Collapsing In

Prologue

Tripping and gasping, I continue stumbling about. My lungs are burning and my legs ache. The ground beneath me is covered in soft moss but riddled with unseen rocks. As I stumble again, catching my knee on an unforgiving surface, the blood comes slowly out. The gash on my head has scabbed over keeping my hair captive in the dry blood.
Still, I must run. If I stop, they will catch up. If I hide, they will find me. My choices are really quite simply. Pain and hunger slow me down, but I know that they're a week behind.
Escape was the only option for me. To stay would have been like digging my own grave. They were ready to begin the final part. Or rather, they were ready to risk my life to test their unproven theories. My life depends on me getting away. Far away. But can I?
Can I fight the power that controls the worlds economy? Would it be easier to surrender to them? To let them take me apart piece by piece would be easier than trying to get away, wouldn't it? Will it be worse when they find me?
Who do I trust to help me? Surely not my father who sold me to them. Not the man who stood by and watched his oldest daughter be chained and dragged away. Who would trade their own chid, their own flesh, for a job? Probably anyone who was given the offer in this ruined planet.
But who am I running to? My aunt? No, she would never risk her own life to conceal my treachery. I have cousins who I'm sure would take care of me, but they're beyond my reach. I have no one to turn to, and no where to run.
My only hope now is that I can find shelter before I starve. I've found fresh water in this forest that surrounds that place, but I haven't got time to hunt or find food. Besides, who am I to decide which berries will kill me?
I am no one. I was once someone, but not anymore. I had potential. I was moving up in life. But now I'm here, stumbling as the dark world collapses in on me.