The City of Children (Working Title)

A group of children survive in a war torn city.

The metals keys clicked under her swollen, calloused fingers. They moved quickly, but clumsily; as the frost had bit deep into her skin making them uncoordinated. Her panicked eyes shot from her fingers to the fluorescent screen where black letters appeared and formed words, then sentences. She had to keep backspacing and fixing words, but disregarding minor mistakes; so the message was full of no capitalization, bad punctuation, and improper use of there, you’re, and to. Her knuckles began and to ache and her fingers spasm. Finally she finished and slammed the enter key down. As soon the blue bar filled to the brim, and the message was sent, her hand was sent flying as she shut the laptop with renewed energy. Then she took it, and against the metal edge of the table, banging it repeatedly till bits and pieces of it flew off and settled on the floor. She didn’t stop until the plastic face was badly punctured, half of the keyboard’s keys had fallen out, and the left corner of the computer itself had broken off. With a sigh of relief she let the broken device fall to the floor, and she to her knees. She breathed ragged breaths through her exhausted lungs, her shoulders hung, and forehead rested against the tables battered edge. Suddenly, the moment of rest ended and the metal sliding door across the room broke upon laying way to a dozen soldiers carrying metals assault weapons and sheathed in black riot gear. They stormed the room, the woman barely reacted, there was no where to run or hide. But, as soon as they reached her, she began to writhe and fight them as their fists grasped her wrists. They seized her arms and legs, carrying her body above their heads while the other men searched the room taking everything.

That woman was shot outside hours later, in front of tall pine trees, and restless winds, and slowly falling snowflakes. her blood decorated the snow covered dirt. The room she had retreated to had been gutted, everything searched and scattered. The laptop that she destroyed was searched as well, but was far beyond repair. The message she sent was safe from enemy eyes, her mission was completed moments before her capture, and death.

Our secrets don’t define us, it’s the people we choose to share those secrets with that define us. That woman sacrificed herself to tell a secret, she will always be remembered though her true identity was never discovered. What matters now, are the people she chose.

Ch. 1  scattered remnants

The slanted record player skipped continuously, playing the same line from an old opera on an endless loop. It was placed on an unruly stack of thick books of all sizes and color. blacks rats with matted fur roamed the stained thinly carpeted floors, moths and flies clung to the walls which were covered in falling down posters, bunk beds, and masses of bullet holes. This once grand library was now reduced to cluttered, dusty, broken down living space; the giant book shelves had been pushed over and used for an assortment of things; fire wood, furniture, and barricading. The room was now full of very different items; an out of gas jeep at the far corner reverted into a double bed, a mountain of crates once used to store food, blankets, and ammunition, now empty and stacked up against the wall and covered in wool blankets and pillows as makeshift bunks, behind reception desks at the front of the giant room was a gaping hole in the floor, hidden behind the beige desks and book carts. The hole led to the dark and dank basement where citizens once hid in fear of the oncoming blasts from bombs and bullets.

The rest of the space was taken up by cots and books and chairs and supplies. The whole atmosphere was sickly sour with stale air and gun powder.

Suddenly, the music stopped, replaced with a crashing noise. a boy, no older than fourteen, had kicked the slanted stack of novels out from under the music player. Sending the lot onto the floor, the record broke into a thousand tiny pieces, looking like a universe of black stars against the gray sky carpet. The boy, Matheus, sat down roughly amidst the mess, he had a black sewn eyepatch on his right eye, scars ran from his hands up his arms, and he had rust red hair like a sea of scarlet waves on his head, his good eye shone a brilliant and alarming shade of yellow, like the eye of snake.

Voices rang from where he entered.

“Y’know, if you kick things, you tend to break them,” came a forcefully calm voice, it’s owner, a frowning girl, appeared through a small hole between two broken book shelves.

“Shove off,” was the red boy’s reply, the girl, Andi, sat down next to him, on the cover of a mammoth dictionary, she had raven black hair trimmed into a spiky pixie cut, she had a darker glow to her skin than the boy.

