A world I've heard talked about for nearly three years but have never seen, except from my front yard. It is worse than I ever imagined. So empty. So abandoned. So dead.
Jack has just hit the road with the quest of finding her brother Dean. Tears fill her eyes once she sees the outside world, a world she only got a glimpse from her home yard. Homes, neighborhoods are empty and abandoned; there is only evidence that life used to exist there.
I pretend I am the old me, soft and plump, with thick, dark hair, living for 4-H baking competitions, experimenting with bread and doughnut recipes, daydreaming about where I will go on my first date, what my prom dress is going to look like...
Jack's childhood has been ripped away from her. She had to grow up fast in order to survive. From very young age she had to learn to use guns to be able to defend herself from the monsters. She toughened up, but she is still a sixteen-year old and has moments like this where she dreams about a simpler life where she is a regular teenager.
I have been programmed to run. Run from danger. Run for safety. Run to live.
From the time her family was refused the admission inside the wall, Jack has been training herself to survive in the dangerous world, by training her body to run fast. It is a crucial skill for survival, because being caught is being sentenced to death.
