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It was cold.

Freezing rain pelted my body like icy bullets as the surrounding darkness pressed threateningly against me. Inky trees towered eerily against the blank night sky and the wet greenery rustled quietly under my steadily pumping legs. My shaky breath billowed outward in a cloud that vanished seconds later into the enveloping mist. My dark hair matted to my forehead in a combination of sweat, dirt, and blood. I glanced sidelong for a split second; yes, Roxanne and Piper were still with me, two more bodies emitting equally shaky breath into the misty atmosphere. We moved through the forest with an unusual silence and speed. Our trained feet sank into the wet soil where it was least scattered with twigs and leaves, where it would make the least noise, and pushed off again much more quietly than would the average human. We were full of adrenaline, full of desire to get away. Far away from the place that had oppressed us for the beginning quarter of our lifetime, from the people who had told us how to think, how to act. That was about to change. It was exhilarating, and it was terrifying. Most of all it was terrifying.

As we ran through the wet wilderness, among the mossy trees and under the damp birds roosting through the miserable night, my overexcited mind wandered to the life ahead of me. One of two possibilities loomed in our future: We could escape and live free lives, or we could be caught and likely be removed. I couldn't imagine the CIA allowing us to live after the knowledge that we wanted lives of our own. But we wouldn't be taken care of quickly, painlessly. No, they would first extract information from us, about who we'd spoken to, what we'd seen. And they wouldn't kill us until they knew everything. I was horrified, but at the same time, I had a strange apathy. I didn't care. I was willing to take the risk. We had training, and because we had training, we would escape. We would be victorious.

The thought kept me moving. Even when fatigue rose up inside me and threatened to take over, I pushed myself forward, not even daring to break form. We could not give up.

With a signal for Roxanne and Piper to continue running, I slowed down, wanting to take a look around. The one thing we had been unable to determine during our planning was the likelihood of outside defenses that might hinder our escape, so I had to make sure. I crouched in a cluster of tall ferns, efficiently scanning the area for cameras hidden among the trees or alarm systems wired back to the compound. Even as cautious as I was, curiosity rose within me. Although this was a fairly familiar terrain, this was the first time I'd ever been outside the compound, so I could barely suppress a desire to examine plantlife and insects rather than potential dangers.

I stood quietly, not even sure whether the officials had noticed anything amiss yet, but I knew we were running out of time. With another glance around, I began running again, then burst into a sprint to catch up with Roxanne and Piper. It was then that I heard two sounds. One was the deep rumble of vehicles moving down the interstate, coming from in front, though it wasn't visible yet, and the other was the extremely faint screech of the alarm bell, which could only be coming from the compound only a few miles behind us.