Present Day

Cleo could feel them closing in on her, the footsteps behind her were getting closer with each passing minute.

What do they want with her? Why where they chasing her? Cleo pushed herself harder, her little feet exploded with a life of its own running with intense speed.

She could feel her strength waning but the images running through her head spurred her on.

They were in a populated area and there were people everywhere. Regardless of the corner she took, there were passers-by in all directions.

The adrenaline rush she got from the fright of seeing her fellow school mate gunned down seemed to be dispersing rapidly.

"There she is!" Someone shouted. Cleo saw the two men trying to corner her. Out of options, she crossed over to the other side of the road.

Twisting and turning to avoid getting hit by cars, she ran into a coffee shop running through people.

"Hey!" Someone yelled as she barrelled right through him. She ran through the back door of the coffee shop to an alley.

She glanced around and was about to take a step when the back door suddenly swung open behind her knocking her to the ground.

Before she could get up, she felt a cold sharp steel on her neck. "No shady movements kid. We were asked to bring you dead or alive. It doesn't matter to us, but if you want to live, I suggest you do as I say." The man slowly lifted the little blond girl up, adding a little more pressure to the knife.

Cleo was rendered blind as a bag soon covered her head. As the other man following her swiftly tied her hands behind her.

The back door swung open again as a young waitress appeared with a garbage bag in hand.

She had on an apron with the shop's logo on it. "What's happening here? What are guys doing to that little girl? Someone call the Police!" She tried to yell but was silenced with the revolver.

Cleo choked down the scream threatening to burst out from her mouth. The warning of her attacker rang loudly in her head. She felt herself being lifted and carried into a van.

Seeing that she was already caught, Cleo tried to catch her breadth. Her side screamed with lack of oxygen as she breathed in deeply. Her mind was a whirl of fear and indignation, the unjustified death of all those people kept popping into her head. The memory of the previous hours flashed nostalgically in her mind.

.....

*******

8 Hours Earlier

"Come on Cleo, hurry up or you'll be late for school." Annie urged the little 12 year old girl searching for her school bag. She had bouncy blond curls with a pale skin and blue eyes."Found it!" Cleo exclaimed with joy as she ran through the corridor to meet up with her mom. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Her father asked dropping the news paper in his hands to give her a curious look.

"I don't think so dad." Cleo replied with haste as she dashed out of the house and made her way towards the car.

As she reached out for the car door, she paused mid-way and raced back into the house.

Annie smiled at the retreating form of her daughter as she made her way to the drivers seat.

Putting the key in the ignition, she bolted the door and started the car. The backseat door suddenly opened and Cleo entered locking the door behind her.

"Forgot to kiss dad goodbye."Cleo explained strapping herself securely. Annie drove out of the garage and through the street before reaching the main road linking to the school.

The duo soon arrived at the Middle school. Annie got out of the car, kissed her daughter goodbye, got into the car and drove off to work.

Cleo made her way to her class room before the bell rang. The whole school sprung to life as classes commenced.

They were minutes into the biology class and some of the kids where already getting bored. Brady tapped on her desk trying to get her attention, 'Boring' he slowly mouthed eliciting a light chuckle from her.

"Cleopatra Stevens, I need you in my office please. Cleopatra Stevens" Principal Higgins announced. Cleo's classmates turned their heads to stare at her. Some where giving her curious glances while other gave her a look of pity.

"Why does he want you in his office?" Brady asked whispering with his hand curving around his mouth.

"Miss Stevens?" Her teacher called raising her brows. Cleo slowly stood up from her seat and made her way to where Mrs Murphy stood. " I believe you're needed else where." Cleo sighed resignedly as she left the classroom. She walked through the hall way and soon arrived at the principals office.

Taking a deep breath she braced herself for whatever he was going to do as she entered into the office.

Mr Higgins, a bald skinny white man with a few missing teeth that were displayed whenever he smiled or laughed ushered her in.

He had two cops in uniform sitting in front of his desk. "This is Mr Monroe" Mr Higgins pointed to the man on is left with a jacket and a police uniform underneath. He had on a plastic smile that seemed to be out of place with his rough physique and cunning eyes. Mr Monroe extended his hand toward Cleo but she just stared at him.

Mr Monroe continued to smile in a very creepy manner, nonpulsed at her unwillingness to shake his hand. "And this is Mr Willow." Principal Higgins continued, he introduced the stranger who was an albino with colourless eyes.