Two more figures came after her, a shorter boy, Jude, around eight, with shiny white blond hair curling around his dimpled face, he had light eyes, and tan skin. And a tall, broad boy who was obviously the oldest,his name was Jonah, he had wild onyx hair covered in ash and rubble, his skin matched the other girl, and they both had the same straightness of their nose and point of their chin.

“F*****g snipers,” Matheus continued, “Two more minutes and i would have wasted them all,”

“And yourself with them,” Jonah answered, with a slight smile, “It wasn’t worth it,”

A red light flashed behind the reception desk.

“Ive got it,” Andi announced. She got up sighing, her shoulders slumped, and walked over the desk, sliding over the top of it and then down the red metal ladder into the dark abyss like hole. Down there, she picked up a matchbox left at the foot of the ladder, striking the match and then lighting the lantern that hung overhead, illuminating the under cavern. the whole space as low to the ground with concrete floors and wooden pillars every few meters, at one end another hole was left into the ground going east. The cavity was about five feet tall and three feet wide, with dirt, concrete, and cables mangled in the sides. Three boys, covered in dust and dirt, all with hard helmets with lights attached, kneeled and stooped over at the mouth of the opening.

“Andi,” the one in the middle called

“Why did you call this time,” she said back, coming closer to the boys

“We need more fuel,” blurted the one to the right, which earned him an elbow to the ribs from, Feliks, the boy beside him

Andi’s jaw stiffened

“What he means to say,” Feliks said hurriedly, “Is that the bikes were using, they guzzle gas like a freaking water buffalo,” he babbled, Andi glared at them, “And-and we have to drive a pretty long ways, you know, so,” he scratched his covered hat

“It’s hard to ration it out, when theres so little,” his partner began

“What happened to the last supply we got to you, only six days ago,” she asked tersely

“It’s the bikes, you know” Felix stammered out

“Things are picked clean close to home,” another reasoned

“Look, I’m gonna let you boys in on a little secret,” she said quietly, waving her fingers for they to come closer, they did

“WE DON’T HAVE ANY MORE GAS!!” She shouted at the trio, making them jump backwards into their hole

“Right, right. Sorry,” they stuttered, readjusting their helmets, and waving their hands. Andi exhaled

“I’ll get another shipment soon,” she said calmly, “until then, you’ll have to make do,”

“No problem,”

“And next time, don’t come running to me like the useless children you are,”

No one cares much for children in the time of crisis, they’re loud, useless, and a drain on resources. In most cases, when bombs replaced thunder and bullets replaced raindrops; many children were abandoned in their homes, even their beds still asleep while the adults ran out the door. It wasn’t the parents faults, of course. It was an order; all men and women above ages of fourteen to report to the capitol, alone. Abandon your prior lives for the sake of the future. It was terrible, hundreds, thousands of children left to fend for themselves, anyone who didn’t report would be shot, including all accomplices, even innocent children bound by blood. For days it seemed the whole city had up and vanished, reduced to a pile of rubble and sharp steel. But after nerves quieted down, they appeared from the wreckage, one by one. Children of all ages, leading younger siblings, or all by themselves. But the bombs kept coming, there was no relent. They hid in the library basement, down the hall that had opened up like the parting of the red sea; providing safety while the ceiling shook like grass in the wind, and blasts of noise cursed out any words spoken. in the two years since, their city was a minefield of trial, the abandoned children built sanctity within their library, barricading entrances and building up beds. The wounded didn’t last long, but the rest survived well enough, boarded up and afraid but alive. That is, until the food ran out.

Two of the boys disappeared back down the hole, but the one in the middle stayed.

“Andi… There is also something else,” he said cautiously

“What!” her voice was like a whip

“The computer in the Lab downtown. It started blinking,”

Andi stared into boy’s dusty faced, the air seemed stiller than usual.

“Seriously?” she asked, he nodded back, “Okay… um, okay,” and left it as that, the boys disappeared into the darkness.

When Andi ascended the rusted ladder, she heard her friends before she saw them

“There were more than expected,”

“What the hell are we supposed to do now?!”

