The sound jolted me awake. Panicked I looked around my small bedroom in search of the sound. A few minutes later I heard it again. A gunshot. I jumped out of bed and threw on the closest outfit I could find. I woke up my roommate Maya and ran out of my room into the hall. I looked left and right and saw people running and panicking. We were one of the last rebel camps out there and we were barely getting by.
“Everybody calm down and go back to your rooms!” I heard Alec yell. He was one of the higher guards in our camp. Most of the people listened to him but there was still some curios people in the halls. I was one of them. I kept close to the boring light gray walls with Maya as we swiftly moved past a group of guards.
“Where are we going?” I heard Maya whisper.
“To check out what happened.” I whispered back.
She didn’t question me anymore and we kept walking. Clearly it wasn’t an attack because there would be a total lockdown. We had never actually had one because we were hidden well in the mountains but I have had to practice a few. All we did was lock ourselves in our rooms and hope the guards could take over however many soldiers they sent to attack us. I have been hidden in this small building in the mountains my entire life. Since the day I was old enough I began training to be a soldier. Not because I wanted to fight but because I wanted to see
something other than this dull brown building. I guess I wasn’t paying attention because I ran head on into my best friend Jasper.
He just smiled and put his finger to his lips so I didn’t say anything. He then gestured over to the window that he was looking out of. I looked out the window as well and finally knew what was going on. Through the trees I could see three guards standing around what appeared to be a dead bear. I guess it had gotten on the grounds and they had no choice but to shoot it. That was odd. They never came here in the summer. I felt relief and also a little sadness. It was good we were safe but it would have been nice to see something interesting.
“So what now?” Jasper asked.
“Let’s go somewhere.” Maya suggested.
“Like where?” I asked her.
“Anywhere we want Allison.” Maya said.
“How?” Jasper asked.
Maya just smirked and opened her jacket. Inside was a guard’s pass and a gun. I was shocked. I had no idea how she could have got those. Around that part of the small building was on high alert.
“Maya how did you get those?” Jasper questioned Maya. She didn’t get a chance to answer before Alec caught us. He yelled a little and sent us back to where were supposed to be. While walking down the same dull gray hallway to go to training I heard Maya whisper to Jasper and I
“Meet at the cabin at eleven”. We got to the end of the sleeping hall and turned towards the training and eating quarters. There was only four main parts to the building. We had the training and cafeteria by the entrance, the study rooms, the sleeping hallway and the hospital at the back. All were painted light blues and greys and had very little windows. The outside of the building was brown and green so we could hide in the trees. We had some defenses on the outside like trenches and traps but not much. We mostly relied on guards to protect us.
I spent a majority of my day in the training room with Maya. We learned some new self- defence and survival skills. I didn’t pay much attention because I was thinking about what would happen when we met at the cabin. The cabin was a small wood house about a mile away from camp. We have all snuck out and met there before but we never went anywhere other than the safe cabin. Hopefully tonight we could explore and possibly see the city.
After training I went for dinner and sat with Jasper. We didn’t talk much because the guards nearby. When I was finished eating I went to visit my mom. She works in the hospital and study wing so I don’t see much of her. My dad used to be a soldier but he died when I was two. My
mom doesn’t talk about him much. I wish she would tell me what the world was like before all of this happened. Apparently we weren’t the only country to be taken over. She was pretty busy with a patient so I just told her I was going to bed. I probably wouldn’t see her for awhile because the building was arranged by age. Younger at the back and older in the front for safety reasons. As soon as you turned twelve you had to move out of your parent’s room, get a roommate and live on your own.
By the time I got to my room it was getting dark and I was getting excited. Maya and I got ready to leave to meet Jasper. Once we were ready we snuck out the window. Landing on the ground with a soft thud we began to sprint off of the property avoiding the guards lights. We ran through the dense forest to the cabin. When we got there I waved to the small garden gnome we had named Carl two years earlier. We climbed the rotting porch and found Jasper already inside.
“Took you long enough.” He said.
“Whatever. Let’s go somewhere… Maybe the city?” Maya suggested.
“That’s dangerous.” Jasper responded.
“So we have weapons.” I finally spoke.
“Yeah one gun.” Jasper said.
“Well we’re going and you can either come or stay.” I said.
“Fine.” He said.
We looked at the old map on the wall and decided we needed to head north. We left the cabin and started walking following the stars. There was no conversation because we were afraid of being heard. It was surprisingly cold for a mid-summers night. None of us had ever gone this far from camp. About twenty silent minutes later we came to a stop at the top of the edge of small cliff overlooking the city. It looked beautiful all lit up. I couldn’t see any people because we were too high up.
“Whoa.” Maya said.
“It’s beautiful.” Jasper agreed.
“It doesn’t even look that bad down there. I thought it was going to be a wreck.” I said.
I looked to my right to see Jasper nodding and then heard Maya scream from my left. I quickly turned to see her being dragged back by a man dressed as a soldier. We had been caught. I felt somebody pulling my arm and tried to run to Maya but I couldn’t. They were too strong. I spun around to see my attacker only to find Jasper desperately trying to pull me away. I turned to Maya one last time only to see a gun to her head. I yelled to her one last time before I heard the loud bang.
