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Jacob F.
Mrs. Peterson
Lit.
28 October 2015
Run
I am running, again, its exhilarating, just as I remembered, but this time something feels
different; maybe I just understand it better this time. I had been barely more than a toddler the
first time, and the second, the third time had been only a few years ago, but those few short years
had felt like a long time. Now its my fourteenth birthday, not that it matters, and we are running
again. Johnathan had been afraid for a few days, growing more anxious at every squeal of tires
and every bang of car doors, the tipping point had come when he had heard a car engine last
night. Non-government vehicles hadnt been allowed on the roads after dusk for almost three
years and it was one law nobody had ever dared break. But Johnathan had stayed up at night and
slept during the day anyways, after all the people we feared most were still able to drive as they
pleased.
Running had started simply enough, one day when Aunt Jen and Uncle Steve had been
visiting, agents of the Committee burst in, and John, who had been tasked with playing with me,
took me into a small crawl space in the wall. A spot I hadnt known existed in my own home. He
had told me we were playing a game and when I had tried to ask if those men who walked in
were playing, he said we were playing hide and seek with them and had to be very quiet. Since
then weve continued the game. When I had been little, Johnathan told me that both of our
parents were playing too, and that the men had burned down my house that day because they
really wanted to win. It was technically all true but my five year old self wouldnt have been able

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to comprehend the straight truth so he had done me the kindness of disguising it as a game.
Granted, even in my young age I had the capacity to question why the game had so quickly gone
as far as to torch my house, and had been very scared of the men. However my thoughtful cousin
had come up with an answer to that as well. He told me that the winner would get a prize worth a
thousand houses and all the things in them. It was this same idea, the idea of winning and getting
a prize that he used to keep me playing, whenever I was breaking down or longing to see my
parents. I am still not entirely certain he realizes the full extent of my knowledge of what really
took place in my home that day.
But now it doesnt matter. Regardless of what I know now that doesnt change the simple
fact that we still have to run. And so we are. Just as with every run this one starts out with us
physically running, although unlike in the past, we are running through a maze of corridors this
time. The secretary had been a mole, she had hidden us long enough that we had felt safe under
her care. Itd all started when she had snuck us into her living quarters which were located on the
bottom floor of Honors Towers, where she had worked as a night secretary for the
pharmaceuticals department. It had been a seemingly perfect hide that had been given to us by a
trustworthy friend who had hidden us prior. We had been nobodies in a huge building with a
thousand hallways, a hundred floors and countless people. But the secretary was a mole.
Johnathan was very clearly torn up by this, she had been hiding us for just short of a month and
in that time I think Johnathan had come to like her very much, or her olive skin, long legs and
wavy black hair anyways. I took a moment to pity him, he was nearly 26 years old and had never
had a chance to go on a real date or have a real relationship. Granted, he had had his good share
of flirtations and petty relationships in our earlier runs, typically with the daughters of our hosts
or neighboring girls but when youre forced to run those things dont last. In our earlier years he

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may have had a chance at a relationship, nobody ever knew much about him or me. We had just
been two kids that had drifted into the area without anybody realizing, nobody knew where we
lived or saw our parents and we were the perfect mystery to any kids who met us. Johnathan
especially so, he had a quiet demeanor and was tall with a slim but athletic build and dull brown
hair, which the lack of color of, helped to bring out his extremely light, and bright, blue eyes. He
had been every teenage girls perfect dream and they had let him know it too. But as time
progressed we stayed in any one place for less and less time and went out in public far less, until
by the time I was 8, our contact with anyone outside the family who was hiding us was virtually
non-existent. But Johnathan had really been hit hard this time. He wouldve been able to handle
leaving her, he had had to do it plenty of other times before, because even though we were only
now running for our fourth time we had never stayed in any one place for more than six months
at a time, and often not even for that long. But she had been a mole, a mole. Not only had she not
shared his feelings, but she had been willing to trade over his life, and mine, for only 100,000
credits, the standard reward for low threat enemies of the state.
John blinked back tears as he looked at the map he had printed out of the sub level
parking garage. The place was huge and actually consisted of many parking garages, each
designated to a certain division of Honors Corp., stuffed into one huge space. Each parking
garage had a corridor of its own that connected to the main lobby leading to the elevator. It
created a maze like system of hallways that one who wandered into the wrong part of could very
easily get lost in. Which had made it perfect for us. We had slowed to a jog after we had gotten
into the hallway designated to distribution and now, a few feet ahead of me John began to a walk
and I followed suit. I glanced at my watch, it was 11:23, most people had gone home and the
night shift workers had all migrated into their offices. 37 minutes had passed since we split from

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her apartment. She left for her shift at ten and it had taken us 46 minutes to wipe all trace of
ourselves from her home, a minute longer than usual. We normally would have risked another
night there despite the presence of Commitee vehicles, but John had checked the recordings from
the wire we had put on her phone and saw her call to the automated government tip line the day
before. That had removed any question, we were gone. I looked up at John, who I realized, had
been watching me as I stared at my watch. I inhaled deeply, the stale air leaving an unpleasant
taste in my mouth and walked up to stand beside him. He directed his attention back down the
hall. Despite the fact that it did indeed lead to the main hallway, it was a long and winding
passage, meant to avoid the seemingly random placement of garages. The hallway however, had
intersected with many other hallways, effectively creating a maze for us to get lost in. He pointed
to where the hallway bent to the left, away from everything else, and said, There should be a
custodial closet up around the corner, well make camp there for tonight. Sound good?.
Wordlessly, I nodded my agreement.
Chapter 2
When we got to the closet we found it already occupied. The room was a small rectangle,
not more than 4 by 8 feet, in the center was a bare bulb hanging by a wire, off. In the back a man
sat on a stool sleeping, and between us a large cleaning cart filled with various chemicals and
supplies dominated the space. He was a janitor who had fallen asleep between shifts as far as I
could tell. I looked nervously at John, wed never had to deal with anyone who wasnt either an
enemy or a friend. I decided then that civilians like this man fell under a third category, a risk,
and said as much to Johnathan as we eyed the sleeping man nervously. He was young and had a
rough appearance with a thin sandy blonde beard coming in. His security tag bore the name
Errick, however what was slightly more interesting was that, attached to the same necklace as his

