Eve of Tomorrow

Chapter 6

Dawn

The closer we get to Emily, the less Ryan talks. It"s been a couple days since our guard duty chat and now he"s angry and scared all at the same time. I know the feeling. When my sister was in the Floridaland slave camp, I was a mess.

As the sky darkens, a burst of chilled air moves through the trees. I shiver and pull my arms tight across my chest. I"d kill for a cuppa right now.

“I wish we could start a fire,” I say.

“I wish we could find something edible,” Corey says wistfully.

Ryan stays quiet. I nod as I lean back against a tree and close my eyes, trying to push all thoughts of food out of my mind. I"ve never felt this empty. Last night we found some kind of animal, but there was only a small amount of meat.

Instead of dreaming of food, I dream about the night my patrol was attacked by a band of freedom fighters at the river"s edge. I see Lucas, Grace, and Brent fighting them off. Other members of my patrol are dead at our feet. I"m grabbed from behind by a fellow Rebel. King. We wear the same uniform, but his g*n is trained on me. I hear someone yell and lunge before a bullet rips into my shoulder. I wake suddenly and sit straight up with sweat dripping down my face and breaths rasping in my chest.

“You okay?” Corey asks.

“Fine,” I answer shortly. I"ve had that dream before, many times. I do my best to forget. “We should get going,” I say as I stand and begin to erase all signs of our presence from this clearing. We don"t want anyone following us. I can"t get King"s face out of my head. Other than a few friends and my sister, I haven"t trusted the Rebels since then. King shot me on orders from Jonathan Clarke. He was the Rebel leader. Now he"s held prisoner in the very base that he controlled. I never did find out if my mother wanted me dead or if Clarke kept his second in command in the dark.

My father, General Nolan, leads the Rebels now and I don"t know what to think of him. He refused to allow me to go on this mission. Well, he abandoned me to make my own choices for most of my life. I don"t need him telling me what to do now. He pulled rank and ordered me to stay, but I never wanted to be a Rebel soldier anyway. He can have my uniform. I"ll gladly shed that burden.

I only wish my father had told me what he knows of the Wastelands. He seems to know everything that goes on in the colonies so I doubt he"s as ignorant of this place as he let on. He did warn me against coming, but all I care about right now is finding Emily.

Here"s what I do know. The Wastelands are a charred mess and no one seems to know why. It happened a long time ago. It has long been thought that no one could live here. Crazy weather patterns are the norm and the land is harsh. Crops have trouble growing and animals tend to stay away. How could anyone survive?

But obviously, the Freedom Fighters can. Such a wretched place is the perfect hiding place for them. My father warned us that they"re much more likely to find us than we are to find them. We came anyway. We can"t let them have Emily. She"s just a girl. What could they possible want with her?