Chaos.

It was the first thing the girl noticed around her. People rushing, running aimlessly from one place to another.

Sara had lost the people who had meant everything to her, all in one day.

Just the thought of it, the vivid memory constantly shoving its way into her mind was unbearably painful. As a thirteen-year-old girl, it was beyond confusing, and nothing could have ever prepared her for the abrupt realization of her need to survive.

~A few hours earlier~

"Dad, what's going on?" the girl asked in oblivion, "why are people screaming?"

The man briefly tore his eyes from the window to look at his daughter. He drew her close to his chest and stroked her soft brown hair, gently kissing the top of her head. Outside of their home, the desperate screams of people echoed incessantly in the air as ear splitting sounds of gunfire followed suit.

"I don't know, mia cara." Her father had an apprehensive tone of voice. He felt how his daughter flinched at every booming sound from people breaking into homes and the release of gunfire upon the neighborhood.

Matteo could only imagine the hundreds of families just like his, huddled together in agonizing terror, screaming for their lives.

"When's mom gonna be back?" Sara's voice quivered as she tightly grasped her father's shirt.

Amira had left the house earlier in the morning. She had reassured her husband and her daughter that she was only going to be gone for about an hour to make sure her sister and niece were alright. Sara's father had begged her to remain in the house, in the safety of their home, but the woman insisted.

Matteo wasn't willing to give up either. He tried and tried to reason with her but to no avail. She kissed her daughter on the cheek and her husband gave her a pleading look as she leaned in to kiss him too.

"Take care of our daughter for me... just in case, you know..." was the last thing she said before she rushed out the door.

That one hour in which she said she'd be out had long gone by, and her husband feared for the worst. He would never have the courage to tell Sara that her mother was quite possibly dead by then, brutally shot by armed guards perhaps. He had considered going out to search for his wife, but that possibility was long forgotten as he recalled her final request regarding Sara. It would be very irresponsible of him to put his daughter's life at risk like that.

"She'll be back soon, don't worry," he reassured his daughter. He wanted to believe his own words, but he couldn't shake off the apprehension.

He pulled away to stare directly at her terrified features. "I need you to promise me something, Sara."

He grabbed her shoulders with both hands as she nodded quickly.

"Promise me that no matter what happens to me, you're going to fight. Fight for your life, your survival," he said, his voice quivering. "I want you to rush out of the house, through the emergency exit we talked about—you know where it is. Run as fast as you can, and don't stop to look back. Don't let the guards take you with them no matter what."

"And you?" Sara asked, afraid her father would leave her on her own.

"Look for your uncle Janson and his wife. Mom went to look for her and your cousin Margaret so you might run into them. They'll protect you," he finished, a tight knot forming in the back of his throat. The thought of his daughter roaming the streets by herself was hanging above his head in a cloud of dread. It was only a matter of trusting that she'd make it to their house just a few blocks away before the guards spotted her, but even that was difficult enough.

Sara was paralyzed. She couldn't quite comprehend why her parents might not be with her anymore. They were always there when she needed them, for as long as she could remember. Parents didn't just disappear, leaving their children all alone, right? Her mind aimlessly roamed in circles. She was confused and frightened to death, all of which were mere understatements.

How was she going to escape on her own with armed guards surrounding her entire neighborhood?

Despite her innocence and her long list of concerns, she nodded, agreeing to the promise her father was asking her to make.

He wouldn't have done so had he not known the amount of courage that fit inside her. She might've been young and ignorant, but she was willing to do whatever was asked of her, no matter the difficulty of the situation. Matteo was well aware of this.

In a brief instant, as he searched deeply into her eyes, he was reassured that the valiant girl in front of him was going to survive, one way or another. Even with the existing possibility he wouldn't be alive to see that fulfilled.

The door of their home suddenly thrust open, startling both the girl and her father. Two armed guards masked and dressed in all black, with the letters 'WICKED' imprinted on the front of their uniform, rushed inside as they pointed their guns at the man holding his daughter.

One of them gave his partner a silent signal and the guard strapped his weapon behind his back and went straight to take Sara along with them.

"Sara, run! Now!" her father shouted in anguish as the other guard took hold of him. The guard wrapped his arm around the Matteo's throat from behind and pointed the gun to his head.

"No—dad!" screeched Sara at the sight of it all.

"Run!" Matteo shouted once again, and the guard tightened his grip around his throat.

