I woke up to being thrown across the room like a ragdoll by my own father. The impact against the wall knocked the air out of my lungs and opened up a recent knife wound on my back. Gasping for breath, the world began to spin and black dots danced in front of my eyes. Planting my hands on the ground, I struggled to push myself up before a searing pain tore through my skull as my father grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanking me up before slamming me against the wall once more. I stayed down this time, my senses ablaze. The stench of alcohol buried itself in my nose as my eyes watered.

What a nice wake-up call. I curled myself in a way to shield my left arm, which was covered in bruises from a beating I had received earlier in school. Just bear through it, I thought to myself, this will end today. I I repeated those words in my head like a mantra as I watched my father sway on his feet.

"Doya know... what I hath to go through... to... day?" He started, pausing now and then to gather his thoughts from his mind, words slurred as they tumbled out of his mouth. The same thing you have to go through every day?

I stayed silent, watching him as I looked at him from the corner of my eyes. He let out a growl as his rough hands took hold of my neck, choking me. "Do you?!" He screamed in my face, his alcohol filled breath flaring up my nose.

"N-no." I choked out. At that, he dropped me back to the ground where I sat coughing and cradling my neck, heaving until I got lightheaded. He's going to talk about how awful his day was now. I thought, tilting my head to look at him. Indeed, he had begun his rant. I breathed in and out, calming my racing heart as I zoned out.

I was brought out of my daydream when I heard the familiar crack of glass against the wall behind me, followed by stomps and a door being shut with a loud thud. Turning to look behind me, I traced my finger along the edge of one piece of the broken alcohol bottle. That was pretty mellow. Today must have been not as bad.

I stood up carefully, my legs trembling and my wounds stretching out after being compressed for a long time. I made my way to my bed one step at a time before letting gravity do its job as I fell on it. Snaking an arm underneath, I grabbed my First Aid kit so I could tend to any new wounds. Pushing myself into a sitting position with a shaky arm, I pulled my dirtied shirt over my head, looks like I bled through the bandages again, and assessed my body.

Bleeding on my right ankle, hairline left arm and left leg. Knife wound on my back is opened up again and more bruises on my arms and back. I cataloged in my head. I started with the slight bleeding, dabbing at them with alcohol wipes before placing a band-aid on them.

Pulling my tangled brown hair over my shoulders, I looked over the injury on my back in my mirror. I slowly undid the wraps that covered my entire chest and abdomen, letting the knife wound breathe some fresh air after being held in by blood-soaked bandages for hours.

A long scarlet line ran from my right shoulder blade to my left hip. The bleeding hasn't stopped yet. Guess I'll just change the bandages. I need to figure out a better way to clean it. I undid the, before rewrapping it with new bands. After securing the new bandages, I pulled a slightly cleaner shirt over my head, stretching slightly to test the boundaries of the injuries.

My thought wondered to my father. Our relationship wasn't always like this. The abuse started out of nowhere when I was ten, but the abuse ends today.

Reaching under my battered pillow, I wrapped my hands around a hard drive that contains my ticket to freedom. I slipped it into a small jean bag that I found a few years ago near the trash cans. The straps had fallen free and there were multiple holes in it, but I took it with me and fixed it up myself. Adjusting its placement slightly to keep it from rubbing my wounds, I approached the window in my room and pushed it open, my arms shaking as I struggled.

Once the window opened, I pushed myself over the window sill and onto the grass outside, then pushed the window shut again. We lived on the first floor of a dirty, aged apartment building where mold was growing in every corner and the paint on the walls was chipped.

As I ran through the night, getting as far away from the building as possible as fast as I can. I felt the cold, midnight wind bite at my skin but a smile pulled at my lips. I'm finally free.

I ran until my legs felt numb, my feet felt like they were stepping on needles, and my lungs felt like they were being pierced by knives in an unending cycle. Slowing to a stop, I placed a hand on the wall to steady myself as I tried to return to a regular breathing rate. But something felt wrong.

