The One (A Selection Fan Fiction)

Chapter Ten

AS I AWAKE INTO CONSCIOUSNESS, I found out that someone was carrying me. I looked up and blinked. It was still dark - nighttime; probably almost dawn.

I started squirming when the events that had happened previously flooded back into my memory. My wrists and ankles were tied by ropes, my mouth was covered with tape.

"Hush!" A girl scolded me. She was walking beside the large man who was carrying me - who also happened to be the man that almost killed Aspen.

Aspen.

How was he doing? What about Maxon? Lucy, Anne and Mary? The others? Are they alright? I grew anxious as seconds passed. I could only hope they were still alive and in one piece.

I stopped squirming and squint at the girl's face instead. In the darkness of the forest, I couldn't quite completely conclude the girl's face. But as we arrived on an eerie place full of ruins, the number of trees lessen and the moonlight glowed on her face. I almost sat up in recognition.

"I said, 'Hush.'" It was the Northerner rebel girl that curtsied at me when I was up on a forest tree to hide from them. But why was she here? I was pretty sure the attack was caused by Southerners.

The place opened into a field of soil and farther down, something glimmered. As we got nearer, I realized it was water. Near by it was a red-orange light and grey smoke above it - fire. There were two small buildings made of wood behind the camp fire. They were huts. I then noticed a group of people crowding around the fire. The population was half as large as the population of Carolina that went to see me leave for the plane heading to the palace. It was still large.

"Take her to hovel N," someone said. The man who was carrying me nodded. As we entered the first hut, I was tied unto a cold wooden chair. It was dark inside. A figure appeared on the doorway. It was larger than the man that had carried me. "What happened?" His voice was thick, hoarse and deep. But I can sense concern through it.

The man that had carried me shook his head. "Four men are by the aiding section. But we captured a daughter of Illéa."

"Call for the Elders for advice what to do with that thing and bring torches for light," the man ordered. Thing? I am not a thing. How rude of him to address me like that when he knew I was in the room. I believed he had done it on purpose.

I watched as the man's figure disappered and the other neared. He caressed my cheek and I flinched at the foreign touch. He chuckled. Spots of light entered the room and surrounded me, silently thanking them for the perfect time to interrupt. My eyes followed the bright fire and I counted six.

"Oh." An old woman in front of me gasped. "It is America Singer. She's the girl with the elimination-of-castes idea. For now, I think we must free her."

"No, Louise," the man beside her argued. "I do not trust her."

"Well, John, I do not trust her, too," said a voice behind me. It belonged to a woman. "We all don't. And she probably does not trust us either. But trust me, we might need her as much as she needs us. Remove the tape."

The tape on my mouth was ripped off. I winced and grimaced. "Ow!" My hair fell on my face. I flipped it back up and said, "Yes, I don't trust you. But why would I need you?"

"Oh, sweetheart," John said. "You'll beg us to feed you."

I thought this through, then nodded. "What do you want?"

"Well, we just want you to be the princess, then be the queen, and then eliminate the castes. But for now, we still do not know," the youngest-looking said.

I was silent for a couple of second before I spoke up.

"Free me, I will not run," I swore. The Elders glanced at each other before nodding. The ropes on my wrists and ankles loosened and my hands reflexively held and rubbed them. "I heard you have four men that needs aid? Maybe I can help." I stood up. The Elders made a way for me to go through and a girl stepped beside me.

"This way," she said. I followed her outside and the back of the hut. "America, right? I'm Maryse." She pronounced her name like May-reese. It reminded me of my sister.

I nodded as my thoughts go back to my family. Do they know where I was? I hope not. They would be worrying to death.