Dawn Of Rebellion Collection

13. Dawn

Weeks? Days? My feet scream at me. It"s only been a few days and I feel like we"ve been walking for weeks. I"m not used to this; it"s exhausting. Drew seems tireless. He just keeps going at a pace that I can"t really keep up with. At times, I get pretty far behind him. We think we"re moving south. Neither of us really has any survival skills, so the most we can do is guess. We keep walking, through dense forests and valleys.

A lot of what we see is really sad; ruins of a culture and a people. Destroyed buildings, large forests, and roads gone to waste. Yesterday we skirted the edges of an old and abandoned city. The land is broken and the people are gone. This place is in shambles. In England, we"re taught that the colonies had it coming. They destroyed themselves. They"d been warned about a possible drought, but they didn"t heed the warnings. Everyone saw global warming coming, but some countries did nothing to forestall the effects. There was corruption and greed. It was just the tipping point. Everything got worse from there. Famine, war, disease, and a nation was gone.

Just … gone.

Once the darkness comes, we stop to rest for the night at one of the ruined buildings we come across. Only one of the walls stands more than a meter tall. Most of them have fallen completely. It looks as if the entire structure was made of concrete. As I walk through what used to be the doorway, I steady myself on a partially fallen wall and it crumbles beneath my hand.

Drew follows behind and, for once, he doesn"t have anything to say. I"m grateful for his silence as I grieve for those who once lived here. He puts a hand on my shoulder and I don"t brush him off.

I stop moving as my eyes find a freshly painted image on the floor. It"s a large bird surrounded by blue and red stars. It"s majestic and for some reason I don"t understand, I"m careful not to step on it. I turn to leave the place behind, but Drew stops me.

“Do you hear that?” he asks. I strain my ears to listen until I hear a stick snap.

“What do you think it is?” I whisper.

“Someone"s coming,” he says.

“Or something.” As I say this, a light appears in the darkness. A flame moves towards us.

“Stay here. I"m going to find out who that is,” Drew says and walks out the door.

“Drew,” I hiss, “don"t leave me here.” But he"s gone. I inch back towards the wall and slide to the ground to wait.

A foot scuffs against the ground and I look up right into the eyes of a ripped, shirtless man. The light from his torch illuminates his wild eyes as he focuses them on me.

“Drew,” I scream as the man steps forward, closing the gap between us.

His lip twitches and he snarls, “You stupid Brits.”

I scramble to my feet and try to sprint by him, out the door. He grabs the back of my shirt and pulls me back towards the wall, slamming me into it. A dust cloud surrounds me, sending me into a fit of coughing. The man closes a hand around my throat, pinning me against the wall.

“You shouldn"t have come in this room, little girl. Long live the USA,” he growls.

I try to scream again, but his hand closes tighter around my throat, cutting off any words. My breath is bottled in my throat, screaming to get out. I kick and tear at the man to no avail. My head starts spinning as I feel the oncoming blackness. I close my eyes, waiting for it to come. It doesn"t. In an instant, the pressure on my throat is gone and I"m gasping for air. There"s a thud as the man"s body hits the ground and I collapse next to him.

Drew stands nearby with a b****y rock in his hand. He doesn"t look at me. I move away from the body on the ground and scramble to my feet. I turn to Drew, who still wears a blank expression.

“I killed him,” he whispers. I put my hand on Drew"s shoulder and urge him out the door and away from the scene behind us. Taking the b****y rock from the strong grip Drew has on it, I throw it as far as I can into the woods. I grab Drew"s hand and lead him away. When I think we"re far enough, I stop. Drew still doesn"t say anything more, but the horror on his face tells me what he"s thinking. Guilt rises in his eyes.

Sitting Drew on the ground, I grab a bottle of water and make him drink. Taking his blood-spattered hands, I pour water over them. Once they"re clean, I set aside our packs and wrap my arm around his shoulders.

A shudder runs through him and he leans his head on my shoulder as silent tears make their way down his face.

“We should move from here,” I whisper. “He may not have been alone.”

“I killed him,” he responds.

“I know.” I run a hand over his hair. “I know, but you saved my life.”

He tilts his head to look at me. “Of course I"d save you. We"re in this together, right?” He holds out a hand palm up.

I smile. “Yeah Drew. We"re in this together.”

I place my palm against his and he curls our fingers together. Gabby was the only person I"d had in my corner for a long time, but I don"t have her now.

I have Drew. And in this moment, if feels good just to not be alone.

I know what he thought of his father, so I begin to wonder how alone he"d been in London. We may"ve struggled to survive, but at least I had my sister. Who did he have?

Me. At least for the time being. Now he has me.

The tortured look doesn"t leave his face as I stand and pull him with me, but he holds on tighter, not letting go of my hand as we leave the horrors of the night behind.