Amelia heard the footsteps of pursuit behind her and quickened her pace. She felt her legs tire, but she took deep breaths of air and kept running. Up ahead, she spotted the filled parking lot of a shopping mall and a prospective victim: a teenage boy opening the door of a Toyota Supra.

“Forgive me,” she muttered as she kicked him in the groin, grabbed the keys as they flew out of his hand, and leaped into the car. She backed up and sped away, careful not to run over the boy in pain.

“ That girl took my car!” the boy screamed hoarsely.

By then, Robert had caught up, on foot. He was out of breath and slowed to a walk, seeing that it was useless to run after a car. Sylvia sped by in an old Lexus illegally armed with a semi-automatic rifle integrated into the passenger area. She screeched to a halt and Robert climbed in.

“If we can’t get her, we’ve got to kill her, Rob,” Sylvia said grimly, stepping on the gas. Amelia had reached a line of cars behind a red light and, seeing Sylvia behind her, drove up on the sidewalk and turned right, into the oncoming traffic of a one-way street.

“God, she’s crazy!” Sylvia sighed and followed determinedly, “We can’t lose her.” Rob clutched the seat and nodded, “Right right. Just follow her.” He opened the glove compartment and pushed a bottom on the side. A long slit of the hood disappeared and was replaced by the rifle. He pulled the handle and trigger up and out into a proper position. “There she is!” Sylvia sped up, dodging the cars in front of her.

Seeing the angry woman in her rear-view mirror, Amelia streaked down an empty residential street into a busy business area. As she exited onto the freeway, it finally hit Amelia that she didn’t exactly learn how to drive, she didn’t have a driver’s license, a police car was signaling for her to pull over, and Sylvia and Robert were following behind her. She was cornered. She was desperate.

“Amelia, I know you're awake.”

Amelia opened her eyes and glared at her father, who was standing over her. “So what's the real story behind trying to find me?”

”I cannot tell you at this moment. We will let you know when we need you.” He walked out of the room and locked the door. Pressing a button on a complex handheld controller, he unlocked the handcuffs on Amelia and moved away to find Sylvia. Amelia slowly raised herself into a sitting position, rubbing her wrists. The room had a single flickering light bulb hanging from a thick wire in the middle of the room, giving off a wavering faint light. The yellowed window was layered with dirt and grime. She stood on the metal bed and started to pound at the glass. Realizing that her current attempt was futile, she backed up, grabbed the light fixture and swung towards the window. After a few seconds, she was able to aim a kick at the glass. Once, twice, three times did not manage to break it.

Amelia heard the click of the door and twisted around, anticipating her visitor. It was Robert.

“Amelia, what the hell?” he shouted, dropping the various wires and an electronic apparatus on the ground before she let go of the light and barreled into him. She looked through the door, saw Sylvia running towards her, and slammed it shut. Giving her father a kick with her heel, she grabbed the heavy machine and tossed it out the window, finally successful in breaking it. She wiggled through just as her mother came through the door.

“Stop!” Amelia heard her mother yell.

She ignored the call and sprinted down the street, thinking about her guitar, what little clothes she had, and her money. “Damn it…”