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tag, was a set of car keys. I pointed at them and told Johnathan that this man wore our best hope
for escape around his neck. He neither agreed nor argued against me, but continued to stand
there, staring blankly at the man. Snap out of it!, I whispered, frustrated at his inaction. The
janitors eyes flicked open. The space was cramped and there was still a cleaning cart between
him and us but I knew, almost instinctively, something told me, we wouldnt be able to outrun
this. If he got up and called upfront about two guys he caught in his closet we would be done for.
I felt it. Johnathan turned to run but I had a different idea in mind, I turned with him but instead I
grabbed the door, and locked it, the small room had plunged into darkness and somewhere in
there I had heard Johnathan shout in his mid-pitched voice, What are you thinking?!.
In the blind flailing of limbs that ensued I managed to locate a lightswitch on the wall to
the left of the door. As the yellow light flooded the room everybody paused for a moment to sum
up our relative locations, sizes and appearances. I had pushed John into a recess in the corner
near the light switch, the janitor had moved around the cleaning cart and had been fumbling with
a lock and I myself was between John and the janitor. I blinked quickly to readjust to the light
and did the first thing I could think to do. I swung a hard kick at him, but he flattened against the
far wall and my kick fell short. Now youve done it kid!, thePanicking at this point I grabbed
the cart, which had been pushed against that same wall as the janitor at some point in the
darkness, and pulled it into the janitor. The metal frame hit him in the hip and although the
impact had been minor, the connection had been solid. His weight shifted and for that moment he
didnt do anything. I moved forward to allow John out of the recess but in that time the janitor
managed moved forward and tackled me into the same space that Id just freed Johnathan from.
The janitor had me out muscled so I crouched down and attempted to maneuver my way out but
there wasnt enough space and I had to contend with the janitor, who had began to kick at my

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crouched and largely defenceless form. From my vantage, I was able to see Johnathans legs
come up behind the janitor and then kicking relented and he fell back, clutching at his face and
yelling in wordless rage.
I looked at John who was holding a bottle of what appeared to be window cleaner. He
turned back around and grabbed into the cart again, pulling out a roll of duct tape. He tore off a
piece a few inches across, handed me the tape and said, This was your idea, you do the honors.
Next he kicked the janitor, who had started to regain vision, in the balls. He fell wordlessly to the
ground and I went on to continue his silence with the tape. John grabbed the roll back off the cart
and proceeded to bind his wrists, which had come conveniently together as he grabbed his
damaged jewels. Defeated, he looked up at us, his eyes still red and watering, from the chemicals
or Johns low blow, I couldnt tell. I crouched down, blowing my hair out of my eyes, and pulled
off his necklace. We didnt want to do this., I said softly, We arent bad people, but there is
something greater at stake.. I pinched his nose, he began thrashing wildly but I maintained my
hold and looked up at Johnathan, who was staring wide eyed at me, mouth open slightly. I could
tell he was mortified at what I was doing, only until he passes out, I explain, hoping to
maintain some humanity in my cousins eyes. We cant have him awake, even if he is bound..
The janitor began to kick and he managed to get a good hit on the back of my head. Grab his
feet, I order. Johnathan complies and that is when I know he agrees with me that this is for the
best. A few moments later and the man stops moving completely. I release his nose and a small
trickle of blood runs from his left nostril. I stare, slightly mortified at my own actions now as the
limp body lays before me and largely disgusted by the sight of blood. Johnathan breaks my
trance, telling me we need to set him upright before he chokes on his own blood. We pick him up
and set him on the stool, leaning his upper body against the wall. We turn and begin to exit the

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closet, keys and security tag in hand, when I have an idea. I look into the main bin of the cart,
hoping to see a towel, and luckily enough, there is a neatly folded pile in the back side of the
cart. I grab the top one and use it to wipe the blood from his nose, and then I turning it over so
the bloodstained side is near the floor, I cover the man with it like a blanket, and take his hat,
which had been sitting beneath the stool the whole time, and put it over his face. I turn back to
Johnathan who had watched the whole thing in silence and waited for his comment. Finally, he
says, He looks like he is sleeping.,Exactly, I reply. We head for the door, Johnathan already
pulling out the map to find the janitors parking garage. (CUT OFF HERE) By the time we
reached the garage, a small one that I had estimated to be about halfway between the corner we
were just in and the other farside corner. We pressed the unlock button and looked around, and to
my left I spotted a green PT cruisers lights flash. We approached the car and for the first time
during this run I began to wonder what our next plan of action would be. I finally let myself feel
true fear as I realized, that this time, we had nowhere to go, no secondary hidey hole waiting for
us. We reached the Cruiser when