The Revolution

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

I purposely woke a good ten minutes before breakfast, so I could get the girls ready.  Marnie and Louisa however weren't so pleased with my decision.  I hated to wake them, when they obviously needed more sleep, but they also needed food, and I wasn't going to have a repeat of yesterday.  By the time the plump woman shouted for breakfast, our sleeping bags were already in the pile, and we were dressed in the clothes we had been given (plain white top, black cut off trousers).  The girls jumped out of the tent, and I quickly followed, before grabbing both of their hands and jogging to the kitchen tent.  We were one of the first people there, the only ones that had beaten us were two women and a teenage girl.  I felt quite proud that I'd managed to get us out quickly, in the knowledge that we'd have food in our bellies.  When it was our turn, the sight before me was a lot different than yesterday.  There was a large basket fill with rolls, and big bowl of crackers, a bowl of apples, a bowl of oranges, some bananas, some fruit juice cartons, some glasses of water, a stack of plastic plates and some butter.  I took three rolls, six crackers, two apples, an orange, a banana, three juice cartons and three bits of butter, before leading the girls away.  I felt sorry for those at the end of the line, but I cared enough to get there first so, I didn't feel too bad.  As we sat down, and munched on our food, I scanned the line for our parents.  I hadn't seen them at all yesterday, nor today.  I really wanted to know where they were - I didn't think there was another kitchen tent, so this would be where they'd get their breakfast.  Only when the queue dissipated did I stop looking for them.  I concluded that they might have slept in, or maybe have their breakfast at a different time to us.  Either way, I'm sure they're fine.  Aaron, Belle and a woman (who I assumed was Aaron's mum) began to walk our way.  Aaron sat beside me, and Belle sat by Louisa and Marnie. 

"Mum, this is Charlie." He introduced me to his mum, again using his nickname for me.  I smiled slightly and shook her hand.

"Hi, nice to meet you Charlie, I'm Rachel." She said, returning my smile.

"You too." I replied.  I felt a little uncomfortable under Rachel's' questioning gaze, as she looked between me and Aaron.  I think she caught onto this though, as she quickly turned her attention to Belle who was chatting happily to Louisa and Marnie.   We ate our breakfast, occasionally talking about random things, like where we used to live before the bright light.  Aaron was very interested in my house, saying how cool it would have been to live in a mansion.  I suppose it was, but personally, it was too much.  I didn't like the fact that everything was provided for me, and I didn't have to do anything to earn it.  I'd just finished eating my last cracker, when the plump woman shouted at us to go for work.  We all stood up, and together began walking towards the pits.  We walked past the boss and one guard, whom I'd never seen before, but he pointed our way.  I assumed he was pointing to something behind us, so I kept on walking.  Then, a scream from behind made me swivel on the spot, and grab both Louisa and Marnie, but neither of them had made the scream.  I looked up and Belle had been pulled away by the guard, and dragged to the boss.  Rachel tried to get to her but two other guards held her back.  I watched in shock as the guard shouted at this tiny girl, asking her why she wasn't at work.  Belle crumpled on the spot, absolutely terrified of this man, who towered above her.  In his fist, he held a black whip, with pieces of thin rope at the end.  Each bit of rope was knotted, a way of causing more pain on impact.  The boss raised his whip, and smacked Belle's back with it.

THWA-TISH!  THWA-TISH!  Aaron leapt forwards, past the guards and pushed the boss back.  The surprise knocked the boss off balance, giving Aaron enough time to get Belle out of the way.  The guards released Rachel, and rushed at Aaron.  Rachel grabbed Bell and pulled the whimpering child to safety.  The boss wasn't at all pleased, and took out his fury on Aaron. 

THWA-TISH!

