs screamed for air more than before, current grabbing hold of me and trying to drag me under. I fought for purchase, and found none. What must have been seconds felt like minutes, and my scrabbling hands connected with dirt, I clawed my way towards it, grabbed it, anchored myself after my head broke the surface. I crawled away from the water, clung to the ground. I need to get dry, I need to get warm. The sun was bright, the air was cold. I forced myself up and stumbled towards more forest, making poor progress between being water-logged and chilled.

After hours of walking through the forest, after night had fallen and I'd decided to make my way to a cluster of distant lights, my stomach growled.

I miss home.

Heyyy! So, after more than two years, I'm returning to this thing and not continuing it, but completely rewriting it! My writing style has changed a bit, and updates might be sporadic, but I have new ideas and the plot will likely be way different from the original. We'll be seeing some familiar faces as time goes on, though, so don't worry about any original characters like Greg being taken out! I look forward to seeing where this goes!