Marching,  Always marching. One foot after another through the mud and mire until we got to wherever they were taking us. I had on my standardized camp uniform, this horrendous beige colored jumpsuit with a red belt and grey boots. My unwashed,  greasy, jet black hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, I looked down at my hands, my jagged fingernails unkempt and caked with dirt. Maybe it was silly to feel self conscious in a place like this, everybody was in the same rough shape that I was. This place made things that mattered before the war not matter at all. This place made life a grueling chore. I was doomed to stay here until I either escaped, or was taken by the sweet rest that would be death.
My name is Kat, but I was more commonly known as prisoner 66429 during my time at Camp Jacobsen. Camp Jacobsen was where the government chose to place prisoners that they deemed “dangerous”. In the year 2067 Russia sent a nuclear bomb to destroy the United States. The bomb served its purpose. It killed about half the population in the initial blast. But the after affects of the bomb, the radiation and chemicals infiltrating the air are the reason I am marching in the rain right now. The aftermath of the explosion caused many people to die of illness related to the radiation, but not all. Some people were affected in… unique ways. A small portion of the population developed strange abilities that didn’t make sense. Incredible strength, inexplicable intelligence, and levitation were among these odd abilities. People became fearful of those few unusually gifted souls, and built internment camps to keep them away from the fragile process of rebuilding the country.
Cruelty is born out of fear, and this camp was the product of pure terror. I remember the day the soldiers showed up at the shabby remains of my house and dragged me into a cage in the back of their S.U.V. I remember screaming, asking them to let me out, crying for help. I was in a 3 by 4 foot cage for 6 hours with no food, water or bathroom. When we arrived at Camp I was convinced that there must have been some mistake, but they told me that this was where people like me belonged, and threw me into a cell in a large grey concrete building. I have been living here for the past 6 months.
My daily routine consists of working in a factory, dragging lumber into machines that chop and shred them until they can be turned into something useful. Then I march. I march for hours. I think the officers assume by making us dead tired we won’t have the energy to use our abilities, and therefore will be controllable. That’s what this whole camp is about, controlling that which cannot be controlled, eliminating the threat of the unknown. That might work for people with physical strength. But not me. My brain thinks the way a shark swims. Fierce, natural, and capable of great destruction. I am able to pick up on even the smallest details, and everything I see, I remember. Vividly and accurately I will always remember the incredible cruelty shown to me here. I will remember the medical tests they put me through, treating me like a guinea pig to try and see what made me the way I was. I will remember the way they stripped me of my dignity, of my basic human rights. I will remember the way they treated me like an animal, depriving me of shelter, hygiene, food, and voice. All these soldiers accomplished by keeping me cooped up in this hell hole was provoking my anger, and not just anger over the way I was being treated. My fury was fueled by my innate desire to protect those around me. Specifically, Charlie.
Charlie was there the day they brought me in. He has been here for a year. Charlie acquired the ability of strength. Because of this he has been beaten, broken, tormented so that he has no desire to fight his way out. They took his fire and cut it off from oxygen. Charlie took care of me. He protected me from the guards when he could, and nursed me back to health when he couldn’t. I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent staring into his moss green eyes, wondering how I could restore them to the sparkling emerald I knew they once were. Charlie and I had this, electric, brilliant connection. I gave him his fire back when we were together, and he knew just how to break the black steel wall I had built to protect my heart. We had dreamed for many days and nights about running away together, he thought it was just a fantasy. I was determined to make it reality.
Every day I fine tuned my anger and ability, I memorized the schedule of the guards, observed them to see which would be the most easily overpowered. I had fine tuned my muscles using the grueling work they forced us to do, made sure to be careful not to injure myself. I was stronger and sharper than I had ever been. I was finally in a position to take back what has been stolen from me ten times over. Tomorrow I would make my escape. November 30, 2068 would forever be seared into their minds as the day they lost. They wanted a docile, controllable, nonthreatening creature. I was once like that, a normal, happy, 19 year old girl. No more. They have turned me into a monster. Tomorrow, I will no longer be prisoner 66429. I will be a force of nature.
