Daniella deserts the deserters

A week later, Daniella had made up her mind. All of a sudden the belittering of the city folk by the deserters had flared up again. Daniella figured that making it to the city couldn't be more than a 2-3 day trip, after all, she could see the tips of the buildings with her naked eyes.

It was a cool summer night when Daniella woke up at 5 am. The bridge was completely silent, as was everyone in the rail cars. As quiet as a mouse, Daniella pulled out her pre-packed bag from inside her worn pillowcase. She was already dressed and very slowly stood up. Each sleeping compartment was nothing more than a well-worn mattress, separated by each other by either a thin plate of metal or a piece of cloth. Not daring to sling her bag over her back for fear of making more noise, she snuck out of the rail car and landed on one of the wooden planks that made up the bridge. To her absolute horror, it creaked like a medieval door being pulled open. Daniella froze, her heart beating what felt like a million times a minute. She couldn't even begin to imagine what her mother would do if she caught her trying to escape.

Daniella stayed motionless for several minutes. Nothing had moved, and she had heard nobody wake up. After this disaster, she made one long step to get onto the iron rail and off of the wood. Thankfully, it didn't creak when she stepped off, and the iron rail sure as hell wouldn't creak either. Tip-toeing along the rail, she snuck away. The skies above her were clear, and the full moon shone down onto the rail tracks, glinting in the moonlight. If it weren't for Daniella escaping, it would've been a perfect night. She then reasoned that the deserters would come looking for her as soon as they woke up and found her missing, which by the very latest was in 3 hours. She had to make a good pace, so as not to be caught up by someone looking for her.

The day before she secretly noted down the exact direction on a compass she could see the skyscrapers. Now, well beyond the rail bridge and out of the line of sight, she took the compass out of her bag, slung the bag over her back, and let the moonlight catch the compass, so she could see which way she needed to go. Luckily, the rail line was already curving in the correct direction. With a bit of luck, the rail line would run straight into civilization.

1 hour later, the deserters roused and woke up. Just like Daniella had thought, it didn't take long for them to realize her disappearance, and yet again not long at all for them to realize where she was headed. 5 deserters headed out after her, in different directions to cover the most ground. By this time, however, Daniella was already a good 4.5 kilometers away and steadily walking.

It wasn't far now, and to Daniella's amazement and slight puzzlement, the rail line seemed to leed directly into civilization. After what she judged as 3 kilometers, The rail line ended in an abandoned rail yard. Old signs on various streets, however, soon gave Daniella a road to follow to lead into town. Now only half a kilometer away, the skyscrapers were pretty much looming over her head. The gravel path and eventually smoothed into a paved country road, which led directly into the city. On the outskirts, of the city, Daniella suddenly remembered what was so different about the city. She wasn't completely convinced, and definitely was shy, but nonetheless behind a tree, she undid her collared shirt and stepped out of her long skirt. She was now just in lacy white underwear. Surely that would be enough for her to blend in.