"What do we do with the body?"

"Throw it with the rest of the Uglies." A loud ringing echoed throughout the field, and the large mechanical creatures whirred in response. It was the tower alarms. The intercom switched on and began issuing a warning:

"Citizens, please remain calm and stay in your households. The APB will be here shortly to defend you from any possible threat and to make sure nobody leaves their household."

Kate gasped for air as she paused beside a fence to catch her breath. Someone else had penetrated the building before she could. She could only hope that Ben had somehow managed to escape the Handy Men. She could hear the mechanical whirrs of the APB inching ever so closer, felt the beat of her heart increasing by every whirr. Without a second thought, she was climbing the fence and dropping down on the other side, the same fence that she had so often passed by with the sign: keep out. "Have a nice day!" Written in bold letters.

Kate quickly ran over to a wall just as an APB passed by, scanning its surrounding with that glowing, eerie eye. Once it had not detected any movement, it passed by with loud thumps. Kate slowly made her way to a bin tossed to the side and ducked down. A Handy Man passed by, dragging behind it a sobbing woman. Her mask was labelled with something Kate could not make out in the dark, but she knew right away the woman was an ugly. The woman looked ready to tear out her own hair, even seemed like she was already doing it. The sobs seemed to quiet down as she was dragged away, the flailing getting weaker and less determined. The woman had given up on escaping at this point. Kate wondered if Ben had felt the same way when he was taken away. She hoped not.

Kate got up from her hiding spot and tore her dress on the sharp mouth of the metal bin. In her haste, Kate quickly tore the rest of the dress off until it became a shirt, then began running towards the entrance. On her way to enter, she froze on the spot. There were thuasands of holes in the yard, and the Handy Men were constantly dragging the Uglies and dropping them into the holes. Some the Handy Men hit until the same red substance flowed out of the wounds; blood. Kate suddenly remembered the vivid memory of the Handy Man she had met, which had the same red streak on its chest. Her body frozen in shock, Kate began shaking uncontrollably, hot tears streaming down her face.

"Human life form detected." A mechanical voice sounded behind her, and before she had time to whirl around, the world spun out of focus and she was falling. Falling for a very long time.