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  Hearing voices, I sat up and searched them out. Spotting mother and father, and Adeline off to my left, I got up and hovered my way over to them. They didn’t appear to notice me, and when I tried to speak, no words came forth.

  Mother said, “There’s nothing we can do now. We have lost her forever. I just wished I had gotten the chance to tell her the truth, to tell her about Marcella Munford and the things she’s doing.”

  “I just can’t believe she’s really gone. How will I make it without her?” Adeline said through tears.

  Seeing my little sister cry made me do a double take. The things coming from her eyes were bigger than normal tears, looking more like fat rain drops. My heart ached for her.

  “I’m not gone. I’m right here,” I said, but they acted as if I really weren’t.

  “How will we all make it without her?” added my father. He looked weathered, beaten. I found myself really missing him, missing our time together. When I was small, we had been together constantly. He’d play make believe with me, in between his cooking and cleaning chores. He was a good man, had a heart the size of the moon. Maybe he was where I’d gotten my desire to help others.

  Hearing movement behind me, I slowly turned and saw Jeremiah and Hannah coming my way. As I looked back around, my family had vacated the premises. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I was fairly certain none of this was normal. Hovering, disappearing humans and my family not listening to me.

  Struggling, I did my best to remember what I’d done last, where I’d just come from. I remembered being in my home with Caleb. Oh, no. Caleb. The arena. Kaylee. Where am I?

  Jeremiah and Hannah stopped a few feet from me and the two proceeded to converse as if I wasn’t even there. And I was beginning to suspect that maybe I wasn’t.

  “We have to help him, have to get him out of there. He’s completely vulnerable now, all alone,” Jeremiah said.

  “No, Jeremiah. We have to trust him. He said he could do this,” Hannah replied.

  “But the girl is gone now. Without her Colin will give up, succumb to Lucius and MOM’s will.”

  “He’s stronger than you think, my love. We have to let him try.”

  “How could this have happened? She was supposed to be the one. She was supposed to end all of this for once and for all,” Jeremiah said, exasperated.

  “It was the asthma and her sister, of course. She might’ve beaten Kaylee, if it weren’t for Kaylee turning her own flesh and blood against her.”

  My eyes grew heavy and I suddenly no longer cared to hear what Jeremiah and Hannah were saying about me. I had to rest. Lying down on a bed of wild flowers, I think I dozed off again.

  When I came to, I was staring out at a scene of pure chaos. Loud bombs exploded all around me, fires consumed buildings, people, just about anything in their path. Fights broke out in the streets, and the bodies of men, women, and children were soon left in their wake. Loud screams tore through the night, screams that seemed unending. I placed my hands over my ears to drown them out, but it did little to even muffle the nightmare.

  Turning around, I was surprised to see an entirely different scene. The aftermath of the chaos I’d just witnessed. It looked a lot like Providence. And then I heard a woman’s voice. She sounded similar to Marcella Munford, but older, her voice deeper.

  She said, “The war is over. It’s time for us to rebuild, time to make a new world, a new beginning.”

  I could hear clapping all around, and once the smoke abated, I saw thousands of people come out of hiding, and surround some sort of speaker system. It was the source of the voice, of their joy.

  More fatigue made me lie down in the middle of the street. I didn’t care if the people stared. I was beyond exhausted.

  The sound of hammers striking nails, of children laughing, and men and women talking roused me from my rest. Standing, I looked out at another scene. This time the people seemed genuinely happy. They worked hand in hand, and no one complained. A few clapped each other on the back.

  A large group of children were playing a game of hide and seek not far from the home building project, and my eyes were drawn to them. One girl in particular had pimples all over her face, but she appeared the feistiest of them all. She barked orders at the boys, guiding and leading the game as deemed necessary. She reminded me of myself at that age.

  The sizes of the homes being built were double that of my old home, giving this new community room to grow. I noticed some familiar faces in the crowd, that of dwellers and citizens of Providence alike. I was surprised to see them all laboring alongside each other without altercation. And they genuinely appeared happy.

