by Trynda Adair
Thomas?” I stared up into his dark brown eyes when I spoke, hoping he would say something that could change my mother's mind.
“Only that you should slowly approach with your hands in the air. The walls are heavily armed and they will not hesitate to gun you down.” I glanced back at my mother silently asking for a moment alone with the handsome man in front of me. She smiled and walked to the open area lit by the half-moon above.
“Will you be OK not coming?”
He smiled as if he was looking right into my mind. I wanted him to come with us. I didn't want him to be in danger when we were trying to get to safety.
“I'll find you there. Just get to safety. It's dangerous out here at night.” Thomas gave the torch to me, pushed his full lips against mine and disappeared back into the darkness of the forest. I stood on the same spot, disappointed that Thomas was gone.
“Come on Abigail. I can see it; we might be able to get there tonight.”
My body refused to move at first, but after my mother called me again I could move finally. I caught up to her and we began to walk together towards the large wall standing off in the distance.
“He could have come with us.” Even though I thought I had said it quietly, my voice was still loud in the calm open area. There was something about this place that seemed off to me, we could see the moon as clear as day and for once there was not any trace of a breeze.
“You saw those people, they were insane. If the people living in this city were smart they would not let us in if one of them were with us.”
The cracked rocky ground caught my toe, halting my step and causing me to fall to my knees.
“Ouch. They might have let him in; you don't know what they would have done.”
Somehow I managed to keep the torch from touching the ground, but the jagged ground cut deeply into my palm. Pain shot through my fingers. I rose back to my feet so I could evaluate how badly my hand had been cut. I brushed the stones from the wound and watched as the blood flowed freely from the cut.
“I do know because I wouldn't have let him in.”
My mother took a bottle of water from her backpack with a piece of gauze and medical tape to fix my hand. She moved the glowing torch closer as she poured the water into the cut, making me flinch. She caught my wrist tightly and finished making a bandage to cover the gash on my palm.
“Well they’re not you.” She took the torch from me and poured the last of our water over the flame and dropped the bundle of wood to the ground like a piece of garbage.
“It doesn't matter, just hope the people living there will let us in. When we get there do everything they say and no stupid comments. Now come on, we’re so close.”
She put the cap back on the bottle and threw it back into her bag. We walked towards the quickly approaching wall.
In a few minutes we stood in front of the wall. Two bright suns shone directly where we stood, causing us freeze on the spot and raise our hands slowly.
“Get on your knees and don't move.” A loud voice spoke from somewhere, we could not see. We slowly got down on our knees and waited. What we were waiting for I wasn’t sure, but we waited. Without realizing I found myself looking at the ground away from the brightness above us.
“Mom, why are there suns out during the night?” My mother glanced at me without moving her head. All around us the ground was lit up so brightly I would have thought it was broad daylight if it had not been for the darkness we had just come from.
“Those aren't suns, they’re spotlights.” A smile danced across my mother's lips as she spoke looking at the ground. In front of us a loud series of bangs rose up and quieted quickly before the sound of scrapping metal began.
“Is that good?”
She nodded and waited for the grinding metal to stop.
“It's very good; it means they have power inside.”
That was good, how did this city survive when nothing else had?
I heard footsteps coming towards us. I saw a black boot step near me. My heart pounded loudly.
“We are taking your weapons, do not attempt to stop us or you will be shot,” said someone from behind us. They pulled the shotgun over my shoulders and unclipped the gun belt from around my waist. I heard the zipper of my backpack being pulled open and felt someone dig through the small number of belongings left in the bag.
“We are going to handcuff you, do not attempt to stop us or you will be shot.” I heard the voice say again as my hands where bound together by two cold metal bracelets.
A woman with bright copper hair helped me to stand in the blinding light before leading us into the city.
