Sunshine and Danger

I ran as fast as I could from the men shooting at my ankles and the back of my knees, with my small backpack bouncing up and down with my body. As my mind raced, I looked over my shoulder to shoot back at them, trying my hardest not to trip and fall while also trying to shake them off my trail. They had spotted me leaving the shop of an alleged black market dealer, and approached me with their ray guns out.

I've been in hiding for most of my life in this city, so getting caught by the secret police wasn't exactly a good idea. I turned a series of sharp corners while dodging random people on the street. If I led them back, Ranger would never talk to me again, and I don't think I'd be able to live with myself. I kept my ears sharp, ducking into an alley sense I had managed to put enough space between myself and the Governor's secret police, the Dragons.

A couple of minutes that felt like years went by before I watched the Dragons run right past my ally, yelling at each other to hurry up and find me. Ha. Joke's on them.

I quickly got out of the spot I had been crouching in and inched myself towards the sidewalk. I poked my head out and looked around my outside surroundings, before adjusting my backpack and the contents inside. When I decided it was safe, I let my whole body be outside of the alley before judging the distance between myself and the dirt outer wall of the city, so I could figure out where I was and how far it was to the tunnel that eventually led to a separate tunnel that led to my house.

Now, it might seem too far to walk, since my house sits deep within a system of tunnels that were used during World War III, when Japan bombed the US to get back for the Atomic bombs back in World War II, but the long walk home is always the most relaxing. As I walked from my hiding place to the other side of town, I rummaged through my backpack to make sure everything Jay had given me was correct. I counted the extra five battery packs and I smiled when I saw my brand new ray gun was still good as new. I thought for sure it would get scuffed or scratched when I was running but I guess not. I shrugged my shoulders to myself before zipping my backpack up and returning it to my back.

I live in a town called Crow's Nest, run by the Governor and his secret police, which are called the Dragons, or 'Drags.' All the dragons look the same, with their broad shoulders, jet black hair, muscles to the nines (they're all steroid junkies), gleaming red eyes and very masculine facial features, mainly for the purpose of intimidation, but they're all a bunch of glorified wimps. And the Governor...well, he's a different story. Maybe I'll tell you one day but that's not the story I'm telling right now.

I live in a little Saltbox-style two-story red and brown brick house, I uses to live here with my parents, my little brother, and my closest friend, Michael but my family doesn't live here anymore. When the US was preparing for the war, they made all these tunnels and moved whole cities underground, but failed to appoint trusting people to govern us.

Anyway, my house was one of the only houses that were moved underground, so I tucked us away from the city. After a few weeks of living underground, my parents left with my little brother to go back to the surface.

When I refused to leave, Michael volunteered to stay with me because I was afraid of what might come from leaving. My worst fears became a reality two months later when an armed soldier came to our door with my mother's wedding ring and their ashes. The soldier told me that they had found their bodies while scavenging through rubble and that the US military had cremated the bodies after identifying by cross checking the list of people who came up to the surface.

After the soldier left, Michael and I set flowers on the front porch in honor of them, with their ashes mixed with the soil. I painted their names on the outside of the pots so others that saw the beautiful flowers would know.

During the 2 months that my family was gone, I felt quite alone for a while, despite Michael's company. The loneliness I felt inside was bone-crushing, but everything changed when I met Ranger. She hadn't been at the house when the soldier came. She was just a lost teen without a home.

I met her while I was exploring the small narrow tunnels one day. She was the prettiest girl I had ever seen and she became one of my only friends from then on out, besides Michael, of course. I brought her home the day I met her, introduced her to Michael and while she was out of the room for a moment, asked him if it was alright if she lived with us.

I remember the smile on Michael's face when he said that he would be more than happy to have her stay. After a few weeks of spending all of our time together, I confessed my feelings of love and compassion for her, and in that moment, she told me she loved me. She became my whole world and we looked out for each other.

However, Ranger makes looking out for her increasingly hard when she goes away. At random points in time, she decides to isolate herself from Michael and I by leaving before we wake up and not returning for several days. I have no idea what she does or who she's with when she leaves, but all I know is that she always comes back with less love to give.

Whenever Ranger leaves, I think of Travis a lot. Travis was my high school boyfriend. We had plans to get married after high school, but when everyone was evacuated underground, I lost contact with him. He was the love of my life and Michael's best friend. The three of us had been the Three Musketeers and when Travis and I got together, it only made the friendship we all shared stronger. And when Travis and I would get into fights, Michael never took sides, he always had his own opinion about the situation.

Sometimes, I wonder if Travis is still alive. To be honest, I'd get back with him in a heartbeat; he was my first real love. It makes me feel guilty, but also hypocritical; I hate it when Ranger leaves me with my thoughts, but I do my own fair share of leaving her.

Chapter 2

In Crow's Nest, our little subdivision in the underground, I'm the most wanted person alive, and murder is just one of the crimes in my repertoire.

I trotted up the chipped stairs onto the front porch and up to the white door. All of the paint on my house was starting to chip right off the bricks but we didn't have easy access to more paint so I never let it get to me. I opened the screen door and knocked three times, waiting for Ranger to open it and let me in. I watched the door part from the frame as a beautiful brunette emerged from the doorway, smiling.

Her pale skin collided with her chocolate brown hair that seemed to make her pink highlights radiate. Her light gray eyes shone brightly as she grabbed my arm and pulled me into the house.

Ranger grabbed my face and kissed me quickly, shutting the door with her foot. Once she pulled me in, she wrapped her arms around my waist and nuzzled into my chest. I smiled and leaned back against the door, closing my eyes.

"I missed you....." Her mumbled words warmed my chest before I reached my hand to tilt her head up, so that she would look into my eyes.

"I love you....You know I'm never gone long enough for you to miss me, love..." The words came straight from my heart and out of my mouth as we stared deeply into each other's eyes.

"I always miss you... know matter the amount of time... If you walked out of my sight and into the next room, I'd miss you...."

"They started following me, but I dropped their numbers and they ditched. They're getting closer to finding this place. It's starting to scare me..." My voice faded away and I bit my lip.

Ranger pulled away from me, and stared directly into my soul, her gray eyes hard. "Then you just need to be more careful, Sun. If they find this place, we're both dead."

Suddenly, there were five subtle knocks on the door. I cleared my throat before answering it. A man in a red and green jacket, t-shirt, skinny jeans and boots, with a bandana hanging loosely from his neck stood there, his sunglasses on top of his head, keeping his hair out of his eyes. He saluted me and bowed to Ranger.

"Sunshine, the Dragons are getting closer to home-base every day. We're running out of batteries. If we don't do something about the Governor, they'll get us all in a matter of weeks."