The Queen

Chapter 25:

"Maxon, get up!" I shook him awake and we got up out of bed.
"We need to get to the safe room!" Maxon exclaimed. He led me to the corner of the room, where there was a painting of a fruit bowl. He moved the painting and there was a lever. He pulled it and led me down the hallway to get to the safe room. We were almost there when there was a loud bang and the wall broke. Standing in front of us was a man with an axe, smiling evilly.
"You're coming with me." He said, reaching for my nightgown. I struck him in the stomach with my fist and he doubled over. I punched him again and he fell to the ground. Maxon looked at me, surprised, then grabbed my arm and led me again. We got into the safe room and there were guards inside.
"Thank goodness you guys are in here!" Maxon said, locking the heavy door behind him. "C'mon, America. Lie down on this bed." I walked over to the cot Maxon was standing by and sat down. The guards looked at us in a peculiar way.
"You better lie down, America. Don't want to hurt the baby." It was an innocent comment, but the guard said it in such a way that I knew something was wrong. Then I noticed that the guards didn't have name tags and realized that they weren't normal guards. Rebel guards. They smiled and walked towards us. Maxon got in front of me protectively and held my hand. The guards got closer and closer, and grabbed my nightgown. He pulled me to a chair in the middle of the room and tied me to it and put a gag in my mouth. They did the same with Maxon and put him beside me.
"You probably know that we're the DFIs. You know out mission, and you know that we hate the monarchy. So, here's the deal this time. If you give us your first-born child to train and make a part of the DFI, and promise to give up the crown, we'll let you go; without a scratch. But if you refuse, we'll kill you. Right in front of eachother, so you'll see eachother in pain." I flinched at the thought of Maxon in pain. But I sure as hell wasn't giving up my own child or the crown.
"And keep in mind that we will not hesitate to harm you. We hate you two as much as we hate the monarchy." He walked away, leaving us to our thoughts. Maxon wriggled free of the gag and I did the same.
"America, we can't give them our child. We can't give up the crown either. And I don't want to see you in pain even more." Maxon looked so stressed out.
"I don't know what to do." I put my head on Maxon's shoulder. "I'd rather die than see you in pain." I said.
"We have to pick. We could lie to them about stepping down from the crown." I shook my head.
"No, they would get even madder. And we can't hand over our child to them. There's only one choice." I said, trailing off.
"We have to die." Maxon said, a tear rolling down his cheek. "America Schreave, I love you so much. I'll love you until my very last breath. I-"
"Don't do that." I said, cutting him off. "Don't say your goodbyes. We still have time to make a plan." I said.
"No you don't!" The rebel walked into the room, smiling. "I'm sure you've had plenty of time to decide, so what will it be?" I looked at Maxon, and a single tear rolled down my cheek.
"We will never give you our child or step down from the crown!" I shouted, trying to sound as menacing as possible.
"Ah. I see your decision." He walked out, laughing. Green fog started to fill the room and my vision was getting blurry.
"Maxon. Maxon I love you." I said, clutching to my husband's hand. "I love you so much." There were tears rolling down my face and I looked at Maxon. All I could see was a blur of colour, but I knew it was him.
"I love you too, America. More than you can imagine. I love you." Everything was a blur and the edges of my vision started to get black. Just as everything was about to turn black, it hit me.
I'm dying.
I lost feeling in my toes, then my feet, then my legs, and it worked its way up my body until I couldn't feel anything. I took one last rattling breath and closed my eyes.
It's almost over.

I opened my eyes, expecting to see white light, but all I saw was grey. I wiggled my fingers and sat up. I'm still alive? I looked around and tried to ignore the pounding in my head. I was in a concrete room, with a door on one wall and a slat for food. There was a T.V. screen in one corner, but it wasn't on. I kept looking around the room; confused. Where's Maxon?
"Hello?" I asked into the nothingness. My voice was hoarse and it hurt to talk. I got up and paced around the room, thinking about what had just happened. There was a sound of a lock being unlocked and the rebel walked in.
"Hello." He said, smiling in that evil way. "You probably thought that gas would kill you. We're not that generous. Now is when we kill you." He laughed and turned on the T.V.  There, on the screen, was Maxon. There was another rebel in his room too, and he was looking at the screen.
"Whatever you do, don't hurt her! You can kill me, but don't hurt America!" He pleaded. A tear ran down my cheek at the sight of him. The rebel brought in a chair and tied me to it. He took a knife out of his pocket and ran his finger along the blade.
"Say goodbye, America." He said, smiling. Maxon looked frantically at the screen and started squirming in his chair.
"Jorge, don't cut him." My rebel said. "Let him watch his wife die." He raised the knife and stuck it into my arm, starting at the shoulder and dragging it down. I screamed in pain and Maxon yelled out.
"America! America! Stop! Don't hurt her! Please!" He was silenced by a gag. The rebel did the same to my other arm, and I was covered in blood. He cut me down my legs and on my face, then stepped away. He left the room and the other rebel started torturing Maxon. I sat there, yelling for Maxon, helpless. Seeing Maxon get tortured was even worse than being tortured myself. It was like a thousand knives were piercing me. My vision started to get blurry again, and this time I knew this was it.
"Maxon," I said, gathering up every last bit of my remaining strength. "I love you."
Everything went black.