Silent Rebellion

Chapter 12.) Freedom?

"Stop! Please, come back with us." President Ember urged us.

"Just leave us alone!" Jason said, staring down at her from the ground.

"This was all just a test. Everyone has taken it."

"So, are we matched, then?" I asked.

"Yes. We decided to wait until your birthday, Evelyn. So you could have time with your match and complete the test. You were not supposed to find that passageway. You were not supposed to be out here."

"Then what were we supposed to do?" I asked, my voice rising.

"That's classified, dear."

"Well, we're staying up here," Jason said.

"I don't want to hurt you, but, if you do not come down, we'll have to cut the tree down. Your choice." When we didn't budge, she waved the guards over and they began sawing at the trunk of the tree.

"Climb higher, we're going to jump to that tree." Jason whispered. I nodded and obeyed. When we got to the top of the tree, Jason went first and hooked his arm around a think branch as he landed. He moved over and motioned for me to jump. I took a deep breath and jumped. I could feel myself with the wind through my tangled hair. I flailed my arms and caught onto the same branch Jason did, and he helped me up. The men were trying to pull the saw out of the tree so they could try to get to us.

"We can beat them on foot. There should be somewhere in the City we can hide," I thought.

"Yeah, we can, but I'm sure it wouldn't do good. Somebody'll recognize us." That's when I realized I had muttered my idea out loud. He pulled a vine from the tree and tested it to see if it was strong enough to get us to the next tree.

"You go first." He said, handing the vine over to me. "That tree over there. Wait for me, then we'll jump down and run. Maybe we can hop onto a train." I nodded, gripped the vine, and swung over to the tree. I landed on both feet and swung the vine back over. Jason grabbed it and swung over and landed.

He jumped down first, and I jumped after him. I felt a shooting pain in my ankle and I couldn't get up. He grabbed my hands and pulled me up. When he saw I was limping, he helped me onto his back and he ran as fast as he could toward the city. He kept running and we could see the train tracks with a train approaching it. He ran faster, and just as the train was leaving, he helped me off and threw me into the caboose, where there was a door we could get into that led to the rest of the train. He jumped on after me, and we both found an empty table we sat in.

"My dad's a doctor in York, he can help your ankle. Keep looking down, they'd probably recognize us in our uniforms." He whispered, looking over his shoulder. Jason asked the woman in front of us where this train was headed, and she replied, "First Aura, then York, then back to the City." Jason thanked her, and she said, "Hey, aren't you the boy and the girl who were chosen?"

"Shh, you can't tell anyone, okay? Please," he whispered.

"Come into my booth, I have some stuff you can change into to disguise yourself. I was visiting my daughter and her husband in York, but you can have them. They may be a little bit big, however. There's a bathroom over there," she said, pointing to where the bathroom was. She handed Jason some clothes, then me. I hopped to the bathroom and changed into the bright blue sweater and black jeans, then came back out with the uniform in my hand. She stuffed it in her bag.

"Are you okay, dear? You're limping."

"Hopefully, I will be," I replied, chuckling.

Time passed and soon we were in the train stop for York. We said goodbye to the woman, and Jason helped me to where his house was. He knocked on the door, and his mother opened it.

"Jason!" She cried. "Jason! Why are you here? Who is this?"

"Shh, mom, this is Evelyn. She's my match. We ran away from the City, and she's hurt. We need dad to look at her ankle," he replied as calmly as he could. She let us inside and Jason helped me onto the couch. His mom went to get his dad, and he soon came over to us. While he was inspecting my ankle, Jason and I were telling them what had happened.

"There have been strict laws everywhere now. I guess it's because of the rebels," Mrs. Glosse said. "You two must be starving. I'll make you something," she said, walking into the kitchen.

"Fracture is my best guess," Mr. Glosse said at last. "It's definitely not broken, thank goodness. I can give you some crutches, Evelyn, and you'll need to stay off that foot for about a month." I thanked him and breathed a sigh of relief. Jason's mom came back out with a tray of food for each of us. Jason and I scarfed down most of the food, then later fell asleep on the couch, chasing away the nightmares of the day.