The room was filled with screams and cries of pain. Lorah could feel the heat of the explosion behind her. It was in the room across the hall, but it had taken out the wall. She looked over her shoulder. A scream escaped her lips. The entire side of the building was gone! Everywhere she could see, there were planes dropping bombs and she could hear the sound of machine guns firing.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and yanked her off the ground. Blindly she followed the blurry figure tugging her along the half burning hallways. Her mind raced. ‘Oh dear, God, don’t let me die… please, please, please…’ Suddenly she stopped running, jerking her guide to a stop. ‘Holla!’ she thought with horror. Holla was somewhere in the building. Somewhere being shot at, or bombed, or… Lorah pushed the thought away as fresh hot tears pricked the back of her eyes. She forced them back. This was no time to cry!

“Come on! We can’t stop! We have to get out of this building!”

Lorah looked at the sky. The planes were still shooting at people scrambling out of the front doors of the school. Screams rent the noon air. People were falling and dieing everywhere she looked.

What was happening? Who would want to bomb their school? Why? Lorah ran hard, hoping that she would wake up, and all of this would be gone.

Chapter 1

“Holla! Get down here now, or I’m leaving without you!” Lorah’s threat was followed by a flurry of footsteps stampeding down the staircase.

“I’m here, I’m going,” Holla panted with her hairbrush in one hand and one shoe in the other. She momentarily put down her brush to grab a power bar from the table and secure it between her teeth.

“Let’s go!” Lorah growled, jabbing a finger at the door.

“I’m ‘oing,” Holla muttered from behind her breakfast and hop-skipped out the door with Lorah behind her.

“I swear if it weren’t for me, you’d be late every single day…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Holla slipped on her trendy little black platform and rolled her eyes. “If I had a car of my own, I wouldn’t need a ride from you every day and you’d have nothing to hold over me.”

“I don’t need to own a car to hold something over you,” Lorah snorted veering out of the driveway as the engine roared heatedly.

“Whatever.” Holla resumed brushing her long red-brown hair and fixing her bangs. She was definitely the more popular of the two girls. Her stunning sense of style showed it. As a freshman, it was her main objective to flatter her thin, academy-award-winning body with slinky sundresses and miniskirts. Oh, but she was by no means a “girly-girl.” Behind those glossy lips and brown eyes was the most stubborn girl to grace the face of the earth.

Lorah gave an irritated tsk towards her younger sister. She was not the most social of people either. She didn’t care for people and was more cynical than anything. Aside from her clothes, Holla was the spitting image of her older sister. Except for one thing. Lorah had green eyes. Not just any green, they were brilliant. So brilliant, they put the snow covered, mountain evergreens to shame. They were her one beauty.

On the contrary, Lorah was a very attractive person. With her perfectly colored skin, flawless features, and rosy lips, she could charm any boy as well as her flirtatious younger sibling. However, she had no interest in boys. She had no interest in knowing anyone.

“Agh!” Jack grunted impatiently at the red light. He drummed his hands anxiously on the steering wheel of his royal blue, four-wheel drive, Dodge pick up. It was a birthday present last year from his father. “C’mon!” Jack ran his fingers through his stylishly spiked brown hair. “Ah, forget it!”

Without even bothering to check to see if the way was clear, Jack slammed his accelerator and turned around the corner. Lorah Farrel was already there. Not quick enough, however, to escape Jack’s unexpected tantrum.

Holla shrieked as the car spun to the side of the road and up onto the curb. Even when the car had stopped moving, she was still screaming.

“Holla!” Lorah shouted over the terrified cries. “Knock it off!”

Holla stopped screaming but continued to whimper resentfully as she glared at Lorah. Lorah looked into the cracked side mirror trying to locate the retard that had just trashed her car. She spotted the blue pick up with the front bumper bashed in. ‘Oh great,’ she thought. ‘I just ruined some rich boy’s car. My insurance is going to love this….’

Jack stepped out of the car after wrestling out of his seat belt and escaped the airbag. He blinked and looked around bewildered. Then he saw the rusty, discolored Dotson teetering precariously on the curb. He cursed under his breath as he observed the damage on his front bumper.

Slowly, Jack started walking towards the other car to see if everyone was all right. Lorah saw him coming and heaved an aggravated sigh. She clenched the steering wheal in both hands and stared straight ahead.

