On the second floor of an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of a small town in northern Pennsylvania, a young, dark-haired woman woke up on top of a blanket with a gasp. She looked around, apparently searching for something. After a few seconds her breathing returned to normal and she calmly stood, packed up the blanket in her worn backpack, and walked over to a seemingly random window.
She jumped out only to land on the top of a maintenance shed at the back of the building. She once again searched her surroundings, and finding them to be satisfactory, climbed down from her vantage point into an alley. In the dark, early morning light of fall, she walked out of the alley away from the town and, for all intents and purposes, moving on. This was obviously not a surprising event for the woman, routine even.
Probably because this time wasn't the first occurrence.
~x~
Four years.
Four years of her life, gone; four years wasted running from who she was supposed to become. Was being the key word. Not even that was an option anymore. She refused to ever let it become one again.
That was one reason she was running.
By midday, the woman had reached another town, this one much smaller, only a couple of miles away from the last. It would do perfectly. Not large enough to have practice in fast response calls for police, but large enough that she would be able to find what she needed. Now she only had to search for a target.
"Something on the outskirts," she thought. "It'll be farther from the police station, and it will make for a quick and easy get away."
She wandered for a bit, alert as she did so, searching for a prime target. Soon, the woman found an older-style corner store, one that would most likely have faulty cameras. She walked into the store, once again searching around herself, nodding to the teenager sitting bored at the counter. The two cameras caught her attention almost immediately, though one appeared to be offline.
After walking the store, aisle by aisle, the woman placed herself out of view of the camera and grabbed a few necessities. Her pack now a bit heavier with bread, peanut butter, water, and a few canned goods, she once again calmly walked up to the teenaged cashier with a bottle of water and a dollar. She paid and left. He had barely spared her a glance the entire time.
~x~
She'd nearly made it out of the small town. With the store clerk none the wiser, she thought she could leave town without any worries. Too bad she wasn't that lucky. She'd heard something she couldn't ignore.
An explosion.
The woman looked back only to see the small store she'd just stolen from burning. What was left of it anyway.
Without thinking, she turned into the next alley and took off at a sprint. She was miles away and on a train by sundown.