“Work harder-,”

“We’ve been working harder our entire lives. It’s over, I’m done,”

Andi face dipped over the surface of the reception, only to see Matheus storm out from the library, and Jonah stood his hands on the back of his head.

Once or twice a week, Matheus would denounce his friends and swear he was leaving.  But he always sneaks in, in the dark, later. There wasn’t anywhere for Mattie to go.

Jonah kicked an empty can with his foot.

“Don’t put yourself down about it okay,” Andi cooed

he sighed in response, and retreated to his own cot in the far of the room. Jude appeared from his own corner, quiet as a church mouse. Andi put her arms around his shoulder, placing her chin on his head.

It’s still drummed hard on Andi’s mind what he said down there. The computer, blinking. It hadn’t blinked for so much as a year. They thought it broken, but if it wasn’t, that changed everything. She didn’t know what to do, she wouldn’t tell her three friends, better not to get their hopes up only to disappoint them with a false alarm. Finally, she decided to go tomorrow and check it out for herself, take one of the runner boys as an escort.

It got dark sooner than usual, meaning winter was soon on it’s way. she crawled to her cot, stacked high on crates, and turned the lantern next to her head off, wanting to fall asleep. About ten minutes later the group heard their door open, and shuffling. No one bothered turning over, Matheus always had the same pattern of coming home late. everyone ignored the noise, until came the sound of breaking glass. Assuming he had knocked something over in the dark, Andi came down off her bunk. Stumbling through the darkness herself, she waved her arms out in front of her.

“Mattie, what the hell are you doing?”

another shuffling.

“Mattie!-” Andi’s voice was cut off when two gloved hands lashed one grabbing her neck the other her forearm. Suddenly a flashlight shined into her face. After a moment of adjusting to the light, she saw three faces. Two masked figures, all in black, the one who grabbed Andi held her against the crate, so she was unable to move, cutting off her voice. The other, held a serrated buck knife against Matheus collarbone, their hand clamped tight over his mouth.

They were both dragged outside, in the cold dark air. and set on their knees, their hands tied behind their backs. The masks of their captors were removed.  A girl with silky brown hair reaching past her shoulder was let loose, her eyes shined green but seemed cold. The other one, a shorter guy with a buzzcut and neck tattoo had seething brown eyes. They both seemed no older than twenty.

“Wait, wait, WAIT!,” Andi begged them, a knife to both her and her friend. Neither of them had any idea where Jude and Jonah were.

“Quit sniveling,” sneered one of the attackers, “Die with dignity,” she pulled back Andi’s head leaving her neck defenseless

“You f*****g psychos!,” Matheus screamed, which earned him a swift kick to the shoulders, leaving him laying on his arms and back.

“We have food, supplies, Water!,” Andi listed, “Not much, but you can have it,”

“We don’t want your s**t,” the guy said, “It’s nothing personal,”

The girl pressed the sharp end of the blade against the softness of Andi’s neck, she sucked in a breath. The tip of the knife cut into her skin.

Mattie swallowed hard and strained to get up, the guy jumped forward, squatting onto Matheus’s chest baring a silver knife that glinted in the moonlight.

They had just started to scream, when two shots rang out wildly. The attacker’s bodies slumped forward, onto the tied up pair. blood dripped from the bullet wounds in both their skulls onto Matheus and Andi, decorating them with red. Shaking, their eyes followed the sound of the noise, the owner of the bullets stood, a blanket clutched in one hand, a gun pointed outward in the other. His eyes were half closed, and he wore a bored expression.

Matheus spoke first, “Damn, Jude,”

“Jude, are you okay?” Andi asked frantically as he cut both their bonds, Matheus rubbed his wrists bitterly.

“fine,” he said, his voice muffled and quiet

“Where’s Jonah?”

“Jonah left,”

“Well, where did he go,” reamed Andi with exasperation

The bodies of the assailants laid motionless in bedraggled pile, Matheus wiped the blood from his neck.

