Scorched

"In the truck lets go"

I had never been outside of the dominion so as we drove down the dark bumpy rode I watched through the front windshield. Harry left the lights dim as he drove so I couldn't see much but what I could see was beautifully frightening. I had never been in a motor vehicle so the sweet taste of adrenalin was pulsing through my veins. My legs and hands were trembling from the excitement and Harry noticed. He looked over at me and smiled. We continued to drive and drive until we reached a place with a series of small huts. We were deep in the woods and safe from anyone but for safety precautions the team grabbed their weapons, split up and went on a three mile radius of the grounds to make sure. When we returned other groups had already returned and had started a small fire. They didn't make a big fire in fear that the smoke be seen. The guys cooked their food over the fire. Wild boar meat with beans. None of them chewed with their mouths closed and they talked while chewing. I wasn't hungry but I forced it down so I wouldn't get hungry later. Jame and I shared a tent with two other boys named Kent and Klien. They were twins and looked exactly the same, brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a jawline sharp enough to cut ice. They had the same exact smile and laugh. They stayed up late but I fell out as soon as my head hit the pillow. It seemed as soon as I fell asleep I was being woken up and forced into one of the trucks. All the guys decided that since Harry allowed me on the raid that he was responsible for me so I was forced to be with him or Jame at all times. Everyone was very sexist towards me always making jokes except for one guy named Zayn Malik. He would get onto the boys for teasing me and would blush when they teased him about liking me. I'm not gonna lie, Zayn was beautiful! He had breathtaking brown eyes with blonde brown hair and stubble on his chin. He had a deep voice that became even deeper when he had just woken up. I was attracted to Zayn, and nothing would flatter me more if he was attracted to me.

It had been three days and we still hadn't reached the Metropolis. As we got closer the anxiety I felt grew stronger. Harry noticed and put his hand on my shoulder. "It'll be okay" he would assure me then put his hand back on the wheel. Then it happened. I woke up to the sound of the guys talking. I kept hearing "we're here" and my head snapped up. I looked out the window and saw us approaching buildings taller than my mind could fathom, it was as if they were touching the sky. I noticed harry was looking at me out of the corner of my eye. He had a side smirk on his face and I could feel my heart racing. I was scared. As beautiful it was, it was petrifying to think of what lurked in the shadows behind these buildings built for the gods. We drove through and I could see dead bodies decomposing in the hot sun. The smell was awful. we drove through the city for what seemed like days stopping to refill the tanks with our water when we had to. At these stopping points we would get out of the car and guard the truck using our guns and surrounding the entire vehicle. We came to a stop in front of a large building with torn flags waving from banisters. They had an image of a man with dark features. In big bold words at the bottom it read HAIL. We entered the building harry in front with our weapons ready if anything were to happen. We went through the whole floor with no problems so we headed up the grand staircase. The place was dirty with broken furniture everywhere but it was beautiful, the golden railing on the staircase was dusty and the chandeliers were rusted. There were more paintings of the man from the banners. As we head up the stairs we heard a scurrying of feet. Harry told us to wait back but Liam and a few of his friends went forward anyways. They went into the room and I heard a scream before Liam appeared dragging a woman by the hair as she tried to stand to her feet. She was screaming crying asking him to please stop.

"Jesicca, Jame, I want you to see what we do to these citz" Liam said

"Please no, don't shoot" the woman begged before the sound of the gun echoed through the building. The woman fell limp and I heard a child's cry. I ran past Liam and into the room where the woman was. I needed to get to that baby before he did. In the corner of the room I saw thrashing underneath a blanket and ran to it.

Inside the cloths there was a child crying. It looked at me with the same eyes as its mother had peeking out from underneath the blonde curly hair. The little nose was red from the crying and I could hear it sniffling. I reluctantly unwrapped the cloth to determine the sex. It was a boy. I swaddled him back up and comfortably wrapped my arms around him. I emerged from the room with about 30 eyes on me. I walked past everyone and handed the baby to Jame then went back to the woman's body. I closed her open eyes. She looked like my mother. I called to one of the males for them to help me and Zayn rushed to my side. I looked up and Jame was just staring at the baby with a frightened look on his face. I grabbed the woman's legs and Zayn looped his arms under her arms. I carried the woman to the outside of the building and laid her down in the grass. Jame came out and handed me the baby boy.

"Zayn and I will handle this."

I walked back inside and sat with the baby. He was young so he was still living off of his mothers breast milk. I was trying to think of what to feed him when harry approached me.

"What you did back there was very bold and I might have to punish you."

"I don't care. That was wrong, that woman wasn't hurting anyone and now her baby is an orphan. What are we supposed to do with him? We have no food for him, nothing to swaddle him in when he's soiled."

"Jesicca, th-"

"The baby will be left here to die" Liam interrupted. I looked at harry and he looked away. I scoffed and looked back at Liam.

"Well newsflash, I will nurture this baby because I'm not a disgusting animal like you."

Liam laughed and walked away. "we'll see"