I don't realize that I am shouting. Scenarios of death rage across my mind. Meghan's haunting face, the night of the first nightmare, show itself. I scream in frustration. We can't die like this. We've already just begun. Everyone quickly gathers in the living room.
"How much time do we have?" I shout.
"Not much. Let's get the heck out of here!" Adalene shouts back.
My mother looks at my father. I can tell that she is fearful. Meghan grabs one of the supply packs. Mac takes it away from her.
"It's safer this way Meg." he says to her. "Let's go, NOW!" he yells.
I feel the drones approaching. The windows rattle, and the concrete house shakes.
"Are you sure that no one is left here?" I ask anyone.
"Even if there were, at this time, we wouldn't be able to save them." Darius says.
Mac leads us through the door. When we hit the broken road, we sprint. Meghan and Claire are on my heels.
"Stay in the pack! Don't stray too far back or ahead!" I yell.
I can see the area Mac and I scouted when the first bomb falls. It lands two streets over.
When it explodes, I forget where I am, what I am doing, what I feel, what I see, what I hear, and what I smell. I am blind for a second, running into the unknown, seeking oblivion. I wonder if this is what it feels like to die. I keep running though. I'm not dead, yet. My ears are ringing, and my wet cheek signifies that I'm crying.
I'm terrified.
A drone flies to a street right next to ours. I hear a woman shriek, children cry, a man stepping out of his house, horror embellished on his white face. Adalene stops running. She curses under her breath.
"I missed a street." her voice cracks. She starts to cry. "I MISSED A STREET!" she shrieks, louder than the woman. Hot tears pour through her eyes.
"I need to go back," she whispers. "I need to go back."
"Adalene! You can't!" Darius says. "We can't be spotted by the drones! We have to keep moving! Adalene listen to me, please! I'm sorry, but we have to move!"
A whistle sounds the bomb releasing. Adalene thrusts her head around. I do the same, but I turn before it goes off.
It explodes, killing over a hundred innocent people. Limbs fly through the air, blood stains the streets. The impact leaves a crater of dead along the street, houses torn from foundations, and most of all the remembrance of those not saved.
Adalene wails a sad mournful sound. Darius holds her hand, as the next bomb goes off, destroying the only place I knew by heart.
We start running again. Our feet find rhythm as one. Adalene is trying to cover her tears, but she can't, neither can I.
How can so much evil exist in the world?
I still don't understand who let this happen, who let the world destroy itself. It seems like a big task for an individual. It's possible though, one individual is capable of deeming so much destruction. If they think it, they can do it. Anything, apparently, in this world is possible.
"How much further to the hangar, Mac?" I ask, biting back tears.
"Not far, I'd say a mile." he says, his cheerfulness gone.
When I first met Mac, he seemed so grown up and arrogant. Now, I see that he is neither. I honestly thought that I was going to hate the rebel, but now I don't see myself ever hating someone like him. His lack of optimism frightens me.
I tune out to the sound of our feet hitting solid ground. Ash flies up around us. I turn my attention to the ground. The shock hits me immediately. We're standing on the remains of another sector. I hear a crunch under my feet. I look down to see a crumbling human skull. I cry out. Mac grabs my waist and pushes me gently in front of him.
"It's gonna be okay." he whispers through my hair. The whisper sends a shock down my spine. Ever since I started to speak out, whispers scared me. I was afraid of them ripping me to pieces, while I listened to the bone-chilling speech.
I don't ever want to go back to the society, but I fear that where ever I go, they'll find me.
The unknown sector soon fades away. I hear my mother wheezing behind us.
"Let's stop." I choke.
We slow to a walk. Adalene reaches into her pack and takes out a container of water and a loaf of bread.
"We have to conserve the food and water." she says. We watch as she breaks the loaf into nine equal pieces. She takes the cap off of the container and passes it around. Meghan drinks, and passes it to Claire whom passes it to my mother. As the water goes around, Adalene gives us each our portion of bread.
I tear it apart in small chunks. As famished as I am, I want to make it last. Soon, the water comes to me. I take a drink and pass it to Mac. He looks at me and takes the jug. He takes a sip, and then hands it back to Adalene who then takes her own portion. I remind myself to talk to her later. Adalene was my teacher at the academy, and yet she is not that much older than I am. History seemed like her favorite thing to talk about. Her whisper was always lighter and more secretive in this class. Still, I zoned out as she droned on. I smirk. If only I knew at the time that she was a fraud, a good one though.
Adalene, despite the ash, dirt, and tears streaking her face, is still astonishingly beautiful. I never noticed the small scar tracing her cheekbone, it hides though, and it adds to her features.
Up ahead, I notice a stretch of discoloration. Unlike the ash-stricken ground below us, the area is black as tar. It must be the runway. To the side of the runway I see a large building. It's large enough to hide and protect over three airplanes. I squint, to focus on the loft above it. I assume that it is a resting area for tired pilots. I remember in history, Adalene mentioned the military. What if this is a military hangar?
Questions bombard my head, just like they have since the whole "rebel" thing started. I point to the hangar. "Is that it?" I ask. Mac nods. "Welcome to Hangar 31, abandoned for over a century and yet everything still works properly." he says. The society must know about the hangar. I'd be astonished if they didn't. Like Emery said, they have eyes everywhere.
I put one foot forward and I lead the way to our escape.
YOU ARE READING
Redemption
Action"The time for answers is not now," she said. "The time to break has just begun." Avery Rider, a fifteen-year old girl, lives in a society in future dystopian America. The society is built on fear itself. She attends the Academy, in which the society...
