There it is;

There it is;

The silver smoke plume that stumbles up through what they call east. With every rise and fall it appears between the trees. They tell me we cannot go over there, but I've never understood why. A moment passes before I hear the rally coming into the property.

“We come to alert you of a large infestation over the mountain. You need to pack up and move further west. This area is closed until further notice.”

At first when this all happened I had both my parents and a dog. Now I have my dad.

We have to frequently when the troops tell us too. We are headed north to Montana, hopefully there is a safe ground there. I am tired of running. I feel like no matter how far away we get we have to keep going. Every-time I feel safe, someone reminds me I’m not.

I want to have a place where I can have a dog and my family again. The only way I get to see my mom is in my necklace. I have a sterling silver locket, it is in the shape of a heart and when you open it, it folds down into a picture of my mom holding me and my dog. I don't have a picture of my dad yet but as soon as we get to Montana I bet we can find someone who can make one.

...

Before I can finish loading my knapsack I am rushed out and pushed into a line. I didn’t get to put my matches and hat in my bag. I cried for them to stop and let me get my hat but they pushed me and before I looked away I saw my dad grab them and run to catch me. My dad is always helping me, he teaches me how to be quiet in the forest and how to protect myself from animals and people. He won't teach me how to protect myself from the people who crawl out in the dark. He says I am too young and I should stay by his side. I’m not scared of the people whose eyes are now dark. I know they are just sick and don’t want to hurt people, because no one wants to hurt people.

We start moving out of the gated area and into the grass, when we reach the grass it is so tall I can barely see my dad. I keep moving and following him as close as I can. He is looking back at me frequently to make sure I am keeping up with him. He reaches into his pocket and hands me a grape jolly rancher. He keeps them for when we go on long walks and gives them to me to make sure I have enough energy.

While we are walking through the grass someone up front yells stop, and to get down. When we stop and crouch down we hear something that sounds like yelling. And then they all start running.

The troops took us in the wrong direction and there was a swarm closing in on us. My dad grabs my hand and tells me I need to run with him and to not stop until he tells me too. We started running to the right of where we were walking, and a few other people were as well. I am running so fast that the only thing I can hear is the grass brushing against my clothes.

Before I knew it it was starting to get dark, and we had stopped running. My dad helped me toss our back packs in a tree and we started climbing. We climbed the tree half way up and placed our hammock. The dark eyed people can’t climb well.

By the time the sun rises the next day I can tell my dad is ready to keep moving.