"You know you're on the right track when you become uninterested in looking back." -Unknown

This was my one chance. My one chance to escape this world that my race has destroyed. It's sad, really. Humanity became greedier and hungrier for power. Our ancestors became so corrupt, and now, we are the ones perishing for it.

I gripped the pack on my back. Inside of my bag contained my only friend. His name is Eko. I found him when he was a puppy about two years back.

My heart beat louder in my ears. I was approaching the gate to my freedom. To our freedom.

I felt Eko jerk inside my bag. It must be hard for him to be comfortable. I don't have many belongings, but he is a two-year-old black wolf crammed into a backpack.

My eyes scanned over the guards. Apparently they haven't noticed the breach in their system that allowed me entrance without sounding off the alarms. I observed as a guard walked up to the one near the gate.

The main guard looked at the device that was being shown to him. His eyes then looked up and scanned through our sea of faces. My heart stopped as his eyes stilled on mine.

He pointed a finger at me. "Girl, come here." My eyes flashed to the gate quickly, but there were too many people for me to push against to get through.

I walked through the crowd and over to the guard. "Is there a problem, sir?" He moved the device into my view.

"This sure looks a lot like you running through a restricted area." Looks like? Man, just tell it how it is. Who else has white hair with a giant backpack? Even old people didn't have white hair around here.

I glanced to the gate and saw a man walking through it. There was a bright flash.

I could make it, I thought.

"Girl, is this you? You don't see many white haired people around here." Why can't he just shut up, so I can choose the right moment to make my escape?

"Ma'am," the other guard said as he touched my arm forcefully, "we're going to take you into custody."

I didn't even think out my next move. It just came natural. I brought my elbow up to make a nice greeting with his nose. I felt a light liquid once I pulled away my arm. I dashed forward before the other guard could grab me.

I braced myself as my body ran through the gate. I felt electricity pass through my body as I fell to the ground. I landed on dirt and I saw green. I was truly seeing green on the ground. A smile escaped my lips, but then I realized that I couldn't breathe.

The air was incredibly heavy. I began gasping for breath as a man with a gun picked me off the ground. He took off my pack and left it on the ground. Everything felt slow.

"We have a problem." A muffled voice spoke from the radio.

"What is it?" The closest to me asked through his radio.

"A girl just passed through. She shouldn't be there."

His grip tightened on my arm as he jerked me to the side. "Yeah. We have her." I observed him walking closer to my bag. I quickly rose to my feet, very ungraceful if I may add, and I dashed forward. I placed myself in between the bag and the man. He looked at me with hard eyes.

"What's in the bag?!"

I stumbled backwards and began unzipping the pack. A black, furry head popped up. The wolf looked from me to the man and he displayed his white teeth.

I rubbed his head. "No, no, Eko. It's okay." I said with a soothing voice. I looked to the man, but still spoke to my best friend, "everything is going to be fine." His growling ceased, but he didn't move his eyes from the man before us.

.: :.

A man walked over to his balcony and all the new recruits looked up to him. He began giving his speech about how messed up our world became and how we are the way to save it, or something like that. It was a beautiful speech, but honestly, I wasn't paying attention the amount that I should have been since I may not be granted the permission to stay here. They may kick me out of the colony, and I will be forced to survive on my own with dinosaurs.

It shouldn't be too bad, should it? I mean, I've had to survive in our climate eighty-five million years from now. Surely it couldn't be too bad… Right?

After the man's speech, his eyes scanned over the crowd and landed on the guard next to me. Out of my side vision, I saw the guard nod his head and grab my arm not as forceful as before. He led me around the people as they left to go to their new homes. Eko followed by my side. I walked up the stairs and the man who gave the speech stood in front of me with a wide grin.

Without saying anything, he turned around and strolled into the building. The guard ushered my forward and left me in the middle of the room. The speech man sat down at his desk and waved his hands. All the men left the room, and now it was just save-the-world guy and I.

His hair was speckled with gray and black. This is the first time of me seeing someone with almost white hair, even gray for that matter. I'm sure his hair comes with old age, mine is natural.

"So," He began with a loud inside voice. "You were sectioned off to not be allowed to travel with these pilgrims, but, "he dropped his device on the table and made eye contact with me, "here you are."

"Good to know that your eyes are working." I countered without thinking. I saw a flicker of humor flash in his eyes, but it quickly disappeared. It might be good for me to be kind to this man. He may actually have mercy on me.

"What's your name?" He asked. He picked up his device and began typing on it.

"Iris." He typed a little more.

"Last name?"

"Faye."

At the mention of my name, his eyes looked up, but quickly resumed his finding. He stood up from his chair and paced around me in a circle.

"Iris Faye. Born March fourth, your year is not listed, but you look to be still young." He paused waiting for me to conclude his information, but I merely glared back at him.

He sighed. "It would appear that you lived on your own for a while. Mind telling me when you had your first job?"

I remained quiet.

"Iris, here in this colony, we only accept people that we need. If you don't meet anything that we have available, then I will have to leave you out with the dinosaurs."

