Standa Rebels

Chapter 1: The Boy

*Chapter 1:* I'm sitting on a stiff branch, wondering what it would be like without Swift. Simpler, free-er , less lonely. I can't kill her, she's invincible. I don't mean she can't die, but she has way too many Standa Candies that would look forward to killing both Jesse and me afterward, and they would just make the Head Officer, Hector, as evil as Swift, Head anyways. All that would do would be getting two people killed and a new Head. Maybe if we could just organize our own explosion and set it right at the Standa House. Every evil soul working for Standa would die. There would still be Standa Candy scattered around , but they couldn't do anything about it. They might even come to my side. Its a dream... Hey, maybe we could build a bomb somehow ourselves and kill all Standa. Jesse would be up for that any day of the week. "Hey, Jesse," I say. "Yes Ms. Quinn?" He says with a smile. A thought runs through my head that he is a decent looking guy,"Wanna kill Standa with me?" "Sure. Won't ever happen though," he gives his smirk. "You never know," I say. "That's true. You never do. It's just not very likely to happen though." He gives a flick of his dark brown hair, and I give a flick of my lighter hair in response. That is our signal code for finding food. We climb off the steady tree and deeper into the forest. After about five rabbits, we go off to a lake to wash the carcasses off. I push a once silver-skinned rabbit into the water. The silky, pure waves lure me in. Before I know it, I'm swimming joyfully. Jesse smiles and joins me. Somehow, it came from hunting rabbits to splashing water in each others faces. I grab a cup made out of stems weaved so tight even water can't escape them. I dunk the cup in the water and take a drink. I feel refreshed now, like I'm able to jump off a cliff and survive. I dump the rest on Jesse's head. He tries to splash me, but I go underwater before he can. My head bobs back up and I climb to the shore to continue the day's work. I grab the rabbit and toss it to Jesse. Then I scrub the fur dirt less. I take a needle and a dark purple, the color of clouds at nighttime, thread. I continuously loop it through the thread. Before I know it, all the rabbits are skinned & washed, and we have gloves to last the month. We have extra fur scraps, therefore I make an extra pair. I almost reach the shore again when I hear a scream. It sounds like a boy that would be about my age. I swerve around and see him: Fairly built, wearing a bear hat, red jeans, and a navy blue shirt with blonde hair. Also fairly good looking. Then I realize he is a Standa. A man with a dagger is chasing him. They are both Standas, I can tell, but I only have one hunting knife with me. The man seems more vicious by comparison. I throw the knife, and I watch it fly through the wind. It hits the man in the side, then all eyes are everywhere. I'm looking at the man, the man is looking at the ground, the boy who was chased is also looking at the man, Jesse finally looks up at me, then I look at the boy, and we meet each others gaze. I walk toward him and he walks toward me. He smiles and I can't help but smile back. "Hi, I'm Skylar." The boy says "Hi, Skylar. I'm Quinn." "Okay." "Alright Standa Candy." I can hear him get a little annoyed by his tone," I'm not a Standa. I am posing. They killed my family!" "Mine as well," I say. "Want to go swim in the lake?" I hear my voice raising as I climb back to the shore and calm down in the cool water. "Thanks for putting Hector there in a coma," Skylar says. "That was Hector? And no problem. I've been wanting to kill or at least inflict harm upon them for awhile." I say. Jesse swims next to me and I splash him. "Personal space, please?" I laugh. Jesse laughs. Skylar gives us a confused look. "What?" I ask him. "Nothing. You just seem strange," he smiles. I glare at him. "I mean in a good way," Skylar laughs. I hand him a pair of gloves. Jesse smacks my hand and says,"Those are ours, Quinn." A serious look appears on his face. "Don't be so selfish," I splash water on him. He pretends to strangle me and we (Skylar, Jesse, and me) bust out laughing. I toss Skylar the gloves. He puts them down on the ground and climbs in the water. "So why was that guy chasing you?" I ask Skylar. "He found out I wasn't Standa candy and it is his job to kill me, so,you know," he says and dives under the surface. I dive under with him and, since we are under water, my voice gets muffled,"And what do you plan to do now?" I ask. Jesse dives down and asks,"So what are we talking about?" "Things," I answer, and all three of us go back up for air. I look at Skylar and he replies,"I plan to hide." "Wuuuss," Jesse mutters. "Shut up," Skylar laughs. Jesse sticks out his tongue and I ask,"Where do you plan on hiding?" I smirk. "With you guys," he smiles,"If that's okay with you." "It will be perfectly okay," I reply. Jesse glares at me. I glare back.

I make a big mistake. I avert my eyes over to Hector to look at a tree behind him. Something is strange in this picture, something was different before. Then it hits me; Hector is conscious. Skylar must've mistaken a coma for simply passing out. I look at Skylar and Jesse to scream a warning cry, but all I yell is "He—!" before I feel a sting of pain and see stars in my eyes.