Reliance [COMPLETED]

Chapter 1

My eyes snap open.

I feel a cold breeze blow across my pale face. For some reason, I'm frozen, almost as if I am under some kind of restraint. I remember that I'm tucked securely in my sleeping bag. After carefully sliding my hand out of the rough fabric, my thin, icy fingers move deftly to my pistol, which I have lay next to me at all times.

"Everyone was safe in our authentic environment." At least that's what Senator Hainsworth had said before he threw us in here and supplied us with deadly weapons. The people in the forest starve, unless they're desperate enough to become cannibals or commit suicide after years of living here.

I haven't eaten in a day, and only have two bullets left, which I would save for dinner tonight. Suicide or cannibalism wasn't an option for me. I would have to go back to the market located in the remains of our city, Salan, to trade soon.

My stomach growls, reminding me to eat breakfast. I groan, slipping out of my bag. I pull back my long hair, letting it fall loose into a ponytail. At 17, I make sure that I look like a presentable young woman, even though everyone acts like savages. Besides, my long hair can get in the way during hunting.

As the snow continues to fall harder, my eyes scan the forest, which is pure white now instead of the bare trees that stretch as far as the eye could see. The snow had settled in last night. I only wear my dark green jacket and black pants, which helps me blend in to my surroundings. Blending in would be harder now.

Hainsworth is responsible for this. He watches all of us, making sure that none of us step out of line. I'm sure he knows about the snow but, to no one's surprise, he didn't inform any of us. The forest is my home, and now, given the snow that hadn't fallen for over fifty years, the jacket was a dead giveaway. I check my watch. It reads: 9:47 a.m.

I hear what sounds like a little girl's scream, coming from the east side of the woods. It has begun again.

Having no family, I live on my own. Years before, Senator Hainsworth believed it was, "preposterous and unnecessary" to raise children; that we need to fight on our own and learn how difficult life really is. He's certainly made his point, and as he sits up high in who knows where doing nothing but watch these people suffer, he's proven that no matter who you are, you defend for yourself or die. It's almost as if we're being held up by strings and he's controlling us. I'm sure my parents had been killed off when I was only a small child. I could care less, though. After 16 years, I've learned to forget it.

I only have a little memory of my parents. I remember seeing these muscular men in the desert with guns. I was only a small child but there was blood and screaming. I was hidden under a rock in the shade.

I had never really known what truly had happened, but I must've known how to walk or learned it myself. It was all a blur, and sometimes I still think it was a dream. Maybe I was hallucinating from so much heat on the desert.

I look to the east and gave a sigh of sorrow towards the little girl who'd lost her life. Packing all of my belongings in my bag, I head west, away from the scream.

As I swiftly move through the woods, my eyes continue to dart across my surroundings. There are no pursuers anywhere around me, but still, there are tall trees with branches that could sustain many sharp shooters. My foot slips under the snowy earth and I tumble down a rocky hill into barbed wire.

I swear in a whisper, holding my injured ankle. Feeling the warm sticky blood on my hands, I retch in disgust. It isn't broken, but cut up enough to show some bone. My face has some scoring on it from the fall, and I rub the side of my bloodied cheek. I hate barbed wire. I hate Salan, and everyone I come encounter with. People I meet want to kill me and take all of the game I have, my supplies, and my weapons.