I sighed inwardly. "They haven't given you my code to see all my information yet?"

"Oh, you needed a code? Oh ho, someone is a little important, aren't they?"

I grimaced. Yes, I have a renowned name through the portal, and that's why I wanted a new life here.

"I'm not a wanted criminal, if that's what you mean." I made eye contact.

"There are several reasons for needing a code to look up information. So then, I need to ask for a code." He typed a few things on his device. The next minute, the device dinged and he checked it. I had my code memorized: 08030489.

"You're a Zero-Eight. My, my, you're up there on the scale." Obviously. Thanks Commander Speech. Congratulations.

"Good to know that your eyes are still working fine." I responded, and then mentally kicked myself.

"Do you understand how serious this is, miss Faye?"

Breath escaped my mouth. "Of course I know what it means. A Ten is the worst type of criminal, and it decreases the lower the first two digits are. The next set of two digits is the birth month, next two is the day of the month." I paused. "And the last two describes the difficulty of capturing, or importance…" The number goes up to ninety-nine, and I'm sitting at eighty-nine. A Zero-Zero is a celebrity or vital person for our world.

He eyed me carefully. His averted to the screen as he began skimming over my information. "You started working when you were twelve?"

I nodded. "Yes, sir." There's that nice personality that I need to show to him.

"It seems that you have two jobs with the name 'Classified'. Mind telling me what they were?"

I hesitated. Eko looked up to me and licked my hand. He may be a wolf and be considered part of a 'lesser species', but he was incredibly smart. "I worked for two high official organizations. That is all I will say."

"How old are you, since it's not displaying your age?"

"I am nineteen."

"So, then why would high up organizations accept an under aged woman? At least one of them had to have been when you where under aged. Also, on here, it doesn't give me an address for your living quarters. It's not like I could go there, but I'm merely curious."

I may have not given him enough credit earlier. He's not too bad for being a Commander. "You're right, sir. I haven't had a place to call home since I was thirteen."

"But you started working at the age of twelve? I know the demands in the future are rough, but that young?"

"Normally, no."

"Then what makes you so special to bypass the rule for underage employing?"

I hesitated again. I didn't want to tell him what all happened. "I lived with my friend and her family and brought in some income for them."

"Oh really? How long until you were caught living with another family?"

I cringed from the memory. Everything seemed peaceful that night until the policemen knocked on their door. I was quickly hidden inside the apartment. Within their time of fumbling through the apartment, they found me. It was either jail or accept a job at that specific organization.

"I was thirteen."

He looked at me for a moment, then averted his eyes back to the device. "What skills do you have?"

"I am a quick learner, so anything that is available, I can do."

"That's not the question I asked, miss Faye."

"I am a good hunter, if that has any relevance here, sir."

"We live with dinosaurs, guns don't do much to them."

"I don't like guns, sir. I prefer the bow and arrow."

"What about gathering?" He asked with slight hope in his voice.

"Sure." I replied nonchalantly.

"Well, someone of your many talents might make my list for the colony. You will join with a special team tomorrow after your orientation and help them gather herbs and fruit."

"Do you have any books on the subjects?" I asked. I loved reading, and I could learn most of the information over the night.

His eyes studied me for a moment. "Yeah. We do have some books." He placed his device on the table and stared at it for a moment. Without saying anything, he merely breathed in thought.

"I-is that all?" I asked.

His gaze met mine. "No family came through with you?"

"No, sir. I only have Eko." I motioned to the wolf.

He breathed in, then exhaled. "We don't really have any openings for one person at the moment, but I have a proposition for you, miss Faye." He carefully looked at me. "I have a spare room for you and your," he looked down to Eko, "animal. No one else lives with me, so I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, but we don't have any other openings at the moment for you. All the open houses will be taken by families that just arrived today."

I have to live with this guy? My luck just keeps getting better, doesn't it? Well, maybe my so-called luck isn't too bad, since I am allowed to stay in the colony, and I did escape from my old life with Eko by my side.

"Since there aren't any other openings, I can put up with you for a while." I smiled without meaning to, but in turn, he smiled back.

"Alright. What other belongings do you have besides the mutt?"

"Mutt?" I asked with a loud voice. "Commander Taylor, this is a wolf."

"He's not a pure bred, though." He eyed Eko carefully. "Now is he?"

I sighed, "He's eighty percent wolf and twenty German Shepherd."

"He's still a dog, part of him anyway, thence I will call him a mutt." I heard a light growl next to me. "Okay, we can't be having any of that."

I patted Eko lightly on the head, and he looked up to me. "It's okay, boy, this man is giving us a place to stay. He's being nice." When I say nice, Eko understands to calm down unless a true threat appears occurring with this person. The black wolf obeyed. "But I only brought a few books and my bow with me."

"You fit a bow in your pack?" He asked.

I nodded. "I made a special style that can compact itself for portability." Living in the future, carrying around a giant bow would make someone suspicious and arouse curiosity. Unneeded curiosity, at that.

"You might become very useful here, miss Faye."