Run. || Alex Gaskarth A.U.

Chapter 1: The Ticking Watch

I sit quietly as I hear the sound of the bomb tick softly behind me. They tied me to it, told me that if I even put a toe out from the pressure plate, I would be blown up into a million little pieces.

Listening to the sound of the bomb slicing away my precious hours of time left, it reminds me of the old man's watch that ticked beside me on the day my name was called from the Black List.

I don't really want to think about that day. I don't want to remember anything anymore. In my final moments I want to be empty, I want to think that I'm leaving nothing behind.

But I can't.

I can't because of him.

Alex.

No.

He's the last person I want to think about right now.

He's the reason I'm here, he's the reason why I'm sitting in this tiny room, tied to a bomb, my nose still bleeding from where that soldier struck me in the face with his rough fist minutes ago.

He's the reason why I am to die in three hours. He's the reason why I don't want to remember.

But I will remember.

I will remember, because my memories are all I have left.

Okay Alex, I will remember you. I'll remember you and our little journey that we took together.

You win, again.

Asshole.

~

The day my name got called, it was cold. The clouds swirled in the sky above my head, and a bitter breeze blew at my feet, making goosebumps appear all over my pale skin.

It was a normal day, and as usual, I went to fetch the water from the public well. A notice went up on the board that electricity bills were up by ten percent, and those who could not afford to pay it could use the public well for all their water-related needs.

My father and I had not had electricity since I was ten years old.

"We can get by without it." my father would say when I had asked why we no longer payed our electricity bill.

Now, being the age of eighteen, I understood the true reason why we didn't pay our electricity bill. It was just too dear, and with the last few fossil fuels being burned out, they were raising the prices like never before.

It was around the time that I finished reading that notice that I heard the familiar anthem of our country being played over the speaker. I dropped my bucket and bowed like everyone else and Mayor O' Neill began the daily speech.

As pre-usual, I ignored it, but when he started reading out the Black List, I listened.

The good ole' Black List.

The list that contained the names of those to be shot that day.

"And without further ado, here are the names of the following people who are to be sacrificed at today's ceremony." the Mayor's voice crackled over the speakers.

I held my breath, as did many other women and men around me.

"Kevin Hannigan, Samuel Jean, Diana Krabbe, Finn Davis, Hannah Quint, Candace Jones, Tessa Harte, Krystal Walker and Amelia Wicker."

And that was when the screams started as women fell to their knees and cried for their daughter or son's fate.

But in that moment, I was still.