The very act drove her even wilder. She didn't want to be this creature that could move so fast. She didn't want to be genetically engineered to meet the Sons sexual needs, or have any part in this war that she'd only just found out was being waged. All she wanted was to write songs and sing. Instead, she'd been drawn into a web of danger she had no idea how to escape; or even if she should try. The streetlights in their quiet, suburban neighbourhood barely provided much light, but Alyssa's eyes had no trouble seeing where she was going. And she knew exactly where she wanted to be: the park two blocks away where she and her friends had built forts and played during the long summer vacations of her childhood. Back then, they'd felt so safe and protected from the world beyond their quiet, little backwater. Back then, the world had seemed benign, for all the news that filtered in about wars and global disasters. That news wasn't real. Playing in the park was real.