“Well, so much for being on time now,” Holla sighed and started re-comb her disheveled hair.

“Shut up, Holla,” Lorah snapped.

“Everything okay in there?” Jack’s face appeared in Lorah’s window.

“Does it look like everything is okay?” Lorah turned on him with ferocity. “Did it ever occur to you that a red light means stop? Or didn’t they teach you that in that school for the mentally challenged you just came from?”

“Lorah!” Holla breathed harshly as she glared menacingly at her. “We’re fine.” she smiled sweetly at Jack and batted her pretty eyelids at him.

“That’s great.” He ignored Holla’s flirtatious comment and squinted his eyes at Lorah. Then he moved away from the window muttering incoherently.

Jack managed to pull his vehicle over next to Lorah’s so the long line of traffic that had built up could pass by. There was a small and growing crowd of curious onlookers gathering at the corner. Craning their necks and standing on tiptoe to see what all the commotion was all about.

“Jeez, Lorah, why do always have to such a hostile freak all the time?” Holla sat back in her seat and folded her arms crossly. “Especially to boys like that. No wonder you have no friends.”

“Well, in case you haven’t noticed, that boy just wrecked my car. He’s a moron and obviously a bad driver. And I’m not hostile. I have no friends because I choose not to have them. Too much of a hassle and all the do is judge you by the way you look anyway.”

“Whatever,” Holla blew a strand of hair away from her face.

Chapter 2

“Hey, Lorah, did you see that new guy? Ugh! He’s such a jock… I almost puked when he sat next to me in Chem. That freak even had the gall to smile at me! Of course I only glared back at him…” Margo babbled on. She waved her hands in the air spastically, trying to emphasize the drama and horror of last period. Margo shook her head and massaged her temples as if she had a headache. Her hair, a black, bushy mass of tight little ringlets, swished around her face and shoulders.

“I just don’t know what to do about all these jocks and freaks of nature running around. They’re multiplying and are overrunning this school. Reminds me of bacteria. Disgusting… all look and act exactly alike… pathogenic… prolific….” Lorah rolled her eyes and tried to block out the sound of Margo’s endless, inexorable prate.

There was a loud rattle and a thud as America History: Through the Ages hit the bottom of her messy, unorganized locker.

“Margo,” she said, slinging a ratty, decrepit bag over her shoulder. She looked at her contemptuously and annunciated each word slowly so that her feeble dramatic mind could understand. “I… don’t… care.”

Lorah spat the word care in her face with such a scornful, final tone, it could make any New York rough neck stagger back in bewilderment. Margo’s dignity was thrashed, but only for a second. The Queen of Drama was back on her feet again.

“Well,” he blinked, startled, and then rolled her eyes arrogantly. “Well of course not! I mean who does? I certainly don’t. Only we, the sane people, know the true conspiracy that the Herd is, ad that is the soul purpose we go against, rebel, and just don’t care….”

“Oh, goodie. I’m so glad to be included under the category of ‘the sane people.’ Especially if you’re the only other one,” Lorah scowled, clearly irritated. She walked away briskly, praying Margo would not follow. She did.

“What class do you have next?” Margo trotted behind her, trying to keep up with Lorah’s long strides and brisk walk.

“None of your damned business,” Lorah barked, turning the corner sharply into another hallway. Margo stared blankly after her.

In her attempt to flee from Margo, Lorah turned into another hallway, still moving hastily. Before she knew what was happening, Lorah was on the floor, her books scattered everywhere. She found herself staring straight into the brown eyes of a stranger. Maybe, not so strange to her, though. Lorah had seen them before. The boy groaned and she realized who it was. She rolled of quickly and looked at him disgustedly.

“You!”

Jack stood up, brushing himself off. “Well, nice to see you too,” he said sarcastically. “Again.”

“First you run into my car this morning and now you run into me-” Lorah said frantically trying to jam papers into her already overcrowded bag, but to no avail. The papers slipped out of her hands and scattered everywhere on the floor. The bell rang. “Oh! Damn it!”

‘That’s great,’ she thought. ‘Issinghoff is going to be so pleased with my fourth tardy this month.’

She sank to the floor and began scooping papers into the crook of her arm. Jack did the same.

“What are you doing?” she glared icily at him.

“Uh… helping you.”

“You’ve done enough for one day I think-” Lorah tried to snatch a handful of papers away from him, but he pulled back.

