From the Ashes We Rise

Chapter 2

Knock, knock, knock.

I looked at the clock. 2:30. Same as always.

I opened the door to him standing, towering above me, a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"Is your sister here?" he said. I nodded and invited him in, then called for my sister.

"Lisa! Your boyfriend is here!" She hated it when I called him her boyfriend, even though it was true. I blew a kiss to my sister as she walked in, who stuck her tongue out at me in reply.

Their relationship lasted a while, about a year, until a suicide note was found on his body; he had overdosed on drugs.

No one could calm Lisa down for at least a week. She sat on her bed, staring at pictures of the two of them together.

"I really did love Aiden, you know," she told me. I had just finished trying to convince her to stop sulking and do something with her life. She couldn't make a living just sitting on her bed all day, after all.

"I know, I know," I replied. "Just, you haven't done anything since we found the note, and you still have all those big plans for that engineery thingy..."

"Biochemical engineering. And I know, just it hits hard. I'll get back to that stuff later..." she went back to looking at her pictures. I gave up, sighed, and decided to read in the living room.

-

And now here he was. Standing in front of me.

Aiden.

My sister's boyfriend. Or, ex-boyfriend. He had been dead.

"What the heck? Everyone thought you were dead, Aiden, dead! Do you know how much pain you put Lisa through-"He calmly put his hand in the air to stop me. "I had to.

"I needed out. That God-forsaken place down there-" he pointed toward the city "-was, well, for lack of a better word, living hell. The government was falling apart, the city was turning against itself," he shook his head.

"The whole place is going to go down. It will tear itself apart before anyone else has a chance to."

-

Aiden, Kyle, Micah, Leila, and I had gone riding in the fields between the mountains. It was peaceful; the wind blew through my hair, the waterfalls were beautiful and calming, and the morning air was cold and fresh.

Well, it was peaceful until Micah fell off his horse and into the stream.

We laughed for a while, but he was cut up from the rocks and soaking wet, so he rode with Kyle back to the cabin. Aiden went with them, and Leila stayed with me.

I had grown to trust the members of the Uprising. Most of them. I was still unsure about two or three, but I didn't let them bother me too much.

Leila had become my closest friend, with whom I could trust with my life. She was carefree and wild, like a horse galloping through the mountains.

She had also given me the choice to run that first day at the camp. I still didn't know why she had done that, but I didn't ask.

The two of us rode for hours, but hurried to the cabin when lunch came around; we were starving after skipping breakfast.

Micah was wrapped in bandages and resting on one of the benches on the main floor. Aiden was, once again, ordering people around, and Kyle was probably in the kitchen trying to steal food.

Leila and I sat down with Micah, who looked glad to have company, even if he didn't want to admit it.

"How you doin?" Leila brushed her finger against the bandages on Micah's right hand. He flinched at her touch, but said refused to say it hurt. He was too prideful sometimes.

I couldn't sit and watch Leila try to baby Micah any longer; he looked like he could strangle her right about now.

I started walking up the stairs to the room I shared with the rest of the girls in the camp. There were about seven of us, so the room wasn't too cramped. Just cozy enough, like a sleepover I used to have with my friends in the city.

The air smelled of smoke. I'd always loved the smell of smoke-

Wait, not good.

I rushed to the nearest window, opened it, and poked my head out. A group of unfamiliar and intimidating looking men were sneaking around; they were hurrying away from the cabin. I saw one slip a box into his pocket.

Running downstairs, I shouted for Aiden.

The fire was spreading through the wooden cabin rapidly. Smoke was already filling the main floor. People were frantically gathering random items, while others tried to push them out the door.

"There's a group of about seven men outside. I've never seen them before; I think they set the cabin on fire," I said once I had found him.

He nodded once, then called a few men and instructed them to find the group of men as he led me outside.

Our whole camp watched with wide eyes as our home was engulfed in flames. We had already given up on drenching it with water; it was no match for the growing fire.

Aiden was standing next to me. He was handsome with a strong build, dark brown hair, and stormy grey eyes.

They reminded me of the clouds I would watch from my window as they poured buckets of rain on my hometown. I had been so young and fascinated by the rolling clouds and little droplets of rain as they raced down the glass.

"Aiden, Elliot's still inside." Fear flashed through his eyes like lightning, but was quickly covered by determination.

He disappeared inside.

I waited forever before he finally returned, coughing as he carried something.

Someone.

Elliot.

A few people rushed over to Elliot as Aiden put him on the ground. I walked up behind Aiden as he backed away. He was fighting the tears gathering in his eyes.

I gently put my hand on his arm, he turned his head to look at me, but quickly looked away.

"Come with me," he said, his voice wavering as he tried to choke back tears.

I didn't know Elliot that well, but I knew he and Aiden had some sort of special bond. I followed and put my hand on his knee as he tried talking.

"He was nearly dead when I found him. He told me to take care of Nick-"

Someone was running up to us.

"We found the guys. One shot Luke."

Aiden's face changed; all signs of his grief were gone.

"Find people to help Luke." The other man nodded and left. Aiden turned to me. "Get your horse ready."

I didn't question him; I ran to the stables and began preparing to ride.

Aiden found me a few minutes later. "We need to find somewhere to go. We can't stay here, someone knows where we are, and they're definitely not friendly.

"We're going to the city."

-

Update: I won't be posting the next chapter this Friday; it will be in a double post next Friday, though!