The City

Night had already fallen over the city. It was dark, only the dim streetlights could be seen in the distance. No doubt the streets would be empty except for the patrolling guards, curfew had passed long ago. Everyone listened to the curfew or else there would be severe punishment. But that night my older brother, Dean and I were not in our houses like we were supposed to be.

We had been planning this for two weeks. Everyday, within the past two weeks, we would carry supplies such as food, clothing, water and even a gun; to the two backpacks we had hidden inside a dumpster, just outside the city lines. Then today, an hour before curfew, we had hidden inside the dumpster until the speakers over the city announced for everyone to get back to their houses. When it was safe enough, we sneaked out of the city.

I now stood about a mile from the city while Dean checked on our driver. The first part of our plan had succeeded, but we still needed to get past the border. That was the hard part.

The border was about five miles west of the city. Between the two, was just wasteland, left behind from some war that had gone on about two hundred years ago. No one really knew about the war, although there were many rumors that there had been an uprising from the citizens against the leaders of the city. The citizens, of course, had lost the war.

I stood in the darkness, the only light illuminating my surroundings was the sun set in the distance. I watched as colours of orange and pink danced through the sky in the distance. It was so beautiful. It was as if the world was telling me good and beautiful things were out there. That gave me hope, and hope was the only thing that kept me going at the moment.

"Charlotte, it's time." I heard Dean's familiar voice say.

A huge wave of anxiety washed over me as I turned around to face him. Dean looked at me with a worried expression. Although he was only seventeen, his eyes showed the wisdom of an old man and many times his wisdom had comforted me. But not tonight.

"Are you okay?" Dean asked me.

I shook my head, I knew he could see right through me so why bother hiding it?

"I'm not sure if I want to do this. What if we get caught? We'll be executed or worse." I told him with panic in my voice.

Dean came closer to me and gripped my shoulders gently as he looked directly into my eyes.

"That won't happen. I won't let it happen. If we get caught we run, no stopping no matter what. Okay?" He said sternly.

I knew what he meant. He meant if one of us was captured or shot down the other would have to keep running. But how could I? Dean was the only family I had left after last month when our parents were executed for trying the same thing we were right now.

Nonetheless, I nodded an okay to him.

"This is what mom and dad wanted. They wanted us to be free." He said, "We have to be brave for them."

Once again, I nodded either too scared to talk or worried that if I did, I would say the wrong thing and discourage myself from getting through this.

"Let's go, Farmer Jones is waiting for us." Dean said.

With that, I followed Dean through the darkness. Within a few minutes, a large truck appeared. A tall man in overalls was standing next to it, Farmer Jones.

Farmer Jones greeted us with a smile, he barely seemed nervous. Our parents had told us that Farmer Jones was a good man, that he had smuggled people out of the city many times. He was allowed outside the borders to farm in the rich soil, along with the other farmers, so the guards always let him through.