I turned to Marnie, and instructed her to look after Louisa and stay with Rachel.  She nodded, tears forming in her eyes.  I kissed both of their foreheads and ducked past the guards, towards the boss and Aaron.  The boss raised the whip again, but Aaron kicked it out of his hand.  He crawled back, and I ran to help him up.  He was caked in blood, and quivering in pain, but he still managed to stand.  I helped him towards the growing crowd, but the boss had caught up.  He pulled me by my hair, and threw me on the floor, knocking the breath out of me.   He raised his fist to punch me but I rolled out of the way, turned and kicked his jaw.  When my foot connected with his mouth, I heard a sickening crack, and knew I'd broken it.  The boss cursed and launched himself at me, but Aaron tackled him to the ground and punched his already broken jaw.  I pulled Aaron back, before he did something he'd regret - I don't think it would go down well if he actually killed the boss....although I doubt this would go down well either.  Personally, I would have carried on, so the boss would know who was actually in charge, but the terrified faces of my sisters made me stop.  The guards lifted up the limp, but conscious boss, and carried him to the medical tent.  Another guard walked towards us, and I clenched my fists ready to punch.

"Nice one, someone really needed to stand up to him." The guard whispered and walked past.  I smiled slightly at Aaron who winced slightly.  Through his shirt, blood was coming through, outlining where the whip slashed his skin.  Belle was the same.  Rachel scooped up the sobbing Belle, and carried her to the tent, whilst Aaron and I followed.  Marnie and Louisa walked quietly beside my legs, neither of them daring to speak.  I couldn't tell whether they were too scared to speak, or just didn't know what to say.  I hoped that it was the latter. 

Rachel sat Belle down, and attempted to tend to her cuts...but without a first aid kit, it was useless.  Aaron sat down, and when Rachel tried to clean him up, he tried to act tough, saying that he was fine.

"Yes Aaron, you are obviously fine.  This is completely normal to have blood pouring out of you." I told him sarcastically.  He scowled slightly, obviously not pleased that he needed his mum to sort him out.  Just then, a head poked into the tent, making us all jump out of our skin.  It was a guard, but luckily it was the guard  that praised us, and he handed us a small first aid kit.

"They have loads, I'm sure this wont be missed." He said, handing me the kit.  I smiled gratefully, and opened it.  I gave Rachel the antiseptic and some bandages, which she quickly applied to Belle's and Aaron's cuts.  After a few minutes, they were both fine - battered and bruised, but it didn't seem like there was anything serious, which was good.  I helped Aaron up, and walked him to his tent.  When we were nearing it, and out of anyone's earshot, he turned to me.

"We need to leave." He whispered.  I frowned, I knew that, but there was no way we could.

"How?" I asked, to humour him.

"After what we did to the boss...he won't let us get away with that." He paused, thinking for a moment, his emerald eyes clouded with concentration.  "Tonight, when the guards are walking by the tents.  They do a sort of patrol, in pairs.  They start with the tents up at the top end, then they work their way down.  You'll be about the tenth tent to be checked, but mine's further down, so I'll be one of the last.  When your tent's been checked, get the girls and my mum, and follow the patrol, but obviously stay out of sight.  When you get to my tent," He pointed to the tent we were now standing in front of, "tap the door, and I'll get out.  Then, we run." He smiled, content with his plan.  I, however, noticed many flaws.

"Ok, the whole creeping around thing is hard enough with two small children, but how do you propose we escape?  The gates are padlocked and under constant surveillance, AND I need to find my parents before we leave."  I told him.  Aaron grinned a little.

"I've been working on something that will give us our way out, but as for your parents, they'll be in one of the tents, probably the ones nearer my end as that's where most of the new people go." I nodded, making a mental note to check each tent as we crept around. 

"Well then, I guess I'll see you tonight."  I nodded again, smiling slightly at the thought of escaping.  "Bye Charlie." He said, and slipped into his tent.

"Bye." I said quietly, and turned to walk back to my tent...tonight we'd escape. 

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Ok this chapter isn't very long, but I had to split it from the next chapter otherwise it would be too long ^_^

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