The Survivors

Chapter One

"MAVIS!"

My eyes flash from the bird flying high in the sky, onto my brother's face, and in that moment, time slows down. I feel Sam's hand wrap around my upper left arm, and he pulls me towards him, so my face is pressed against his crisp white shirt. I feel his hand against my back. We haven't been this close in three years.

A moment later the squawking is drowned out by the heavy chug of the train bolting past us. It misses us by an inch if that. I feel the whoosh of air as it passes and it tumbles me even closer to Sam, but just like a tree, he stands still.

I nudge my arms out from against his body and wrap them around him; taking a deep breath in, another sigh of relief.

As soon as the train is a safe distance away, Sam pushes me away from him, holding me at arm's length. I spot the concern in his twin eyes, but my eyes flee up. Looking for the mythical creature that stormed the sky, but the bird that caught my attention five minutes ago has vanished.

"Are you even listening to me?" Sam asks snapping his fingers in front of my face, and I blink, bringing myself back to earth.

"Yeah, what?" I ask him.

"Freaking hell, Mavis." He whisper-shouts, but quickly covers his mouth, looking around for the capturers armed in white. He grabs my arm and pulls me away from the train tracks, against a building and out of the road. "You scared me half to death, again."

"I'm sorry." I apologise, again. It just seems to be a record on repeat. I get myself in trouble, he freaks out and I apologise. Then my dad hears back from it twenty minutes later and storms the house down, but the message at the end of all of this, is for me to be more careful.

"No explanation, I guess?" Sam asks and I move my eyes to the floor, rubbing my toes against each other. I hear him sigh and his heavy boots against the concrete as he walks away from me.

I run to keep up with him, my eyes catch a capturer standing on the edge of the road. I move my eyes from his white silhouette to the floor.

'Do not make eye contact', the voice in my head screams.

I wouldn't necessarily call Saxet the most beautiful city on the planet, but then again, I haven't seen the world, so without that knowledge I can barely make a statement like that.

The tough concrete crumbles into pebbles the further away you get from the Resistance building, the center and the powerhouse of Saxet, keeping three neighbour-hoods, one hospital, two schools, a bunch of factories, a museum and numerous trains running at one time.

Without the Resistance, we wouldn't be as successful as we are. We'd all have to flee to the Old City; the decaying city surrounding our perfect one.

Sam opens our front door, and with his foot nudges sheet music out of the door way. I close the door behind us, and immediately crouch down to pick up a sheet.

"Been practising?" I ask him. He slides onto the black piano stool and flexes his hands, cracking his knuckles.

"No." He says, "I've been watching paint dry for the past several hours. Oh, and picking up an infant who can't seem to keep their feet on the path and not the train tracks. What do you think I've been doing?"

"I've told you; you don't have to pick me up." I reply.

"And what? Let you walk mindlessly in front of a train and become a Mavis-Sterling-Pie?" He laughs, shaking his head. I swallow harshly and let the music fall to the floor.

"I'm gonna go upstairs." I tell him, "I'm not your enemy, you know? I'm your sister." And without a reply, I'm dashing up the stairs, and slamming my door closed. I shove the chair that sits in front of my vanity under the door handle so he can't get in, and I fall to the floor, shoving my face into my hands.