“I don’t think so,” he said finally. Lorah drew her hand back quickly and frowned at him.

“You’re going to be late.”

“I already am,” he said coolly. “Besides, you are too.”

Lorah sat there, staring at him as if he were some strange, unknown creature from another planet. Jack didn’t seem to notice and continued gathering Lorah’s things.

“Who are you?” Lorah demanded. She hadn’t ever seen this boy before, aside from earlier this morning.

“Jack. Jack Enlow. I’m new here,” he held out his hand. She didn’t acknowledge it and squinted hard at him. He put it down and resumed his work.

“You were going pretty fast around that corner. Where were you off to in such a hurry? I know no one’s that excited to get to Mr. Issinghoff’s class.”

“How’d you know where I was going?” she eyed him warily. Jack waved the English book.

“Had him first hour. Not really the most enjoyable teacher in the world….” The annoyed look on his face made Lorah smile. She couldn’t help it. Maybe, there was more to this boy than meets the eye.

Quickly she tried to look down and hide her mistake. She was too late. He saw it.

“So why were you rushing?”

“Why were you?” Lorah snapped viciously.

“I wasn’t,” Jack frowned. His eyebrows furrowed. “I was waiting for someone. I don’t know where all the classes are, so I get a person to show me around. But I think she ditched me.”

Lorah laughed scornfully. “Ha, who was it?”

“I dunno. Some girl named Margo Engstrom? Probably don’t know her. Not really the type of person you would hang out with. Talks wa-ay too much-”

“Not the type of person I would hang out with? What- do you think you know me?”

Jack looked surprised. “No… I didn’t say that-”

“No, you implied it,” Lorah stood up, indignantly, snatching the English book away from him.

“So you know her?” Jack stood up

“Yes,” she said shortly stuffing the last few papers in her bag. She started to walk away.

“Hey, wait.”

“What,” she turned impatiently.

He hesitated. “Do you… I don’t suppose you could tell me where Mrs. Neff’s room is?”

“That hallway,” Lorah pointed, “Two corners straight, take a left, up one flight of stairs. It’s the first door at the top.”

“Okay, great. Thanks-” Jack started but Lorah turned sharply and walked away.

“Hey!” his voice resonated through the empty corridor. “You never told me your name.”

Lorah pretended not to hear and turned a corner.

Jack stuffed his hands into his pockets and kicked at the cement floor. He looked down the hallway she went for a few seconds and then went to find Mrs. Neff’s math room.

Chapter 3

Out on the quad, Lorah could see the hundreds of students milling about, but no Margo. Good, the coast was clear.

She made her way to an empty table across the quad. It was a two-seat table in the corner with nobody near by. Perfect. She plopped down into the seat and began to rummage through her bag to find her lunch.

Lorah always sat alone at lunch. Alone that is, whenever she could escape Margo Engstrom’s annoyingly constant watch and obsessive desire to be around her. No, Lorah was alone. She preferred it that way. No one to worry about but herself. No one to get in her way.

“Hi.” The first thought that went through Lorah’s mind was ‘Oh no. It’s Margo,’ but when she looked up, she was surprised to find….

“Oh no!” she groaned. “What do you want now?”

Jack gave her an injured look.

“I don’t want anything. This is where I was sitting,” Jack pointed to his things as he sat down.

In her rush to find a vacant, isolated place to eat, Lorah had failed to take notice of the brown lunch bag on the table and letterman’s jacket draped across the back of the other chair.

“Well, this is where I always sit, so you’ll just have to find another place to sit,” Lorah said firmly, even though the statement wasn’t entirely true.

“Nah. That’s okay. This place is fine.”

Lorah stared at this strange new character, which was pulling a large sub sandwich from his sack. Who did he think he was? And what made him think he could just do as he pleased. However, Lorah was not in the mood to trifled with him.

“Ugh!” Lorah stood up, and made to leave, but she bumped into a large massive body. William Yutzy, the school’s champion linebacker and three-point shooter looked at her as she bounced off his large muscular chest.

“Excuse me,” he said softly, which was surprising for such a muscular and strong looking person. He moved to the side to let her past. He waited for her politely to walk past. Lorah looked at him oddly. Then she snapped out of her trance and pushed past him roughly.

“You’re excused,” she said, after looking back over her shoulder to scowl at Jack. When she turned around, she stopped in her tracks. Margo was standing on the other side of the quad looking, searching for her. Quickly, Lorah turned around and stood behind William, using him as a hiding place from Margo.

