I ran quickly, my breath coming it out in clouds of white behind me as I sprinted towards my only form of salvation. I could hear footsteps coming behind me and I pushed myself so I could arrive first. I was so close to making it before arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me into the air. I instantly went limp and made no noise, save for a single groan. My captor laughed and set me back down on the ground.

"Why do we have to do this every day?" I looked at my older brother questioningly. His smile at catching me faded and turned into a darker look.

He sighed before speaking. "I know you don't understand," I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up a hand, "But its for our safety. These walls have been up for centuries and no one is sure what lays behind them so we have to be ready."

I looked at the deteriorating walls to our right. My whole life, they had stood strong and tall without any signs of aging, but in the last year, they had started to rot away without explanation.

The only theory people had was the towers that stood at the corners of the walls. Old tale said that those towers were the ones that erected the walls in the first place, but there was no proof.

"You good?" my brother asked me as he bumped my shoulder with his own.

"Yeah," I mumbled. My mind was still overcome by thoughts about the looming wall next to me and why it was doing what it was.

He shrugged at my response. "Well, come on then. We need to get back before dark." He took my shoulder and guided me back towards the way we came from when suddenly, there was a loud blast. We both froze up for a second before turning towards the source of the noise and we were shocked at what we saw.

One of the towers had a cloud of smoke around it, and the top was beginning to slip off of it. My brother and I watched in complete and utter horror as it began to tip sideways and it crumbled into nearby homes. We could hear screams and before it even registered to me, I had broken out into a run. I wasn't that far from the tower and the cloud of dust rolled over me in seconds and I covered my face and continued to run through it.

The dust began to settle and I looked towards the rubble of the tower but stopped when there was another loud rumbling. I looked around and saw the other towers beginning to collapse, and I watched in horror as the wall crumbled with them. After the rest of the dust cleared from this round, I looked and saw approaching figures from the other side of the wall, coming straight towards us and I prayed I would be able to face what was to come next.