The Force (Fighting Freedom Book 1)

by Paige Clendenin

  “Elizabeth,” he whispers, “what if it’s in the water?”

  I must look scared because he takes me into his arms and holds me there in his embrace for the longest time. This part of him feels more like a father than a brother, but I don’t mind.

  After our father died, Elious, maybe out of obligation, became father-like. He took the rolls of a father in the aspect of helping around the house and with the younger kids, but he never treated me different.

  He always treated me equal, like a sister rather than a daughter, and that is how I wanted it, but sometimes, I miss my father’s hugs and warm thoughts. Elious can tell when those moments are, because he allows me to be weak like a child for a little while, but not as long as I sometimes think I need.

  After we break apart, I lay across the couch, and we talk lighter hearted than before. We talk about the lecture compound, his laughing at me over me getting in trouble in lecture today, and as he usually does, he badgers me about Maria… my best friend… his crush.

  Maria likes him too.

  After a while, I must have fallen asleep, because I wake at dawn still on the couch, but covered up.

  Elious must have done it just before he went to bed.

  I hear my mother in the kitchen and get up to go help her, but I see Lydia reach for me, so I pick her up and carry her with me.

  “Count for me,” I say as I sit down at the table, holding her in my lap, as we watch our mother make eggs.

  “One, two, three, four, five...”

  “I am so proud of her,” ShaeLei says as she walks into the kitchen barefoot and sleepy eyed.

  “Me too,” I whisper, as I kiss Lydia on the top of the head.

  My brother walks in wearing the same clothes he had on the day before, scratching at the back of his neck like he does every morning.

  “Good morning, family.” he says as he takes a seat in our father’s old chair at the table.

  We sit in silence as we eat our breakfast, as we do most mornings.

  We are each given one egg, a triangle of dry toast, and a glass of water.

  It’s the third week of the month, and our money and food supply are running rather thin, so… I know not to eat as much as I think I want or need.

  We all know not to ask for seconds, even Lydia, because there is no more to have and because it upsets our mother that she can’t provide for us in the way she would like.

  Even if my father were alive, we would only have what he made each month, which wasn’t much, and then we had six mouths to feed. Plus, Lydia was a baby at the time, and she required milk, so things have always been hard.

  They are for all the people in our Corridor though, so it’s not like we are any different than the other families around.

  I get up and start doing dishes, and Elious and ShaeLei go upstairs to get ready. It’s then that we begin to hear a noise from outside, the sound of distant rumbling. We all stop and listen for a moment, wondering what the sound could be. “Motors,” my mother says, but we don’t reply because we know what that means.

  Since there are no vehicles in our section of the Corridor, it can only mean one thing…

  Chapter Three

  Ignoring the noise that has been sounding in the distance for over ten minutes now, we go on with our morning routine.

  I go upstairs and take my five-minute shower. City ordinances order that each family can only run water for twenty-five minutes a day. That means that two of us can take a shower a day and that only leaves fifteen minutes for dishes, drinking water, and hand washing clothes.

  Usually on Monday and Thursday, my mother and ShaeLei get a shower. The dishes are done twice a day, six days a week.

  On Tuesday and Friday, Lydia and I both get five-minute showers, and on Wednesday, and Saturday, Elious showers, and the laundry is done.

  There is no water or electricity on Sunday under any circumstances, and the water is cold and brown, so in order to drink it, it must be boiled.

  After my shower, I put on my mother’s old tattered robe and help Lydia put on a pink tattered dress that once belonged to ShaeLei and maybe once even me.

  I braid both mine and my baby sister’s hair and get dressed myself, with some input from her.

  I wait at the door wearing a pair of tall brown boots that belonged to my father, a rust colored knee length skirt made of cotton, and a bright orange t-shirt covered by an old brown leather jacket that I found a year ago on the side of the road near the lecture compound.

  I never, never wear a skirt, but Lydia begged me to so I would match her, so I put my only skirt on to satisfy her need to be identical.

  My brother and ShaeLei come down the steps at the same time, both wearing jeans and both in a white shirt.

  I begin to wonder if they had planned it, but before I can say a word, Elious puts a hand to my mouth and whispers… “You say anything about us matching, and I promise I will hurt you.”

  We all have a good laugh out of it and say our goodbyes to our mother and little sister.

  I look out the door and see nothing suspicious, though I still hear the noise, and we step outside anyway.

  Before I can get too far away, my mother grabs my arm and spins me around to face her. She gives me an extra-long hug and pulls something over her head from around her neck.

  “I want you to have this Elizabeth,” she says.

  “What is it?” I ask her, as I look bewildered.

  “It is mine, from when I was a little girl,” my mother smiles at me. “My papa made it from an old world war three shell…it’s a feather for the peace that we hope to have again one day…I want you to have it for protection, but you must not let anyone see it.”

  She put the necklace around my neck, and the chain was so thin you could barely see it. It had been painted to match her skin color, and so, it matches mine as well. I knew she had it around her neck, but she kept the pendant tucked in her shirt.

  I have never asked about it. It had not been my business to do so.

