Chapter 1
Fallon sat in the dank cell through a dark corridor, her rear numb from the cold metal bench she perched upon. Her skin pale, almost translucent, having been deprived of the sun and the world outside for more than a year now. Her milk chocolate hair matted and sticking to her face. Her pale grey eyes lifeless. She was given two chunks of stale bread and a glass of some murky brown solution a day. Though she wasn’t entirely sure what the nauseating solution consisted of, she drank it greedily as it was slightly filling. The girl was trapped in a prison she knew would starve her to death. Every week they fed her less and less. It was only a matter of time before Fallon would be given nothing at all and would perish.
The prisoner raised a bony hand in front of her face, inspecting the skeletal figure she saw before her. The fingers on her hands were long and skinny, the knuckles seemed to bulge because of the lack of meat on her slender frame. Fallon had once been somewhat attractive. Some might have even said she was beautiful. But now when she looked at her reflection in the filthy mirror across from her, she saw nothing but a dead girl.
The plastic revolution continued on as if Fallon had never existed and she remained in custody. Her band of rebels never came to rescue her. She felt betrayed and unneeded. She had led them through protest after protest, each gathering more violent than the next. Their corrupt government came up with cover ups that were too believable to be fake so that the public would forget about Fallon and her rebels. Fallon fought with purpose and she fought for her planet. Sea turtles were extinct. Seals? Gone. Sea lions? Nowhere to be seen. Fallon couldn’t stand to see any more of the world’s precious animals vanish from the face of the Earth.
“Had I not been in charge of this whole rebellion?” Fallon whispered to herself, quietly contemplating her life. “My people need me… Earth needs me.” Fallon punched the thick brick wall in frustration and immediately dark red blood appeared on her knuckles. Mumbling profanities under her breath Fallon swatted at the crimson beads that slowly dripped down her wrist and trickled onto her arm. The pain of her bleeding limb took her mind off of her frustration.
Suddenly a door at the end of the end of the dark corridor was thrown open and banged against the hard brick wall. The sound of a struggle bounced off the metal bars of the prisoners cells and the shout of angry voices accompanied it. Fallon ran to the bars of her cell and pressed her face against the cold metal in an attempt to see what all the commotion was about.
“Let go of me!”
“Ma’am we need you to cooperate or else we are going to be forced to do this the hard way.”
Fallon couldn’t see where the voices were coming from but she could see three shadows slowly making their way down the corridor, light from the open door casting their shadows onto the wall. There were two guards and a small feminine figure. The guard figures each held tightly to the third figure’s arms and pushed her forward. The third figure tried digging the heels of her shoes into the floor to stop herself from being pushed any further but the slick linoleum floors wouldn’t allow it.
Fallon heard a loud grunting sound as the third figure kicked the shin of the guard to her right as hard as she could and his leg gave out. Fallon laughed out loud and her hands flew up to cover her mouth so that the figures wouldn’t hear her. It was nice to see someone giving the guards a taste of their own medicine.
Fallon heard one of the guards spit in the third figure’s face. “Ignorant brat!” He had fire in his tone. The guards so easily lost their temper. Fallon then heard a taser go off and saw the third figure slump over, barely grasping consciousness.
With a sigh Fallon returned to her bench. It was fun while it lasted. Just as Fallon rested her head onto her arm to take a much needed nap, the bars to her cell were slid open. She sat up in surprise and stared dumbly at the three figures outside of her cell. A tall, muscular, dark guard with his hand held firmly around the thin arm of a young girl with a sack over her head stood looming above Fallon. He wore a badge displaying the name Armory. Next to the girl was a second guard, not quite as tall as the other but muscular nonetheless. He wore a badge with the name Caleb. Caleb seemed to favor his left leg.
“We found another little rebel girl for ya,” Don said to Fallon with a wicked grin as he threw the weakened girl into the cell.
“Hey watch it!” Fallon growled as she rushed forward to catch the girl before she hit her head on the cold cement cell floor, since the girls wrists were bound and she couldn’t catch herself. Gently resting the girl on the ground she snapped her head up quickly and stared at the two guards. The bars were still open. Her chance to escape had finally come. Fallon darted forward and charged the guards, hoping to catch them by surprise. Armory and Caleb spread their arms to block Fallon from passing them but she threw herself through Armory’s spread legs and landed outside of her cell. Almost free. Scrambling to her feet, the prisoner ran as fast as her weak legs could carry her. The thick air of the corridor seemed to be pulling her back but Fallon pushed onward. The floor above Fallon held hundreds more cells, guard sleeping quarters, and the exit. The prisoner’s weak body was tiring quickly and Armory and Caleb were gaining on her. Their steel toed boots stomped down the corridor behind her, creating a steady rhythm that made Fallon think of the horrible fate that would await her if she was caught. Her fellow prisoners cheered her on and she soared as if she had wings. Fallon was nearing the door and she knew that if she could just reach it, she could lock it behind her and leave the guards trapped in the corridor. Each second brought her closer and closer to freedom. She was fifty feet away… forty… thirty… Fallon was out of breath but she knew she couldn’t stop. She was so close. Fallon was ten feet from the door, her arm outstretched prepared to pull the handle. She made it. She would finally be freed. Caressing the frigid metal handle lightly Fallon grasped the handle in her hand.
Just then Fallon’s hair was seized from behind her and she was jerked backwards. She was thrown to the ground and landed with such force that the breath was knocked out of her. She laid there gasping for air as the guards laughed at her attempted escape.
Caleb grasped Fallon’s dusty grey prison uniform and dragged her all the way down the corridor and back to her cell. Fallon was too weak to resist him so she let herself be pulled back towards the nightmare she knew too well. As Fallon caught sight of her cell and the open bars, she noticed the young girl had removed the sack from her head and dark black curls flowed softly over her shoulders. Fallon shook her head slightly. It couldn’t be. The guards stopped in front of Fallon’s cell and let her peer inside. The young girl looked up and when she made eye contact with Fallon she froze. Fallon gasped as pale grey eyes met pale grey eyes.
“Auryn?” Fallon croaked as she was cast into her cell, her younger sister watching in horror.
“I saved us from that wretched prison, and this is the thanks that I get?!” Auryn growled at Fallon. Fallon sneered at her sister and turned to face the crowd. The girls stood high above the streets, on top of an abandoned pizza parlor. Old, rusty street lamps illuminated Fallon’s face as she stepped out from the shadows.The eldest sister didn’t care, for she had finally done it. She was free at last. Cool winds flowed through the ghost of New York like the souls of all the lives lost in the revolution. How much did Fallon miss? Fallon’s hair billowed in the wind and Auryn’s curls danced gracefully on her shoulders.
“Auryn, Dear Auryn. This is my rebellion. It matters not that you saved me, all that matters is that I’m here now and I can save this planet.” Fallon shook her head slowly as a single tear ran down her sisters face. Fallon turned to the crowd that had formed below the sisters.
“My people, I have gathered you here today to finish this war that has been raging for far too long. When we are through with our protests, the city will be merely rubble.p beneath our feet. The government will see that the people hold the power and they will bow down to us. We will force the end of plastic bag usage once and for all. Our planet is suffering and our animals are all dying. Without them, we will soon follow them to the afterlife. We will not stop fighting until plastic bags are abolished once and for all.” Fallon glanced at Auryn who quickly looked away, avoiding eye contact. “Now who’s with me?”
The crowd held up their signs and stomped their feet. The revolution serged on.
