Stolen Truth

23

We could hear them marching long before they showed up at camp. All of them were marching in perfect time with each other, like a beautifully tragic song. All of the children and everyone that couldn't fight should be leaving now or hiding if they couldn't make it. Dove and I were hidden behind a large bush, almost blending in to the trees and plants around us. I tried to convince Dove to hide, she could be invisible if she wanted, but she refused to. We held on to each other tightly, rocking back and forth in fear as we tried to think of words to describe the feelings we may never feel again.

Her lips were white as ash and trembling with all of the words I wished she would say. I finally opened my mouth to say something, but she placed a shaky finger over my lips.

"They're here," she whispered.

It was burning. Our forest was burning and us with it. Children could be heard coughing as smoke filled the air. The heavy footsteps of the blanks began to grow distant as they followed the sounds, so, with fresh tears in her eyes and a look of sorrow on her face, Dove let out a scream that soon turned into a cough, luring the blanks away from the others and bringing them towards us.

"I'm so sorry," she said desperately, looking up at me fearfully.

"So I am," I whispered, cupping her face with my hand before joining her in trying to keep the blanks away from those who were trying to escape.

We both stopped and cried in silent fear as the bush was ripped apart, revealing the face of a young blank soldier, probably only a few years older than me.

"Found you," he grinned at us, and then louder, "Found them!"

"Looks like you lose," another blank said to us, "If you knew how to play you would've hidden alone."

"We didn't lose," Dove insisted, staggering up.

"Not yet maybe," the blank smirked, "But we will find and destroy all of you one day, and then you will lose."

"Maybe," Dove countered, "But it won't be today."

I watched as Dove mustered up her remaining energy and powers to throw the blanks that surrounded us back as far as she could. She was still weak from the battle at the bridge, all of us who had been there were.

I tried to join her, using my own powers but also trying as best I could to focus on being a source for her, so she could fight.

More of those who had been hiding near us joined the battle whilst everyone else ran to escape. Despite our collective lack of energy, we were still holding our own with the blanks and working together to keep our community and our home safe.

I became an energy source, not only for Dove, but for everyone else fighting. I was quickly becoming exhausted, but I still fought and beat every blank that I came across. I knew deep down that some of these soldiers were just like us, but I couldn't let them kill my family.

It was dawn when we finally began to win, but far too many people had died on both sides for us to take any real joy in the false victory.

"Spider!" Fox screamed, and I watched from the corner of my eye as she fell to her knees and wept, only to be killed beside her friend.

"I'm sorry," Spider sobbed, forgetting about her own wound, "I-I didn't realise."

"It's okay," Fox whispered, "I didn't realise either."

"Well I guess..."

"No, don't say goodbye," Fox said, "Sometimes we don't get to say goodbye. I'm sorry we missed our chance."

"No! We haven't missed our chance, we still have so much to do! I-I can heal you, you can't leave me here."

"You can't do anything now, heal yourself instead," Fox said, "Just please don't say goodbye, tell me something nice instead."