Chapter 14

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We wake up the next morning to light shining through the tent from every angle. Everything is lit up with rainbow colors. "What the heck?" Neil says. Shielding his eyes from the light, he opens the tent and we step out into the main room.

Stained glass windows are laid out everywhere. Not in the walls or the ceiling, just lying around. They're propped up in different places around the room, all at different angles. The trap door is open to let in sunlight, which reflects off all the windows, turning the entire room into a rainbow. People are slowly coming out of their tents, confused but happy. The room looks beautiful this way, and no one's against it.

A few people are smiling as if in remembrance of something. I get the feeling this has happened before.

Natalie walks out of her tent and comes over to us. "Do you guys like it?" She asks with a little smile.

"You did this?" Neil asks.

"You know the tradition I talked about at the fire?" She says is response. "The thing I did every year with Luke and Sheila?" She looks around and gestures, "This is it."

"It's amazing!"

"We did it every year around the same time; on the same day if we could. Things always tend to get stressful and busy around this time of year, so we just thought it was a nice way to cheer people up. I know everyone could really use it right now." She pauses, "And...it's a nice way to keep the memory of them alive. There are a few people left here that knew them, and I feel like Luke and Sheila would appreciate this."

"How did you do all this yourself? It seems like at least a three people job." Neil asks.

"I might have had a little help." She says. "You're right though, it was always hard even with the other two."

"Well you did an awesome job." I say. I bet I know who her 'help' is. Mark.

"Don't tell anyone else that it was me, okay? I think it's a nice little secret for those of us that knew Sheila and Luke; it's not really meant for everyone else to know."

"Okay." We promise.

...................................

The enemy pods are coming today. They'll be here any minute actually.

The last couple hours were spent in preparation. We got all the children and the wounded into the lowest level, and covered the lower trap door with things so that the officials and the troops from Mars wouldn't be able to find them.

Then we set out a couple drones in the Metal Heads, filled with bombs. They're remote control, so when the troops arrive we can fly the drones out and knock out as many officials as possible in one blow.

The rest of us -about 500 now that the new recruits are here- are hiding on the main level, fully armed and decked out in battle gear.

I'm wearing black leggings with tons of pockets; flexible and easy to fight in. In the pockets are some random essentials that they gave us all, mostly little first-aid kit type things, in case we get hit. Then I have on a long sleeve, fitted black shirt with thumb holes. I have a belt type thing to which I have a dagger strapped, and a small hand gun. On my back is a quiver of arrows and in my left hand is my bow.

 I'm ready for this fight. I don't want to kill anyone if I can help it, but at this point, I just want a peaceful life. No more wars, no more officials, no more bombings.

 No more bombings.

And if I have to fight to get there, even kill, I will.

We're quieted by the instructors and the Rebel Leaders. "Shhh." One of them calls. "We've picked up their signal- the Mars troops are here. No one make a sound now. We wait for them to come to us. We wait for them to attack first. If it seems like they come in peace, we don't fire. We want to spare as many lives as possible." He tells us. "Got it?"

Everyone nods. We hear the sound of pods landing outside. After maybe five minutes, we hear footsteps. We begin to line up on the stairs, ready to launch out of the room at them.

Suddenly the trap door opens, revealing a Mars soldier in a white, full body SWAT suit. He sees us and shoots.

Well, they fired first. We all run out in a stampede, coming face to face with about 300 men in white.

......................................

Battle is nothing like in the movies. It's not sugar coated. People are dying.

There are shots in all directions, the sound of metal blades, the smell of burning flesh when someone is shot. It's not pretty.

But there are more of us than them, so we've got a chance. They clearly didn't expect this many of us to survive the bombing, even with the new recruits added in.

A man from Mars comes up behind me and laughs. "Is this a joke?" He sneers. "Little girly gonna fight against me?"

"Little girly gonna kick your ass." I say in response, and draw my bow.

"Ooh, gonna shoot me?"

"Hell yeah." I say, and release my arrow. I don't even feel bad. I thought I would, but these men are ruthless. I would say almost all of them deserve it.

"Having fun?" Neil calls from behind me.

"I try." I answer with a smirk and keep fighting. Two more guys come up on my right. One fires a gun at me but misses, so I fire mine back at him and he crumples to the ground. He's alive though. I'm aiming to maim, not kill.The second guy I hit over the head with the hilt of my dagger, and he lands next to the first.

The fighting goes on for a couple hours. I get an arrow shot in my leg, and people all around me are being shot down with guns, tasers, arrows, and an assortment of other weapons.

After a while, it finally begins to look like we're winning. We have the Mars troops clearly outnumbered. There's only about 20 of them left, and at least 400 of us.

And then I see something sickening. Something I hoped I would never see.

Neil gets shot.

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