Ro stepped inside the dim warehouse, gun in hand. Reinforcements were a few feet behind her. They had the place surrounded. The lights were flicked on and they squinted at the almost blinding light. Ro proceeded, blinking rapidly as she waited for her eyes to adjust. She heard muffled cries of surprise from her allies and then silence. The lights dimmed and there she sat. Isobel Oliver, the woman they had been searching for for weeks. She was sitting in the middle of the room in a rather nice suit, pouring tea into two delicate cups.

    “Well, do it down, darling. Don’t you know it’s rude to stare? And do put the gun down. it’s rather uncivilized.” Surprised, Ro complied, setting the weapon on the ground where she could grab it in a hurry.

“Good girl.” The woman smiled like a cat who had lured a mouse right into her trap. “So I assume you brought the big, bad, police to arrest me? What did they offer you? Don’t worry, it’s not poisoned. Unless you want it to be.” She winked at the teenager who was eyeing the tea suspiciously.

Rowan Briggs had been running for a long time. so long in fact, that she had begin to lose count of all the years she had hidden from the police or their new genetically enhanced sniffer-dogs. They were genetically enhancing everything these days. Next thing you know, it will be people. She thought bitterly, pocketing some potatoes from one of the stands that lined the public market. After all these years, that was the one thing that hadn;t changed. Public markets with strawberries and apples painted in a brilliant ruby, the smell of fresh earth, and the hint of new fertilizers it carried.

Once she got what she wanted, she hurried to her alley. Over the years, she had collected enough discarded cinder blocks and even a decent amount of glass for a roof. Since the third stock market crash, people began to lose hope of a God and most churches were abandoned as the upkeep was too expensive.  Even if the glass was stained, it kept the rain out. She had to create a small chimney out of a more flexible sheet of metal she had found. It was small and cozy, and Ro liked it.

Her Father had abandoned her and her mother not long after she was born, and her mother died when she was nine in a house fire. Many orphanages tried to put her up for adoption, but Ro managed to escape all five within the month and they all gave up. After that, she set out on her own, getting by with what little she had and what she could steal without being noticed. The police were more brutal than ever these days, cutting off a toe for every time you ran, a finger for every time you stole. Unless of course, you took on a expedition of their choosing. Usually hunting down someone dangerous so if you failed, they would kill you so the police didn’t have to go through all the trouble of paper work. Very few succeeded, but it kept the crime low and the people manageable. If she ever got arrested, Ro decided, she would ask for an expedition. Better to be killed by the killer than owe more appendages than she had to the police. If she was feeling extremely optimistic, Ro sometimes thought she just might succeed in her hypothetical quest.Her mind full of quests and her stomach full of the day’s produce, Ro fell asleep quickly that evening.

    She woke that morning to the smell of the baker’s fresh bread wafting through the air. It was the smell one would usually associate with Sunday mornings. She got up and dressed, pulling on her boots before stepping out into the early morning light. She waited for the portly man who ran the shop to leave before taking a loaf of bread and some milk outside the grocer’s. She sat to eat when the baker towered over her. She made herself smaller, eyes wide.

“‘Scuse me Miss, but did you pay for that? Bry never saw you enter the shop.” She looked at him worriedly, trying to calculate a way out of this.

A few hours later, Rowan was thrown into a cell at a local prison. They hadn;t even bothered to unlock her hand cuffs thinking she might pickpocket one of the guards. She tried everything to get them off, but nothing worked. All it resulted in was a small electric shock that steadily grew stronger each time she tried to get them off. The next time she tried to escape, she assumed it would cause enough electricity to cause her undoing. She could barely eat any of the food they gave her except for the occasional bowl of soup she could actually pick up.

After about a week of this, Ro had lost a considerable amount of weight. She was only allowed a shower every few days and even then, one of the female attendants had to watch her in case she might try to escape.