  I rub my thumb across the feather and smile. I feel the significance of it’s meaning, and then I tuck it in my shirt, just as my mother had done since before, she was my age.

  “Be safe my babies,” she smiles and closes the door behind us.

  Two steps out the door, and after I am sure that Lydia is out of sight, I pull denim pant legs down from under my skirt, tuck them into my boots, and pull off the skirt she begged me to wear. Then, I stuff it into my bag I carry my lecture books in, for lack of a better place to hide it.

  I do feel more comfortable in my jeans, though; more freedom.

  Without question or judgment from my brother and sister, we begin to walk the five blocks to the Lopez house to meet up with Maria and Isaac.

  Halfway there, I begin to feel that something is wrong. I can feel it like a weight in my chest that you just can’t shake.

  Just then, I turn and look over my shoulder, just long enough to see a white utility vehicle following closely behind us I hadn’t noticed it before.

  “Run,” I whisper, but it barley comes out…

  “Run.” I say it again, but this time louder and with more force…

  We start to run the direction of the Lopez home, hoping that inside we can take shelter, but shelter is too far ahead, and ShaeLei is falling behind.

  Elious and I take either side of her and start to pull her, half running, half dragging her behind us.

  She stumbles on a broken piece of concrete but recovers before hitting the ground, then we start to run again.

  The vehicle is still behind us.

  We turn the corner and run full speed towards our friend’s house, but it is too late. Maria and Isaac are running towards us.

  “Take ShaeLei,” I say to Maria…

  “Do you think it’s The Force?” she asks as she wraps an arm around my sister.

  “Yes, I do.” Elious says almost shouting. “Now, let’s try to make it to your house.”

  “No.” Isaac screams, “Th
ey are in that direction too, that’s why we started running this way.”

  I look around for a minute, thinking of something to do, because I know that we won’t be able to out run them for long.

  “Okay,” I say, “you three go climb that tree over there.” I point to a large oak tree about half a block away. “Elious and I will try to hold them off, when they follow us, you guys try to make it to the lecture compound.”

  “No.” ShaeLei demands.

  “You have to,” I say.

  Isaac grabs her wrist and starts to pull her away from us.

  “Come on,” Isaac says, “come on.”

  Without hesitation, she does as instructed and follows him and Maria.

  Isaac climbs first, pulling my sister up, and then Maria behind her, making sure that they make it safely through the branches.

  I never thought I would have to watch ShaeLei scale a tree for safety.

  “Hey.” I hear my brother yelling in the direction of the vehicle, as he waves both arms in the air above his head, and the vehicle starts coming after us.

  Hand in hand, he and I run down a street of broken pavement and bricks. The road has been broken up for as long as I can remember. I heard once that it was caused by bombs during the war, but I don’t know.

  The broken road does not slow the utility vehicle, though.

  It starts to pick up speed in our direction, bumping over broken pieces of pavement and holes where bricks use to be.

  We see the other end of the block where our escape to safety might be, so we run faster than I think I have ever run before.

  To my shock, another white utility vehicle turns down the free end of the block…

  “What do we do?” I whisper to Elious as we come to a stop, our feet straddling broken bits of road.

  “Fight.” That is all that comes out of his mouth as he takes a fight stance turning his back to mine. I mimic the position as we spin back to back with each other in the middle of the broken road.

  “At least ShaeLei is safe,” I say, and then engines stall and doors come open from both vehicles.

  From over Elious’s shoulder, I see four figures running at us, I turn and from the other direction, three more are coming our way.

  They are wearing green and brown patched pants, dark green shirts, and brown leather jackets… just like mine.

  I think about how I had found the jacket on the side of the road nearly a year ago to the date. The thought of it belonging to one of these people makes my stomach churn.

  They carry weird looking devices in their hands with two prongs sticking out of the top, and they have brown cloth pulled over their faces with eye holes cut out of them.

  I lay my hand on the pendant that hangs around my neck and let it center me. Fighting, is my brother’s thing, but if my mother was correct and it gives me protection, then I am going to take as much of it as it will give me.

  The first one reaches us, and Elious jabs his fist in their throat…

  A groan comes, but she doesn’t fall… I know it’s a girl because, no man can make that kind of sound.

  My brother still hits her with total disregard for her gender, but who has time to worry about that at a time like this?

  The next one gets to me, and I fall to the ground, roll onto my back, and kick them in the stomach.

  This one is a man.

  I kick again.

  I am so thankful to be wearing my pants instead of that skirt. Perhaps the pendant really does work.

  I roll up on my knees, but he hits me in the side of the face.

  I fall back but jump to my feet as fast as I can and throw a punch to the side of his jaw, he stumbles back, away from the action, holding his stomach and the side of his face.

  The next one grabs my arms from behind me, stopping me from advancing and striking the man again.

  I know this one is a man also because he is towering over me a foot or more, so I know I could never take him, but my brother, seeing me struggle, grabs him and positions the man’s head under his arm then dropping down hard, slamming the man’s head to the pavement.

  He doesn’t move.