“Don’t know,” admitted Jude

“What the HELL is going on,” fumed Mattie

“Calm-,” Andi started

“It’s been weeks since we’ve seen looters let alone goddamned assassins,” he said, rubbing his good eye

“Matheus, were okay-,”

“Really, then where’s Jonah, and who knows, there might be more nutjobs just waiting to cut into us,”

Andi breathed in and out, her brother was no where to be seen, and two people had just tried to gut them. Things were not okay, but she had to take control.

“We’ll turn on all the lights, barricade our only entrance, and bring out our weapons, and wait,” she ordered

Matheus stood almost speechless, Jonah usually took the lead, not his little sister.

“Go!” she commanded, “God knows what else is gonna happen tonight,”

They stayed rooted to their spot ,” I said G-,”

“Were gonna find Jonah, Andi, okay,” Mattie spoke, before turning back into their hideout. she pursed her lips and followed him, Jude trailing behind.

They moved their empty, shorted out refrigerator in front of their makeshift door. Then, each grabbed their own weapon from the arsenal. Jude, a handgun, Andi, a shotgun and knife, and Matheus, a sniper rifle. All that was left was Jonah’s machete and assault weapon. Most of their ammo had been used up, so most guns were stored with the others.

Ch. 2 Can lives really just disappear?

Down the hole behind reception they each carried their own lantern, Andi in the front, Mattie in back. Jude had said that just as it turned dark, Jonah disappeared but not out the front door. This was the only other open passage out of the library. Both Mattie’s and Andi’s shirt were covered in blood, Jude was the only who wasn’t trembling. Finally they made it, where the hole led. A wide open space with stained and dirty metal ceiling and floors, fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling, along with intertwining wires and cables, a half made staircase was in front of them. They meandered down the wooden planks carefully, abandoning the now unlit lamp in the hole. The whole place was empty, strange. This room was being built by their friends as a means for new asylum. Completely underground, the walls and ceiling reinforced with steel and titanium, it was supposed to be perfect. It was an old army bunker, that had been forgotten long before this war. it was mostly caved in but they had worked for years to dig out the dirt. The only entrance and exits was the hole they had come through and a ladder up through the top. Now this steel hull was full of digging and building equipment.

Once the children of the city had gathered and finally gotten past the deaths of the wounded and the sick. They searched endlessly for a food source, plentiful rainfall and a nearby lake quenched their thirst but many times they went to bed with painfully empty stomachs. Some of the older boys had started hinted at a idea, a terrible, disgusting, horrible idea. They were many little ones to look after, they couldn’t even try to hunt and gather and didn’t do much besides stay and play and sleep with other little ones. Some of the teenagers were offended at this, while they worked and toiled they still had to sometimes give up their dinners so the babies could eat. This bitterness grew and grew, but people tried not to address it until it was too late. Two boys, both seventeen; sat on their knees in the knees in the corner of the library while they thought everyone else was outside searching the city for sustenance. A little girl, no older than five, laid bloodied and limp between them. They had bludgeoned her to death, bashed her head in with a shelf from the bookcases. They had torn the meat from her legs and cooked with a small fire they had built. Matheus and Jonah had found them.

Matheus nearly kicked both of them to death, threatening to tear them limb from limb, he was hysterical. Jonah was speechless. They buried the girl’s beaten body outside, the boys who did it were tied up with cable and locked in the cleaning closet. They had the best trial they could, which resulted in a ring of teenagers yelling out what they thought should be done. That’s when three other kids, two boys and a girl, came out to say that they had the right idea. That we can’t survive if were soft, and the little kids weren’t going to last long anyway, it’s survival of the fittest and it’s time we starting acting like it. A shouting match broke out, which turned into a full out brawl. Mattie was responsible for most of the injuries inflicted on the three who agreed with that idea. Finally it was Jonah who made the call. The two guilty boys, along with The trio who spoke out for that plan were blindfolded. All five of them, hands tied were led to the edge of the city and released their hands still tied. They were told if they ever returned they would be shot on sight. Jonah made a speech to remaining kids, around forty five in all.

