23 Days. That’s how long I’ve been walking. My feet are sore, my legs are torn and bruised from hiking in the thick of the woods, my water supply is running low, I am sleep deprived, and my skin is scorched from the hot, summer sun. 23 Days I have been walking away from everything I know. From what used to be my home. Although it's not anymore. I used to live in a beautiful little town right outside of what at one time was called Nashville. I’m not really sure what to call it now. I’m not sure what to call anything now. All I am sure of is I can’t stop walking until I find The Hides.
2190 Days ago our government was overthrown by what we refer to as the Division. I was 11 years old at the time. I was sitting in our kitchen playing cards with my older brother Jace when we heard the planes flying overhead. It wasn’t long before we heard the sounds of bombs dropping and screaming filled the streets. My mother rushed us to the Storm Cellar, while my father tried to gather as many as he could to join us, hoping that would save us all. If only he knew at the time how useless that would prove to be.
The world as we knew it was gone before our very eyes in a matter of days. They bombed our capitals, destroyed our towns, and killed our president and town leaders. They ripped apart families, turning the young into slaves and the men into soldiers. Women were shipped off to work for the Division, harvesting needed supplies, and if they put up a fight, they were killed on the spot. The old and infirm were disposed of like garbage. Some people managed to escape the terrorism of the Divison, though where, I wasn’t sure. Although I am now.
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23 Days Ago I was in my sector of the wheat fields, over by the fence that separated us from the wilderness of the woods and rivers. I was harvesting the crops, as I do every Tuesday, like clockwork, when I saw a boy around my age standing by the river behind the fence. He couldn't have been more than 15 feet from me, which is why I recognised the locket hanging from around his neck.
“Hey! Who are you?!”
I walked closer to the fence, when he started to run away, farther into the wilderness. I glanced around, looking for the guards, and there were none in sight. I couldn’t let him get away. I couldn’t let it get away. I hesitated for a moment, knowing the repercussions of crossing the fence. I'd seen it time and time again, and yet there I went. Bounding over the wire fence, catching the skin of my arm in the process. I winced in pain, but kept my focus, running after the boy who was wearing something that didn’t belong to him.
I chased after him, running upstream by the river. I ran for what felt like miles but was most likely only moments until he vanished from my sight. I paused to get my bearings and listen for any footsteps when my mouth was covered from behind and I was being dragged behind a bush. A scream attempted to escape my throat, but was muffled by someone's hand. It was him. It was the boy. He looked at me, his eyes soft and somehow calm, and slowly moved his finger up to his mouth, summoning me to be quiet. I would’ve put up a fight had it not been for the sirens blaring from the wheat fields under a mile away. They know. They know I crossed the fence.
“Follow me,” He whispered as he stood up, giving me a hand, “Hurry.”
“Why should I trust you?” I asked.
“You don’t have to, but that over there,” pointing to the guards scouring the fields and surrounding woods in search of the runner they have yet to find, “is your alternative.”
Without another word, I grabbed his hand and followed him as he ran through the woods. He quickly and swiftly navigated his way around the obstacles that stood before us, pushing us through the thicks of nature that blocked our path. The farther we ran, I hoped the sounds of the Division guards in search of me would fade into the background, but they didn’t. They were going to find me. Once they did, I would be killed. Another reminder to the people under their dictation to follow the rules, not ask questions, keep their heads down and do as they are told. Just like I should’ve done.
Right as I was going to ask where we were going, knowing that continuing to run would be futile, as the sounds of the search dogs and Division were growing closer, we turned a corner, placing ourselves behind a ginormous boulder. The boy knelt down and pulled on a rope that blended in with the leaves that coated the ground around us, and a wooden door opened out of the ground, leading into what I imagined to be a type of storm cellar. Quickly, I ran down the rickety old stairs into the hidden cellar, with the boy trailing close behind me, shutting the hatchway-like door behind us.
Immediately I sat down, trying to catch my breath from running and the adrenaline coursing through the entirety of my body. So many questions ran through my head, but only one seemed to matter at the time.
“Why do you have that locket?”
The boy looked stunned and almost confused for a moment, before his face broke into a wide grin and he began chuckling to himself.
“We just ran over 3 miles to escape being hunted down by the Division and their mutts, you are in a storm cellar in the middle of the woods with a guy you don’t even know the name of, and yet that is your first question. You really are something Emyra.”
My body immediately went rigid.
“How do you know my name? Who are you?”
The boy walked across the bunker to a water jug and filled two small cups. He handed me a filled glass before he sat down across from me.
“The same way I have this heart-shaped locket. Your mother.”
No. That’s not possible. “My mother’s dead. Has been for 4 years.” I said, locking eyes with him with the cold stare I had come to perfect. Show no emotion, feel no emotion. Or at least that’s what I told myself.
“If your mother was dead, how would I have her locket? How would I know your name? How would I know that you have an older brother named Jace who should be about 20 by now? How would I have known where to find you? Your mom is alive, that's why I’m here.”
I sat, gazing at the dirt floor, trying to gather the thoughts in my head to form a complete sentence, but all that came out was, “Why?”
The mysterious boy who somehow knew me and my family reclined back against a hay bale while he spoke to me, slow and steady, not a quiver in his voice. That’s how I knew he was telling the truth.
“After the Division came and took over, people started trying to run, escape from their rule, but they would just be shot down and killed. Soon, everyone began to realize that they couldn’t just run away. They were stuck. After a few months though, a small group of harvesters devised a plan. After a guard made their rounds, two would sneak off into the woods and begin digging, The others would notify the diggers when the guards were returning, and they would sneak back and act as if they had never left. Really though, they were building these,” He said, gesturing to the walls around us. “Once they were finished, groups of people would escape, and hide out here for a few days, until the search for them died down. Then they began walking to find a place where the Division couldn’t touch them. Over time, word spread around, and hundreds of these bunkers were made, and tons of people escaped. Your mother was one of them.”
I couldn’t believe the words he was telling me. I so dearly wanted to, but I struggled to comprehend that my mother could still be alive after all this time. Guards came to my door 3 years ago and informed Jace and I that, after attempting to escape with a group of other runners, she was gunned down. Shortly after that, Jace was called into the Divisions army, and then I was alone.
“What does this have to do with me? Why are you here?”
He got up and began to pace, staring at the floor and occasionally glancing up to look at me. “Your mother sent me for you, she’s kept eyes on you all these years, making sure you were alive and safe. It was too dangerous to try and move you before, but there’s been an attack on the Divisions Army base, so they are distracted. It was now or never. She sent me to bring you to The Hides. A safe space where there is no Division. Where we live in peace. We are building our own society, and she wants you there with her. With us.”
“The Hides...Where is it?” I asked, trying to keep my head clear, and my thoughts straight.
“It’s in the old state of Pennsylvania. The Hides are in the Allegheny Forest, almost into what used to be New York.”
“Pennsylvania?! That's all the way up North! How long of a walk is that anyway?” I demanded.
He took a deep breath and looked at me, “With stopping for sleep, food, and considering weather patterns and issues along the path, about 25 Days.”
“25 Days…” I should've been scared. I should've been dreading this. 25 Days, walking with a guy I don’t even know, in the scorching hot sun, all the way up to Pennsylvania, but I wasn't. Instead of arguing, or trying to convince both of us how crazy this all was, I asked “What's your name?”
The boy looked taken aback by the question. It took him a second to respond. “My name is Soren.”
“Soren. When do we leave?”
About the Creator
Aspen R.B
Let all of our stories be told
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