At the sound of her father's strained voice, Sara was already gone, desperately running toward the emergency exit. She was immensely tempted to look back, fearing for his life. She couldn't bring herself to break her promise, however. She had just promised it a few minutes earlier and she wasn't about to break it on the same day it was made.

One of the bottom kitchen cabinets concealed a tunnel conducting a secret passageway that led outside. It was built in for emergencies following the sun flare catastrophe. She never imagined she'd be forced to make use of it at that moment. Things appeared to have calmed down before the guards infested the streets. It just didn't make sense.

As soon as her hand made contact with the small door to open it, she heard a single gunshot echo from within the house.

Her entire body flinched.

She couldn't stop now. As fiercely as she dreaded leaving her father to be killed in such a cruel manner, she had to escape... for him. Although it was a direct request from her father, she didn't stop to think how much this decision would affect her.

She had instantly disappeared through the tunnel right as the guard who was charging at her turned the corner of the living room and came across the kitchen.

He carefully scrutinized his surroundings before busting open every cabinet to check if she had hidden behind any of them. When he found the one concealing the tunnel, one too tight to fit the body of an adult man with uniform, he rushed back to his partner and let him know of her escape.

They left Matteo's body, now drenched in a pool of his own blood, sprawled across the living room floor, and they parted from the house in search of the girl.

~Present time~

Sara roamed around, in the midst of the chaos, watching in horror as children were being separated from their parents' arms as they stood right outside their homes, and the guards taking them along as they shot the parents dead. The same scene reverberated before Sara's eyes, from one house to the next, simulating a horror movie in slow motion.

She wondered why these guards were so highly interested in children—in her. It was impossible not to assume the worst, especially when their parents were disposed of as if they were worth merely nothing.

She was becoming lightheaded as she trudged on, in search of her aunt's house. Despite knowing the way, she felt like she was aimlessly roaming around in circles.

A shadow cascaded down on her and she froze in place, feeling a large hand grip her arm. As she turned around, she came face to face with the same guards that had broken into her home and taken the life of her dear father. Although they were masked, she knew it was them, as she could almost picture the same pair of eyes intently boring into her.

She tried to break free from their grasp, thrashing around and trying to bury the heel of her shoes into the dirt.

It was useless. Sara screamed and tried to pull away helplessly. She was crying bitterly, in part because she was terrified, but mostly because she had already broken the promise she had made to her father about remaining safe.

She kept trying to break free, no matter how much she knew that it was utterly useless until... two gunshots were fired, and both guards collapsed in a heap. Sara fell on her rear and scooted away from the bodies, swiftly looking around to find the source of the gunfire.

She was relieved to see her uncle standing there, and was surprised to see his arm extended and said arm holding a gun with the smoke still coming out of the muzzle.

When her uncle let out a breath of relief, she immediately rushed to him.

"I'm so glad you're safe," he whispered as he hugged her.

"Thank you, uncle Janson," she whispered, still panting from the fright. "Have you seen my mom? She went to find aunt Anne and Maggie but she hasn't been back," she informed him as she let go.

She noticed how Janson stiffened as she mentioned the names and her mother. He masked it with a faint smile, and she figured he was just trying to be strong for her and was scared to tell her the truth.

"Anne took Margaret to go look for you and your mother," he muttered in a croaky voice, "I thought they'd be with you at your house, so I was on my way to look for them."

She couldn't imagine the panic he must've felt knowing that half the family was missing, and having to go find them himself. The distress was evident in his eyes. Sara knew how much he loved his wife, and especially his daughter. Sara saw the same level of concern in her own father's eyes the last time they saw Amira.

"Stay with me and I'll protect you, Sara. It's the least I can do." His eyes held a million secrets as he was unwilling to admit his fear, but his voice was tender. "I don't know what happened to your mother, or Anne, or Margaret, but it's not safe around here. I'll take you to my house real quick, but we have to evacuate. And I know a place. We'll be safe from the Flare and the Cranks."

The Flare? Cranks? What was he talking about? she thought to herself. Then she wondered about the guards. Shouldn't they be something to be worried about too?

Sara felt lost. Terrified. The only plausible things to feel when all else had been taken from her and her alternatives were scarce.

She was very well aware that her father was shot and killed, and she felt like she simply abandoned him. On top of that, she was absolutely clueless of her mother's whereabouts. The uncertainty of not knowing whether she was dead or alive was sickening.

Janson was the only family she had left at the moment. The only familiar face around. And he had just saved her life.

She had no other choice than to follow him home, with only his gun as protection for both.