My feet move to the pounding of my heart. The rush in my ears and the wind on my skin as the soundtrack to my life. Far below, the people of this city move around their daily lives, unwilling to see the truth.

I've needed this. The ground world is loud and chaotic. It's impossible to think. But up here with just the wind I can find the flow and become alive again.

A pipe blocks my path and I vault over it. My palms slap against the wall as I adjust my direction without losing momentum. The ramp is just ahead and in seconds I'm suspended in the air. Time slows. A dove's wings beat slowly above me. My heart rises to my throat. There's sky all above me and below me only air.

Neither rising or falling I'm suspended in the deadpoint. Zero gravity, that thrill in the pit of my stomach. It tingles in my limbs and to my left I see myself reflected in the perfect glass of the perfect office building.

The moment passes and I'm falling. A rooftop rushes towards me, the impact rippling through my feet and rattling my teeth. I roll, spreading out the energy of the landing and I'm back in the flow. Windows speed past, pipes and car-sized air conditioners becoming blurs as though I'm racing through an industrial forest. Not too long ago, I ferried that most precious of cargo from one place to another. Information. Ideas. Hope. The one thing the authorities strove to control more than anything else. That's too dangerous now.

I start to slow down as I get closer to my destination. Home. Or something as close to home as I have now. A safe haven until we can smuggle Kate out of the city. I don't know if I'll go with her, I haven't decided yet and my run has only made me more conflicted. The city isn't safe and while I've been running my whole life it's always been towards something, never away from it.

The building is abandoned and decrepit. One of the many dirty secrets the city hides beneath the veneer. Like the city itself the outside is polished but inside is rot. But it's warm and sheltered, and on the eighth floor and through a green door waits my sister and Wraith. Wraith was a runner like me, but she retired a few years ago. She's in her thirties, with mahogany skin and black hair cropped close to her skull. Like most runners, she has tattoos. Wraith's are all sharp lines. Buildings run up one arm like a cityscape. On her other arm is the reverse. Sewers and dungeons, with terrible things looking out towards the viewer. She could have turned us away, but she let us in without question.

I toss my bag on the table and walk into the bathroom. The mirror is dirty and I smear it trying to clean it. The woman staring back at me is so tired, but she'll just have to keep running.

"Kate?" I leave the bathroom and walk across the hall, opening the door to the room I share with my sister. She's not there. Who greets me is a blonde woman, hair hanging in a loose ponytail. She looks as startled as I am, lashing out first with a kick at my chest. I grab her leg, twisting with my body and knocking her other foot out from under her. She hits the ground and rolls, trying to break past me. I clothesline her, then grab her pony-tail and yank hard.

Celeste doesn't cry out until I've dropped onto her chest with my knees. She tries to push me off. I bloody her nose with the palm of my hand. I could do a lot more damage to her. I want to. She was my friend and she betrayed us. Joined the fucking blues! She claws at my arms and I pin her by the wrists. "Cel. What the fuck?"

"I was gonna ask you the same thing. What the fuck are you doing here?"

"You don't ask questions. I ask questions." Even with a bloodied nose she's beautiful. Yes, that's another reason her being a traitor hurts. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Heard rumors about plans to round up some loose runners. Wanted to check it out myself."

Shit. Worrying about Kate and Wraith distracts me. Cel slams her forehead into my face. My head snaps back and she dislodges me. I land on my stomach with the blonde on top of me. She wrenched my arm around hard. She whispers in my ear. "Didn't I tell you that survival is overrated?"

Spitting out blood, I reply, "You call this living a little?"

The weight is off my back, and I cautiously pick myself up. Cel's mouth and chin are covered in blood. Her shirt is messed up and she's breathing a little heavily. I'm not in much better condition but I shift into a ready stance, feet positioned evenly.

"Shit, Faith don't do this. You know they want you dead? They're not even playing around. Not after what you did." She backs up a step when I taunt her with a mock jab. "You've got about twenty minutes before this place is swarming with cops."

It takes me a few to realize what she's doing. "Celeste, what are you-"

"Fucking go!"

I glare at her. She's supposed to be the bad guy now. She's not supposed to help me and I can't trust her.

"Faith please, It's never been personal. I don't want to see you dead."

I point a finger at her. "This doesn't make up for framing Kate."

She doesn't have a response, so I don't have to hit her. I just need to get out of there, and do the thing I'm best at. I run.

We have several places that we set up for emergencies. They're all pretty far away. I don't have any means to contact them but I trash the exit so Kate and Wraith will immediately know something is wrong. Once I'm on the roof again, I peek around looking for any blues or other signs that the coast isn't clear. I don't see anything so I begin to job. The first place I need to check are the tunnels. They're six miles away, through increasingly less secure parts of the city. The mayor keeps talking about cleaning the area out but nothing ever gets done.

I'm too nervous to move as fast as I want, not until I get more distance. A mile from Wraith's place I switch from a jog to a full on run. I think about this stupid situation Kate and I are in. Why Cel let me go, and that look on her face when I'd run past her. I wanted to smash her nose in again but that's not going to make me feel better.

Well it will, but it's too late to go back now. The last mile is a maze of cranes and half-constructed buildings. I can't think about anything else except not falling to my death. I rarely worry about that. Call it overconfidence, call it experience or call it pure stubborn willpower but I'm as sure on my feet as a cat.

Wraith had set up a series of ramps and tubes, and I leap from one to the other all the way down to the ground. The hatch gives me some difficulty, but I get it home and looked down. I can't stand being underground. I have nightmares about the cargo ship. I find my courage, and slide down the ladder into the darkness.