My feet burned as they pounded on the grass and sweat rolled down the temple of my forehead. The uniform they had put me in was covered in in dirt and my hair tangled itself in front of my face but none of that mattered. I had five minutes until they woke up. I had two more minutes until they figured out I wasn't in my stall. I could make it. I was going to make it. I didn't need to see ahead of me. I had memorized each tree, each strand of grass, and shape of each shadow of the gate. No bird call or Wild animal would stop me. The rhythm of the beating of my heart was the only thing I could hear as I sprinted to the gate. They couldn't get me if I got past the gate. I could see it now. The towering gate finally came into view. I knew each possible curve I could leap off of. I was almost there. I could almost touch it but then I the lights went on. Their search lights roamed the camp in search for me. I dashed even faster. My leg movements reminding me of a cheetah. Shadows of men huddled behind me. I was at the gate. I grabbed onto the first curve I could see. I was faster than I expected. I felt like the c***roach they always told me I was as I climbed. They had caught up to me and shouted at me below the gate. Unlike me, they were too afraid to climb the gate. Of course they would be. It was not there freedom on the line. My arms ached as I pulled myself up and I couldn't hear the sirens or their shouting anymore. There was just me and my escape.

I could see it now. The edge that I had longed for so long. I grabbed onto it as if I had been grabbing the shoulders of a lover. My arms shook as I dragged my self up. Pure joy reflected onto my face but as my eyes caught sight of the outside. There was nothing. Black tumbleweeds created even darker shadows the stained grey sky. Dry dirt whipped in the harsh winds just as the whips they used to hit our backs when we made a mistake. The only life was that off weeds and the flies who fed upon them. They had always told us that if we just got past the gate we would be free but they never said we would be alone. My eyes swelled with tears and

I looked down upon the men who yelled at me. For the first time I saw the fear in there eyes. The fear for my life.

I breathed out heavily and loosened my grips on the gate. Instinct told me to hold on tighter but I would not let myself. It felt the air as if it tried to lift up when I broke away from the gate. My ears filled with there screams until the very last moment where the only sound was the cracking of my skull.