Ụzọ ọnwụ

Chapter One

"Sir!"

"Yes general?"

"We have found them sir!"

"Where are they? Did you capture them?"

"They are on the east side sir!"

"Did. You. Capture. Them."

"No sir! We tried, they were too fast sir!"

"Well, you have had three last chances already, your wife is already at stake, and do you wish to bargain again?"

"Yes sir!"

"What will you barder, your children? Your life?"

"My life sir!"

"One last shot, if you fail, your life, your wife's life, and your children's will be taken, do you understand?"

"Sir Yes sir!" the general left the room. The man he was talking too turned back to the window overlooking the city. The man smiled, he knew that the general was going to fail, as he had those three times before. He was going to have fun soon.

An hour before

"Hey James! Look at this!"

"Huh? What is it Carol?" Carol was pointing at a wanted poster with her, James and the other four members of their group. "Well they still have not gotten my eye color right, but it's the closest they have gotten yet."

"Always thinking about your public image." Carol teased.

"Well they got your hair style wrong, and Martha's nose wrong, you would think that their artists could study the images from the cameras a bit better."

"Well let's take it down, we don't want to be found." Carol ripped down the poster. As they walked down the alley they saw some guards turn the corner, pressing against the wall they hid until they had passed, then the exited the ally running right into the general with his personal group of guards.

"It's the kids!" the general shouted, as he grabbed James.

"We're teenagers, not kids, but at your age you probably couldn't tell the difference." James retorted.

"Well that little comment just got you years added to your life stay in jail, if you don't get executed."

"Why do you want us?!" asked Carol

"The Leader wants you, and what he wants, I want to, and I get it."

"You did not give a full answer. Why do you want us?!" the general sighed.

"I don't ask why he want what he want, I just get what he wants."

"So even you don't know if this is a misunderstanding?"

"I saw you steal that steel."

"Well we can't argue with that." And as she said that Carol leapt up and kicked the General in the face. He dropped James as he brought his hands to his face.

"Way to go Carol!" James said

"No time for talking, we have to go." James nodded. They took off down the main street, towards the east exit, with the General and his men fast on their heels.

"We really should be more careful." James said.

"That *puff puff* is an understatement." Carol replied, looking at James with a smirk.

"What? I'm serious, you know, after we take down this nation, let's find a small farm and live on it, just the six of us."

"What, the small farm/work shop we live in now isn't small enough for you?"

"No- you know what I mean, somewhere away from everyone else."

"Where is the fun in that?"

"You know, sometimes I wonder which one of us is the serious one."

"Martha."

"Besides her."

"Me."

"... You've got me there." As they ran they stole a bag of apples. "Always apples, why can't bread or meat be stored in these easily-grabbed bags, Carol?" Carol had stopped running and was giving a small bag of credits to the apple seller. "Carol, we can't always pay for what we steal."

"Oh well if you had an entire bushes worth of apple-berries stolen you would want payment too."

"Apple-berries? That apple rip off?"

"Yes, did you not read the label before you grabbed it?"

"Well I assumed that it was apples."

"And that's how we got caught stealing the steel for Tina."

"Well I THOUGHT that camera was off."

"The light was still green."

"Well I can't notice everything."

"Apparently even which street you're running down, the gates to the right."

"Oh." James turned around and headed back to the crossroads, then ran right with Carol. "There really should be larger road signs."

"As a two feet wide and a foot tall sign is not large enough?"

"Well if it was lower."

"What, so you could run into them?"

"You know what I mean." Carol smiled.

"Oh I do. Left." They turned left and came to the hole in the wall.

"Ladies first."

"Well, go on then." Carol shoved James threw as she said that.

They arrived in the outskirts of the small town at nightfall, and climbed their way to the abandoned junk yard, and made their way through it to their base, where May was waiting at the door.

"Apple-berries! Yay!" and with that May grabbed the bag and ran into the shack.

"Did you get caught?" as she said that Tina came out of the work station.

"Just for a few minutes, then Carol kicked the General in the face, I think his nose is broken."

"He told him that he probably could not tell the difference between teenagers and children at his age."

"You did?! What did he say?"

"Well he grunted in pain after Carol kicked him, but not much."

"Tina," Carol said, "how is Martha's mecha coming along?"

"Well I've finished the body, there is space for cargo, human or otherwise, along with the seating for her." Speaking of the devil Martha came out of the house with a few apple-berries in her hand.

"It's really cool. Let me guess, James though these where apples and so grabbed them, and then Carol paid for them?"

"Yep." James said. Carol went inside.

"May," Carol said, "is Sam still using bandages?"

"Yes, I've tried to get him to stop but it's no use, he just steals them from the infirmary, I've told him that we have enough anesthetic to do the surgery, but he refuses, I don't know what to do." Mays eyes teared but as she talked. "I know what the bandages are going to his ribs, he's just making it harder for himself by denying what is happening. I'm going to try to make a chest binder, like what where used before the war."

"If you need help I'd be happy to go with you May." Carol said.

"Thanks Carol."