As much as I tried to prove him wrong, the little voice in the back of my mind was right. When we woke up, officers and guards surrounded us. They stood silently around us, blocking every escape.
"Matthias."
He rolled over, opening his eyes. One of the officers was pointing his gun to Matthias' forehead, making clear what I was thinking. We were done for.
But Mattias had something else in mind.
"Run Adelia."
And he grabbed the officers wrist and twisted it to the ground, sending him after it. I stood and tried to squeeze by two guards in the confusion, but they held fast and threw me to the ground. My face hit the dirt and I tasted it, gagging.
"Stay right where you are if you want to live."
I looked up and saw another officer staring down a us. His draftees pierced through me like a blade. As he placed around us, I could see the tattoo plaster on his wrist. This was no ordinary officer. He was a lieutenant.
"What is your name, girl," he asked me.
I clamped my lips shut and glanced down. He deserved no answers from me.
"If you make the mistake of thinking you are valuable to me," he pulled a knife from his belt and pressed it to my neck, drawing blood. "I will prove you wrong."
I cringed and reached up to feel the blood coming from the small cut the lieutenant had made. He was serious and I knew it. Dawn was not afraid to destroy its enemies. Though it may seem like a perfect happy society on the outside, it's government was filled with corruption and lies.
My father told me this city used to be called New York. It always seemed funny to me that there was no Old York. But that was before the Russians invaded what was left of the crumbling America and took it for themselves. The Americans liked the new plan for government and willingly handed themselves over. If only they would have known what became of it...
"Seize them."
I was brought back to the present as the guards grabbed us and hoisted us to our feet. With their guns to our backs, they led us across the wasteland and to the waiting aircraft.
"This can't be happening," Matthias whispered to me. "This can't, we cant, they..."
His voice trailed off. We couldn't run now. We were trapped with their guns to our backs and the evil city ahead. For the first time, I felt utterly and completely lost.
*************************
I in front of y bedroom window, staring out at the wall, and the vast wasteland that lay beyond. Lucky for me, tonight there were fewer guards. It was my chance.
As the sun began to dip under the horizon, I looked one last time over the home that had become mine. I now lived with my uncle, after my parents were executed for refusing the officer's commands.
My uncle snoozed in his bed, and I slipped out the door.
The dead silence bore down on me as I neared the wall. There was a ninety percent chance I was going to get caught tonight but I had to risk it. I had to get out of this living nightmare.
"Hey you!"
I whipped around and saw a guard running toward me. In that instant I made a life changing decision. I was doing it tonight. It was now or never.
"Stop right there!"
A bullet whizzed by my ear striking the wall, the final barrier. It was only a fraction of a mile away.
I ran.
