Exile

-Chapter Three-

I had been harshly pushed from the labs by a guard that definitely wasn't the boy.

"You're finished, Burgess." One of the Testmakers had said. I had never been so full of anger. It boiled inside me like a white hot ball of anger pushing up and into my eyes, forcing hot, angry tears out of them.

"Ivory Elise Burgess, your score is ninety-six. " The robotic, computerized voice said. I screamed in pain; mental pain that they had caused me. I was a dead girl. I had one foot in my grave. I was finished.

The tears brimmed my eyes, making my vision blurry, but I refused to cry. The buff soldier was pushing me harder and harder, mouthing profanities about poor people the whole way to the train. He shoved me in and saluted the driver.

The ride back was silent. A girl across from me was crying and the boy next to her was rubbing her back as she sobbed loudly. 'Why can't I have that?' I wondered. Pushing the thoughts out of my mind, I signaled the driver that this was my stop. We squealed to a stop, making the girl choke on her own tears. I waved a silent goodbye to the driver and walked off, leaving a trail of dust in my wake.

It felt like someone was following me, watching. It couldn't be the guard, I had killed him. Was it the boy? No, I left him back at the Republic.

Finally, I got to our crappy village. The streets were lined with shacks and lean-tos. Children dressed in rags begged on the street corners, asking for anything to fill their tiny bellies. Adults knocked on houses asking for work, only to be denied, and then recieving death threats if they weren't to vacate the premises immediately.

I brushed past all the beggars and hobos until I got to our small, one bedroom shack at the corner of Victory Drive.

What a stupid name. There has been no victory here for years. The streets stunk with the smell of death. There has been only loss and suffering.

I knocked on the door. "Mother? Harmony? Liam? It's me, Ivory." I rapped my knuckled against the rotten wood.

"Ivory!" A choked voice called out. "S-save us! Please!" Liam. I jiggled to door knob. It wouldn't budge.

"Liam! Can you get to the door? Where's Harmony and Mother?" I said, still ignoring the ever-present feeling that I was being watched.

"I don't know where Mother is. They t-took her. I think Harmony is d-dead!" Liam wailed. He began to sob.

"Can you get to the door?" I said, letting my tears spill out of my eyes. They rolled down my cheeks and onto the red clay.

"No, sister. I'm sorry. It just hurts too much. They b-beat me and used the rifle to get Mother out. She fought so hard for Harmony but they shot her. They took Mother away. She started to cry. She told me to save myself." Liam said, his voice getting sleepier.

"No! Liam, no! Stay with me, please!" I yelled, my voice getting hysterical as I pulled out the knife and began to stab it into the door. I ripped off the hinges and tore through the door. I almost gagged when I saw Liam.

His face was dripping with blood from a deep red wound on his forehead. Bruises lined his arms and legs. I ran over to him. He was sprawled out in the living room, staring at the fire place. "Liam." I ran my hand along his cheeks. I knew there was nothing I could do. He was going to die and there was nothing I could do.

"Where's Harmony?" I whispered. Liam began to breath heavily as he pointed to the fireplace. I choked.

Her tiny body was covered in ashes. Her entire body was the color of charcoal. I let the tears roll onto her and cause steam rise out from her skin. I picked her up and cradled her against my body, sobbing.