The Soldier

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

 I change into black shorts, an olive green t-shirt, and a pair of black tennis shoes. After that, I tie my hair to where it is all in one place.

Jacob takes me by the hand in one split second, and kiss my lips. I wrap my arms around in response, holding him. "I wish we weren't on the run, that we could stay here forever." He says.

"I wish that so much, Jacob. But we're fugitives now, there's no turning back." I say.

We begin to run again at that, having being reminded of who we are now.

+ + +

"It was hard getting used to it. Never, I really did. Every day, I would sit on the new Our Land in pain. Not physically, but mentally. My mind ached. The pain made me tremble; furious, but at the same time, I didn't know how to express it." I tell Jacob as we walk along a stone road.

He passes me the water bottle that he drunk half out of. I take three sips, holding the bottle tight in my hands.

"As I was growing up, I noticed the North isn't good as they say they are.- The going-Home situation, the way they all pit us against each other, especially with kids in the Learning Centers. We fight against each other, and if you don't, you die. It took you and Leslie for me to realize that." I say, closing my fists tight at the mention of Leslie.

Jacob hands me his and Leslie's backpacks so he can climb the man-made steps on the tree leading up to a wooden bridge. I take them from him, until he has climbed a few steps, then reaches out a hand to help me up. I take Jacob's hands, handing the two packs back to him.

As we climb, Jacob says, "I started to notice the evils of the North around age nine. It was my ninth birthday when my father came home at night. He was beaten and wounded. Mother didn't even have to ask why. She hurried Blue, Cedar, and I upstairs for an early bed time. But I stayed where I was close to my bedroom if they almost saw me, but I could still hear them. My mother asked Father: 'What happened, Jodius?' And my father said: 'They killed them. They killed every Southerner kept in their prisoner of war camp. Women and children, all of them. The General Kerces got tired of them, and decided they were overcrowding up all the prison cells. He had us interrogate all four hundred of them in six hours. After that, he had them downed by fire squad.' My mother pressed her hands against her mouth, containing her outraged fear. When I was nine, I thought she was just doing it to keep from waking us, but now that I'm a little older, I realized; nine years-later, that she was also outraged. Then father said, 'Imogen, we've got to get them out of here, they're not even safe in their own home.' They never did. The next year, they were both gone."

I clench Jacob's hands, holding tight, hoping that it comforts him. Even just a slight built, I hope, will help.

The bridge must be forty-feet from the ground. I'm not afraid of heights, but the way the wooden rope bridge sways, it has me stiffen up. I force myself to take deep breaths. Looking down, we are looming over trees and a river.

My eyes pass over tiny gray spots back at the bridge. I turn back my heads forward... I turn my head back.

"Np! Jacob, run!" I scream, racing across the bridge.

Jacob notices the Primors and begins to run after me, pulling his revolver from the waist of his belt.

The Primors aim at us, firing their electric bullets.

"Duck!" Jacob yells.

We hit the wooden bridge's planks, swaying the bridge violently.

I leap up, aiming my own revolver at a Primor. The force knocks me down, but it does no good to help us. Their armor is electro-bullet proof, while Jacob and mine don't even come close to being bullet proof.