The sound of bare feet slapping the soot-covered cobblestones echoed off the longest alley in Sontear. A waif, barely a child of twelve, hurried as the growing noises of many boots clamored behind him. They were determined not to let him escape.

  “Gerald,” someone yelled after him. “You can’t outrun us, we are everywhere!” Gerald, just kept barreling forward through the night. He wasn’t in his normal territory, but he knew the best paths to avoid the city guards. He took every turn at full tilt. He was heading towards the wealthier districts of the city, away from his friends.

  I can’t lead them back to Home, was the only thought on his mind, for he knew he would not be able to elude them for long. Part of him hoped that the private guards of the nobility would scare them off, but that hope was fading. I should have listened to her, he thought, she warned us didn’t she? Gods I hope I get a chance to apologize.

  I’m almost to the noble houses. I’m almost safe. Gerald was worming his way through the tight roads of another tenant building area, a slightly lower than middle class section of Sontear. It actually had street lamps lining the main road. But I have to get out of this, if they catch up, I’m just a straight shot for them. Gerald ran down the first alley to his right, then bolted left to run parallel to the main street he was previously on, he was now much harder to discover.

  The road began to curve back to the main street. Gerald rushed to his right, but he found only a dead end with a large, mostly windowless building taking up the entire mouth of the alley. The front doors had been chained shut with a hefty steel padlock. The nearest window was two floors up. He tried the door. The chains allowed only a slim opening. Impossible to squeeze through . . . I have to try.

  He heard their yelling getting louder, they had found him. He started to go through the opening, he wiggled his head and arms through. He squirmed further until his hips caught the edge of the door and frame. He tried to push through, ripping his skin on his hips.

  I am so close. Gerald could hear the group running towards him again; he could hear each boot thumping on the ground. They will never be able to fit, he thought with a grin as he was halfway inside the abandoned building. He fell with the final push to get his hips inside and started to crawl through the door. A hand grabbed his left leg, two more grabbed his right. They dragged him backwards through the crack. Someone kicked the door halfway in when he almost got stuck again. Gerald kicked at them, but their grips were too tight. He fumbled around for anything to hold onto. He was able to grab the door frame as he was dragged past. His arms strained from trying to counter the strength of his soon-to-be captors. A hand came over Gerald and pried his fingers from the door. He was on his side now, trying to drag himself back through the doorway to no avail. His left hand was ripped free of the door and he swung it, trying to reach the person nearest to him. His fist collided with flesh but the person didn’t seem to feel it. He looked over his shoulder. A giant of a man was standing over him. Gerald watched the man lifted a leg and kicked the door closed onto his hand, severing them off at the knuckles. The giant laughed while Gerald howled in pain. The crowd dragged Gerald, broken and bloody, into their midst. They had not allowed him to escape.

  “Summer,” Dawn said, gently prodding the sleeping form in front of her. “Summer, it’s daybreak. We need you up.” The waif opened one eye and took in her surroundings. Dawn was in front of her, she was always the resident early riser, with her finger at the ready for another attack. Summer scanned the rest of the area, taking in the rooftop camp she and her group called Home.

  “I’m up, I’m up,” she said. Dawn just nodded and went to the next person on her list. Dawn was the only one who never left Home between her fear of abandonment and lack of even basic survival skills. Dawn would never leave their family. Summer was left to her thoughts on what today meant, the big decision she had to make. She had heard tales of a new group gaining power in this area, offering safety and food. They were known only as Legion. Many orphans she had lived with had gone in search of this offer like moths to a flame. Food and a dry place to sleep sounded like luxuries to their ragtag groups of beggars and petty thieves. Since none of them came back, everyday, right before dawn, she went to search the river’s southern-most bank. Almost all early and unwelcomed deaths wound up there, floating down the river. She hadn’t found them and took this as a good sign, a great one even. She thought about the potential this faction could offer her little group.

  They lived in a neighborhood called Tight End. A fitting name the group always thought, with the area’s tenement buildings being packed together, leaving barely any room to move between them. They lived above an abandoned and burned out tenement. The only way to their hideout was through various stairwells and neighboring buildings so full of rubble, only children could worm their way through. This benefitted their troupe nicely, especially with more unsavory adults occupying the lowest floors. The children lived underneath tents and lean-tos which had been cobbled together to form a patchwork ceiling.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  The twins, Left and Right, were already busy gathering the buckets under the major leaks in the ceiling and pouring the remains into the single water barrel the group was able to smuggle up this high. It was always difficult to keep the barrel full, and from the sound of it, they hadn’t saved much. The twins were almost identical, even though one was a boy and the other a girl. Tan skin further darkened by exposure to the elements, dark brown eyes that seem almost too big for their heads, and black curly hair down to their shoulders. Summer knew that by anyone else’s standards, they would just look like two filthy urchins, but not for her. She could never see them as dirty.

