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Adam was thirteen when he first tried to run away.
He images a nice family, a great mum and dad, maybe a sibling or two, he thinks about getting a puppy and going camping, school friends, busy streets, packed lunches, late Sunday wake ups. He thinks about seeing snow for the first time, grandparents kisses, schoolyard bullies, Christmas, Easter, birthdays.
Something other than a routine, a mission, a plan, some days he doesn’t want to save the world, who deserves to have their planet saved? These people, the ones who robbed him of a normal life from a young age, made him work everyday for some alien. These people don’t deserve it, he’d never say it out loud in case of getting smacked over the side of the head and once again taught the champion of earth idea, he is the chosen one… Isn’t he?
Adam makes it five steps out of the base before he's yanked back in and yelled at by the nearest superior officer, his training is doubled for the next two weeks. They can't exactly ground him because that would just slow down their training with him.
Several months after he turns eighteen he tries again, he's smarter this time, stronger, faster. Knows when the guards switch shifts, knows how to distract them long enough to get passed the gate.
Adam has given up on the idea of being a child in a happy family, he wants to feel, to experience, he needs to get out.
The air is the same but he can't help but take in a deep breath before running, he runs and runs until he's out of breath. It hadn't even registered yet where to run to until he saw the sign for Milford, it's eight pm on a Saturday. Town is a fifteen minute drive, he makes it there running in twenty five, another ten minutes of walking probably the slowest he's ever gone.
Adam wanders around downtown trying to soak everything in, the lights, the people, he shivers with excitement and for the fact that it's almost Christmas and it's freezing cold, Adam has been wandering around town for three hours now, have they noticed that he's left? What if they are on a man hunt right now to find him, what if something happens to him, is that eighteen years down the drain, is there enough time to train someone else? Should he keep running? Where would he g-
"Hey punk watch it" says the heavily intoxicated man, a few of his friends puffed up their chests when they notice Adam,
"Sorry, I was distracted" responds Adam,
"I said watch it not tell me why you run into me" replies the man.
During his eighteen years he was trained in many different forms of combat, a few obscure ones but mainly boxing, karate, tae Kwon do. He was always prepared for the unprepared or over prepared, his reflexes were trained to know when someone was going to strike.
"I wasn't tel-" begins Adam, although the military unsurprisingly didn't prepare for a drunk idiot to take a swing at him, the fist hits him square in the nose and he falls back,
"Hey, don't you move" shouts a loud voice,
"Oh shit cop, run!" shouts one, the turn and sprint while Adam is left on the ground with his head spinning,
"Shit, why do they always run, hey kid you alright?" asks a voice,
"Uhh, yeah, umm" stutters Adam,
"Okay, don't hurt yourself, here sit up on the set over here, take a moment" replies the new, more friendlier voice. He's pulled to his feet and guided back to a bench,
"My name is officer Hagan, I'm going to ask you a few questions, is that fine with you?" asks the officer, Adam nods blinking back the dizzy spots in his eyes,
"What's your name?" asks the police officer,
"Adam" he replies,
"Got a last name?" asks the man,
"No" says Adam,
Is Emory be his last name?
"Uh, how about a home address? Can I drop you off anywhere?" says Hagan with a small frown,
"No, I don’t…” began Adam, the punch hit him harder than expected,
“Kid if you need some money for a place to stay, or even some warmer clothes for the night” said Hagan,
“What? Why, why would you do that?” asks Adam,
“I’m just trying to be a decent human being” replies Hagan.
Was this who he was saving? People like this?
“You don’t know me” says Adam,
“I don’t need to, you need help and I can, there is a shelter I could drop you off to, its much warmer on cold nights, but there is also-” begins Hagan,
“Thank you, but I’ll be okay, I have a, uhm, relative around here” lies Adam.
“That sounded like a lie, but if you say you’re okay then I can’t force you to the shelter, do you need a lift at all?” asks Hagan,
“N-no, thank you, for uh everything” stutters Adam shaking the officer's hand, a small frown is now set upon Hagans face,
“Sure, if you ever need help feel free to ring the station and ask for me” says Hagan.
“I will, thank you” says Adam, he manages to walk for the next mile before checking to see if he was alone and then sprint back to the base, he doesn’t know the time exactly but there is a guard heading along the east wall at a pace that is described as leisurely at best. Sneaking back to his room was the most stressful task, even more so when he bumps into Emory, “out for a night run”, always the easiest lie.