  My mind began to think I needed to go back, but it was hard. Part of me wanted to stay. Something told me I was an integral part in all of this, that I had to somehow help bring it all to fruition, but I didn’t see how. I was broken, discarded like a rotten apple. I no longer had anything to give, anything to offer.

  And then I saw Colin’s face, saw how conflicted he was, and I knew it was time.

  Chapter 22

  Coming to, I thought I saw Elisa, the frail little girl from inside the Capitol. She looked good, healthy even. Lowering herself to me, she proceeded to treat my wounded leg, first applying something medicinal and then wrapping it very neat and professional like. Satisfied with her handiwork, she righted herself.

  Pulling me up from the dusty earth, she threw one of my arms across her neck, and proceeded to lead me deeper into the dwellers’ region. I wasn’t sure how I’d gotten to the edge of the forest, or if I was even still alive for that matter, and I really didn’t care.

  Elisa whispered soothing words to me, as she became my crutch and maneuvered me through one of the many pathways towards the Manumissionists’ camp. I could only stare at her, thinking how beautiful she looked. I knew she wasn’t real, knew that I was most likely dead, and this was some sort of vision of the afterlife.

  We must’ve walked for hours, but I didn’t feel fatigued in the least. This only added to my belief that I had succumbed to Kaylee’s spear in the arena, or quite possibly Adeline’s.

  I vaguely remembered Elisa depositing me inside some room and I think she gently kissed me on the cheek, but by that time sleep had decided it best to take claim of me for an extended period of time.

  Slowly, life returned to me and I immediately realized where I was. The thought of what Colin might be going through was too much for me as I sprawled out in his small home, taken in by his people, because my own had discarded me like a piece of trash. While he was being put through pure hell, if he was even still alive at all, I was being nursed back to health by the same people I’d stabbed in the back.

  Tears filled my eyes, unbidden, but I no longer cared what anyone thought or how they felt about me. My world was shattered, my life all but over. Memories of Adeline and my parents assaulted me, tossing more despair and hopelessness my way.

  Abruptly, the door to my new living quarters burst open, and Hannah let herself into my room. “Alright, I think it's time you rejoined the living.”

  “How long have I been out?” I asked.

  “For three weeks. You’ve been in an out of consciousness, but this is the first time I’ve seen you actually sit upright since you came here.”

  “How did I get here?” I asked, wondering about my vision of Elisa.

  “One of our hunters found you near the edge of the forest, while he was out on patrol,” Hannah said, unconvincingly.

  “I’m surprised you took me in. I don’t deserve it.”

  “It’s time you knew the truth, Sidnie,” Hannah replied.

  “What, what are you talking about?” I managed to get out as I wiped tears from my eyes and did my best to clean up my dreadful appearance.

  “About us. About Colin and your cousin, Ellen.”

  The woman definitely had my attention. I quickly got onto my feet and moved closer to her. “Are they okay? I mean, I haven't heard from Ellen in almost five years, and Colin..
.”

  “They are both alive and well, Sidnie. As are all of the other women that came here from Providence and learned the truth about MOM and her evil ways.”

  Hearing this caused my heart to skip a few beats. Could they really be alive? “But...how?”

  “Ellen has been working on the inside for us. She's been reporting the whereabouts of the monitors and their actions,” Hannah said.

  “And Colin?”

  “He volunteered to go back with you, as your prisoner. He knew what would happen to you if you went back empty handed, and he felt the decision was just too much for you to decide on your own,” Hannah said, her voice cracking slightly at talking about Colin. It was evident she missed him, that she fretted over him daily.

  Hearing that Colin had volunteered to go with me as my prisoner, left me with a mix of emotions. Regret, sadness, and despair, to name a few. “How—how do you know he's okay? That he and Ellen are safe?”