So my plan has been a work in progress for a long time, but it’s ready, and I’m ready, and I’m getting charlie out of here with me tonight. Every day for that last two months I have noticed something. Every night the guards check in our cabins at 9:00 pm, 11:00 pm, 2:00 am, and eventually 5:00 am when they wake us up. During these times all of the outdoor cameras rotate to film the work yard, the cabins, the factory, the security towers, and ultimately, the large electric gate that is the only way out of the camp. However, there is exactly one 20 minute time period between 11:00 pm and 11:20 pm where my cabin door is not being filmed. And as a result of the cameras shifting positions, one 30 second time period where the 3rd security tower door is not being filmed. if I can manage to sneak out of my cabin and time it so that I can run to the security tower door while the cameras are changing positions, I can use my knowledge of digital security locks to get in the control tower, and once I’m there I’m essentially home free. I have total confidence in my ability to take out any guards stationed there, and I have the technical knowledge to disable any security cameras and the electric fence in less than a minute. It’s 10:59 p.m. My time is now. In 5… 4… 3… 2… 1.
As I opened the door and let my eyes adjust to the blackness of night, I scanned the perimeter for guards. I saw none. It was raining, but not hard, the kind of rain that feels like mist against your skin. Just enough to soften the already mucky ground and keep my nervous sweat in check. I sucked in my last shaky breath, and with utmost determination, decided that this night would be the end of my life as I knew it. Whether I escaped or not, tonight was it. I would get out of here, or die trying.
So I ran, I pumped my legs faster than I had ever before. I cut a sharp left around one of the cabins and crouched into the moist ground, my feet leaving imprints behind me. I stopped, collected my thoughts, scanned the area again to make sure I hadn’t been seen, and I ran. Past the factory, past the cabins, past the garden and along the electric fence. I felt free, like I was flying and nobody could have shot me down. In my moment of elation I almost forgot where I was. Almost. I realized that I was approximately 2 minutes from the security tower, and if I continued at this pace I would have about a minute to prepare myself for the most difficult part of my escape. I had been watching the guards who entered the tower and I was fairly certain the 4 digit code was 5-3-9-6. I waited and checked my watch. I saw the camera begin to shift out of the area of the third door. I made a break for it. I pushed my nerves down into a part of my soul where I couldn’t feel them anymore. My mind transformed itself into a high functioning machine. I practically slammed into the door, running so fast that when I stopped the sludge beneath my feet continued to propel me forward. I typed in the code, saying a silent prayer to anyone who was listening to give me a fair shot for once in my life. It worked. As the door opened I realized I had about five seconds before the cameras would shift back into view of the door. I pushed and I heard the most satisfying click of the lock shifting out of position. I was in.
The lights were on but I didn’t see any guards around. I took a moment to remove my 1 size too small camp issued boots. I didn’t need anyone hearing me clamoring down the hall like a chimp in a china shop. As I walked, all I saw in my minds eye was Charlie’s face. I was going to do this for him. I saw the first guard before he saw me. I hid behind a door until he was right in front of me. I grabbed his neck and twisted it at a 90 degree angle until I heard a deafening crack. He slumped to the ground, and I felt a surge of energy. I could do this. I would get us out. I continued at a brisk jog in my barefeet, making a beeline to the control room. When I saw the door I climbed onto a nearby bookshelf to debate my next move. That was when I heard the voices.
“What do you mean you don’t know where 7625 is?!”, a frustrated guard said
“I checked in his cabin and he was gone. we need to put this camp on lockdown now.” The second guard replied.
I instantly panicked. If my heart could have thrown itself from my chest it would have. 7625 was Charlie. What the hell was he doing. It was way too much of a coincidence that he wasn’t in his cabin the night I was planning our escape. This new information put an urgency on my plan. I had to stop this news from spreading to the rest of the camp officers, I had to stop the lockdown, and I had to do it NOW. I threw myself off the top of the bookcase as I thrusted my heel into the first guards neck. I put him in a chokehold and grabbed his nightstick as the other guard came at me from behind. I smacked him so hard in the head I was surprised his brain didn’t leak out of his ears. I cut off the other guards oxygen until he went unconscious. I found their badges and held one up to the security pad on the door. As it unlocked, I mentally prepared myself for whatever was inside.
