on towards the wilderness {marisa/kovu} [blitz]

I tense as I hear the sound of footsteps approaching in the road. That kind of steady, marching gait can only mean one thing: Peacekeepers. Well, I'm screwed if they find me here - I've got no good reason to be in the alleyway, and with respect to people like me they've got a nasty habit of shoot first and ask questions later, or never, really, because you can't really ask someone anything when they're dead.

I dart down several side alleys, and before I know it I'm inside the woods, the forest a boundary between District Nine and what lay beyond. Listening to the sounds around me, I realize that the Peacekeepers have long since stopped following.

But the woods do not look abandoned, and as I scrutinize my surroundings suspiciously, I can see a figure in the distance, a boy.

What's more, I realize, I recognize this boy.