“If we relinquish our humanity, and turn to cannibalism or anything like it. We may as well take our own lives, for it means we’ve already lost the fight,” he stood atop a crate preaching.

Since then, Jonah was elected leader of our group. He was strong and capable and compassionate, along with his sister Andi. After the cannibalism incident, their trials still werent over, they grew more hungry every day, and thats whens looters and thieves started to dribble in from outside the city. Suddenly, they couldn’t travel outside city freely, they carried some kind of weapon with them at all times, and the electricity had burnt out. It was Jonah and a group of the older kids who snuck into the nearest police station, and found the artillery in the basement. After that, loaded with guns, they could easily defend themselves. Eventually a slew of biker gangs passed through town, They had snipers lined up along the tops of buildings. It took more bullets than they wanted, but finally bodies littered the street and what was theirs now belonged to children. They stocked up on all the gasoline in the city, and took the gang’s motorbikes. They were able to travel to neighboring cities and bring back food, clothes, and other resources.That was over two years ago, and forty five has turned into barely twenty. Four of them, Jonah, Jude, Andi, and Matheus who still live in the library and lead important runs. and the other fifteen working on the underground bunker and using the bikes to gather food and materials. Feliks, a boy with sandy blond hair and  mischievous smile, led the work to refinish their bunker, and as the leader of many outside runs.

There was one thing out of place about the bunker. It was empty. Usually,there were people working, eating, talking, and going in and out constantly; and at this time of night everyone should be asleep but the lights were all on. Tepidly, the trio weaved in and around the equipment and tools finally all coming the ladder. The ladder was a bright blue and entangled in rust. They would have tried to replace it, but no other ladder was that tall. Jude agreed to wait with his handgun in the bunker, while Mattie and Andi ascended the ladder, guns shouldered.

“I’m sure they’re okay,” voiced Matheus, as the two of them climbed

“I know,” Andi replied

He looked over his shoulder down to her, his face was pained. The continued upward in silence. When they reached top they climbed through a manhole into an empty street. Tall buildings stood tall at either side of them, loose paper and rubble laid on every street corner. They were both cautious climbing out from the asphalt, vandals and looters could be anywhere, despite none being seen in this city for weeks. Matheus moved his sniper to his shoulder, fixing the glass around his good eye. Andi, scanned the area.

“Where did they go,” she breathed quietly

They walked back to back to the garage at one end of the street. Where the motorbikes were kept. There they were, all lined up perfectly. If the bikes were there, Their friends should be close, but if they weren’t, that was worrisome.

Nothing made noise except the whistle of the wind and the unbalanced breathing the pair, as they got more and more nervous. All the streetlights were out, the only light was cast off their handheld flashlights, creating circles of light around them.

“Do you think we shouldn’t have left Jude alone,” Andi questioned as they walked through the city

“Please, Jude’s ten, but he’s not a kid,” Matheus explained, “He shot those two fuckers without hesitation,”

“That worries me too,” she bit her lip, “I just worry about him a lot,”

“Andi, Jude being able to defend himself is something you really shouldn’t be worrying about,”

Checking in every store, pharmacy, restaurant, church, and office they passed on street level; everything turned up empty. They ran their fingers through their hair, exasperated.

“The lab, we should check the lab,” Andi volunteered

“Jonah disappears in the middle of the night, along with twenty others. While two strangers try to slit our throats; and you think they ran off to the laboratory?” Mattie inquired

“Feliks told me something yesterday,” she admitted, “The computer in the lab started working,” Mattie froze, turning to face her

“He said it started blinking again,” Andi continued, her voice growing desperate

He gave a tense sigh, “Okay,” he breathed, “Lets go to the lab,”