  Elious grabs the next persons shoulders and spins them around, throwing them on top of the man that is still laying on the ground.

  Four of them are either groping at their wounds or lying motionless on the ground so… I begin to think that we could take them.

  Then two hands grab mine, and I kick their shin as hard as I can, but their grip does not release.

  The hands bring me to the ground, and I hit my head on a brick… hard.

  Through fuzzy eyes and ringing ears I see my brother go down too; after being touched by one of those devices that they carry, he does not move.

  “Elious!” I scream, but before I know it, I am being hoisted at the waist and dragged in the direction of one of the vehicles.

  Two of them drag my brother the same direction as I am being taken, and I try to yell again, but my head swims so bad that I don’t know for a minute if I even remember how to talk.

  I must black out because I don’t remember reaching the vehicle, but I come to in the back of it wet with sweat. I sit up, noticing that I am swaying back and forth… either the earth is shaking, or the vehicle is in motion.

  I turn and look beside me and see my brother lying next to me, still not moving, but breathing. I pull his head on my lap and brush back his hair looking for blood, or bruises… I don’t see any.

  He finally begins to come to… at first moaning through his teeth, but then I am relieved when he asks for help sitting up. I pull him to a sitting position, and after a while, he pulls me to his side in an embrace, draping his arm over my shoulders. I start to cry.

  “Don’t do that,” Elious says sincerely, “don’t cry, and don’t let them think that you are weak, because, Elizabeth, I know otherwise.”

  “Where are we?” he asks.

  “I don’t know, I was passed out… for a while I think.”

  “Passed out. Why were you passed out?”

  “I don’t know, I think I remember hitting my head.” I reach up and touch the side of my head that I finally realize hurts and is pounding. I pull my hand away, and my fingers return sticky, red with blood. “I suddenly feel dizzy and sick to my stomach.”

  “Lay down,” my brother whispers to me.

  I lay there, looking around at first… there is nothing special about this vehicle. It is like a van, although I have never really seen one. I heard about them in my fifteen-year-old lecture class.

  “I wonder if ShaeLei, Isaac, and Maria made it,” I say through slurry words.

  “I’m sure,” my brother says.

  Then, on the floor of a strange vehicle, powered by people I have never met, I let sleep take me over.

  Chapter Four

  Sometime later, I wake up on a cot, in a room full of others who are covered with bandages, bumps, and bruises.

  I remember after a while that my head had been hurt, so I slowly reach up to the side of it. Expecting to feel a bloody bump, I am surprised to feel a bandage there instead.

  I lean over, grasping at the side of the cot, trying to gain some stability to sit up.

  I still feel dizzy.

  I slide my legs back, thinking that my torso will come with it. That was the easy part, getting my head to follow my body seems to be a harder task than I thought.

  Once I get sat up and stabilized, enough to look around, I take note of my surroundings. I notice a girl, about my age, lying face down on the cot next to me. She is wearing dark brown from head to toe. I notice that she wears a white band on her wrist with writing on it, but I can’t read what it says. On her upper arm, she wears another band, a larger one and the number eleven is on it.

  Other than a groan every few seconds, she does not move, just lays there with her face in the cot.

  I wonder what’s wrong with her. On the other side of the room, I see a boy, no older than thirteen, crouching in the corner, holding his arm
that is in a makeshift sling. He is wearing the same clothes as the girl next to me, but his are dark green instead. He also wears the same two bands as the girl, but his upper arm says two instead of eleven, and the one on his wrist is pale yellow.

  There is a girl around fifteen, sitting with the boy in the corner trying to get him to calm down. She is wearing the same clothes, but her band on her upper arm says five. The one on her wrist is pale yellow too.

  My eyes follow along the wall to the only door that I can see in the room. This door would mean my only exit, but I don’t know what I would find on the other side of it, if I did decide to run. A man stands at the side of it… he is a guard, I am sure of it.

  He is wearing the same clothes as the ones who took me, no mask though, but he is holding a long barrel gun across his chest and is standing still like a statue.

  I wonder if he would move if I tried to run, but I don’t think that I could stand up on my own power, let alone run past an armed guard.

  I wonder where my brother is.

  I look all around the room, but I don’t see him.

  “You’re awake,” a voice calls out from behind me.

  “Yes….” I say rather hesitantly.

  “Good. I’m Magi, I am one of the nurses here in The Force medical compound, and I have been taking care of you since you got here yesterday.”

  “Yesterday. Where’s my brother?” I say almost shouting.

  “Don’t worry, don’t worry, he is probably in holding, and you can go to him when you recover.”

  “I’m fine,” I say in a steady voice, almost defensively.

  “Okay, okay, you can go in a couple hours, that is, if you can walk under your own power and hold down food.”

  “Alright,” I say rather weakly. “Why are we here? Why have we been taken?”

  She gives a grin to me through crooked teeth. “Opening day is tomorrow, that’s when you will learn why you are here.” Then she turns and walks away.

  After a few hours of me gaining my strength and forcing myself to walk and eat, I am being lead down a long hall. The guards are taking me to where my brother is being kept.