Slight Disclaimer: All of the town names and places that are referenced in this piece are fictitious, they're of my own creation. The only geography that I'm truly trying to accomplish with these places and descriptions is their spatial organization regarding Six's escape and where she ends up from there. Thanks!

Once again, thank you so much to all of my readers and reviewers! Your feedback is greatly appreciated and so encouraging!

Happy reading! :)

...

My walk is longer than I initially anticipated.

I lose track of time, but I'm certain it feels longer as soon as the agony and miserable feelings set in. The nauseousness I felt before I ate is back, but then again, I'm not sure if it ever left; I was distracted for far too long with surviving to even notice.

I start to feel tired and weak without more food to sustain me, and my chest hurts. Even worse, I'm coughing. I'm worn out from exhaustion and adrenaline crash. It's miserable, but it's necessary.

I pull my jacket tighter around me as I walk, suddenly feeling chilly even though the air isn't really cold. It just adds to my misery, but I trudge on in the night. My only guide is the lines on the road that are lit from the moonlight, and I can only pray that I will find a town or a train station soon. Misery...

After what truly does seem like forever, buildings and establishments begin to show up more frequently, eventually evolving into a system that looks like a town. It gives me a glimmer of hope. Street lights begin to light my way, and the town grows bigger and bigger, and it seems to be more alive. A city.

A city! It's a small city, but it's still a city. There must be a train station here. I've been walking for miles and miles, it has to be here.

My misery is thick, but my hope is more evident. A street light flickers above me as I cross the street. The city isn't exactly alive and kicking, but it's breathing, hints of activity evident with the occasional car, lit business, and sidewalk pedestrians. I start to weave through the grid pattern that reminds me of Mayor, Virginia to look for a train station. I scour the street signs, but they're hard to read in the dim light. I cross another street.

There it is! There's a sign. It reads, 'Amtrak Train Station: 3 Blocks South.' I smile with glee and dart in that direction, running through the exhaustion even though I shouldn't.

I'm out of breath when I arrive, but I'm lucky enough to pound up to the platform and catch it at a time when a train is in the station. Stragglers are getting on at the last minute, mostly various adults. But I don't care. The conductor yells out as he ushers people on, "Last call! Southbound train, last call!"

That's all I need to hear. I quickly run over to the window and buy a ticket, which sucks up all of my money easily, but I don't care. I run over to the train, and without so much as a glance to the conductor, I board the train.

I look around as I board and proceed to an empty row, climbing in and dropping down into a window seat. The train isn't very filled, so I have my space. I lazily drop off my hiking backpack next to me so no one can sit next to me, then I slump down in my seat. Gosh, I'm tired...

After a few minutes, the conductor says, "ALL ABOARD!" He climbs on the train, and the doors close behind him. I wait patiently for the train to start moving, but before it does, a person comes up the aisle, looking to each person and asking, "Ticket, please?" He hands them their ticket and he punches a hole in it and hands it back to them I just follow their lead.

He approaches me. His mustache is strikingly similar to the man who called the cops of me and I feel some subconscious resentment, even though I know that's wrong. "Ticket, please?" he asks me flatly. I don't blame him; he probably says this an endless amount everyday. I hand him my ticket and he performs the drill. As he hands it back to me, he gives me a strange look. He opens his mouth as if to say something; probably ask the same questions that most people are thinking or have attempted to retrieve answers for, but he eventually just shuts it and moves on. He doesn't care enough, which is fine by me.

When I'm finally settled, the train lurches to a start, and I feel an internal giddiness. Goodbye, Mogs. I'm leaving it behind. I'm heading for something new, and I will survive.

Synonymous to my giddiness, I realize how awful I feel as well. Nauseousness, chest pain, coughing, the whole deal. I truly am exhausted. Rest is what I need. And a little bit of hope...

This train speeding away from the Mogs is serving as my temporary hope. For now, I just need rest...

I close my eyes and lean against the window as Virginia speeds by, just as I did on the bus. I fall into sad sleep again.

But at least this time, it's a hopeful sleep.

...

I feel even worse when I wake up than when I fell asleep.

I wake up a few hours later when the train seems to be screeching to a stop. Before I figure out where I am, I have to get a handle on myself first. I'm more nauseous than ever, my head feeling heavy and dizzy. The chest pain has worsened, and my heart is still racing, and I know it's not from adrenaline any longer. My cough has worsened, sounding croaky in my throat. I still feel so tired, so weak...

"Last stop!" yells the conductor as I start to pay attention. "Last stop! North Rock Hill, South Carolina!"

I guess I have no choice but to get off, no matter how much I wish to stay in my seat and fall back into sleep plagued by pain. get to my feet on shaking legs and grab my bag. I pull out a water bottle and drink some of it. I swallow coarsely and end up coughing. This is wretched...

I start to exit the train, but I'm slow and weak, which receives a few irritated mutters from the remaining passengers behind me. Just before I exit the train, I ask the conductor, "Where are we again?"

"North Rock Hill, South Carolina," he repeats, even though I knew that. "About an hour south of the South Carolina northern border."

I nod my weak thanks and exit. South Carolina. That's quite some distance between me and the Mogadorian base, but there could be more. I have to take it for now, though.

