Now Or Never (chpt. 2)

Sapphire kicked a few broken bricks to the side and sat down next to her mother, who slowly eased herself up into a sitting position to talk with her daughter. She was still in a good deal of pain but the splint did its job. 

"I don't know where to begin," Sapphire sighed. "How much do you remember?"

Sapphire's mother stared blankly into her daughter's eyes. She looked confused, as if her memories were too peculiar to be the truth.

"I, I remember," she began, timidly. "There was a Russian plane."

"A bomber," added Sapphire.

"Yes, I think so," replied the girl's mother. "And I took cover under the table.  I knew I couldn't make to the shelter in time."

Because Brickerdale, Sapphire's hometown, was such a small town, it did not have it's own bomb shelter.  The nearest was in the Riverview, two miles east.

Sapphire's mother hesitated.

"Is that all you remember?" asked Sapphire her mother anxiously.

"There was an explosion," she continued. "But it came from that street?" She gazed questioningly at her daughter, pointing down the street at a burning pile of wood to the far left that was once the house of the wife and two daughters of General Wesley Wright, a highly respected Protector.

"Yes," answered Sapphire. "That house was bombed right after..." Sapphire paused. 

"Right after they bombed the school," finished her mother compassionately. "I saw it, too."

Sapphire knelt closer to her mother and hugged her gently so as not to move her knee. The tears came to Sapphire's eyes once again. What would she do without her school? Her education was her only hope of a decent future. Sapphire nuzzled closer to her mother, thankful that, through it all, she still had her. In the process, her mother's sleeve rubbed against Sapphire's bleeding temple, shooting pain throughout her entire body for the second time.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, jerking away from her mother. She scrambled to her feet and tripped over a long wooden panel. She fell flat on her back in the rubble, banging her shoulder into a big metal box. She rolled over, gasping for air.

"Sapphire!" exclaimed her mother. "Are you alright?" she asked nervously, noticing her daughter's injury for the first time.

"No," groaned Sapphire, pulling herself to her feet again. She had picked up the box. "But I found the first-aid kit!"

They both sat silently while Sapphire doctored herself and cleansed her mother's wound. Sapphire found some pain medication in the kit and took some and gave some to her mother.

"What happened to you?" asked Sapphire's mother.

Sapphire thought hard for a moment.

"I was listening to the radio," Sapphire began. "The Protector's radio station was reporting about the situation in D.C., Archer's station."

Sapphire's mother gasped at the mention of her eldest son.

"Is he alright?" she asked anxiously.

"I don't know," Sapphire replied bluntly. She didn't want to worry her mother. She would know sooner or later.

"When the missile hit," Sapphire continued quickly to avoid further questioning. "I was still on my bed. The force flung me out the window. It sounds bad but it's better than being crushed by a falling house."

Sapphire noticed her mother gazing at her suspiciously. She could tell that her daughter was hiding something. Sapphire felt like her mother's emerald green eyes could see past her own into her mind.

"Why aren't you-" Sapphire's mother stopped short. Her eyes drifted to something in the distance. "Sapphire," she whispered urgently. "Get down." 

Author's Note

Please note any mistake or errors and tell me what you think!