~Chapter 1~ *Hi guys! This is just a work in progress I started. I'll post the next few chapters when I finish! All feedback is appreciated. Thanks. * Prologue “Let go of me!” The man in the dark clothes clutched my wrists together. I yanked, pulled, kicked and screamed. “Let go!” I cried. Cold rain pounded to the ground, and the dark, gray sky looked more gloomy than ever. I scanned the area around me, and the sight was not pleasant.. All my neighbors and friends were being shot, stabbed, or brought hostage. It was awful. My eyes darted back and forth, searching the large crowd of people for my two daughters. I clutch the ruby necklace Kellan had gave me in my hands. There she was, fighting the men and woman in black. Hot tears slipped from my eyes. “Kellan! Olivia! Run!” I screamed. I saw Kellan scoop up Olivia, but instead of running away, she came at me. She was going to try and save me. “No! Kellan! Go!” I screeched, my voice hoarse. Tears poured down my face. For a moment, everything stopped. It was just me and my daughters, staring at eachother. Everything was quiet, and peaceful. I was holding Kellan as a baby, a soft towel wrapped around her fragile body and a pink hat on her bald head. Her piercing gray eyes staring into mine. A man in black came up from behind Kellan, and attempted to wrench Olivia from her hands. Kellan whirled around, and kicked the man in the shins. That’s my girl. She glanced at me, and mouthed the words, “I love you.” Then she and Olivia sprinted through the crowd, and into the woods. I struggled against the man holding me hostage. He had greasy, brown hair, and a single black earring dangling from his left ear. His tight grip was cutting off the circulation in my hands. He pulled me away, towards a tall, blond woman who seemed to be in charge. “She’s a fighter.” The man holding my wrists said. It made me feel good to know I was causing problems. “Do we need her?” The woman asked. “No, we have plenty. . . But she is the mother.” “We have the father. We don’t need her.” Without a second thought, the man took out a gun. Before I even knew what was happening, everything went black. Chapter 1 I think it was around 10 a.m., when Brevon shook me awake. He seemed scared. Brevon was never scared. Never. Slowly, I sat up in our tent. He gestured outside, and I raised my eyebrows. What was he talking about? He pointed to his ears. He wanted me to listen? We sat in silence. Then, I heard it. A light, crunching noise. Too loud to be an animal. Brevon slipped his fingers in mine. I closed my eyes. I heard it again. I squeezed his hand tighter. “Do you think it’s them?” I mouthed. Brevon shrugged. Ever since the people attacked North America, people had been on the run, trying to get to another continent without air travel. The people in black, or the ‘Clix’ bombed all the airports, and have ‘watchmen’ posted at all of the boating docks. Its odd, the way they had there watchmen set up. They seemed to be looking for something. Over half of America’s population was killed. The only thing I can understand, is that they’re after something- something important, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it. Anyway, me and my little sister escaped, and we have been on the run for over a month now. Or, at least I think it's been a month. It's so hard to keep track of time. We meet Brevon in the woods, who is teaching us to hunt. Brevon pointed to the two flaps that led out of the tent. The one in the front, and the back. I shuddered. We only used the back flap in an emergency. We had never had to use it before. “Just in case.” He whispered, so quietly I wasn’t sure if it was him, or just my imagination. I glanced at my 8 year old sister, Olivia, who was asleep on her sleeping bag. I hoped she wasn’t having a nightmare. She had been having them more often ever since I explained what really happened the day we ran away. We sat in the tent for what felt like years. Just when I thought the “thing” was gone, I heard I loud, SNAP! This time the sound was close. Adrenaline shot through my body, and I let out a shaky breath. Brevon pointed to the back flap, then nodded his head. We needed to get out of here. I took a deep a deep breath, and leaned over to wake Olivia. I lightly pressed my hand on her shoulder. She turned, and rubbed her eyes. I pressed my finger to my lips, just as Brevon had. She looked first at me, then around the tent. “No.” She whispered. She wasn’t stupid. She knew what was going on. I saw her eyes fill with tears. “No!” “It’s okay.” "Don't let them take me." She cried, tears streaming down her face. "I won't. I promise." I whispered soothingly, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “Everything is going to be alright.” Olivia crawled out of her sleeping bag, and we all huddled around the flap. “I’ll go out first, and make sure the coast is clear. Then Olivia, then you, okay?” Brevon whispered. I nodded. He squeezed my hand, and I felt warmth spread through my body. I was being dumb. So... girly. I focused on calming Olivia. Brevon slipped out of the tent. I held my breath, and