“What are you doing?” Jack looked at Lorah with his eyebrows furrowed in that concentrating look of his.

“Hiding,” Lorah said bluntly.

“From who?” A smile crept across Jack’s face.

“Margo!” She hissed at him and looked to make sure that Margo had not seen her yet. William looked at her a little baffled and embarrassed.

“Oh, Margo, huh?”

“Yes, Margo.”

“Margo Engstrom?”

“Yes!” Lorah hissed again, getting annoyed.

“Annoying, talks-too-much, Margo?”

“Yes! That Margo! Now shut up!” Lorah growled.

“Okay,” Jack said setting his sandwich, firmly, onto the table. Lorah watched him stand up on his chair and cup his hand around his mouth.

“What are you doing-”

“MARGO ENGSTROM!” Jack’s voice bellowed over the quad area.

Lorah gasped. “You- what are you doing!” she waved her hands trying to get him to shut up. “Stop!”

“I’ll stop, but you have to tell me your name first.”

“My name? No way!”

“Suit yourself. MARGO!”

“No! No! Stop!” Lorah waved at him frantically. “If I tell you my name, will you leave me alone and stop that racket?”

“In that exact order?” Lorah squinted her eyes at him. “Okay, okay.” He looked across the quad and waved at Margo. She looked up. Jack melodramatically blew her a kiss and waved at her again. Even from across the quad you could see her eyes roll as she gave up her search for Lorah and went to find another table somewhere else.

Jack hopped down from the chair. “So,” he said leaning against the table, “What’s your name?”

“What’s it to you?” Lorah turned around but another one of Jack’s friends stood in her way. She glared at the newcomer.

Brandon Fairchild looked down at her grinning ruefully. His black hair accentuating his intense blue eyes made them almost freakish to look in to. It makes Lorah’s stomach churn. She hated Brandon more than anyone, including Jack. “Well, what’s this?”

Lorah rolled her eyes and moved away but Jack stepped in front of her

“Hey, no fair! I stopped yelling.”

“Yeah, whatever. I don’t care what you did. I’m not telling you my name.”

“I’m eventually going to find out. I’ll have to know who I’m going to pay for the damages done to that car earlier this morning…”

“Well, I guess you’ll find out then, now won’t you?”

Jack stood up and grabbed Lorah’s hand before she could leave.

“Hey! What are you- Let go of me!”

“Just tell me your name, and I’ll leave you alone forever.”

“Forever?”

Jack nodded. “Yes, yes. Never bother you again.”

Lorah glared at him resentfully. “Do I have to tell you first and last?”

“First is fine.”

“Lorah.” She snatched her hand away and marched away indignantly.

William and Jack watched her leave.

“Man,” Brandon said punching Jack in the shoulder. “You gettin’ the hots for the Farrel chick?”

“No,” Jack said rubbing the spot where Brandon had punched him. “Her last name is Farrel?”

“Yeah. She has a younger sister, too. She’s pretty damn hot, but as for Lorah… man no one can even go near that girl without getting something disemboweled or ripped off. She’s a real be-yatch. I would steer clear if I were you.”

“What?” Jack wasn’t listening. He was still watching Lorah’s figure getting smaller as she moved quickly across the quad and into the school building. It’s not that he was interested. There was just something about her that intrigued him….

“Oh, man…” Brandon laughed facetiously. “You didn’t hear a word I just said did you?”

“Oh, yeah. No… I just ran into her car this morning. Thought I should get her name…”

“Right,” Brandon folds his arms and looks at him skeptically. “Whatever you say man.”

Chapter 4

Lorah sighed heavily and plunked down into a chair in Mr. Vaughn’s French class. She rested her head on the table and wrapped her arms around it to block out the light. What a nightmare of a day. First, some new kid, who can’t seem to leave her alone, wrecked her car this morning. Of course, she later received her daily dose of Margo’s idiocy and relentless nattering. Then, to top it all off, she actually had to look at Brandon Fairchild. He even spoke to her. Lorah loathed Brandon more than any other person in the world. Brandon was a creep and they had never exactly seen eye to eye anyway.

“Head ache?” An all to familiar voice spoke into her ear.

“Go away,” she groaned. He didn’t. She could feel him seat himself in the chair directly next to hers.

