Spirit Dragon: Thanks. I hope this new plot twist doesn't diminish your interest in it.

Blizrun: Sorry about that. I couldn't think of anything else in the middle of sixth period. Actually, I had something different planned, but I scrapped the idea due to problems with getting it done right.

Ezequielhl: Thanks. I'm really glad you like it. I hope you like this chapter.


Chapter 1

Danielle bolted upright in bed, breathing heavily. She rubbed her forehead, which was covered in sweat, and tried to calm down a bit. This was the third night in a row she had been having that strange nightmare. She thought it over in her mind, wondering what it meant. She would be on the streets of City 17 at night with the full moon overhead. Before her would be a large, ominous mansion that looked like it had abandoned for years. Before she could enter it, five people would appear before her. They would warn her against entering it, saying that it would only mean her death, yet she would ignore them and enter anyways.

The first room was a large foyer with a staircase leading up to the second floor. The walls themselves seemed to radiate with evil, and shadows watched her every move. There would be a soft shuffling sound behind her, and when she turned around, a person would grab her by the shoulders and bite into her neck.

She shivered, wiping more sweat from her forehead. From what she could remember, the person seemed strange. His skin was an ashen color, and his eyes were a milky white. She had seen that kind of face before, but only on dead people. Even the man's skin was rotting from the bone. But how could he have been walking.

It was a dream. Things don't have to be realistic in dreams.

Danielle slowly stood up and walked to the door to her room, opening it as quietly as she could. The hall beyond was empty. As she did on other nights, she made her way upstairs to the roof, which was in a state of disrepair. A particularly large hole led out to the nearby building's roof. She had heard some of the residents say it was made in order to escape from the Combine when they finally came to this building. Everyone knew they were going to come. It was only a matter of time…

She sat down underneath another hole; it was much smaller in size, and it gave a clear view of the sky above. Danielle stared at the shining stars, her thoughts drifting back to what they did every night. Her past was a mystery to her. When she tried to think of what had happened before three days ago, her mind sort of came up blank. Civil Protection had said it was just from a car wreck that had killed both of her parents, but that was hard to believe. Some of the people in the building that she trusted said there were never any people with the last name of "Sterling" living in the area until three days ago. So why were the Combine hiding the truth from her?

"And for some reason, I feel like Sterling isn't my real last name… Why, though?" she whispered to no one in particular. "And if it's not, then what is it?"

She wasn't expecting a reply, and she nearly cried out when she heard the voice behind her saying, "You're right. It isn't your real surname at all."

Danielle jumped to her feet and spun around, her heart skipping a beat when she saw the Civil Protection officer standing there. He was unarmed, which came as a surprise. Most officers would at least carry around a StunStick or a 9mm pistol, but this one was without weapons. "What are you doing here," Danielle asked, not bothering to keep the anger out of her voice. She immediately regretted it, knowing that he was probably going to beat her black and blue for speaking to him like that.

"Believe it or not, I came to help. I read the file the Combine has on you. Seems that their hiding things about you that not even you know." Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she said nothing as he continued on. "They are also coming for you. When you started questioning the Combine, Overwatch got nervous. They'll be sending a unit to capture you sometime tomorrow."

"If you're working for the Combine, then why are you helping me?"

The officer chuckled. "I'm far from being a supporter for those guys. And I'm helping you because if they capture you, it'll mean death. You have to escape tomorrow as soon as you can. I'll try to send help to get you out, but there's no guarantee that they will make it to the building on time."

Danielle still couldn't bring herself to trust this guy. But if the CP really were coming for her, she had no choice. "If they're after me, where do I go? There's nowhere to hide from those guys."

"You can get to a safe place by heading through the canals. I'll try to get some people to help you out along the way. But—" He was cut off by a loud squeal from his helmet's radio. "Unit 539, come in." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder towards the stairs urgently, and Danielle understood the message. She ran back down the stairs as quietly as she could and returned to her room, lying down on the mattress that served as her bed. Confused thoughts swirled around in her head, and for several minutes, all she did was think about what happened. When she finally fell asleep, it was already around 1 AM.

-

Danielle awoke to a loud rapping on her door. Memories of the night before came to mind, and an icy hand clutched at her heart. How long had she been asleep? Was it too late to escape? She scrabbled to her feet and ran to the door, hoping her hunch wasn't right. "Who is it?"

"Civil Protection! Now open up!" She swallowed hard, hesitating as her hand touched the doorknob. If she defied the officers, she would be in a lot more trouble than she would if she just opened the door for them. She paused a little too long, because Civil Protection kicked the door down soon afterwards.

The blow caught her off guard, and she was knocked backwards. An officer pushed her to the ground, pulling her arms behind her back and slapping on restraints. He yanked her to her feet, shoving her roughly towards the doorway. "I'll handle this one. You find the others." The other officers nodded and ran off. He pushed her down the hallway to the stairs, and Danielle caught glimpses of people watching from cracks in their doors. The Civil Protection officer forced her up the stairs and into the small room that the stairs to the attic were in. She suddenly grew confused, wondering why she was being lead upstairs instead of to the ground floor.

In the attic, the officer took off the restraints, apologizing quietly. "Sorry I had to do that, but I couldn't just let you get away until we were at a safe place. Now, I know you have a lot of questions, but there is no time to explain. All I can say is that you need to get as far away from here as you can. It won't take them long to notice you got away. Get to the canals, and try to avoid Scanners and CP units. My friends will help you. I'd suggest making your way through the sewers to the canals, so that way my friends can keep you covered. Now, go before they find out where we went."

Danielle hesitated, then ran out through the hole in the roof. She didn't remember the layout of the roofs, so she didn't know where she would be caught at a dead end. Pumping her arms for speed, she made her way over rooftops and across ledges, hoping that they wouldn't see her down on the street. CP units were everyone, and if one of them spotted her up here…

She pushed the thought out of her mind as she spotted a fire escape at the edge of the current building she was on. Danielle clambered down it quickly and casually walked out onto the sidewalk, looking both ways down the street. No one seemed to care about her, which was a big relief.

The sounds of sirens came from back the way she came, and Danielle guessed that they found out she was missing. "That means I don't have much time left before they come looking… I hope that guy didn't trick me."

She took a deep breath, knowing that he was the only ally she had right now. Walking down the sidewalk in the direction of the canals, she stuck her hands in her pockets and wondered what was going to happen to her.