waited. It felt like hours, days, years before he signaled me to help Olivia exit. I lightly pushed her out of the tent. Tears stained her freckled skin, and her light brown hair was plastered to her face. Just then, as I looked into her scared, sad, green eyes, I realized how much she looked like me. We had the same freckles, the same light hair, the same round nose, the same lips... The only difference was the eyes. I had stormy, gray eyes. Her eyes were seaweed green. Once she was safely outside, I stared at Brevon’s hand. It kept me distracted. Then he waved at me. That was my signal. Shaking, I climbed out of the tent. As silently as I could, I walked over to Olivia and Brevon. Brevon motioned for me to follow him. I took one last look at our campsite. The small table Brevon helped me build still stood outside the tent, and the small, broken chair Olivia had attempted to make, layed in pieces near the table. Brevon grabbed my hand, and we tiptoed through the forest. I avoided the dead, crunchy leaves the best I could, but it was difficult not to step on one every now and then. Olivia steped on a small, delicate branch that snapped under her weight. We all held our breath. We didn’t hear anything, so we kept going. Just then, Brevon broke into a run. He wasn’t avoiding leaves, or twigs. He was just steping on them. It was loud. I thought we were supossed to be quiet! What was he doing? Could I trust Brevon? Or was he a traitor like the others? I didn’t have any other option but to follow him, or could hide? If he was really a traitor, wouldn’t her have already killed me? I dashed after him. “Brevon!” I screamed. No sence being quiet now. “What are you doing? They’re going to catch us!” He ignored me, and continued running. It was tough for me to keep up with him. He was a fast runner. The people had deffinetly heard us by now. I saw Brevon dissapear behind a thick wall of trees. “Stop!” I yelled at Brevon. “Where do you think you’re going to go?” Then I stoped dead in my tracks. Olivia. I couldn’t hear her steps behind me. I whirled around. She was gone. “Olivia!” I sceamed. “Olivia!” I ran back towards where the tent was. I didn’t see her. I kept running. It was so dark, I probabily wouldn’t have even saw her if she ran right past me. The image of Olivia being sliced in half by a long, sharp, knife appered in my brain. I pushed it away. I could’t give up. I stopped and listened. Maybe I would hear her. I listened as hard as I could. I thought I heard footsteps behind me, and I whirled around. “Olivia?” I couldn’t see anything. I squinted, and tried to see farther into the woods. There was nothing there. It was just my imagination. “Olivia.” I wispered again. “Liv, please.” I sank to my knees. I had just been thinking of how lucky we were, to be alive and together. Olivia was the only family I had left, and I lost her. She was probabily dead. I sat on the ground, and started bawling. I thought about all the fun times we had together. I'd promised... I'd promised her. I'd promised her I wouldn't let them take her. I remembered the time we picked apples together in our backyard. There was a big, round juicy apple on a high branch. I had picked up Olivia and placed her on my shoulders, so she could reach it. Then I tripped, and we came crashing to the ground. Then we doubled over laughing. It just made me cry harder. Rustling in the bushes behind me brought me back to my sences. I quickly sat up, and wiped the tears from my face. “Kellan! What’s wrong?” It was Brevon. “You. You!” I screamed. “You killed her! You called your little friends here! It was all you! ‘ “What? What are you talking about?” He exclaimed. “Don’t play dumb. You know what I’m talking about. I can’t believe I trusted you!” I grabbed my pocket knife, and advanced on Brevon. He clutched his knife too. What was I doing? I wasn’t as good as a fighter as him! I didn’t stand a chance. But if I was going to die, I wanted to do it for my sister. I swung my knife at Brevon, who easily deflected all of by blows. I thought it was odd how he didn’t attack me. Maybe his plan was to hold me hostage. I swung my knife harder. “Kellan, stop. ” Brevon said “No, you stop.” “You know you could never beat me.” He smirked “I can try.” Brevon laughed. He swung his knife upwards, and it cut me across my cheak. I yelped in pain. Blood dripped down my face. Now I was mad. I sliced madly in the air, but all I ever came in contact with was the end of Brevons’ knife. “Woah. . . Kellan, your eyes! There. . . They’re red!” I paused, and closed my eyes. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. I couldn’t expose myself to him. Id rather die, then tell him my secret. Once I felt calm, I attacked again. Taken of gaurd, Brevon lost his ballance, and I scratched his arm. He didn’t even seem to notice. Once more, he tried one of his tricks, and he sliced upwards again. This time, I was prepared. I pushed down on my knife, and blocked his slice, but the preasure from the blow caused the knife to fall from my hands. I stood, weaponless, in front of Brevon. I was done. I would never win. Brevon reached down and grabbed my knife. “If you are going to live in the woods, you’re going to need this.” He held up the knife. “Oh? So you’re not going to bring me hostage, then.” I sneered. I couldn’t believe this. He had been so caring, and kind to me and Olivia, and now he was going to kill me. I can’t die like this. . . after all I had been through! I pounced at Brevon, but he was to quick. He held out his two knives, and all the sudden, one knife was pressed agents the back of my throat, and one in the front. I closed my eyes. “Kellan, whats wrong?” He asked in a soft voice. He took the front knife off my neck, and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear just as I had done to Oliva. . . Olivia. . . Oliva. I felt like crying, knowing she was gone, but I would not cry in front of him. We stared at eachother in silence. “You need to trust me.” He wispered. I took a deep breath, and said, “I’m sorry Brevon. I-” Just then, Brevon swirved around me. I spun around, and saw one of Brevon’s knives sink deep into the flesh of a man in black. A deep groan escped from the mans lips, and he clutched his side. “Kellan!” Brevon dashed towards me and grabbed my arm. “Come on! Run!” He pulled me along with him until we reached the tent. “Quick. Grab your stuff and go.” He instructed. Without objection, I ran into the tent and grabbed all of are stuff, which didn’t take long. All we had were two pairs of clothes each, three small backpacks, two canteens, and our sleeping bags. Blinking back tears, I stuffed our things, including Olivia’s, into our three backpacks. I flug one bag over my shoulder, and carried the others. I scuddled out of the tent. Brevon was waiting for me. “Come on, lets go.” He said . “I won’t have time to get the tent.” “That’s fine. I have our sleeping bags.” I replied, and handed a backpack to Brevon. “Here. Give me two of the the bags.” “Why?” “Because I’m stronger than you.” “I don’t think so.” “Hand it over.” Brevon said sternly, wrenching a bag from my hands. He hucked them over his shoulders. We started to run. “How far are we going to go?” I asked. “As far as we can.” He replied. We ran for a long time. I guessed that the people in black were off our trail, but still we continued running. Even though I knew Brevon wasn’t a traitor, I would never have the same feelings for him ever again. Chapter 2 After my legs were stiff, and my lungs were burning, we finally stopped. I colapsed on the ground, and Brevon sat down next to me. I slipped my bag off my back, and fumbled with my sleeping bag. I layed it down on the hard ground. Brevon got his sleeping bag too. I stared at the dark, black, sky. There were no stars. Not even the moon. All I saw were dark black clouds. “I’m sorry,” He said. “Hmm.,” I sighed. He grunted, then sat up. I gulped back sobbs. “I’ll take the first watch.” He said. “Ha! You really think I trust you after what just happened?” My sadness was suddenly replaced by anger. “Look, I know you’re sad about Olivia. I am too. But we need to get over it.” “It’s not that easy, Brevon!” I said, my voice rising. “You don’t even care she’s gone! You didn’t even notice at first!” “Kellan, trust me.” “Trust you? Who do you think you are? “You need to forget her, Kellan.” “I can’t just forget! How would you like it if your sister and mom died, and your dad was a traitor? You have no clue!” “I do have a clue, okay? I know it’s not easy, but you have to forget about it!” Brevon yelled. “How would you know?” My voice cracked. Tears slipped from the corners of my eyes. Brevon crawled over to me and I resisted the urge to clapse into him. He rubbed my back with his hand, and I pushed it away. “I would know,” Brevon wispered, “because I’ve lost family before too.” I pulled away from him, and stared at him, wide eyed, and open mouthed. He stared at the ground. After a moments silence, I asked, “What happened?” For a moment, I didn’t think he’d respond. Then he said, “On the day they attacked, I lost my brother and my two sisters. Both my parents were traitors.” He took a deep breath, then continued. “My mom killed one of my sisters.” He looked away. “I. . . I had to kill my mom.” I stared at him, and he stared back. “I am so sorry.” I whispered. I was lost for words. I didn’t know what to say. We sat and listened to the crickets chirping. “I haven’t got to tell anyone that. It feels good to let it all out.” Brevon said with a sigh. “Thank you.” I smiled. “I’ll take the first watch. I think you should get some sleep.” I said. I wanted to make sure that if Olivia was still alive, and was in the area, I herd her. evon said. “I trust you. Wake me up in around 3 hours. Then I’ll watch” He slipped down into his sleeping bag. And although I did feel bad for Brevon, I thought his story could have just been a lie to make me feel bad for him. I still didn’t truely trust him. “Okay.” I walked over to a big rock, and sat on it. I stared into the empty forest, and wished Olivia was sleeping on my sleeping bag next to Brevon’s. I remembered her laugh and smile... It was going to be a long night.