I'm a loner

A thinker

I don't play nice with others

It's not that I don't like people

They just don't like me

Jim, 17, walked with his hands in his pockets through the dystopian society. Tall buildings surrounded his every step as the red clouds hung over head. He was heading somewhere, he just didn't know where.

If you think about it

Why do I need people

Friends– what good are they?

What can they do?

What are they after?

Everyone has an agenda

I'll be damned if I find someone that doesn't

He was on the edge of the city limits. He turned his head back to view the city once more. He was running away from everything – his life, his family, his job, his school, everything.

There's nothing for me in that god-forsaken place

I had to get out of there

I only took a few things with me

Some pictures of my mom

and... dad

I didn't have anything else

Step Dad wouldn't let me have anything to begin with

"You have a bed and a computer. You don't need anything else. I pay for the food, don't I? I pay for the house!" he would say in his drunken stupor.

The beatings were bad

I mean

Who would want to take that?

Nothing I couldn't handle or hide

In that society, you take whatever gets thrown at you

You didn't talk back to your parents no matter what they did

He looked down at his ankle. The tracking anklet that had become a part of his – and every kid's life in City 11 – was finally off. He had managed to cut if before he left home. He knew it would be minutes until they surrounded the house to apprehend the rule breaker.

They deal with rule breakers differently in City 11

You don't get put in jail

You don't get 'probation'

You don't get 'parol'

You don't get 'public service'

You get the mines.

That's right.

The mines are run by the "Civil Protection".

Hellish beasts.

They have no emotion

So... No pity

No Compassion

When you disobey them, they usually go too far.

Jim brushed his hands through his scraggly, black hair and adjusted his glasses. He continued down the dirt path. He saw, in the distance, a break in the clouds. A place where the sun had come out to warm the cold earth. It seemed so far away. The impenetrable smog that always covered the city of City 11 never let a gleam of sunlight through. They were taught about sun in school. He had seen pictures, but had never felt it. Jim longed to have the rays beam across his face, illuminating his way, warming his cold body. However, as soon as the sun was there, it was also gone.

Damn this cold earth!

Damn Breen!

Damn them all!

This place

This hell we live in

I want it all to end!

I don't know how I managed to escape

I don't care

I am free now

The Combine Overwatch would dare not come out this far. I just have to be wary of the zombies...