The Force (Fighting Freedom Book 1)

by Paige Clendenin

  I feel excitement and dread build up inside me all at the same time.

  As I am walking with the guards, I can hear my brother’s voice, from far away at first, but as we get closer and closer, I can make out what he is saying.

  He is yelling for me… “Where’s my sister?” We walk a bit further… “Where is Elizabeth?”

  I can also hear him banging on something, this is the part of him that could almost kill someone, the part of him that is a fighter.

  When we get to the door, I can see through a small window in the middle of it. There my brother and a few others are being locked in a room.

  Elious is pacing like a caged tiger, stopping every few feet, and then starting again.

  “Why are they being locked in a cell?” I ask the guards.

  In a low deep voice one of them mumbles. “These are the fighters, the ones who gave us the most trouble, the ones we had to taze or knock out.” As he says the words knock out, he points to the side of my head where the bandage is, and grins.

  He unlocks the door, and I walk inside. The door gets locked behind me, and I can feel my stomach sink, just knowing that there is no way out.

  Less than two feet in the door, Elious, obviously relieved, starts hugging me with sighs of relief.

  “Where were you?” he demands.

  “I was in the medical compound because I hit my head and they wanted to doctor it before bringing me here.”

  “Oh my gosh, Elizabeth,” he touches the bandage on my head, “are you okay?”

  “I’m alright, really.”

  “What did you see?” he asks.

  Mesmerized, he listens to me tell about what I saw in the compound, and what Magi said about what we would find out tomorrow.

  After I am done talking, he drags me over to the wall and we slide down it, sitting on the floor.

  The room is small and dark, with no furniture at all, only a camera in the back corner, probably to make sure we don’t kill each other.

  Looking over the room of other so-called fighters,

  I see a girl, maybe sixteen or so. She is laying on the floor in front of us, looking at her bruised and bloody knuckles. She has a cut in her jaw that looked like it might make a nice bruise come morning.

  Down on the other end of the same wall that we sit at, is a boy, maybe fourteen or fifteen. He is sitting against the wall with his legs sprawled out in front of him, and his arms slung to his side. I think he might be asleep. He has cuts on his arm, but other than that, he looks unharmed.

  In the corner by the door there is a boy I think I know, but his face is so banged up that, I’m not sure if I know him or not. There is barley an inch of skin on his face and neck that is not black and blue.

  Sitting in a corner in the back of the room, under the camera, is a little girl I would guess to be ten or eleven. I think about how this girl could be a fighter, but she has scratches all up and down her arms and legs, her clothes are so tattered that they hardly cover her, and she is barefoot.

  Her hair is so knotted and she looks sad and alone. I get up and walk over to her. “Hi, I’m Elizabeth.” I say.

  “I’m Sil… Silvia…” she says as best as she can. I notice that she has been crying because her eyes are the color of ripe tomatoes at the edges.

  “Can I help you, Silvia?”

  “O…. Okay,” she replies through a sniffle.

  I pull her over to where my brother and I sit. I take off my jacket and hand it to Elious.

  “Will you hold this up?” I ask him, so that she can have a bit of privacy.

  “Yeah,” he says as he pulls the jacket up to shield us both and then turns his head away.

  I run my fingers through her messy hair and pull some elastic from the strap of my bag, using it to tie her hair back in a ponytail. I take out the rust colored skirt and put it on her in place of her torn pants.

  I have to use some more elastic to tie the waist in a knot so it will fit her. It goes down to mid-calf on her, but it looks a lot better than the ripped bottoms that she did have on.

  I take the edge of my shirt and wipe the dirt from her face, then I take a torn piece of her pants and tie it around one of the gashes on her arm that is still bleeding.

  She looks up at me with a grateful smile.

  “I’m done,” I whisper to Elious, and he turns and wraps the jacket around Silvia’s shoulders so she can stay warm.

  The three of us claim a corner of the 20x20 room to sleep in. He crumples up Silvia’s torn pants and puts them under her head for a pillow. She falls asleep fast on my lap, covered by my jacket.

  “She reminds me so much of ShaeLei,” I say, as I let a tear fall, but I decide to be brave instead.

  “Yeah, she does,” Elious says as he looks at her sleeping on my lap. “I miss her, but I’m glad that she’s safe… I hope.”

  “Me too,” I say, “I hope.”

  That night, sleep finds neither I nor Elious, but we are ok as long as we know ShaeLei is safe, and Silvia is resting well

  Chapter Five

  The next morning, the door swings open and a tall, thin female guard ushers us to follow her. Elious, Silvia, and I follow her first, followed by the two boys, and the other girl from the room.

  At the end of the hall, we are given a set of dark green clothes and sent into a room to change one at a time.

  I swiftly take off my feather necklace and shove it in my mouth. I try not to gag on the metallic taste of the feather as I let it rest there.

  After we are changed, another guard prompts us to throw our clothes into a large trash chute.