The only light in the room was the eerie luminescence given off by the many computer screens. One person was sitting at the unnaturally large keyboard that seemed to control everything. As I approached the figure I was ready to feel the life drain from his pathetic body with my bare hands. Until I got close enough to see who it actually was. I would recognize that sloppy mop of oak brown hair anywhere. 
“Hey darlin, took ya long enough to get here.” He casually replied.
“ What the hell are you doing here!”, I screamed, at that moment not caring how stupid and recklessly loud I was.
“Just because I’m not as smart as you are doesn’t mean I can’t see that something’s on your mind. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it was the one thing you’ve been thinking about doing since you got here.”
So casual. So matter of fact. It was just like him to say that. At that moment it didn’t matter to me how he got there. I only cared that he was present, and alive, and so very amazing.
“I was only waiting for you to disarm the fence and the cameras my dear. If you’re gonna walk out of here you can be damn sure I’m walking out with you.”
Of course he was. He had this stupid smirk on his face that I never wanted to get rid of. I resisted the urge to kiss him and demanded my mind to focus on the issue at hand. Getting out of here. There was only so much time before the camp officers realized something was off, and while I was fairly confident I could get us out of here with the element of surprise on my side, I wasn’t sure I could handle the full force of the camp all at once. I looked around at the room. Steel walls and an overly pristine floor. I smelled a lingering scent of bleach. Trying to shake the unsettling vibe the room gave me I forced my eyes to hone in on the control board. I needed to shut off the cameras, and turn off the electric fence. I let fingers fly across the keyboard like it was what they were born to do. My mind opened up a file cabinet of information that I didn’t even realize I possessed. And then, like magic, the surveillance images of the camp vanished. I heard Charlie mumble something about how he thought that my technical abilities were really hot.  I ignored him and continued. Somehow, my hands felt like they were almost disconnected from me. I felt like I was just another observer, noticing the scar’s and callouses, the dirt caked under my fingernails and in between the creases of my knuckles. Watching the way they unfurled across the control panel, knowing exactly what buttons to push. I heard an unexpected click. Charlie screamed,
“You did it! Let’s go go go!”
I guess I was in shock or something because he grabbed my arm and shoved me towards the large metal door. He and I ran, constantly looking over our shoulders, we had just exited the control tower when the screaming started.
Apparently the others had realized that the consistent tell tale buzz of the electric fence had stopped. They began streaming out of their broken down cabins like a great wave on a stormy day. I felt a moment of elation as I realized that not only was I going to get out, but so were the people I had spent the last six months with. I saw the guards come running out, shooting at-P random. I cared for a second, and then realized that even though some may die tonight, they died on their own terms, taking their own risk. My hands were clean, I simply gave them the opportunity they all deserved. A choice.
Charlie pulled me up as I slipped in all the chaos. The cool mud splashed on my face and my vision was temporarily impaired. I managed to get back on my feet and sprinted side by side with Charlie. We must have been mere feet from the exit when I felt a sharp, stabbing, intense pain in my shoulder. I looked down and saw my beige jumpsuit turn a vicious crimson hue. Before I could protest Charlie picked my up and threw me over his shoulder.
While I still wanted to run on my own two feet, this new vantage point allowed me  to view the chaos around me. In a the haze the grey mist created I watched the bodies moving around me. I ignored the motionless ones on the ground. I saw strength and fierce will in my camp mates, I saw grass and muck and dirt flying, creating a kind of camouflage in the air. The last thing I saw before the pain pulled me into the unconscious was the gates, a threshold I had not passed through in six months, and would never pass through again.
I woke to whistling. Charlie whistling. A sound I never thought I’d here. I took in my surroundings. We were in some forest. Charlie had made a campfire and I saw bags of supplies surrounding it. I took a moment to appreciate the lush green beauty I saw around me. He saw me wake up and ran over, practically tripping over his own two feet. He slid the last few inches on his knees. He rambled on about how we were camped in the woods, he had built us a shelter and gone and stolen some medical supplies to treat my gunshot wound, but I really didn’t pay too much attention to what he had to say. All I saw was his eyes. I had been right. They really were a bright shimmering emerald green. I shut him up with a kiss, and fell asleep for the first time in many months, feeling at peace.