The Hanging Tree

Chapter 8: The Uprising

My legs seemed to have developed a mind of their own as I stood and began to run through the familiar forest. My mind refused to comprehend the scene that I had just witnessed. I knew that the rebels in the clearing had gotten just the slightest glimpse of my face and I worried for my family before I thought to worry for myself.

Even though I knew the woods rather well and though I could hear my pursuers tripping and even falling on roots and stones that my feet avoided unconsciously, I could sense that they were close behind. They were fast, but I was faster. I weaved between tangles of trees, my mind racing, trying to remember all of the hiding places that Gizmo and I had found and agreed to go to if ever we found ourselves in a situation like this one. Unfortunately, my mind was blank with panic and I didn't have time to stop and collect myself so I ran as far and fast as I could.

The forest gave way to concrete and I took to darting between buildings, not sure where my legs were taking me until I turned onto the familiar street. Gizmo's house. I had lost the rebels back in the wood and I knew I could hide there, at least until morning when someone would miss one of his family members and come looking.

I busted through the front door and went straight to the back of the house, to Gizmo's room, with hardly a glance at the three lifeless bodies lying cold on the floor. I didn't feel safe lying in the bed so I took off the cover and went to sit in his wardrobe. For the moment I knew I was safe but I couldn't shake the ball of anxiety that seemed to have taken up permanent residence in my stomach. I was racked with sobs as I thought about what I had seen, Gizmo's face as he tried to revive his family, his struggle as he was lead to our sacred place, his lips forming the one word he thought would save me, the light draining from his eyes as they kicked the stool out from beneath him. My Gizmo... My love... Gone forever. How was I going to survive this? Could I? Should I? I looked down at my stomach, not showing yet, as I remembered the reason that I hadn't rushed to die with my husband. I had to carry on, for the baby.

I'm not sure if I ever went to sleep or not because the nightmares were real whether my eyes were closed or open, but the sun was nearly up before I was ready for it. I had been watching through a crack between the wardrobe doors for the first orange strip of light to brighten the horizon. I had to get out before the sun rose or I wouldn't have any chance at all of escape. However, when I opened the doors and stretched out my sore limbs I saw the glow of the clock and it read '4:15 a.m.' and I knew that something was very wrong.

I slowly made my way to the front living room to look out the window and what I saw made me gasp, and I covered my mouth again to stop a shriek. All the buildings were on fire, everything in sight was in flames.

I could just make them out on top of the buildings in the distance but I could tell that it was spreading unnaturally fast and that it was headed this way. As I ran out the door, the silence was replaced by screaming coming from every direction. It seemed to fill the air itself. The fire was nearly to the row of houses just behind those in front of Gizmo's house. The screams grew closer and louder and then I understood... The fire was coming so fast that people weren't prepared for it by the time it was upon them.

I took off running in the opposite direction and thought to myself about how there was no way that the rebels could have gotten their hands on something that lethal so soon. So, the only logical solution was that the government was retaliating, and hard.

Though I was quite a bit ahead of the fire now, the smoke was still thick and I knew that it couldn't be good for the baby. So I continued to run. I continued to run even though my brain was foggy, and my body was weak with fatigue, and my throat burned for water. Survival of the fittest, that's the first thing you're taught in my world, and it's a lesson you don't forget because you see it in action all around you for your whole life.