They couldn't keep us in the Miller's house with Robin's body.

I overheard some of the teens complaining about it when they moved us to the Smith's.

Rook killed her so they wanted him to clean up his mess, the problem was that after the massacre was over he vanished into the woods.

No one wanted to go find him and tell him to clean up his dead sister's body. There were also no volunteers to clean it up themselves.

So they moved us instead.

Sleeping bags and mattresses were brought over to house us. With all the kids of town in one house there were issues with keeping track of us all and maintaining control.

Blitz was the first one to take advantage of this.

That first night they didn't have any kind of system set up yet, just dropped off piles of sleeping bags at a time, told us to get it set up, then someone came by to make sure we were all asleep.

They were supposed to come back each hour but they were either overconfident or tired because they only checked in twice.

Blitz made sure we were set up close together, but more importantly close to the door. He counted the time between the check ins and once he was confident we could make it he shook me awake.

I tried to wake up another girl but he pulled me away, shaking his head frantically. The more people escaping the faster they would be alerted.

Taking the first steps outside of the house felt like a more intense version of manhunt when you're the last ones left.

Everything looked strange and unfamiliar and my heart wouldn't stop hammering against my chest.

Blitz didn't seem to share my inhibitions, the second he was out that door he hit the ground running, slowing every few paces to make sure I was still there.

I did what I could to keep up but Blitz was fast. He'd always been the fastest runner in school, won medals and stuff.

We passed through backyards, jumping fences to make it to the main road. It was the only way out of town.

It would take forever without a car or even a bike but if we could get to someone passing through we would be okay. That was the plan anyways.

It was a race against time. Once we actually reached the main road a fresh terror hit when we realized the sun was making its ascent.

A golden glow shone down on the red roads. But that was nothing compared to the rush of cold down my spine I got when I saw a teen guy walk out of his house.

Me and Blitz froze at the same time, twin bunnies before a wolf.

He didn't notice us at first. He was holding coffee in one of those mugs with a saying on it that I couldn't read from the distance. He was dressed in a bathrobe that looked too big to belong to him, whistling a tune.

He crossed over to the front of the house, taking a seat in the front chair.

When he looked up he saw me and Blitz, standing in the middle of the road staring back at him like deer in headlights. Our reactions were immediate.

He screamed at the top of his lungs and ran to a car parked in front of the house. We shot like bullets down the road.

All I could think of was the sounds of cars crushing bones and the screams only a few hours ago. I wondered if mine would join them.

Blitz made a sharp turn right before we got to the forest, yelling for me to follow. Before the forest was a stretch of field and a steep hill that the car wouldn't be able to follow us down without risking falling into the pond below.

I could hear more cars joining the first. There were at least three.

We were about halfway to the hill when a dark figure approached from the other side.

It was Rook. He was holding a gun. He raised it and fired. I fell to the ground, it didn't hit me but the shock kept me nailed to the grass.

It was over after that. Blitz was fast but he couldn't outrun a car and the gun scared him too.

I saw Rook approach but did nothing to fight back when he lifted me up and tossed me over his shoulder, carrying me back to the car.

One of the guys was yelling at him, it turned out he'd shot one of their tires. He didn't say a word to any of them, just walked over, opened a door, threw me in, and left.

Then shot the ground by the yeller's feet.

That shut him up pretty fast.

Then he disappeared back down the hill, returning to wherever hell must be.

They sat Blitz next to me but had to restrain him when he kept trying to escape the whole way back.

When I didn't join in his efforts he turned his anger to me, refusing to look at me.

They drove us to what used to be the city hall. It had been redecorated. Red and blue banners covered every surface, each filled with crude marker sketches of hearts, diamonds, spades and clovers.

It was eerie to see that change with everything else being the same. What else would they change? They brought us there to ask for directions from Red.

He was different too. He sat in the tallest chair, the desk in front had several King cards taped to it. The others were marked similarly, the remaining playing cards displayed in the same rushed fashion. Those spots were empty for now.

We were led in by a group of four. Two guys in front and two behind.

When we reached the hall they all dipped their heads awkwardly. It wasn't a habit yet.

"We caught the runners, what do you want us to do?" The one who had yelled at Rook asked. His eyes remained trained on the floor.

We were let off. He said we were clearly still in shock and shouldn't be punished this early.

From there we were escorted back to the Smith's house and two extra guards were assigned to watch over the kids.

That didn't stop Blitz from his attempts to run. But it did stop him from trying to bring me.

Me and Blitz had never been that close before Robin forced us together through her presence.

The few times we were alone together without her were awkward and silent. We had nothing in common aside from our friendship with Robin and were under no illusions that we had anything deeper than that.

Before Robin, Blitz had been alone. He was an angry kid who only took things in extremes.

About two years ago he was getting bullied pretty bad by the Baker's, a pair of big thugs who lived on his street. They'd be waiting for him every day after school.

On a good day he'd be let off with two black eyes. On a bad one he would be absent a few days and still show up bloody, looking like he'd been hit by a bus, then drowned.

This went on for a few weeks. Everyone knew about it but no one did a thing to help him.

The adults told Blitz to stop picking fights but refused to breathe a word to the Baker's parents. Rich folk by our town's standards.

Just as it was starting to get bad the Baker's house was set on fire.

Both of the boys were supposed to be there when it happened but on a last minute whim the parents had taken them out to go to their grandparents.

Me and Robin had been at the park when it happened. I was hanging upside down from the monkey bars while watching the fire truck speed down the main road, followed by an ambulance and a police car.

No one knew how Blitz did it and no one was able to trace him back to the crime. The Baker's had to move after that.

No one gave Blitz trouble after that. He was kind of just left alone. That's when Robin started talking to him.

Blitz continued to run away without me. Everyday he would make an attempt.

Red started having him tied to a tree overnight as punishment. It turned into such a regular thing that he ended up tied to that tree every night for a week straight.

We would hear the sounds of alarms and yells whenever he made his next attempt.

One night that all changed. Blitz only took things to extremes, and at some point while being tied to that tree he must have realized he would never be able to escape.

Or maybe he just got tired of trying.

I woke up to the sounds of screaming that night, and the smell of burning flesh.

Somehow Blitz must have snuck in a match or a lighter or something.

I barely got a view from the window but what little I saw will always haunt me whenever I close my eyes.

The whole tree was engulfed in flames that clawed the night sky like an angry hand. Blitz's body was at the centre, fuelling the fire while being resorted to ash, from which he would never return.

Inside the flames I could just barely make out his face, a full tooth grin, as his flesh melted from his bones.