“What’s your problem anyway?”

Lorah peeked out from her hiding place, then sat up. She glared at him contemptuously. “You. You are my problem.”

Jack held out his hands innocently. “What did I do?” He paused then added quickly. “Besides wreck your car…”

Lorah rolled her eyes. “Why do you insist on following me around and annoying me?”

“I do not follow-”

But Jack didn’t finish his sentence. There was a low rumbling sound that suddenly grew very loud. Everyone in the room looked up at the ceiling as if they could see through the roof to find the cause of the noise. The noise didn’t stop. By now it was screaming in their ears, blasting so loud that the tables and chairs shook. Lorah, Jack, and everyone else clapped their hands over their ears and instinctively threw themselves onto the ground.

There was loud blast and wave of heat engulfed Lorah. She could feel flying bits of debris and glass scraping and cutting her back. She cried out in pain. Someone was on top of her, shielding her from the shards of glass and brick. The body rolled her and themselves under the desk.

The room was filled with screams and cries of pain. Lorah could feel the heat of the explosion behind her. She looked over her shoulder. A scream escaped her lips. The entire side of the building was gone! Everywhere she could see, there were planes dropping bombs and she could hear the sound of machine guns firing away.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and yanked her of the ground. Blindly she followed the blurry figure tugging her along the half burning hallways. Her mind raced. ‘Oh dear, God, don’t let me die… please, please, please…’ Suddenly she stopped running, jerking her guide to a stop. ‘Holla!’ she thought with horror. Her sister was somewhere in the building. Somewhere being shot at, or bombed, or… Lorah pushed the thought away as fresh hot tears pricked the back of her eyes. She forced them back. This was no time to cry!

“What?” Lorah looked up to see that the person who was pulling her was Jack. “Come on! We can’t stop! We have to get out of this building!”

Lorah looked at the sky. The planes were still shooting at people scrambling out of the front doors of the school. Screams rented the air. People were falling and dieing everywhere she looked.

“No… not through the front. This way,” without thinking, she grabbed Jack’s hand and ran down another corridor. A new energy and level-headedness swept over her.

What was happening? Who would want to bomb their school? Why? Lorah ran hard, hoping that she would wake up, and all of this would be gone.

She closed her eyes and opened them, which wasn’t a smart thing to do, because she smacked hard into a tall, powerfully built mass of muscles. ‘How many times am I going to do this today,’ Lorah thought, rolling over on the ground. Her arm, where she had rammed into this person, hurt. Sharp pains shot up her arm.

“Lorah! Get up! Run!” she heard Jack yelling behind her. Why didn’t he come help her up? Why was he all the way back there? He was right behind her before she ran into….

Lorah screamed. A tall, dirt and filth encrusted man wearing a worn out aviator’s cap, a soldier’s uniform and a grungy, unkempt, black mustache looked down on her grimacing and brandishing a rusty rifle. In a flood of panic, Lorah scrambled backwards, trying to flee from the daunting figure. The man aimed. She froze out of absolute horror.

“Lorah! Move!” Lorah didn’t move. The man didn’t shoot, either. He stood there, unmoving, while Lorah breathed rapidly, staring at him from the ground. Neither made a move.

Suddenly, Jack was at her side, jerking her shoulder. A loud crack, followed by a cry of pain. Lorah had never heard anyone scream like that. Jack’s body hit the ground next to her. She shrieked in dismay.

“Jack!” It was the first time she’d ever called him by name. The first time she’d even called him, even, Lorah thought.

Jack clutched at his shoulder. Blood was gushing from the bullet wound. He wasn’t dead. Lorah blew an inward sigh of relief.

The man shouted something at her. Something that she couldn’t understand, in another language she’d never heard before. He motioned with the point of his gun, for them to stand up. When they didn’t move, he shouted again and fired a shot at the ground next to Lorah.

Quickly, Lorah seized Jack and hauled him off the ground. He didn’t even acknowledge the man with the gun, pushing the along the corridors, towards the front of the school. He hunched over in pain, groaning. The pace was too slow for Jack and Lorah’s captor. He prodded them with the rifle and shouted something at them, in another language, to move them faster.

Lorah stopped, only long enough to put the arm Jack wasn’t holding over his shoulder, around her neck. She helped him along as the man poked her hard in the back.

“I’d never image this to be the way I’d get an arm around you,” Jack winced, as he tried to add some humor to their not so funny situation.

