Safe? I’d never been safe. My parents had watched, helpless as the cruel hand of the government had plucked me from my home and taken me to Camp 32. Despite assurances that we would be cared for by the best, the government did nothing to protect us from the predatory natures of faceless scientists and their experiments…or their desires. Even after Exodus…

Dog barks caught my attention. It was time to go. If I could hear them, then it was probably too late. I knew from experience that I couldn’t fight them and my wound didn’t affect them. But I’d fight if I had to- I wasn’t going back.

Rummaging through the coat I’d claimed, I found half a flask of cheap vodka, a handful of pills, and wadded up traveling papers with money tucked inside. It wasn’t much but it would be enough.

Pallid light trickled in from thick clouds that promised more snow soon. I scrambled up the back of the nearest train car and onto its roof. Once I saw the bulky complex of the Redkino Train Station, I knew where I had to go.