ZION

City of Angels

SAM

Blood. Blood everywhere. The city is in ruins. Nothing is left. The air is filled with the screams of people. Innocent people. Somebody is shouting my name but I can't move. I can only see, only hear everyone I love die. Then someone grabs my arm and everything goes black.

I open my eyes to see that it is morning and the sunlight is coming in through the windows. I was having that nightmare again. Every day I have the same nightmare. I have been having it since five years.

I get up and see that it is almost time for the Council meeting. I freshen up and take a black t-shirt and jeans to wear. I am different from others. While everyone else wears white for the meeting, I wear black. I prefer black, as I am not like the others.

My name is Sam Chase. I am one of the leaders of Zion. After the Nuclear War, the survivors of the war formed communities. Zion is the most peaceful community. It is located in the continent that was called Europe. Zion has grown since the war and now consists of the whole Europe and spreads to Asia. All the other communities try to unite and keep peace but there is one exception. The Hellfire community is a community that depends upon violence. They keep on battling other communities, taking over them and expanding their territories. It consists of whole of Australia and is still spreading towards the North. Zion and Hellfire are almost the same in size. Only Hellfire is increasing not Zion.

Today is my first Council meeting as a leader so I have to look confident. I am fourteen years old and the youngest leader ever. If I do not look brave then the people will not listen to me. I look at myself in the mirror and see the familiar tall and lean girl with pale skin, jet-black hair that fall down to the jaw, electric blue eyes, completely clad in black. I put my leader's pin on my jacket, put my gun in the holder and head out for the meeting.

The Council has a building called Luna. It is round and white and is long bulletproof windows. All the Council meetings are held in Luna. It is located in Rome. The area surrounding Luna is called Tiberius, named due to the river Tiber flowing through the area. Tiberius is the capital of Zion. It is the city where all the four Leaders live along with their families. All the people with high ranks in the army also stay in Tiberius.

As I enter the hall, all the citizens of Zion greet me. The other three leaders were already there. The one on the right is General Desmond Wardane. He is a tall, tough and brave man

with short brown hair and sharp grey eyes. However, he is one of those who are against me being a part of the Council. The one on the left is Jonathan Flaze. He was a good friend of my brother and is actually very tall and handsome with tanned skin, straight blonde hair and warm golden eyes. The one sitting in between them is Flare Jade. She is one of our best female fighters and is quite beautiful. She has dark brown hair and warm hazel eyes. She looks very elegant. After I sit down, the General starts the meeting.

'Now that all of us are present here, let's get straight to the point. Hellfire is getting more and more violent. They have already captured the territories of Quan Zhao and Olympiana. There has been news that they are moving towards Magnolia now. We should act quickly and send help to the magnolians.'

'We should send squad 13 and 14 to Magnolia at once. The rest will move out tomorrow,' Flaze said.

'However, Hellfire's power just keeps increasing. How do you suppose we stop them? It is already so hard to fight them back,' Jade said.

'The only way to defeat them is to eliminate the main player,' I said. 'That person is the key to defeat them. He is the reason they were able to capture those territories. He is responsible for all the losses and Hellfire's success.'