“I’d never image this to happen, much less you have an arm around me, ever,” Lorah said coldly. This was no time for jokes. How could he joke at a time like this? It was foolish of her to assume that a traumatic event would temporarily stop his stupid, annoying comments.

“Argh!” Jack cried out as he stumbled on a crack and his shoulder dropped. The man prodded him with the end of his gun, but Lorah slapped it away and glared, boldly at him. He looked at her startled, and hit her between the shoulders with the butt of his rifle.

She gasped. A warm, wet feeling crept across the back of her shirt. She was bleeding. Only slightly, but she was bleeding none the less. The man herded her along with his gunpoint in her back the whole way.

Chapter 5

“Jack.” He groaned and rolled over on his side. A sharp pain shot through his shoulder as if it were on fire.

“Ah!” Quickly, he clapped his had over the re-newly opened bullet hole in his shoulder.

“Jack, are you alright?” William looked down at him from his crouching position. He looked at Jack’s injury and cringed. “I mean, uh… are you still alive?”

“Yeah,” Jack managed to say. He sat up slowly, but it took a great amount of effort. The pain was horrible. He’s never felt anything like it.

He looked around. Hundreds of people, not just students, were lying about on the ground. Some were huddled together, to keep warm. Some were sitting in corners, while others appeared dead. It was primarily quiet, aside from the muffled moaning and groaning from the injured.

“What the hell happened?” Jack was horrified. He’d heard of drive-by shootings and New York bombings before he moved here, but he never expected to witness anything like this.

“I wish I could tell you, Jack. I don’t know.” Will sat down on the ground and leaned against the blood and graffiti covered wall. He looked out over the masses of men and boys in the fenced area. Jack just seemed to notice.

“Wait,” he looked around. “These are all… men.”

“Yeah,” Will said. His voice seemed distant.

“Where are the girls, er, women? Where’s Lorah? The last thing I remember was having my arm around her and we walking… I must have passed out or something….”

“The girls were separated into another compound a few blocks to north of us. I don’t know if she’s necessarily in that one. From what I’ve heard, there are hundreds of these things all over New York. It’s amazing really.”

“Amazing?” Jack looked at him quizzically.

“Yeah,” Will seemed to come back to Earth and looked at him. “These people that bombed us, they brought enough people to capture and take over the entire city of New York.”

Jack was stunned. This was too much. Was he dreaming? Terrorists from some country, that he doesn’t know yet, have raided and captured all of New York City. Everyone was either dead or imprisoned.

“Brenna,” Will said suddenly.

“What?” Jack’s eyebrows were furrowed, as he always did when he was trying to figure things out.

“Brenna,” Will had a faraway look on his face again. “I don’t know if she’s alive.”

“Brenna?”

“My sister, Jack. Brenna goes to the middle school. I don’t know if she’s dead or alive.”

“Oh, Will… Hey, I’m sorry about that. But, I’m sure she’s fine. She’s probably wondering the same thing you are.”

“I’m not so sure, Jack. Brenna’s only twelve, and she’s a little autistic.”

“Autistic?”

“Well, not technically. No doctor has ever diagnosed her, but sometimes… I dunno… We don’t know what’s wrong with her. She’s perfectly healthy and intelligent, I think. It’s just that sometimes; she’s in a little world of her own. Like she’s not even there. Y’ know?”

“Not really… but I’m sure she’s fine, Will,” Jack said sympathetically.

Will sighed. “I sure hope your right.”

~

“Lorah!”

“Holla?” Lorah looked up from the ground. She was still traumatized from the events of that afternoon. Jack had passed out before they’d even stopped bombing the city. Now everything was quiet.

Women, girls, and a few very small boys and babies were everywhere. A few fires had been started and people were huddled around them, trying to escape the freezing night chill.

“Holla?” Lorah called out again. She spotted a figure running across the grounds towards her. The slender figure and long red hair flying about her was unmistakable. Lorah stood up so Holla could see her location better.

Holla almost sprinted into Lorah’s arms, and to her surprise, Holla started crying with relief. Lorah, being uncomfortable around tears, patted her back not so reassuringly.

“Lorah, what happened?” Holla sobbed into her sister’s shoulder. “Who are these people and what do they want?”

