1
"The flowers go in the dirt, not your mouth Ana." Mama says to me as she pulls the bulb from my little hands. "Around this time next year they will be blooming. All you'll see is yellow and pink blossoms." In the dream I can see how happy I am, not a worry in the world, and someone who loved me.
All I could think about is how simple it was. Behind my thoughts I hear my mother gasp as she swoops my younger self up. Horses thunder their way towards our house. "No, not now!" My mother cries out as she runs into the house. She opens a secret compartment in the kitchen wall and shoves me in it.
I already knows what's going to happen as my mother explains to my younger self the necessity of the sound of silence. She then closes the compartment, leaving a small crack so that light can trickle in.
She proceeds to hide anything that has a thing to do with me. "There's no time, there's no time!" She mutters to herself. She then shoves the last piece of fabric away and then goes to stand by the door, pretending to watch them approach from afar.
I know that the danger is coming, I can smell it, hear it.. hell even taste it. "RUN!" I yell at my mother, knowing that she can't hear me. Both trying to wake up and help her while my younger self sits there thinking that mama is playing hide and seek.
The menacing figures grow larger on the horizon, a large cloud of dust trailing behind them. My mother slowly walks several feet away from the house and waits. "Are you Isabella Smith?" The commanding officer asks my mother as he dismounts from his horse.
Up close he was as tall as he was wide. "Yes, I am. How can I help you?" My mother asks him as she crosses her arms in front of her chest. "I'm sorry ma'am, from the order of the United States we must take you in, dead or alive. " He says as he pulls out a piece of paper.
"I must read the warrant that has been signed that states that you are considered a rebel and a danger to society. Can we take this inside?" He askes and with my mother's consent they go inside as the other officers station themselves around the house.
As always there were things that stupified me about how they acted but I can never figure it out. Before I can I hear someone yelling my name I turn and look and it's Guardian Tallow yelling at me to run. I look back and see my mother dead on the ground as the men ride away and my younger self, only five crying somehow knowing that my mother was dead.
"Ana, Ana wake up!"
Then I do.
"Ana run to the Mine now.. we're under attack!" I get up, out from under the Apple tree, blossoms in my hair. "What's happening, Guardian?" I ask her as we both run to our home, our hiding place.
"The government has put us under martial law. The news say that it's the rebels, they've declared war!" I stumbled, astounded. Guardian helps me up and drags her along until I can catch up.
"Go in and pack up anything useful. Supplies like water, flashlights, food. Then get as far down as you can. They may be bunker missiles for all we know. We still don't know who is attacking us yet."
I think for a minute as I grab the supplies. "Oh, how about a radio?" I ask her. She smiles as she hurrys us along. "Smart girl. Listen, there's something you need to know. If anything happens to me you know what to do. Stay down as long as you need to until it's safe. Follow this map and stay out of any major cities. You may still be in danger."
We reach the bunker and set all the supplies down. "Your alias name will be Anastasia Clearwater. You are seventeen years old and you are from the south. You must remember that all the rebels are based in the North, near the government officials. " She pauses as we both sit down.
"Turn on the radio, let's hear what they have to say." Guardian says. I reach down and turn it on, turning the dial until it was deciphering a channel well enough. "Shhh shhh shhh!" The sound was eerie. "All we know is that the government isn't saying much. They say they are negotiating with the rebels asking for a cease fire. They are also asking people to evacuate out of the following areas..." I sit there in shock, pure bewilderment. Guardian sat up. "They said our town name." She pauses as the radio cuts back in. "These are heavily populated rebel areas. Military action may be required in these areas. States officials have must issued that everyone in the surrounding areas of the evacuating cities and towns must move to the local bunkers. Anyone in a one hundred mile radius. For your local news and weather this is 87.5."
Then the local siren started to go off, the long "woooo" of the siren filling the bright day. Then, the screaming. "Shhh shhh shhh," The radio goes. "Ahhh!" They scream. "Shhh... they're attacking, shhh... don't know the number of casualties yet!" Then came the dreaded silence.
Then, then came the attack. It would be one of the large factors that would change my life inevitably. A fact that sat heavily in my mind throughout the rest of my journey.
A/N: hey everyone, its ya author. I am rewriting this book so things will be a little different since I was fourteen when I wrote this. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read it and who is currently about to read it. Thank you for all of your support on this book and I hope that you'll enjoy it. If you do please hit that star.