A hand shot out from the darkness to my left, covering my mouth before dragging me into the dark alleyway. The person pushed me against the wall, hand still over my mouth while the other wandered over my body. As the situation settled in my mind, I started to struggle which only made him press his hand harder over my mouth. Get off me!

Then, he froze.

As he toppled over to the side, I saw a gleam of metal sticking out of his head. Numb, I slid down the wall and fell to the ground. What just happened? I looked to the side in shock and saw two people jump down from the roof of the building next to us. As the two moved closer, my eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness of the alley and I saw that they were a man and a woman. The girl walked up to me while the other went to inspect the fallen rapist. Who are they?

The lady crouched down to be at eye-level with me and I just stared back at her, my muscles tense. "We're not going to hurt you." She spoke softly; her tone was warm and promised protection. I relaxed my tensed muscles slightly, my injuries screaming in agony from the constant motion I had put them through. Can I trust them?

She stood back up and turned to face her companion. "Well?" She prompted.

"He's dead," The male stated, using his finger to press a button on his earpiece, "I'm calling the PD now so they can come and... clean up this mess." They're connected with the Police? Is that why they can just kill so freely? Are they part of the police? Or the government? Or are they...

As the male busied himself with the call, I inched up with a hand supporting my weight against the wall. This action caught the girl's attention as she turned to look at me again.

"Who...?" I asked, although my question came out as a mere whisper.

She smiled at me, "I'm Lindsey, and that jackalope over there is Vincent."

"You know you love me," Vincent called back as he raised a hand to give a casual salute and walked over in quick, long strides. "Let's skedaddle. The police will be here soon and I'd rather not deal with them."

Lindsey nodded before turning back to me. "You're coming with us. We need to treat all those injuries on you before they're infected and turn you into a zombie." I gave her a strange look but she just stared back at me. Can I trust them? Are they just pretending to be nice to me but only to hurt me later on? I don't know anything about them either. Though, if I'm right they're part of a s...

In the distance, police sirens could be heard, and in the next second, I was being piggybacked by Lindsey. "Wait!" I squeaked out in panic but I was up in the air before I knew it and I clung onto Lindsey automatically. Fear and adrenaline pulsed through my veins as Vincent and Lindsey ran and jumped from building to building. And how are on earth can they travel this fast!? And from building to building too?

Before long, we had left behind sector 11 of Aestrea and were making our way towards sector 9. Where are we going? The two landed in front of a two-storey building and Vincent walked straight in. Lindsey set me down carefully before keeping the door open, allowing me to enter first. As I passed her, I studied her more carefully in the light.

Lindsey had long chestnut hair that she kept in a high ponytail and warm brown eyes. She was slender but fit. And she definitely has a high stamina, I noted, seeing how there didn't seem to be a dot of sweat on her despite the nonstop run from sector 11.

Walking in, I looked around and saw Vincent talking to three other boys who were lounging on the couch in what seemed to be a living room. Lindsey stepped next to me and shook off her leather jacket, leaving herself in a black and white striped T-shirt. The small white scars on her arms caught my attention.

"Alright, which one of you is injured?"

My head snapped forward at the voice that came out of nowhere and I came face to face with a girl with chocolate brown skin, matching eyes and dark, bouncy curled locks. Where did she pop up from?

"Vanessa, can you please try to make some noise when you walk so you don't scare the living daylights out of people," Lindsey said, with a smile on her face to show she was joking.

"You know it's useful," Vanessa replied to Lindsey as her eyes scanned me up and down. Which is totally not uncomfortable.

"So, what's your name?" Vanessa asked. Is she talking to me? I stared at Vanessa who looked straight back at me. Oh. She is. Should I tell them? I mean it's not like they can do anything after they know my name.

"Amelia."

"Alright then Amelia, let's go get you fixed up." At that, Vanessa turned around and padded up the stairs. Her floral dress swirling around with her movement and the white scars scattered around her body caught my attention. She has scars too? I think my guess is about right.

Her words took a moment to register in my mind before I scrambled after her, Lindsey following behind me. Lindsey walked with long strides, confidence showing in every step, and Vanessa walked with dainty steps that were so quiet, you wouldn't be able to tell she was there unless you can see her walking.