Mr Willow acknowledged her presence with a nod. "We'll take it from here" Mr Monroe said to the principal as he turned his chair around to face the child squarely."There's been an accident." Mr Monroe paused taking a minute to catch his breadth. He continued" Your mother was....how do i say this?" Monroe looked for the right words. "She was involved in an accident this morning on her way to work, and sadly she didn't make it. Also...your dad was shot down dead this morning, i guess you could call it a burgling gone wrong." Mr Willow spat out coldly. Principal Higgins and Mr Monroe gave him a sharp look before nodding their head in agreement.

The little girl stared blankly at them for a minute."What about grandma?" Cleo asked trying to hold back her tears. "We contacted her and she's at the station as we speak. She asked us to come get you since she's still not recovered from the shock and is a little shaken up after identifying the bodies." Mr Monroe answered sympathetically."Ok, let me get my bag from the class room." Cleo said trying not to sob but failing.

She left the office closing the door behind her, before racing down the hall way to the exit of the building.

She knew those men were impostors, she knew that gran gran couldn't make it to Louisiana all the way from Turkey in just two hours. It had been over an hour for all this events to take place. Her mother had just dropped her off an hour ago and even if by some miracle what they said was true, her granny could not possibly identify the bodies since she was visually impaired.

Her phone was in her bag but she lacked the courage to go back into the lass room to get it. She didn't know how much time she had abut she knew that getting out was the right step.

As she raced out of the school she suddenly bumped into an officer. "Mrs Stevens! Are you okay?" Cleo looked up to see a big bear of a man. He had a military hair cut that brought out his high cheek bones and his brunette coloured hair contrasted with his red beard. " How do you know my name?" She asked cautiously distancing herself from the man. "Well, I have something to tell you." The officer blushed nervously. He was a little clueless about how best to disclose the news. "You see, there's been..."

"An accident?" Cleo backed further away from him. "There she is!" Someone behind her yelled. Cleo turned to see Mr Monroe and Mr Willow, they gestured for her to come forward. "Who are those people? " The cop in front of her asked looking curiously at the officers behind her. "We have a 10/15, I repeat, we have a 10/15 all units....." A voice from the police car behind the officer suddenly rang out. As the Cop made his way to the car, a shot suddenly flew right through his ear.

" Get down!"He yelled to the little girl as he threw himself on top of her, using his body weight as a human shield.

Rounds of bullets went into his body as the man lying on top of Cleo soon became lifeless.

Cleo struggled to get out from under him but he was too heavy. She suddenly saw Mr Monroe in her line of vision, pointing his gun at her head.

She could hear Mrs Murphy , her class teacher screaming in the background but even she was silenced with a bullet to the head. Mr Monroe pulled her from under the officer's body with a fist full of her hair in his hand. He pulled her up till she was facing him, eyeball to eyeball.

Her skull was suddenly hit with tremendous pains. She pushed the taser she had gotten from the officer body into Mr Monroe's left eye eliciting a loud yell. Her body was thrown heavily to the ground with tremendous force. She lay dazed on the ground for a second before recovering in time to see Mr Willow advancing toward her with anger written in his eyes.

She stood up slowly looking him dead in the eyes. Mr Willow, raised his gun and fired. Cleo jumped out of the way with a back flip which landed her next to the dead officer. She pulled out a shot gun from his body, somersaulting once more away from the barrage off bullets .

She ran to hide behind the police car, using it as a shield, she fired at the Mr Willow who swiftly dived out of the way ceasing a kid hostage in his arms."Give up Cleo or I'll kill the boy." He threatened, his colourless eyes giving him an evil look. " Go ahead." Cleo said calmly, her gun was targeted right at his position. Mr Monroe watched the little girl with eyes as dead as his and was taken aback but soon grinned suddenly as he saw the shadow behind the girl. He clicked the gun and a bullet went through the little boy's skull.

Cleo fired but was unexpectedly thrown of balance by the steel like hand which suddenly closed around her neck cutting of her air supply.

Cleo shut the arm twisting around her throat eliciting a loud groan from the man behind her.

She ducked in time as a shot was released, hitting the man behind her. " I need back up!" She heard Mr Willow yell into the phone on his hand.

Cleo sprinted through the streets, she knew she had a fighting chance with two guys but an army of four or five was beyond her, she was just twelve after all.