The Salvation

Chapter 8

|Venelope|

The crowd was large and loud. She held her ears to the shouts of people desperate to break through the gates. The large black building with its tinted glass stood out among the rest. Colorado City was the new name given to those who came from other states. Venelope never knew what it was called before then, but no one else seemed to know or care. All the surrounding buildings were broken and barely standing, but the black one, fittingly called The Black Tower, still remained. You could see some of the broken bulletproof glass that covered over ninety percent of the building broken, but mostly it was intact and fine.

By the gates in front of the small arched bridge were men in green uniforms. They weren't US soldiers, but rather a small personal guard appointed to the building. The crowd could overpower them with numbers, but Venelope seen all the assault rifles and guns these soldiers held. The crowd would be mowed down almost effortlessly by the surrounding force.

"We're not gonna get through! We have to turn back, go somewhere else!" Venelope's mother shouted. She was skinny and withered, but she was still beautiful. Her hair was the same platinum blonde as Venelope's, and she was as tall as her sixteen year old daughter. She wore the necklace Venelope's father bought her on her forty-third birthday. It was the last present she would ever be given from him.

"We can't! If we go back now then we won't make it home!" Venelope pleaded. "We have to wait it out for now!"

Venelope's mother wiped a tear from her cheek. "You don't understand Venelope, we have to go! People are saying things..."

"Don't give up yet, we'll make it!" Venelope argued back as loud as she could.

The crowds constant yelling and pushing was cut to an eerie halt. In the sky, a black helicopter soared above them. The crowd cheered. Venelope beamed. The long awaited moment had arrived. The soldiers in black gear and holding the onyx rifles shoved their ways through the crowds. Their gas masks terrified Venelope. One was beside Venelope and her mother, and broke them apart. The man was tall and unidentifiable. He didn't care who was in his path, and Venelope was grabbed by the shoulder by the soldier and used as a human battering ram. Venelope felt people smash into her and then she was shoved against the wire fence. Tears welled in her eyes and her left cheek was grazed. Don't cry.

Venelope watched as the black soldiers hurried to the centre of the bridge, where the chopper landed. From within the chopper came an older woman, Venelope guessed in her fifties, who wore a matching red blazer and skirt. Her hair was grey, but hints of its former brown remained. She was familiar, but Venelope couldn't put a name to her face. The woman walked up to the gate, stopping at a podium five metres from the gate. Behind her in a line were twenty of the black soldiers all lined up.

Venelope's mother appeared at her side, panting and bleeding. "Mum! What happened?!" Venelope asked frantically.

"You have to get down Venelope!" Her mother said into her ear seriously. "Do it now!"

"What are you talking about?" Venelope asked.

Her mother pulled her beige trench coat off and threw it over Venelope. The coat always reminded Venelope of a detective on a serious investigation. But now she wasn't thinking of that. Venelope's mother shoved her down onto the ground and put her foot on her to force her down.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Venelope shouted.

"Stay down Venelope. Trust me!"