I threw my shoe into the woods to the right. I didn’t need it, didn’t have time to put it back on.

This wasn’t going to work. I was dragging myself through the forest, my knee bleeding all over the place, and the best thing I could do to throw them off was throwing my shoe into the trees?

Pathetic.

Even so, it was better than nothing.

They were going to kill me. If they didn’t kill me, I’d be killing others, and there was no way I could do that.. I wouldn’t be forced into murdering anyone.

Worse than dying on my own..

Maybe if I could reach the water, this could all be over.

I could save others. I could be an unknown hero, someone who other people would pity simply because I’d accidentally drowned. That’s what the papers would say anyways.

But at least I could go out knowing I was a hero.

I quickened my slow inching to a faster crawl, ignoring the pain from my leg.

The single word that kept me going was “hero.” I chanted it over and over, and went faster and faster.

Hero