  I cringe as I see my possessions slide down the hole. My father’s boots were included in the bundle that I tossed, and I feel like he is slipping further and further away from me, as I see his boots slide further and further down the chute. It’s too bad I couldn’t have fit those in my mouth too. I try not to laugh out loud at my own thought. The pendant surely would have come out during my idiocy.

  The guard tells me I must throw my bag in there to, and I follow directions, although I would have rather held onto it. All of us are asked to put all personal items in the hole including watches, hair clips, and any jewelry we might have.

  Now, that we all look the same, with no variation of color in our clothes at all, we are told to follow behind yet another guard in a straight line.

  We are all barefoot with no socks or shoes on, which makes the floor feel cold beneath my feet.

  When there is no guard looking, I spit the necklace out, and let it rest in my fist, hoping no one will catch me.

  At another station, down yet another hall, with yet another guard, we are given a band to pin to our shirtsleeves on our upper arms. The bands look the same as the ones I saw in the medical compound room.

  On each of our bands though, it says F3.

  Without hesitation I blurt out… “What does F3 mean?”

  The female guard looks at me blankly, as if not many of the taken ask questions, but after a few more moments of silence she says, “The F is put on the bands of the ones of you who know how to fight or who fought during abduction.”

  “And the 3?” I ask.

  “The 3,” she continues is to show at what level you will start your training.”

  She looks at me sternly for a moment, as if I might say something else, and I do want to, I have so many things I want to know.

  The second I open my mouth to speak again she interrupts, “no more questions. You will learn about ranking and how to properly fight soon enough.”

  I close my mouth and we begin to walk again.

  After about five minutes of walking through mazes of halls and doorways, we are deposited into a large room full of young people, who look as startled and scared as I feel.

  My brother, Silvia, and I sit on the cold floor of the large cave like room, waiting for our next instructions.

  The six of us from the locked room are the only ones being watched by armed guards, I guess because we pose a thr
eat to… to… well, to whoever we pose a threat to.

  I begin to look over the crowd of young people. They look to all be between ten and eighteen or twenty.

  I don’t think I recognize any of them, but then, I see them. In the corner of the other side of the room, huddled in a cluster of limbs and bodies, clutching to one another for dear life.

  “They are here.” I whisper to Elious.

  “Who?”

  “Them.” I say as I point in the direction of three figures across the room.

  There Maria, Isaac, and ShaeLei sit, scared and all alone.

  I then realize that they must have seen us, because the three of them have gotten up and are running and pushing their way through large groups of kids sprawled on the floor.

  I look up at the guard to make sure it’s ok that they are coming our way, but the guard looks as if he could care less so… I let them collide with us, crashing and wildly hugging us between tears of terror and relief.

  “What happened? How did you get here?” Elious asked the question, but I was thinking the same thing.

  “We got out of the tree when we thought the coast was clear,” Isaac says.

  “Yeah and we started towards the lecture compound at a speed faster than any of us could handle,” Maria explains. “We ran up the path to the compound, dodging behind trees and bushes. As soon as we got five yards from the building, a rush of masked people ran out of nowhere and grabbed us.”

  She explains how they were hauled in the back of a vehicle until they got here, then they were put into a large room to sleep and eat, they were held there for two days.

  “Maria has been taking good care of me and Isaac, if it weren’t for her, I would be more frightened,” ShaeLei says through tears and snot.

  Elious and I both look at Maria gratefully and she gives us a half smile, then we introduce them all to Silvia.

  Silvia, Isaac, and ShaeLei sit in front of Maria, Elious, and I, as if we are each guarding one of them from harm.

  We sit for what seems like hours, and begin to become restless, but then we hear a loud popping sound.

  Chapter Six

  The sound is coming from a large sound system hanging above our heads.

  At the front of the room, on a small elevated stage, stand several members of The Force.

  “Hello. I am E.J. Samuels, but you will call me Sam. I am the Captain of The Force Army. Today, you will learn what you are doing here, and eventually, why we need your help.” He pauses for a moment as if giving time for the information to sink in.

  “I am going to introduce you to some very important people… This here is Maxwell Cole, you will call him Cole. He is my right-hand man and the one in charge of overseeing your progress in The Force.”

  After he is done introducing Cole, two people; a man and a woman, step forward. “This is Cole’s son, Jake. He and Samantha King are going to be the head over the older of you.”

  They step back, and another set of people step forward. “This is Hannah Addison and Mitch Rand; they are over the younger of you.”

  He points in the direction of each person as he introduces them and tells what age they will be over.

  “This is Lisa and Joe; they will be taking a middle set of you and so will Pete and Jo Ann. From here, you are going to be ranked by your skill set, not your age.”

  Cole steps up in place of Sam. He is an older, stiff-looking man with a square jaw and wide set, pale green eyes that look cold and hard.

  “I’m Cole. You will be answering to me during your phases. I will be keeping a close eye on all of you, so you better believe that I don’t take any lip from anyone. Stand to your feet if your arm band reads a one or two.”

  The majority of the group of kids stand up, including Maria, Isaac, and ShaeLei, who all have the number one on their band.

  “Be seated. Okay, if you were lucky enough to receive a three, now would be the time for you to stand.”

