Too young for war

chapter 17

I laugh, "James, that does not look like me-"

"yes it does—look—it even has a cool outfit!" James tells me as we both look at the drawing he drew.

"I'm not talking about the outfit! the face, my hair doesn't even look like that!" I tell him trying not to smile.

"we're leaving, don't go anywhere, we'll be back very soon!" Kenji tells us before they leave.

I'm afraid their plan to take over sector 45 will end badly, but I'm sure it will be okay, since Aaron is helping.

"hey James-" I say.

"yea?"

"I want to see what they will be doing-"

"what??no Elena, we can't do that!"

"they told us we had to stay here-" he continues.

"no solider is in the hallways, so no one will see us, we just go back here when Juliette is done with her speech!" I tell him, but he looks unsure.

"you don't have to say yes James, if you're not comfortable with it, I'll understand!" I tell him with a smile.

he looks around the room for some reason before looking back at me, "you promise we won't be seen?"

"I promise, I know where to go and where no one can see us!" I tell him.

"fine, but if someone catches us, you will take the blame."

"they will know it's my idea, or Aaron will-"

He nods.

And then we to take the elevator up and walk over to the open courtyard. Here we hide behind a wall before you walk out.

"what has The Reestablishment ever done for you?" I hear Juliette say, her voice both confident and clear.

"They have given you nothing but meager wages and promises for a future that will never come. They have divided your families and forced them across what's left of this earth. They have starved your children and destroyed your homes. They lie to you, over and over again, forcing you to take jobs in their army so they might control you. And you have no other choice," she says.

"No other options. So you fight in their wars, and you kill your own friends, just so you might feed your families."

"Elena-" James whisper tapping me on the shoulder.

"hm?" I ask as I look over to him. Juliette is talking in the background.

"How do you know when they are done.?"

"oh—um—"

"you don't know??" James whisper panicking.

"they are done when Aaron speaks-" I tell him quietly focusing on what Juliette is saying again.

"will you continue to starve? Because they will continue to lie to you!" She says. "Our world is not beyond repair. It's not beyond saving. We can be our own army," she says to the soldiers.

"and I promise things will change."

"How?" I hear someone shout. "How can you promise something like that?"

"I am not intimidated by the reestablishment," she tells them. "And I have more strength than you might realize. I have the king of power that the supreme commander cannot stand against."

"we already know what you can do!" Someone else tells. "That didn't save you before!"

James sneezes, but it's a weird sneeze so I can't help but laugh.