The lab was something discovered by Feliks on a supply run. It laid at the edge of town, a big white, intimidating building with harsh lighting and five floors of different experimental technology. It had it’s own generator, so all the lights worked. They would have set up shop there but Half the building had been blown to bits, so it also took awhile before they gained the courage to search it. Thats where they found it, on the third floor in a low ceilinged suite. A thick beische computer, bolted to the counter. with a guarded screen, and wide face, it ran on it’s own gigantic battery. Feliks clicked through it, surprised that it even turned on. The little message bar blinked with a small red 3. Upon opening the messages, he saw that there were several emails sent from a lab all the way across the sea in the inter midst of Europe. They were compiled of information about the war, most of which Feliks could not comprehend. He procured Jonah and Andi for help; and thankfully they saw the importance in these letters. It gave notice about the people up high in the political sea, the ones pulling the strings on everything. There were paragraphs of notifications on what was happening, discussions of it, and assumptions of their next moves. The messages eventually dwindled down into just pleas for someone to answer them, anyone out there. The children answered the message, asked who was sending them, and why they were sent. A woman replied, joyful and excited that someone had received her notices. She confided in them that her other recipients never replied. She explained that she was knee deep in enemy territory, well disguised and waiting to strike. She pleaded for help, to which Jonah had to write back that they were only children incapable of lending aid. After that they continued communication, this mysterious woman disclosing that she had no transmission with anyone else, and therefore no one else to discuss this with. She told them that should she die, and this war lost, she needed witnesses to these injustices that could prove that she lived, and could publish the information she provided. She said that no matter how long it took, keep this data sacred, and show them to the world when they could. These teens had no idea what was happening in the war, who was involved, and who was losing, and who was winning They hadn’t seen military transportation in over a year, and knew nothing of the outside. What this computer lady told them was scary and dangerous. It took a long time to gain a mutual trust. She even told them about her personal life and the son she had left behind, and the husband she once had; though they never learned her name they felt like close friends. Then, suddenly ten months ago the messages stopped. They usually corresponded every other day; then just silence despite countless sent messages. It was a big blow to the group’s morale. Word of this woman’s return was exciting. They decided going to the lab, where this phenomenon occurred was their best bet.

The city was gray and dull, sluggish clouds floated overhead they both had taken a motorcycles from the garage, they serpentined in between piles of debris and wreckage. wind whipped at their faces, It took a long time to cross the city, and even then they had no idea if the place they were going is right.

When finally they came to the entrance of the stoic half demolished laboratory, there were no signs of life anywhere.

“Matt, what if they’re not here,”

“Then we go look somewhere else,” he replied shortly

They entered the building together, guns held up. checking each room briefly, slowly making their way to the third floor. Before the went in the computer room, Andi paused.

“Matheus, i want you to know whatever happens tonight, that you’re the best partner a person could ask for. And we couldn’t have made it without you,” she stated quickly

All matheus did was stare back at her, before she took the lead and pushed open the heavy metal doors. The room was completely empty. they circled the thick desks and metal chairs and plastic computer screens. grim frowns now plastered their faces, as they met back in the middle. Mattie opened his mouth to speak, but before he could a barely audible beeping. tiny dings ringing methodically ever so quiet. moving with each other they each turned their heads to face it. The large plastic entity with a placid face a dim blue. A little white envelope was drawn in the center and at the upper corner of that was the sluggish blinking 1.

Ch. 3 Blinking Hope

They opened the message of course, with tepid anxiety and severe wonder to what was behind it. Slowly, an image loaded down the screen. A large rectangle, crisscrossing lines, Xs, and images displayed on the picture.

“A map,” Matt broke the silence, Andi bit her lip

“Why would she send us this?” the page continued to load revealing two smaller images below the map, and then a small paragraph, “After months of silence, this looks like any map she showed us before,”

“It says something,” Andi said, highlighting the words with the mouse hand, the message was corroded in spelling mistakes and errors, like the author had been in a hurry.