It takes nearly all I my strength to exit the train alone. My legs shake and I breathe quickly. The nauseousness only gets worse as I move forward. I exit the train station and find that North Rock Hill is in the middle of nowhere. Which is convenient for now, because within seconds of standing still, I scramble to the nearest bush and vomit up what little is left in my stomach. It draws some attention, but not enough.

I fall to my knees weakly and rest there for a minute, trying to regain myself. After throwing up, I feel a little bit better now that the nausea has been taken care of and there's nothing left in my stomach. It's now just a dull lightheaded, dizzy feeling. When I manage the strength, I stand up, finally, on shaking legs. I clutch my backpack close to me and proceed on.

I quickly find that North Rock Hill truly is in the middle of nowhere. The train station stands alone with one paved road leading out of it. While the place is secluded, it's truly beautiful. The grass is green and stretches over a wide expanse. Trees pop up here and there, but there's wild flowers everywhere, purple, yellow, and white ones. The land is accented and shaped by rocky slopes that seem to bend and flow with the rest of the scenery. The sky is an endless expanse of blue, highlighted with puffy white clouds and a bright yellow sun.

The place is truly gorgeous, peaceful, and secluded. It would be the perfect place to hide out, I think, if I weren't so sick. I curse myself for even letting myself become sick, but I guess I shouldn't have expected myself to be in great health after spending such a long time in the Mogadorian prison.

I have to get to the nearest city. Yes, that's what I need to do. I can get help there. I'll check into a hospital anonymously, as a Jane Doe, get, healed, and sneak out without a trace. Yes, that's what I'll do. It's not the best or well thought out plan, but it's all I have, and it's what I desperately need.

But I have to get to a city first. So I take my only option and start walking. I walk down the main, paved road for a while on weak legs. I come to a stop light that's at a four way intersection, but there are no cars in sight. The lights change idly, periodically. On the side of the road, there's a green sign that reads, "Gardendale 8 Miles". I'm supposing that's a nearest city or at least it must be a decent town, so I head in the direction the arrow points. West, by the looks of the sun. Katarina taught me how to navigate using the sun in case I was ever in a situation like this. The lessons are paying off.

Eight miles...that's a long walk. I don't know if I'll make it that long, especially without food or water. Maybe it's better that way since I'll just throw up anything I consume. I'll just have to rest frequently. Somehow, I have to make it...

I'm winded and weak as it is, and the sun is hot. I pull off my jacket and hold it as I walk down the side of the road. Still no cars. As I walk, the road breaks off in two directions; one direction is a well-used dirt road and the other, broken away pavement that continues on as a road. I take a chance on the dirt road since it looks like it's been used much more than that broken pavement Either way, I'll get to the city. Somehow...

I start trudging along, my lightheadedness growing stronger. It hurts, and I'm dizzy, and the world is spinning around me. There's a ringing in my ears and the sunlight seems much too bright, its rays bending and twisting the scenery...

Suddenly, though, there's a form to my left, the outline of a person. I turn and try to focus on them, but their form is shaky and shimmery, especially in the radical light, almost like a silhouette. I blink and keep trying to make their image clear, but then they speak.

"Maren? Maren, are you okay?" The voice is a woman's concerned and caring. "Maren, can you hear me?"

I blink rapidly at my last human name. It...it can't be... "K-Katarina?"

Her form finally comes into focus, and she's smiling at me warmly, a smile I know so well. "It's me, Maren. Are you okay, baby?" she asks kindly. It makes my heart swell and my eyes well up with tears that make her blurry again.

"Kat...I-I miss you...I need you..." I tell her. I start to go towards her, stumbling and tripping over myself to reach her.

She smiles sadly. "I miss you too, baby girl. I'm so proud of you."

My heart contracts even more and I keep going so I can reach her, but it feels like she's farther away than she was before. "Katarina, I..."

She waves a delicate hand slowly, one that I'm used to having hold me at night when I'm scared. "Goodbye, Maren. I love you."

She starts, and I try to stumble to her faster. "Kat! Wait!" But by the time I try to reach her, she's gone, and I start to cry.

I collapse in the spot where she was and cry, just cry about what I've lost, cry in my loneliness, cry in my sickness.

And soon after that, I black out.

...

I don't know how long it takes, but I wake up later. It's still daylight, but there wasn't much daylight left when I fell asleep. Did I faint, or take a rest? I can't remember.

I look down around me. I'm in a sorry pile on a small slope, surrounded by grass and wildflowers. But I somewhat panic when I look around me. No dirt road. I lost the road, I lost the city. Oh no...what happened?

But as I sit there for a few minute and try to swallow to moisten my dry mouth it starts to flood back to my beating head. Katarina...I saw Katarina...but then I realize it.

I didn't.

I didn't see her. I thought I saw her, but I didn't. I hallucinated. I'm so ridiculously sick and dehydrated that I hallucinated to see my dead Cepan and thought it was real. But it wasn't, I'm alone.

I try to drag myself to my feet, but I can barely even craw. Oh no...this is bad... I drag myself along, it the realization truly hits me that I'm not going to make it to the city. I'm too dehydrated, too sick, too mentally beat up to even move myself, let alone get there.

I thought I could survive on my own, but I was only fooling myself. I can't survive. I can't beat them. I'm vulnerable, I'm weak. I'm alone.

I'm going to die here. This is my end.

The ringing in my ears is back, and I let myself collapse weakly. It's over...

But just as I close my eyes to let myself die, a shadow casts itself over me...