The Revolution

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

I woke to small hands shaking my shoulder, which wasn't the nicest way to wake up.  I opened my tired eyes to see Louisa's worried face.  I frowned, and looked between her and Marnie, who looked equally scared.

"What's going on?" I whispered.

"There's someone down there." Louisa whimpered, her trembling hand pointing to the ground.  I looked to where she was pointing, but couldn't see anything.  I craned my neck slightly, so I could see behind the tree, and then I saw them.  Three strong men dragging two seemingly lifeless bodies along the forest floor.  I looked closer, to see if I recognised the bodies...and I did.

"Mummy" Louisa whimpered, her bottom lip trembling.  I quickly put my hand over her mouth to keep her quiet, so those men wouldn't get us too.  I leaned forwards slightly, hoping to spot some sign of life in our parents' bodies, but they were limp and lifeless.  Tears pricked my eyes at the thought that I'd lost my parents.

But then, mother's hand twitched and her eyes fluttered, making my heart soar.  She's alive.  If mother is alive, then there is a chance that father is too...

As soon as they were out of sight, I helped my sisters out of the tree and started to follow the footprints left by my parents' captors.  I was going to get them back...but I don't know how.  Louisa was walking very slowly, so I stopped and knelt down.

"Honey, mummy and daddy need us right now, so you need to walk a little bit faster.  Can you do that for me?" I asked her gently.  Louisa pouted slightly.

"But my feets hurts...can you carrys me pwease?" she asked, making her cute little innocent face.  I sighed, giving in instantly. She grinned as I picked her up, swung her around and held her on my back.  We walked for no more than ten minutes before Marnie began complaining.

"I'm hungry.  When are we going to get breakfast?" she whined.  Mother hated it when she whined, so Marnie was taking advantage of her absence.

"Does it look like we're going to get breakfast any time soon?!" I replied sharply.  Marnie pouted and stopped walking, crossing her hands over her chest.  I turned around angrily.

"I'm not moving until you get me some food." she said simply, sticking het nose in the air.  My blood started to boil, at home shed get away with this because she was a spoilt brat most of the time, but not here.  No way was I going to stand for this when we were searching for our parents.

"if you want food, get it yourself.  You don't talk to me like that." I told her harshly, before turning on my heel and walking on.  Marnie's hands dropped, and she quickly hurried after me, not wanting to be left on her own.  As we walked, I pulled a couple of  apples from a low hanging tree, and handed one to Marnie and one to Louisa before munching on the third.  We needed food in our stomachs if we were to keep going.

We carried on walking through the dense forest, which wasn't easy.  Marnie kept tripping up so I had to carry het again, which was seriously hurting my back.  Louisa had stopped whining, obviously she realised how serious this situation was.  I followed the distinct trail that my parents' captors had left - they didn't tread lightly, the mud had clear boot imprints that provided me with an obvious route.  Hopefully, if we followed this for long enough we'd catch up. ..although I wasn't too sure what id do when we did. 

It was merely half an hour before I realised just how fresh the tracks were.  The boot prints were still warm when I touched them, which made me hope we were but a few minutes behind them.  I smiled slightly and picked up the pace, I was going to find our parents! 

The trail led us to the edge of the forest, and toward a strange sound.  It was like the sound of metal clashing with rock...what on earth could it be?  Marnie hid behind my legs, obviously scared of this strange noise but I kept going.  At the very edge, I knelt by a bush and peered through...what I saw confused me more than ever.  There were hundreds of men, women and children digging and hitting rocks with pickaxes.  There were about ten armoured men holding guns who shouted at the workers.  I could see my parents as well, being pushed towards the other workers.  A tall man was giving them instructions which made them nod sadly.  Mother glanced over in my direction and we made eye contact.  Fear flashed on her face, as well as panic.  She discreetly mouthed "RUN" at me, but it wasn't discreet enough , for the tall man had noticed and barked orders at three heavily armed men.  They nodded and charged in our direction.  I scooped Louisa under my arm and grabbed Marnie's hand before running faster than I'd ever thought possible.  I could hear the pounding footsteps of the men behind us, and they were getting closer.  Louisa screamed, and I could feel her being pulled away, so instinctively, I turned and kicked the man who was holding her ankle in the jaw.  He let go and clasped his bleeding mouth, giving me a other chance to get away.