Dearesrt friends

my time is at a limit but i must tell you this. there are many secrestst hidden within the walls of this countryy and the war that almost ende dit. the people that know of these secrets are eithere dead or will be. its up to you i know youre children. but you are my lst hope, the honly ones i could contact. if you ae reading this iw ill b e dead soon. i am putting you in great danger by sending this to you and for that i am unebleivably sorry but if i didnt then we might as all be dead. heed the instrucitons above, stop the war, and save us. my best of luck to you orphans of war

As they read the message their hearts swelled. emotions passed over their faces and they comprehended what this meant. Andi shut her eyes

“You think this is why those guys tried to gut us,” Andi asked with forced calmness

Matheus gritted his teeth

“Who the hell does she think she is!” he yelled,” Sending us this! I swear to God Andi if any one of our people end up dead because of this!!!”

“Matt, she had no choice,”

“Bullshit,”

“I know it isn't fair, but maybe it was necessary,”

“We have spent our whole F*****G lives cleaning up other people’s messes,” his voice broke

“You’re worried about the others, i get it. But this is bigger than us,” she finished just as Matt sent a metal stool flying at the wall, his cheeks flushed. Then proceeded to stomp out of the room. Andi didn’t bother following him, he’d cool off in time. She only hoped he’d be cautious about it.

She took a notebook from one of the drawers. the first ten or so pages had meaningless equations and formulas written in tiny print, but after that it was all clear. using a pencil sharpened with her knife she began to redraw the map depicted on the screen. below the map, shined two pictures. She clicked to enlarge them and her eyes widened as she realized their meanings. The first one, obviously enough, were battle plans. outlines of the battlefields, Xs and slashes where soldiers and snipers and reinforcements would be. Numbers of armies, supplies, bullets, missiles, tanks, and more. Choked full of valuable information, army officers would kill to keep secret. The other message, once enlarged, was a sketch of a profile of  gruff looking man, two sketches, from front and side view. He had a five o’clock shadow, mustache, sunken eyes and almost wild hair. He wore a prestigious uniform decorated in shining medals and badges. he had a slightly crooked nose, and thin lips. There were paragraphs of scrawled writing next to his portrait. His name, Hendry Adams Gretsby. Leader of the enemy forces, of the anarchist army, of the rebellion turned dictatorship.

Andi and the others, of course, knew nothing of the war raging on over the horizon. Before their city was bombed, grown ups were too afraid to talk about it, especially in the presence of children. The only source of information came for the mystery woman through the computer. A man named Gretsby led the revolution that overthrew much of the western government; it was a known fact that things had been getting continually worse for citizens but after this rebellion, things were horrible. There was no government, no taxes, or laws. Nothing to reign in criminals, or stop new ones from rising up. Drug trade ravaged the alleyways and all the stores, banks, and homes were looted and destroyed. People were furious, that their lives had been traded for this hellhole. Many tried to flee, but other countries were afraid too accept them, fearful the same fate would happen to them. Eventually with the death toll growing, other nations and leaders grew tired of it, and the public demanded they do something. Militaries took action, soldier were sent overseas. Gretsby took his chance, rallied forces claiming he wanted to make a safe haven for every eligible man, woman, and child. The gathered guns and defended their ‘homeland’ from the ‘intruders’. He took his throne upon the backs of a scared population. Suddenly he controlled everything, guns, food, drugs, the whole war. He wiped out all that opposed him. Bombed every uncooperative city, turned every child fourteen and older into a soldier and built his own personal kingdom. All of this leaked north and south, and Gertsby was greedy, he stole land and property expanded everywhere. That was five years ago, since then it seemed the whole world erupted in rebellion and war fire. Governments debunked, and society driven to the edge, the world was in flames. In what was America, Everyone was a hostage, a prisoner, but people still believed in Gretsby, trusted him, and fought for him. There were other leaders, on other continents, but none stuck as strong as Gretsby. His forces were rallied not just in North America, but throughout Africa and Europe.

The paragraphs gave a short summary of this, but that was only the beginning. It gave personal information too, his mother and father, wife, and young sons. Where he was and how many soldiers and guards accompanied him, all of his secret bunkers and hideouts scattered throughout the country. Andi’s hands scratched down the words, she copied the artwork as best she could. The message was clear. Their computer woman had always been clear about her motives. Stop the war, stop the fighting, she blamed Gretsby most of all. Getting rid of him, would crumble the revolution. If they could do that, and make sure no one else could rise up in the same way; this stupid domination would end.

