The Summary of Human Existence (Chapter 1) (Draft One)

= Chapter One =
Ruth
When you're running to save your sister; you're not running for your life; you're running for hers. Everything blurs together, and the only thing visible is her. 
For me, anyway. 
My feet pound the ashy ground while my heart races. My sister,  Len, was crying, but she’d been crying before we’d left. I reach over and press my fingers into the small of her back. “Come on, Len. We’ve got to go.” I say it quietly, even though Nelson’s “Army” already knew that we were this way. 
She didn’t answer, but she picks up the pace. The signature sound of rat-a-tat-tat pushes us onward still. I didn’t know who else in our march was still here, but I knew there was little.  Papá and José have long faded. Only their faces and words still remained. 
I couldn’t think about that now. 
Another round of the guns going off forces us to skid into a stone wall, pausing. I glance over at Len, who was staring at the ground. The full moon lit up her blond hair, like strings of light. Only it was dirty because who had time for baths anymore?
The group of soldiers pass us, and I jump up, taking Len’s hand with me. “Let’s go.” I whisper to her. Again, she stays silent. We continue on, taking the opposite street of the soldiers. A minute passes, then another. My breath shortens The sounds of the soldiers and guns quiets. Slowly but surely, me and my sister slow down until we were walking. 
We thought we were safe. 
But in this world, you should never calm down, should never take a break. My sister fell with a sharp thump. An even sharper after-shock.
“Len!” I no longer care that I was shouting. I hit the ground with her, one hand lacing itself around the back of my neck, the other smoothing out Len’s hair. 
“Ruth?” She mumbles. 
“Shh.” I say, then retaliate. “Where does it hurt? Len, where does it hurt?”        		
She groans in reply, but before I could ask her again another shot rang out. I gasp as I felt the bullet whisk past my cheek. 
My sister suddenly became alert. “Ruth!” She shouts.                                     			
“Quiet!” I reach forward to attempt to lift her up, terrified, but she goes limp in my rough arms. “Ruth, I can’t go on any longer.” 								
Refusing to look into her eyes, I try again to pick her up to no avail. She was doing a trick as old as time. Make your body weightless, yet full of weight all at once. Don’t move. It was Len’s favorite trick, especially when she was wrestling with José  and Juan. It made your body so heavy, it was almost impossible to pick you up or fling you off. 
“Len! Stop this now!” 
“Ruth…” She pauses, taking a deep breath. Another shot scrapes its way past my elbow. I shriek. 
“Ruth!” She continues. “I can’t go on any longer. You have to go. Get help, Ruth. Leave me.” 
“No! Len, yo-”
I yelp as a bullet scratches my shoulder, then skids to the ground. 
Len turns her dark brown eyes on me. “Go.”
I almost trip on my sister as I run away.