Steps

(A/N: This is my first story on Wattpad so please let me know what you think, just don't be too harsh. Also I'm doing this late at night so there may be a few grammatical errors, so sorry about that. Also, I know it is short but I plan on updating it soon.)

I could feel the blood coursing through my veins. The steps of everyone around me were so painfully loud in my ears. In the corner of my eye I could see Carmella's white patch of fur bouncing up and down. "She'll get out. She blends in with the forest," I thought to myself. They were gaining on us and soon enough we would be captured, but not yet. No matter how exhausted we were, we just had to push. "One more mile," I told myself, but I didn't believe it. I've always been an awful lier. To my left I could hear Trent's steps slowing down. What was he thinking? We were all tired but we have to keep going. I've been hidden my whole life, they cannot find me now. The three of us had been running all night and had been desperately trying not to give up, but it is going to happen. One us will break; it is just a matter of time.

"Alth-" Trent breathlessly tried to say my name. It was too late though, we all had heard the gun shot and by the time he reacted, I was already falling. The bullet had just grazed my shoulder, and honestly, the fall hurt more the the bullet. I fell face first onto a rock, which gave me a nice gash on my left cheek. I could feel the blood gushing out of my fresh wound as the guards picked me up and hauled me away. But I'm getting ahead of myself aren't I? No good story starts straight with action, there has to be a build up. So why am I running away from the law? Well, you can blame my mother for that.

My bad luck started as soon as I was conceived, my mother wasn't married and the laws prohibit having a child out of wedlock. In this corrupt city of New Salt Lake, having a child like my mother had was punishable by death. Basically everything is punishable by death in this wretched town. As soon as I got too big to hide in her house, she hid me in the woods. Great parenting right? Well, my mother actually came to visit me everyday. She brought food to me, taught me how to read and write, and helped build my shelter. She even registered as an outdoor lover so she could receive special forest steps. For her, that was completely out of character. She was Cosette 3478. The most beautiful bachelorette available in New Salt Lake. Her perfect chocolate brown hair, that I had luckily inherited, her bright blue eyes, her fair pretty skin. It is possible that her only two flaws were that she was too feminine and too skinny (due to her giving me all my food rations.) But then, when I was thirteen, she stopped coming. My mother had abandoned me. I was all alone and an unregistered. I expected to die in a week but luck came back for me.

Now I am guessing, unless you live in New Salt Lake, you have no idea what my terminology means. Well, as I've said, New Salt Lake is very corrupt place. They created a new system, where people could only take a limited amount of steps each day. The only place with unlimited steps are homes, unless you are like me and technically do not exist. Now maybe you're thinking, "What if you were to take to many steps?" Well, you would be killed for it is the worst illegal act someone could commit. It is even considered worse than murder. Once I even saw a person push over someone about to run out of steps just to watch him get arrested. Like I've said, awful place.

After my mother abandoned me, I found Carmella. At the time, she was just a young puppy yet still very smart. She would go into town and steal all sorts of things for us. Thankfully, most of the time she would bring in food. But on this particular day that started everything, she was very late. She knew she has to be quick. Of course I got very impatient and went to the edge of the forest. I was a little pissed off and a little scared. I was thinking of all the things that might've gone wrong with her when I slammed into a tree. "Shoot! Not again," I muttered to my self, "Bloody Farsightedness." I would always run into something when Carmella was gone.

"Hello?" A nearby voice called out. "I know you are there." Little did I know I had wound up right next to a residential area and I had just been seen. I didn't want to let the man have a description of me so I stayed crouched behind the bushes. "I saw your hair. Who are you," he brushed a thin grey curl out of his face. His face was slightly sunken in with wrinkles due to his age. A name tag over his left pocket read Xavier and his step counter had a lone one. It all happened in slow motion, the left foot raising and coming to the ground with a thud. It only took a second for the once blue sidewalks to turn a blood red. The lights were flashing everywhere and I had formed a huge knot in my stomach.

"I'm sorry," I whispered just loud enough for me to hear. The guards were already running towards him. I wanted to flee but I needed to stay, for Xavier. I was the reason he hit zero. I was the reason he was about to die. "I'm sorry," I repeated. He dropped his keys as a sign of giving up. He had let in so easily. He just let the guards capture him. I personally would've ran until I passed out, but not everyone is strong. Some people need a push. A guard, who looked to be in his twenties glanced at me quickly. We both knew he saw me, but I had to say. It was as if he understood my pain, my guilt. I felt a tug on my pants. Carmella finally arrived with some herbs and a little golden handheld mirror. We headed east back to my shelter, being very careful not to step on any twigs. Once we were halfway there, I patted her on the head and confessed, "I killed a man today."