Shouts erupted from the hallway. Dropping the pencil and page, Andi raced out of the room, dodging desks and stools. She swung her head out of the lab door to see the heel of Matheus’s boot digging into the shoulder of a boy with black streaks under his eyes. His face was contorted in pain, his teeth gritted. Mattie’s eyes were narrowed as he bent the boy’s arm behind his back.

“Who sent you?!” Matheus questioned, the boy answered in a series of grunts, twisting his arm even farther, he asked again, this time a reply came easily

“Second Rank, First battalion!” he cried, Matheus let his wrist slip from his grip and he slumped to the ground.  Stepping forward, she came to look down young man. He had a shaved blond head, hazel eyes, and two black lines of charcoal streaked across his cheeks, he wore an army style tank top and simple jeans, Mattie now held the pistol that had been stashed in the elastic of the intruder’s pants.

“The kid tried to sneak up on us,” Matheus said, kicking him back to the ground

“Second Rank? What does that mean?” Andi inquired

“I’m… a soldier in the ranks of… Our Leader Gretsby, Second, because i only joined two years ago. Battalion,... First, they’re the hunters,...” he heaved, rubbing his shoulder

“Gretsby,” She breathed, “Your leader, he sent you,”

“Well,” he looked up at her, “Not Gretsby, personally, one of his,” he waved his hands, “inferiors,”

“Did he send those two from earlier! Did he abduct the others!” Matheus asked furiously, circling the boy like a lion

“Hey now, I'm just like.. an errand boy,”

“Who tried to murder us,” Andi added, “Now, tell us what happened to our friends,”

“Look,” he paused, bouncing his glance from Andi to Matheus, “It’s not like they really tell me anything,” he took a breath, “And frankly, I’m not gonna tell you, you’re kind of the enemy. I would be shot just for telling you this much,”

“Kid, do not try my patience tonight,” Matheus warned

“Oh im sure,” The young soldier smirked, “And stop calling me kid, Im like, at least, five years older than you,”

Cocking the gun in his hand, Matheus, pointed the barrel squarely at his head. Both Andi’s and Matt’s faces were grim.

The boy gave a nervous laugh, which turned into a worried frown,

Ch. 4 Conscious Decisions

The boy, whose name they discovered, was Anthony, was now behind the locked door of a closet. His wrists bound with duct tape, and tape was stuck over his mouth as well. He tried screaming, but they came out as muffled whining. They locked the door and shoved the edge of chair under the knob as well. They planned on retrieving him. Once all their friends were rescued. He told them that he was sent with special orders to exterminate everyone in this town. There was a hunting party with him, that had branched off, when they found the nest of people, in the bunker. He was supposed to search the rest of the city for stragglers. When asked why, he said he didn’t know, his job was to kill, not ask questions.

“I don’t what they did with your people!” he cried, “They’re probably dead!” Anthony spoke

Matheus was more than eager to express his pent up frustration through thrown punches at the pitiful assassin.

They had been through situations like this before. Angry gangs, mafias, and all sorts of desperate criminals tried to steal, or kill them. They lost people, all the time, but they always eventually won. No one expects a group of trembling teenagers to be able to operate a machine gun. This was just another one of those. A issue they would work themselves out of.

Combing the streets, there was no clue of anyone being there. No notes, footprints, or trails to follow.

“Im gonna round back to the chamber,” Andi declared, referring to their underground hideout, she turned to walk back down the street.

“Should we really be splitting up?”

“I need to check on Jude,” Andi said, as if it was obvious, Matheus shrugged, “You should keep looking, we can’t lose time,” she added

In hindsight, splitting up wasn’t a good idea. But, it was Andi’s worries towards Jude, and Matheus’s determination to find the others that drove them separate ways.

Author's Note

This is a story I worked on a while back, don't really plan to continue it, mostly just wrote it for fun - but would love feedback on the writing style and plot.