  “We have people stationed all throughout the Capitol. We receive daily reports on the goings on there. It's the only way we've been able to escape the grasp of Lucius and his savages.”

  My mind spun. For the first time since being tossed onto the doorstep of the Manumissionists, I felt a flutter of hope. That feeling quickly blossomed and before I knew it, I felt my lips curl upward into a smile.

  Hannah joined me with a smile of her own, as I found myself moving closer to her for an awkward embrace. I didn't know this woman in the least, but something got my legs moving forward, my arms wrapping around her. Thankfully, she returned my hug, even patted me affectionately on the back. And the awkwardness quickly faded. I wept on her neck and I believe she did the same.

  In Providence South such behavior would be deemed weak, but not here. I began to see things differently in that instance, began to realize that I didn't have to be strong all the time. I could be vulnerable.

  “We don't have much time. We have a lot of preparations to make, Sidnie,” Hannah said, pulling away.

  “Preparations?”

  “The monitors are on their way here, intent on taking our people into captivity.”

  Putting aside my earlier girlish ways, I immediately switched back to warrior mode. The Manumissionists were my people now and I would do everything within my power to protect them, to keep them safe.

  Turning, I went into the back room and retrieved the two spears I'd spotted underneath the bed earlier. I weighed them in each hand, gauging any adjustments I'd need to make if I had to send them flying.

  Weight and design was key in selecting a spear. If the design was off even the slightest, it could cause the weapon to miss its mark. And that was something I just couldn't afford.

  Outside, I saw a flurry of people, going in all directions. The majority of them were dressed for battle, prepared for the worst. Others spent their time gathering the children, ushering them to safety. Wherever that might be. I felt my heart swell for them, and this quickly turned to anger.

  Reaching out, I removed one of the three infants that a lady running along next to me was carrying. She was doing her best to ferry them into hiding, but they were bouncing and bobbing every which way, making it an impossible task.

  With the child held firmly in my free hand and both spears in the other, I sprinted towards the woman leading the group and came up alongside her. “Where are we going and how far to get there?”

  “There's, there’s an underground cavern about half a mile from here. The aged and the children will remain there, while the rest of us spread out along the bed of the forest,” she replied, in between breaths.

  Giving a nod, I held pace with her until we reached our destination. The hideout wasn't visible in the least, and I probably would've run right past it, had it not been for the woman. She stopped, set down the two children she'd lugged the distance and walked about fifteen paces to a rather large boulder off by itself.

  Using the wooden end of her spear, the woman placed it underneath one end and began using it as a pry bar. With little effort the rock rolled to the side, exposing a large hole underneath.

  One of the other women in our group started ushering the children forward, following the woman as she disappeared into the hole.

  Someone had to do something. They had to be stopped. I couldn’t just sit back and allow the monitors to harm these people. They hadn’t done anything wrong. All they wanted was to live a life of peace and watch their children grow old.

  My legs picked up speed after I exited the hidden stairs. I could feel some of my old self return. Kaylee had weakened me, had taken everything I thought was important. But now I knew that wasn’t the case.

  There was more to life than fighting over husbands and following Marcella Munford’s ridiculous laws. Life was about looking out for each other and helping every time you had a chance. This is my chance.

  I could hear Hannah and the others yelling for me to stop, for me not to do anything out of haste, but I paid them no heed. I had to save these people. I knew the ins and outs of the Capitol, of the monitors. I just prayed my heart wasn’t leading me astray once again. These people were depending on me, on my spear.

  It took a full two hours of constant running before I departed the forest and entered the outskirts of Providence South. Even with burning lungs and rubbery legs, I remained alert, vigilant for any sign of Kaylee and the others. I didn’t want to face them, to confront my failure in the battle. My pride had been wounded, my heart shattered. But I wouldn’t give up so easily.

  Kaylee could keep Caleb, but I wasn’t about to let them completely take Adeline from me. I kept telling myself that it wasn’t too late already, that I could still bring Adeline back around. I prayed I was right.