Lorah, being totally taken aback by Holla’s sudden vulnerability and trust in her, didn’t even have the heart to snap sarcastically at her. “I don’t know, Holla. I don’t know.”

Lorah stood there, awkwardly, hugging and trying to comfort her sister when her attention was brought to a small girl in the corner of the compound. She was completely alone and she sat there with a distant, far away look on her face. Lorah looked around to see if any of the older women had stopped to claim this little girl. She’d seen many small parentless children separated from their mothers and fathers, being taken in and comforted by other mothers and women. She wondered why no had stopped for this little girl.

“Holla,” she whispered. “Look over there.”

Holla stopped crying and looked in the direction Lorah was pointing. She saw the little girl and her heart flooded with sympathy.

“Ooooh, the poor little girl. I wonder where her mother is,” she immediately rushed towards the child with Lorah following, a little more slowly.

“Oh great,” she thought aloud. “Now I’ve got a child on my hands. Just what I need.”

“Hi there,” Holla crouched on the ground next to the little girl. She looked about eleven or twelve years old. “Where are your parents?”

The girl’s brilliant blue eyes didn’t move. She made no movements to acknowledge that Holla was even there. Her face had somewhat of an angelic look to it, with fair skin and long black hair. She was so pale, Lorah wondered if she was sick.

“Little girl,” she said roughly. “Little girl, are you okay?”

“Lorah, don’t get in her face like that,” Holla rolled her eyes. “You’ll scare her.”

“Oh please,” Lorah returned the annoyed look. It looked as if Holla’s helplessness had vanished rather quickly. “She’s not a little animal that’s going to run away if you walk too loudly.”

“I like animals.”

Holla and Lorah started at the girl, shocked. She was looking at them with piercing blue eyes that sent chills up their spines.

“What?” Lorah somehow found her voice to speak.

“I like animals,” she repeated.

Lorah smiled. Maybe this girl wouldn’t be so bad after all. She didn’t seem to be troublesome or sickly.

“What’s your name?”

“Brenna.”

“Ooo pretty name,” Holla cooed. “My name is Holla and this is Lorah.”

“Hi!” Brenna said cheerfully.

“Brenna, where are you parents?” Lorah asked.

“Gone….” Brenna’ voice trailed off as if she were thinking of something else. Her eyes looked up, falling into the same trance-like state they had been before.

Brenna suddenly diverted her attention to the sketchpad she had in her lap. It seemed strange that after today’s incident, she managed to hold onto something as insignificant as a sketchpad and pencil.

She hummed quietly as she drew a detailed picture that made Lorah’s stomach churn. It amazed her at how much this small child paid attention to the detail of her parents death. It was not a perfect sketch, but Brenna clearly got the message across that her parents were dead.

Chapter 6

“Recess” for the new and adjusting captives consisted of being let into spacious alley where they were allowed to talk to husbands, sons, or other men in the nearest camp.

Lorah scanned the vast 50-foot fence, searching for the familiar light brown hair and green letterman’s jacket that belonged to Jack. Lorah thought how absurd it was that she was actually looking for someone. Especially when that someone was Jack.

“Lorah? Lorah Farrel?” a voice called out to her, but it wasn’t Jack. She spotted the owner of the voice and recognized the tall, brawny figure as one of Jack’s friends. Lorah couldn’t quite place his name.

“Yes,” she said a little anxious.

“My name is Will, a friend of Jack’s. We haven’t met formally yet, but we’ve run into each other before,” he said with a little smile.

Suddenly, it dawned on her. “Oh… yes, Will. I remember now. Where’s Jack? He was shot yesterday and he passed out- I was just wondering if he was okay….”

“Yeah,” Will nodded his head. “He’ll be coming in a few minutes. He just had to find some water to clean it out-”

“Your name,” Lorah said suddenly, “is William Yutzy, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Will answered looking surprised.

“Do you have a younger sister, Brenna?”

Will’s eyebrows shot up and his face brightened. “You’ve seen her? Is she okay? Where is she? Is she here now-”

“She’s fine. Holla has her back at our spot. I’ll bring her next time…” Lorah wasn’t looking at Will, though. Jack was making his way to where she and Will were standing.

Lorah was surprised to see him smiling and waving at her. She frowned.

“What are you grinning at?” Lorah scowled as Jack walked up. His smile wavered slightly but it remained frozen on his face.

“Good to see you alive and well, too,” he said.

