Redemption

Chapter 13

"What are we going to do?" I ask my father. He is still sitting on the couch with my mother.

Silence. The silence is unbearable, unforgivable.

"We have to do something, when are we to be terminated?" I ask, my breath leaking at every word.

I remember the kiss, how Mac just took over all the strength that the moment had left in me. It was like he helped me lift the weight off of my shoulders.

That moment was infinite, and it always will be. Brief, but infinite.

"That is the only bit of information that is unclear. I only stayed at the Court House long enough to receive our rations and get out of there without making a scene," he catches his breath. "it could happen any time." he finishes.

Adelene's light voice carries through the room, "When shall we leave?" she says.

Darius looks at Mac, whom looks at me. I look to my family, "As soon as we can," I say, "everyone gets a task, no one should be standing here."

I glance at Claire and Meghan first, "Claire, Meghan, you two work on collecting the rations that father received. Make sure to get plenty of water. We should have bottles in the cabinets." I assign. They nod, and head off to the kitchen.

Next, I confront Emery, "Look for anything that we could use as sacks to carry the supplies." I say.

I walk briskly over to Adalene and Darius, "Okay, I am going to give you two a risky task. I need you two to quietly warn everyone in the Sector. This is the smallest Sector that I know of. It shouldn't take long." I say. Adelene's eyes widen. I sense fear. Who knows what could happen if they get caught warning the citizens. Darius takes her arm and leads her quietly through the front door.

"Mother and father, collect anything that could be used as tools or weapons." I add. We don't have a lot. The society made sure that nothing could be used in a rebellion. Although, if you really need to, anything can be used as a weapon.

Lastly, I turn around to see Mac looking at me. "What can I do?" he asks. I reply, "You're with me."

I lead him out the front door, out to the broken world. The sky is ashy and dull as always. I wonder how we are still alive. The earth has been poisoned. Shouldn't we be too?

I walk down the short lawn and pace myself in the opposite direction as the Academy. Sector B ends short, just five crumbly roads. There are twenty-three homes, nine of which are vacant.

"Where are we going?" Mac asks.

"You said we had to get to the hangar. I assume that the hangar is away from the city. We need to scout like Darius did. We need to make sure it is safe from officials." I answer. My point is vague, and a little dull, but its importance is significant.

"Yeah, okay the hangar is to the North." he replies. His tone is sarcastic. He's trying to lighten the mood of the situation. I look at him, and sure enough a smirk pulls at his lips.

"Let's do this quickly. We'll just skim the perimeter." I say. I smile back, "come on."

Mac and I hurry down the road. Watching for the dangerous obstacles that litter our path. As we scout the northern borders of the society, a glare catches my eye. I search the ground for the source. Dusted with dirt, I lean down and pick up my treasure. It is hard, and circular. Mac stops, "What is it?" he asks. "I don't know." I mutter. I rub it on my jeans. It is quite peculiar. There is a face of a man on the front, and an flying animal on the back. Engraved in the surface are the words United States of America.

"Mac, what is this?" I ask. My thoughts meandering. He takes it gingerly from my palm. He handles it like it will crumble to dust at any second. "What is the United States of America?" the words are new on my tongue. I cannot speak them without stumbling.

"I hoped to get to Alaska before this topic came up. The history of this continent, and even the world is long and gruesome. I do not even know all of it. In some ways, I'm as clueless as you. I can tell you one thing. The United States of America once was the land you stand on today. The continent was, is North America. Epidemics spread and chaos arose. The country broke, all turmoil was set loose. A dictator took over and created the societies to maintain and control the chaos. That's, that's all I know right now." he finishes. "I'm sorry Avery."

"It's okay." I'm astonished. I hunger for more information. How am I to be a rebel if I hardly know what I'm rebelling against? "I think we should turn back. I believe we've traveled out far enough."

Mac silently agrees. We travel back to my home, the metal in my pocket. We reach the bottom of the street and enter my house. There are four packs on the ground. All of them made from pillowcases. I peek inside one of them. There is food for several days and many small containers of water. I lift the pack. It isn't heavy at all. We will be able to travel swiftly.

I look in the next pack. What is inside amazes me. What I had in mind for a weapon was something like the small nails that peered out of the wall down the corner, not this. Three small weapons that I can identify as guns are in the bag. I remember hearing about these in the Academy. Adelene droned on about a certain war and the weapons used. As always, I tuned most of it out. Ammunition litters the bag. Where did my parents get all of this? If they were caught with these, the whole population would be terminated. The society couldn't risk anything breaking them down. Little do they know, that here we stand, doing just that. I note to ask my parents later.

The third bag holds random tools and leftover food and water that was evenly distributed so that one wouldn't have to carry too much.

Adalene and Darius barge through the door. Breathless, Adelene jogs up to me. "We have a problem," she says. "we checked every single home. There is no one left in Sector B." Where could they have gone? Thoughts rule my mind, like they have done so many times before.

"We can't worry about that now, we need to get to the hangar." I say. It hurts, to not know what happened to the people of Sector B, but I assure myself that we will find out sooner or later.

"Avery, there is one last thing!" she yells. I turn back around. "The drones are coming! They're terminating the sector now!"

I turn on my heels and shout for everyone in the house. If we are to live, we better get on it.