  Only the six of us from the holding cell, and two more across the room, stand.

  “See that,” Cole says. “These people know how to get started.” He smiles devilishly, then he prompts us to be seated.

  “I am going to have my son, Jake, tell you about the phases.”

  Jake steps up to the front of the platform. He does not look anything like his father. He has deep green eyes and more defined features, yet he is softer in some ways. Nothing makes Jake stand out, other than he is tall, muscular, and okay to look at, but so are my brother and lots of the other boys in the room.

  The one thing I notice about Jake is that he is considerably younger than any of the others standing on the stage.

  He clears his throat. “I’m Jake, and I’m a phase leader. This is my third year. I am nineteen and have lived in this complex almost all my life. I became a fully phased Force member at the age of fifteen, which… is not common, but possible. Welcome to The Force,” he says as he looks over the crowd of us on the floor.

  I think our eyes meet for just a moment, but I could be wrong.

  “The way phases go…” he continues. “Most of you start at a phase one, there are fifteen phases, and you can be promoted and demoted through them no matter your age or gender. It’s based primarily on your skill level.”

  He walks over to a chart on the wall that has a bunch of numbers with words next to them. “This is a chart of the phases and how to achieve them. You will have plenty of time to examine if later. The phases will be marked on the bands on your upper arm; if you have a three that means you already stand ahead of the pack, and we will be watching you. Phases are measured in how well you do and how well you behave in agreeing with our rules.”

  He crosses his arms across his chest and stands toes to the edge of the platform. “You will learn to love it here…. or hate it… either way, this is your new home unless, well, unless decided otherwise by a phase leader. If decided otherwise… it may not end well for you, fair warning.”

  He smiles and steps back to the middle of the stage. “Once you become a phase fifteen, you become a fully phased member of our complex, and there we will speak with you about what jobs we feel you are best suited for. Ultimately, it will be your choice where you want to work, how you will train, and where within the complex you live and exist. This is Hannah Addison, she will explain the family group option you have. I will be seeing you.”

  Jake steps down off the stage and walks out the door to the left of the room.

  Hannah walks up, taking Jake’s place. She is lanky and tall, but not very pretty. Her hair is black and at different lengths, and she has a small scare on her collar bone.

  “Hi, I’m Hannah. I want you to stand up if you have family here with you, and you want them to still be recognized as family. Also stand up if you wish to form a family group with another phase member, or members.”

  Three of four clusters of kids stand. Maria, Isaac, ShaeLei, Elious, and I stand also. At the last minute, Maria and I take Silvia by the hands and pull her up too.

  She may not be family, but she is now.

  “Okay.” Hannah continues.

  “If you have chosen your family group, please go to the back of the room and wait there for further instruction. If you are a single member, come to the front to report your information.”

  The six of us walk to the back of the room, and there, a man asks us to come up with a new last name and new first names if we wish. We huddle together, discussing options for last names. Maria and Isaac are not our true family, but they might as well be, and Silvia now belongs to us.

  “What should our last name be?” ShaeLei asks.

  “I don’t know,” Elious replies

  “Something powerful,” I say. “Something that means something.”

  “What about Strong?” Silvia whispers.

  “Perfect.” Maria and Elious say at the same time.

  We walk to the desk the man sits at and receive new matching wrist bands with our new names on them.

  “We better not h
ear you call each other by your old names… these are your new names now, these are the names you chose.” the guard yells across the small crowd of us. We are leaving our old names behind, the old us. I know I will never be Elizabeth Towers again, and I think for a moment that I could be alright with that.

  I am now Liz, a form of my old name, but I guess that is what I am going to be from now on, a form of my old self.

  My brother is Eli, ShaeLei dropped the Lei from her name, and now she is just Shae. Maria is Mar, sweet Isaac chose Zac, and little Silvia will, from now and forever, be Syl.

  We may all have a new first name, but now…

  We are all Strong.

  Chapter Seven

  After we are done registering our new names and our real ages, we are told to go sit back where we were and wait to hear where we are to go next.

  It seems like it takes forever for everyone to find their place. Every person wears a band on their wrist with their name and age on it. Mine reads Liz Strong age 18.

  Those who now belong to a family group have pale yellow bands on their wrists, but those who belong only to themselves have white ones.

  Cole approaches the center of the stage, now abandoned by the others. “Now that you have your names and ages documented, we will be showing you where you will be staying and training through the phases. Age groups will only mix at meal times so… if you have any younger family members, you better say your goodbyes because you will be parting here.”

  We all look at each other, realizing that we won’t get to stay together. “I don’t want to leave you guys,” Shae says as she wraps her arms around my waste.

  “I know you don’t, but we will see you soon, tonight maybe.”

  “Shae,” Eli says. “You have to be strong, like your last name. You, Zac, and Syl need each other now.”

  “Okay,” she says.

  Then, she takes Zac and Syl’s hands, and they sit there, together, waiting on instructions.

  Cole continues. “If you are ten, eleven, or twelve, stand.”

  Syl, Zac, and Shae stand, still hand in hand.