The President's Daughter

11

Screams and demands echo through the hallway, but I just put my pillow over my ears and attempt to get comfortable. Another army drill. Great. I'm never going to get to sleep. My mattress is lumpier, I notice. It must not have mattered when I first got here because I was so tired. But now, I'm restless and the mattress just keeps getting worse with every position I lay in. Theirs banging on the door. I wonder how long it will take them to realize that I'm a beginner and not part of the drill. The banging stops but is replaced by the sound of wood breaking. Someone just kicked down my door. Again. I throw my pillow at the intruder and roll over on my side.

"Not today, madam president. We need to move. Now." I turn around to see Casey.

"What's going on?" I ask. But gun shots rigging through out the hall and smoke building in my room gives me my answer.

"oh my god. What do we do?" I ask as I jump of my bed.

"get your emergency back pack." he commands as he pulls out a gun from the bag around his side.

"I don't have an emergency backpack!" I shout back, frustration and panic filling my body and taking control of my nerves.

"it's in your mattress! Cut it open!" rounds of bullets fire from his gun and I see the look of terror written on his face. What ever is happening is really bad. I pull the dagger from my boot and cut down the center of my bed. Are enough, a backpack is what has been keeping me awake all night. I grab it and pull it over my shoulders, strapping it over my chest and stomach.

"toss me a gun!" I scream at Casey. He reaches into his belt and pulls one put, sliding it across the floor, not taking his eyes of the door. I pick it up an cock it. I'm ready.

"Let's go." he commands. I follow close behind him, just like he taught me.

"Shoot anyone shooting at you. Aim to kill." a chill goes down my spine as I remember the people that I killed. That I'm not done killing.

Fire burns my face as we jump through the flames. The ceiling cracks and threatens to fall on our backs, smokes fill our lungs.

"if you cough on me, I swear--" but he didn't get to finish as I cough right in his face. Ash covers his face just like mine, the look on his face is almost impossible to read. But I do know that if we make it out alive, he's going to kill me.

I was about to duck behind a fallen beam when a man lifts his gun right at Casey.

"Casey, get down!" I shout as I lift my gun. The man was filled with bullets before he could even raise his hands in surrender.

I look at Casey to see if he was all right but he just gave me a look I couldn't place.

"how do we get out of here?" I ask desperately.

"follow me. Watch my back." we start to move through out the Ditch. An explosion from the kitchen knocks me off my feet, my gun sliding from my hands. Bullets fire right above my head. I need my gun. I hesitantly look up. Thats when I see it. I military crawl across the ash and rubble. I reach for my gun, my hands brush against the handle when another hand grabs it before I can even claim victory. My eyes cross as I stare down the barrel of my own gun.

"Don't. move." warns the voice. But I would know the voice of the only nice guy in the Ditch anywhere.

"Ronan! It's me! Don't shoot!" I exclaim. He lowers the gun and looks me in the eyes.

"Braydon? Are you ok? Why are you on the floor? Did you get shot?" he asks me, his voice filling with panic.

"no. I'm trying not to get shot. What about you? Are you okay?" I ask. He looks away and that's when I realize how much he is sweating and how pale his face is.

"I wasn't so lucky." he removes his hand and blood gushes from his stomach.

"oh my god. Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here." I look around, take my gun then stand up,Casey running over.

"What the hell are you doing?" he screams at me, then looks down.

"Ronan? What happened?" he asks.

"I'm sorry, Casey. I messed up." Casey doesn't say anything, but his jaw tightens as if he's holding something back.

"Help me get him." I tell Casey. I bend down to help pick him up when I hear the worst sound ever. It sounded like nails on a chalk board but in reality, it was the ceiling caving in. I jump out of the way just in time. I saved my self from being buried, but as I look back all I see of Ronan is his out stretched hand, waiting for me to help him. But I only helped myself.

"Ronan!" I scream as I reach for him, trying to shift through the rock that crushed his body.

"Braydon, we have to go!" screams Casey.

"The Ditch is falling and I'm not about to buried alive!" he continues to screams.

"But.. Ronan!" I cry.

"he's gone, Braydon. He's gone." but he doesn't sound like someone that just lost his best friend. He sounds like a soldier that was given a mission. A mission to live. And that's how I have to be too.

I follow Casey out. I don't know where we are going but I don't ask questions. I just run and a shoot. My lungs burn inside my chest, dusk collects in the corners of my eyes. My mouth is as dry as the chicken my mom used to make as I push my way through the falling building and out into the open.

The sent of pine fills my nose and the stars illuminate the battle field as men in red and men in blue blow each others heads off. I rum behind Casey, keeping my head down, dodging bullets and bodies as I race clear across the open plain. Dont get shot. Don't get shot. Don't get shot.

Casey screams at me to run faster and I try. But my body can't take much more. I stop for a second. I swear, it is only a second. But thats all it takes for a soldier in red, one of our soldiers, to stand up behind me and lift his gun to face.

I tremble as I prepare to meet the end. I look in his eyes. He knows it's me, doesn't he? He wouldn't kill me. And he doesn't. Because Casey killed him first.

"there. Now we're even." he yells as he takes my hands and drags me into the thick forest of trees, away from the people that want me dead.