  The sound of many horses pounding the pavement stopped me in my tracks. I looked all around for the source, fearing I’d be stricken to the ground at any minute. Off to my left, I watched as six horses roared towards me. They were all ridden by monitors, Marcella’s evil guard.

  Sprinting one hundred yards to the nearest home, I quickly ducked behind it for cover. I didn’t kid myself. They’d seen me and were giving pursuit. The home was more to give me time to regroup than to avoid detection.

  It was mere seconds after I dived behind the building that the monitors came upon me. They had divided into three’s and closed me in from the north and south. It was either fight or throw down my weapon and let them take me away to whatever fate they deemed necessary.

  I briefly considered battling it out with them, but in the end, I tossed my spear aside and said, “I give up! Now can someone please tell me why you are chasing me in the first place? I haven’t done anything wrong!”

  “That’s not the way we hear it! Word around town is that you were turned by the dwellers and you are working for them now,” said the monitor leading the charge.

  “That’s ridiculous! I would never turn against MOM.” The words tasted sour in my mouth, like milk left sitting in a cup overnight. Not only would I turn on Marcella Munford, I planned to do the unthinkable, and this was my way in.

  The monitor’s wasted no time swooping in on me. They had my wrists bound behind my back within minutes, and two of them even threw a few punches into my abdominal region. But I refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry out in pain. I used my anger towards them to bite back my lack of oxygen and pounding stomach.

  To my surprise the monitors weren’t taking me towards the Capitol. They were leading me into town, into Providence South. My heart picked up pace, fearing I might see Kaylee and her friends. I still wasn’t ready, and the thought of Caleb standing alongside her would most likely force me to lose it.

  I had to remain calm, had to make them think I was fine with everything. Blending back in with the people here was crucial in getting to the Capitol, in getting at Marcella Munford.

  A large crowd had gathered in the center of town and when they heard us coming towards them, they parted way for our charge. It was then that I noticed the handcrafted st
age with the two poles sticking up out of it. My eyes drifted towards the ropes hanging from the poles, and realization dawned on me: they had made this for me. But why?

  Before I had a chance to process, two of the monitors jumped from their horses and ripped me from the back of the one they’d tossed me on for the short trip here. They guided me towards the two poles, and I began to hear the townspeople chant, “Traitor! She’s a nasty traitor! We’ll show her how we deal with those who go against the order. Bring her here! Tie her up!”

  I looked around at the faces, and my worst fear was confirmed: Adeline was in the midst and was chanting along with the angry horde. There were others, many whom I’d grown up with, had even helped with food when they were short. This only saddened me more, but I didn’t allow it to push me deeper into the land of depression. I channeled it, turned it into anger to further my cause against Marcella Munford.

  In short order, they bound my wrists to each of the poles, and then they stepped to the rear of the platform and left me to the crowd gathered for whatever purpose this had all been constructed. I knew it couldn’t be good. The angry, hate-filled faces looking back at me obviously weren’t here to throw me a welcome home party. They were out for blood. Mine.

  Something suddenly smashed into my right shoulder, the pain instant. I looked down at the object, initially thinking I was bleeding. But the crushed tomato near my foot awakened me to what was going down. In short order, I was pelted with rotten apples, onions, and more tomatoes. I tucked my head into my chest, hoping to avoid losing an eye in the madness. It seemed to go on for an eternity before they finally ran out of ammunition.

  Many of the people came forward and spit on me, their detest of what I’d done evident in the hate on their faces. I didn’t feel hatred or even anger towards them. They were following the law of the land the only way they’d ever known.

  My body ached all over and my wrists were raw and bleeding from pulling against them to brace for the next blow. I couldn’t believe how many of them were out today. Had to be most of the Providence South population. Initially, I was surprised Kaylee and her crew weren’t in attendance, but then I spotted them making their way towards me, towards the stage.