The Kingdom

she always remembered the first night, the first night of The Infection.
the multiple phone calls
the fast paced packing
the traffic
mia was only seven at the time, but still, ten years later, she remembered it clearly.
they drove.
they drove for one hour
two hours
three hours
four
they didn't stop until they made it out of urbanized New York, and made it to the thick, dense, isolated mountains of New York almost into Vermont.
two years passed, and mia was now ten, hardheaded, and her father had gathered a large group of fellow survivors, and they had found a small town in lower Vermont, and they had started to build walls around it.
that was when she first met Him. he had come alone. he was only eleven at the time, and he had somehow survived by himself, and mia was amazed.
so, she talked to him, and the pair quickly became friends.
draven and mia, the inseparable pair.
they grew up together, watched the rise of The Kingdom, and comforted each other during the fall of her father, of her uncle, until she was left alone with a community who looked towards her to lead, and they drifted apart.
he went off to become a Protector, a soldier of The Kingdom, and mia knew the law her father had set down years previous to her reign.
mia was fifteen at the time of their drifting.
fifteen and secretly in love.
but she couldn't. she couldn't fall in love. especially not Him.
seventeen now, and they were no longer friends, now they were associates.
and associates couldn't be together.
but fate had already made plans for the two of them.
and fate cannot be changed.