  This was not the same with the other orphans. Bruiser, the resident fighter and sometime bully, of the group was half filth at times. Maybe she was biased towards the twins. She could still remember the day a couple of years ago when she found them floating on a raft down the Tythe, the second, and smaller, river forming the tear-shape piece of land Sontear sits on. They had only been six at the time. They were such small things that she couldn’t have left them on their own.

  That story repeated amongst the rest of the children. The details differed, but Summer was old enough to have started to see the patterns. The world was made of patterns after all, or so their previous leader had said. He had outlived everyone he knew growing up, until he didn’t. She shook her head, no need to bring that up so early in the day. She decided to stroll through Home to make sure everyone was at their chores, for sunrise was a terrible time to go begging or thieving. Everyone was either angry at being up so early or drunk after staying up so late. Either way, nothing for them down there, but there was always work to improve their little world.

  She could distinctly feel the tar and pitched covered rough timbers used to create the flat rooftop. But something wasn’t right. The team should be back by now. Hari appeared by Summer’s side, ash smeared across his pale face and in his dull brown hair. He was eying Summer closely. He’s always been a strange one.

  “You don’t hafta worry bout them, ya know.” Hari said in his slow rhythm. “Remember when we were over in the Starcourt Estates? Surrounded by guards we were, being poked and prodded into that big ol’ net they use for kid catching?”

  “Yeah, I remember. What’s this about Hari?”

  “I’m coming to it, I’m coming to it. Impatient now too, to boot. Really are becoming a bloody noble.”

  “I’m a what?!”

  “Ah there’s that fire again. Maybe now you’ll be awake enough to listen. So there we were, like what? Seven, eight of us? Dozens of guards around, hunting. What did we do?”

  “We made it out.”

  “No, Summer. What. Did. We. Do?”

  “We. . . we tricked them didn’t we?”

  “Exactly! That’s our way, always has been, always will be. So stop your worrying. The guards may be getter more violent, but know what they aren’t getting? More smarter. Now shoo, you’re scowls have been upsetting the young’uns all morning.” With that, Hari hobbled back over to the children playing games and joined back in. Hari was one of the stranger members of their family, but he did know how to get someone to smile, albeit in a roundabout way.

  Summer headed towards the southern entrance as the Midnight team was just wriggling their way passed the rubble, both natural and orphan-made, in the western staircase. Dusk was the unit leader, or as close to a leader the children would accept. For such an innocent looking boy, he had a devious mind. Despite what his name would suggest, he was a short, curly blond headed boy. He had told Summer once that the name’s dissonance with his looks was deliberate, since other groups and guards have tried to pick off ringleaders since time immemorial. As the members of Dusk’s team came through, Summer saw that they were missing someone. She turned to Dusk. The look on his face was all she needed to know. I lost another one.

  Their little family had been safe here, was still safe here. But out there, in the city, was a different story. She looked around, Everyone has their place. We all know what to do when we wake up. Food, drink, entertainment (if you think Hari’s singing was entertaining). What more could we want? She watched Simon play dice with other young ones. A future. The words bubbled up from the depths of her mind. It was always what Sampson had worried about, before she had been given the responsibility to keep the group alive. A future for each of them, not just surviving to be a servant or less to some minor household, but to thrive. And now their goal wasn’t just some symbolism of a normal life. No, now it was to survive, for we are being hunted.

  We have to go, don’t we. She had to make a decision. “Left,” she called over the female twin, “get the messengers and send them to the other groups. We are going to Stonehaven tonight and taking that new life we were promised.” Left nodded and turned to head out before she said, “but you and your brother will be staying behind. We need you two to watch over this place in case we fail.” Left stopped and turned towards Summer about to protest before Summer cut her off. “I will return for you,” she said, throwing her in an embrace and whispered, “always.”

  Left, mollified, placed her fist to her heart and said, “We will be here, waiting for you sister,” before leaving to carry the messages. Many of the other orphans, who had been waiting days for her decision, gave muted response, but she could tell they were happy about the decision. Being fearful of the streets you called home could mess with your mind.

  i was thinking about a conversation. A stupid conversation/jokes could be nice but it would not be to useful to the story. So maybe a conversation with dusk when he come back.

  “Some city guards circled us in Sackville and…”. His voice was shaking. She already knew the story, it was always the same.

  “Without you, none would have come home. I gave you your place for a reason. We need you.”

  “I can’t do it anymore, they’re becoming more violent”

  “yeah but they’re never gonna become more clever”. He smiled.