EXPLODE

twenty nine

Sitting in the back of the van reminded me of my first time to visit the Rebellion. Except this time, I was lonely and utterly terrified. I wanted Liam, but I also didn't want Liam to come after me in fear people I loved, including him, would be hurt.

So I sat quietly in the back of the van, letting the vehicle throw me around and accepting the occasional thump on the head against the cold metal.

It didn't seem like long until the door opened again, and the coldness of the van was suddenly swept with a warm gust of smoke trailing from the fire in front of me. I savored the smoky smell, letting the smoke burn at my lungs, hoping maybe they would let me pass easily; smothered by the smoke around me.

"Dawn?" A voice interrupted my thoughts. I opened my eyes, bleary from the smoke surrounding me, and made eye contact with Liam's mother, despair and fear sweeping across her face. "What are you doing here? Where's Liam?"

She took a brave step towards me, only to be pushed aside by the guards surrounding the van, and my view of Liam's kind mother became blocked by Ralph.

He coughed the smoke away, "Ms. Jame, if you would please return to your home while I escort the queen to our," he paused, "jail."

It sounded far more sinister than what he described to the woman in front of him, her small hands balled into fists and anger overpowering her face. She stayed quiet and stepped aside. While my heart let disappointment flood through the veins in my body, my brain convinced every limb that it was for the best. At least she wouldn't be hurt.

Ralph prodded me in the back and shoved me in a different direction from the house I had seen before. This time, a large makeshift tent approached me, made up of sewn together tarps and broken clothes- but it still looked like home to most, welcoming even. Of course we walked past it.

Behind the welcoming tent, there was a sudden drop in the earth beneath us- something I was not prepared for. I fell many feet onto the earth below, watching as tiny bugs scurried away from the sudden impact of my body hitting the floor.

Immediately, I thought of being buried alive, but my thoughts were soon silenced by the sound of metal slamming against metal above me. I glanced up and squinted at the dark and unfamiliar world around me, seeing bars like a prison a few feet above me.

Ralph's fading voice came next, "Enjoy your first night in Hell!"

I got slowly to my feet and yelped it in pain, quickly falling again and grabbing my ankle.

Though covered by my boot, I could tell it was bent at an odd angle; an angle a foot should not bend. I slipped off the boot, and felt sweat beading down my forehead as I looked at my twisted and swollen foot in front of me. I didn't need a doctor to tell me it was broken.

I glanced around me, looking for something, anything to make a cast or at least a splint. The earth around me was dark, so I used my hands to feel around me and the walls surrounding me.

Rooted into the wall farthest from me was a thick branch. I clawed at it until my finger-beds were bleeding and my nails were chipped, and it finally popped out of place with a large crack.

Despite the growing pain in my now bloody fingers, I continued to work, snapping the branch in half and putting half at one end of my ankle and the other half at the other end. I winced as I straightened out my swollen ankle, the little light revealing purple and blue colors surrounding the impact sight.

Bandages, I thought. I needed to keep these sticks in place.

My fingers were begging me to stop, but I ripped part of my shirt off and tied it in a tight knot around my ankle and shrieked in pain.