At the top of the stairs, there was a hallway to the right and one to the left and a wall with two rectangles a few meters in front of the stairway. We stopped in front of one of the two doors. Vanessa laid her hand out on the rectangle, which turned black and began to glow a fade shimmer of blue.

"Syndicate member confirmed. Proceed." The voice was that of a female's and didn't seem too monotone so it was the voice was probably programmed into the wall replying to a certain algorithm. The rectangle moved back into the wall and slid towards the right, allowing us to enter the room. What is this technology?? This place is full of technology that I've never seen or heard of before!

"This is our medical room," Vanessa explained as we stepped into the room, the rectangle, door, closing back up behind us. The lights in the room turned on automatically as we walked in and a bed unfolded itself from the wall.

"'Kay, Amelia we'll need you to lie down on your stomach on the bed." Lindsey directed. I looked over at the bed and made my way over.

"Feel free to sleep if you want. We'll just check your body for injuries and fix you up where appropriate." Vanessa said as she brought out a tray full of disinfecting materials and bandages.

Try to stay awake. You don't know what they might try to do when you're asleep. That's how I got the knife wound in my back. My father woke me up by dragging a glass shard through my back the day before. I wasn't able to move for a long while until he forced me up to do chores. But, my body refused to listen to my own warnings and my eyes slowly closed of their own free will.

When I woke up again, it was bright outside and I had been moved to another room. It was empty aside from the bed, a wardrobe and a table with a chair. Pushing myself into a sitting position, I stretched gently, feeling the stitches in my back. So they stitched it up for me. Where am I? I looked around the room.

I heard the door open and I turned to see who it was. The door was open, but nobody was coming in. Then, a boy's head popped around the door, followed by another on top, and another, and then Vincent's head at the very top. I blinked, not sure what I was seeing. Hi?

In the next second, the four boys fell over and kissed the ground as Lindsey pushed the door further open. "You're up!" She exclaimed before making her way over - did she do that purposely to make the boys fall? - side-stepping the boys on her way. "How are you feeling?"

"Refreshed."

The boys near the door were standing now and groaning about the fall. The four exchanged words before Vincent walked towards Lindsey and I while the other three left the room.

"Where...?"

"This is our headquarters but we prefer to call it our home," Lindsey replied.

"Headquarters?"

"Yes," She started, "Everyone here is a member of Syndicate 45 of Aestrea. Vincent is our supposed leader." Hmm, so I guessed right.

"Supposed? What do you - "

"That explains your athletic prowess and the scars on your arms," I said under my breath, not realizing that I had spoken out loud. They heard me anyways.

"That's right." He nodded, "So Amelia, can you-"

"Woah that's the first full sentence you said since we met you!" Lindsey said with a genuinely surprised look on her face, cutting Vincent off again. Well, it's not like I'm mute or anything.

"Can I continue? Amelia, can you tell us what happened that night?" Vincent asked, moving to stand behind Lindsey, resting his hands on her shoulders. Lindsey in turn, relaxed and leaned back. They make a cute couple.

"I ran away," I replied to Vincent.

He nodded. "Do you have any plans? Or was it just a spur of the moment 'I want to run away' kinda thing?"

"Plans." My plan was to sell the program installed on my hard drive to the government. I had spent my free time coding this program since the age of eleven. I'm not going to tell them though. I'd rather keep it secret.

Vincent nodded again. Before he could continue to talk, Lindsey cut in front of him, "But, whatever your plan is, you're staying here with us until all of your wounds heal. Okay? I'm not taking no for an answer. And no, you don't get a say in this, you whale." The last sentence was directed to Vincent as she elbowed him in his ribs.

I blinked, stunned. Everyone here seemed trustworthy. The fact they haven't killed me off or injured me further while I was asleep is proof for that. But... I'm not sure. They're nice, definitely, but I don't want to overstay my welcome.

I stepped out of bed, beginning to move my way to the door, "I'll go."

Lindsey stood up as well and blocked my way.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. No."