Chapter 1

Maudie’s scream was high pitched and piercing. About half way through the 20 second cry, her voice broke and her scream was reduced to a whimper.

            “Oh my Sudden.” Maudie heard a voice say. Saying “Oh my Sudden” was an inside joke with the rebels, because Carl E. Sudden acted like he was a God. Soon the saying became the norm to say.

            Maudie looked down at the ground to see a girl.

            “I think you broke my one good ear drum.” The girl said. Her skin was a darker shade of gray than Maudie’s, which meant her skin must used to have been tanned and bronzed. Her hair was a dark strawberry blonde color that was about the same length as Maudie’s. Her flowery yellow dress had blood all over it.

            Maudie leaned down to hover awkwardly over her.

            “You’re alive.” Maudie said. She meant to say it more like a question, but it came out like a statement.

            “My ear.” The girl said. At first Maudie was confused, but then she noticed blood coming from the left side of the girls head. She moved some of her hair out of the way. The girl’s ear was completely blown off.

            Maudie looked at her weirdly, planning her next move. She wanted to leave this girl behind. She wanted to go clean herself up and find a way back into the right side of America. She would move back in with her parents and then form a plan to take down Suddeners. Get revenge. But as she looked down at the poor girl with her ear blown off, she knew that this couldn’t happen- not yet at least.

            Maudie tried to find something to stop the blood. Her jacket. She had to use her jacket. It was Maudie’s favorite jacket ever, and she had it since she was a junior in high school. Despite the explosion it had remained fairly clean. Maudie would later use this inconvenience to guilt the younger girl.

            She carefully took her black jacket off and wrapped it around the girl’s head, making sure that it put pressure on her ear. She then pressed down on the wounded spot. The girl cried out in pain so Maudie tried to distract her.

            “What’s your name hun?” She said soothingly. The last time she had called someone “hun” was probably… never.

            “I’m Evangeline. It’s nice to meet you.” The girl stuttered. She had a slight southern accent and her voice was high and sweet.

            “I’m Maudie.” Maudie responded. “I know this hurts Evangeline but just try to stay calm.”

            “A lady always stays calm, I’ll be fine.” Evangeline says.

            Maudie fought off the erge to roll her eyes. The last thing she needed was to be taking care of some prim and proper little girl who fell victim to all gender norms. Evangeline looked at Maudie, explored her face with her eyes. She noticed her sharp, high cheekbones and mad eyebrows. Looking down she noticed Maudie’s toned arms and although she had muscle, she still looked very feminine.

            After a while of painful pressure being applied to Evangeline’s head, the bleeding had stopped. Maudie helped her up.

             “My head feels a little…” Evangeline trailed off, and she fell back, passing out.

            “D****t.” Maudie said to herself, annoyed. She needed to get cleaned up, but she didn’t want the girl to die. Whatever, she couldn’t do anything about Evangeline at the moment, so she would get changed and come back.

            Maudie heard a random tune start to play and her hip start to vibrate. Someone was calling her cell phone. Maudie had not been thinking about it at the time, but she was surprised her cell phone worked.  She grabbed it out of her pocket and the screen was broken. At least it still worked though.

            “Hello?” Maudie said into the beaten up phone.

            “Maude, you’re alive. It’s your aunt Roxanne.” Maudie heard her voice say. Roxanne’s voice sounded faint in her ear.

            “And so are you.” Maudie said.

            Roxanne had always been Maudie’s favorite relative. She was very pretty, in a Joan Jett sort of way. She sported the punk rock look. Roxanne was probably in her mid thirties but was still very hip. She was Maudie’s only family to join the rebels. She thought about Evangeline… she did not look like the type of person to be a rebel.

            “Where are you Maude?” Roxanne asked her. She didn’t like anybody calling her Maude; she thought it was unattractive. But when she told Roxanne, and Roxanne responded by telling her that she didn’t give a s**t, Maudie became fine with it.

            “I’m at the house.” Maudie said.

            “I’ll be there as soon as possible. Get ready to leave. Pack all weapons and clothes you need but try to keep it to a minimum.” Roxanne hung up. Maudie probably should have told her about Evangeline, but she didn’t get the chance. She understood why Roxanne didn’t mention Abe. Maudie would have mentioned him if he was alive.

             But now Maudie had to go back inside. She hadn’t thought about it before. She ran into the house, fastly passing through the living room with her eyes closed because she could not handle seeing a dead Abe on the ground for a second time. She ran into the tunnel she had been in during the explosion and grabbed a suitcase. This suitcase was filled with clothes and guns that she would want to bring if she would ever have to escape Rebel America. She was grateful that her and Abe thought ahead of time. She looked through her dresser to find something to wear that wasn’t drenched in other people’s blood. She picked out a navy blue off shoulder shirt and some black leggings that would enable her to run faster if needed. She grabbed the suitcase and walked up the dirt stairs leading up from the tunnel. Maudie looked down and caught sight of her hand. She looked at the golden band and the beautiful stone on top of it, wrapped around her ring finger. Her engagement ring. She stopped to stare at it for a second, and debated taking it off. But she couldn’t. She closed her eyes tight and ran out of the house.

            Evangeline was still lying there unconscious. She walked up to her and checked her pulse. Evangeline was still alive. She kind of wished that she weren’t, because she felt obligated to take care of the girl. But Evangeline looked week, and Maudie did not want anyone to slow her down. Maudie looked over Evangeline’s side to see a purse. She looked through it and found a wallet. She took out an I.D. that said Evangeline Blaine. In her picture she was smiling bright and she looked radiant. Maudie looked to see how old she was. Evangeline was only 16 years old. Then Maudie saw something that confused her quite a bit. Under her picture in small print, she saw words that spelled out “Right America.” If Evangeline lived in Right America, why would she be here? Maudie didn’t know what to do.

            A black car pulled up in front of Maudie’s house. She was sitting on the steps to her house with a very unconscious Evangeline next to her. Roxanne got out of the car and ran over to Maudie, hugging her.

            “Who’s the bloody chick?” Roxanne asked.