The Garden of Eden

Prologue

The sun shined brightly, illuminating the terribly artificial grass and, lying on top of it, Judas Leander and twenty other children. The overwhelming smell of lavender and peaches that Judas's mother had loved once upon a time made his stomach twist with nausea. Until last May, he had never realized how terribly fake the Garden was, with the bright artificial grass and the perfumed flowers, down to the ever-blue sky that always seemed to be cloudless. A whole new perspective is opened up once you grow to hate something.

'Or someone,' Judas thought bitterly.

The girl lying next to him, Hannah or something, turned her body to face him. Judas shifted, slightly uncomfortable. She's a newer member of the League, one of three sisters that had joined just last week, and he's constantly forgetting all of their names.

"What happens if this whole thing falls through?" she whispered, her blue eyes shining with anticipation. Great. That's the last thing he needed. A nervous teenage girl who would give them up in a second just so she could be spared.

Judas studied the girl's face. "If you have doubts, you don't belong in the League."

Suddenly, all emotion was wiped clean from her face. "I joined the League with my sisters for the same reason everybody else did." Her voice was harsh, unforgiving. "The Masters need to be stopped. They threw my brother out of the Gates."

"They throw a lot of people out," he responded coolly. "That's why we're here."

"He was two." The girl shifted slightly as she turned her head up to look at the sky. "I'm all in, Jonas."

"It's Judas," he corrected. His lips twitched upward into a smirk. "I didn't take you as a fighter, Hannah."

She continued studying the sky. "Then I guess you don't know me." She paused, the frown turning into a small smile. "And my name's Miranda, by the way. Not Hannah."

A shrill whistle pierced the air, interrupting their conversation and queueing all twenty of the teenagers to begin to crawl, Judas leading the way. The large rifle strapped to his back felt one-hundred times heavier now that he was so close to using it. It took months to arm the whole League, but now Judas was relieved that they had gone to so much trouble. An armed group of angry teenagers is a lot more threatening than an unarmed one. Now they all stood a chance.

Judas mentally ran through the plan of action. It's never been fool proof, but their chances of being victorious seemed slim to none now that they were so close. His hands ached for the gun and at that moment, he finally realized that he didn't really care what happened to him.

As long as the Masters payed.

They reached the clearing exactly five minutes before the second whistle would trill. Judas took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Two minutes passed.

The League stood, moving the guns to their chest. Judas thought of his mother. Remembered her broken eyes that locked with his seconds before she was Exiled. Reminded himself of the painful goodbyes they shared.

They stared at the Mansion. The same exact place where they were Marked with Garden Membership when they were only hours old. Rumor has it, the Mansion has looked the same since it was built, nearly two-hundred years ago. It's funny, how someone's life can change so drastically, but the world around them stays the same.

Judas stole a quick glance at Miranda. He couldn't help but hope that she would make it out alive.

The second whistle trilled and simultaneously, all of the members dropped to their knees. In five short minutes, either they would be Exiled, or the Masters would surrender. Judas could only hope it was the latter.