“Jack,” Will said excitedly grabbing his arm. Jack’s features became distorted into a look of pain. Will let go embarrassed. Sometimes, Will didn’t realize his own strength. “Oops! Sorry, Jack.” He blushed, but he began again excitedly. “Jack, they have Brenna!”

“Excellent. See, I told you she’d be fine.”

Will sighed. “Well, I’ll go and let you two talk. I can’t wait to see her tomorrow!”

“No, wait. You- you don’t have to leave,” Lorah couldn’t help looking and sounding a little panicked. Will grinned a little.

“Oh, no. Its fine. I’ve got stuff to do-”

“Really, Will. That’s not necessary,” Jack insisted.

“But, Jack, I’ve gotta go do that thing-”

“Thing? What thing? You don’t have a thing,” Jack said grabbing his jacket.

“Yeah, y’ know… That thing. I must go. See ya Lorah. Give Brenna a hug from her big brother.”

“Cute,” Lorah glared. Will waved and then left. Both of them watched him go. Jack turned to Lorah.

“So…” he said, awkwardly stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“So… what?” Lorah pretended to be annoyed. Jack opened his mouth to say something when an all too familiar voice cut through the morning air.

“Well, well, well,” Brandon Fairchild stepped roughly into Jack’s injured shoulder. Jack grabbed it and gasped, trying to make the pain look like no big deal. “Oh sorry, man. Didn’t realize you’d been hurt there. How’d you manage to do that?” he said looking at Lorah with obvious distaste. “Should have a pretty tough looking’ scar to impress the ladies with,” Brandon continued to look at Lorah, rather than Jack, as he spoke. He grinned ruefully.

“Yes, especially when impressing women is going to be such a priority when you’re being held captive by terrorists.” Lorah turned and talked to an imaginary figure standing next to her. “Excuse me, Mr. Terrorist, is there, like, a prison movie theater where we could go and, like, make out?” She turned back to Brandon. “Ya think?”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures. I’d say this is desperate times, and you would certainly be a desperate measure,” he was no longer grinning and had not removed his stare from Lorah. “Hey, Jackie, I’m afraid I’ll have to catch you later.” He finally turned to Jack and gave him a playful shove on his other shoulder. Brandon ran his fingers through his hair and walked away coolly.

“Oh, how I loathe him,” Lorah said through clenched teeth, her face turning red. Jack opened his mouth to say something else, but a loud siren blew. People started filing in the direction of their camps as the guards herded them with their guns. Jack rolled his eyes.

“Listen,” he said. “I head someone saying that we’ll be able to come out here again tonight.”

A guard spotted Jack and Lorah still talking and shouted at them. When neither moved right away, he began rushing towards them, waving his gun.

“Meet me right here. Don’t bring Brenna. Wait until tomorrow to do that. I’ve been hearing some things… they are planning on doing something here. To us, to everyone. It doesn’t sound good and I don’t plan on sticking around to find out what that is.” The guard was on top him and began dragging Jack towards the men’s camp. He yelled as new pain shot through his wound.

“Jack!” Lorah spotted another guard on her side running towards her. She ran before he could reach her.

Chapter 7

It was dark and the freezing night air took its toll on Lorah’s uncovered fingers. She of course had not been able to stop by her house to collect gloves, a hat, coat, and toothbrush before being captured… It was still warm enough during the day that she had not needed to wear those things around school. All she had for warmth was a thin cotton sweater with a hood.

She shivered and rubbed her hands together, breathing warm air into them. It had been a long day. They’d still not been allowed to eat today. Only one water break, too. Her stomach growled painfully. She clutched it and bent over. “Man,” she breathed hoarsely, “I need some food.”

The camps were becoming crowded. There almost wasn’t enough rations for everyone to have one meal a day. Their captors had scrunched them into an even smaller space to make room for more of their soldiers to stay. Ships filled the harbors and planes landed where ever there was a free space. They were invading. Slowly.

Lorah didn’t care. She was cold, and tired, and hungry. It had only been a few weeks, but already people were dieing. Some from the cold, some from dehydration, and some died from the wounds they received the day the terrorists came.

She glanced to her right and saw the form of an old frail woman crumple to the ground coughing. Lorah looked away.

People were dieing.

Her fingers were thin and dry. Dirt was encrusted under her chipped, cracked fingernails. Never in her life has she wished for a bath as much as now. Or even maybe a toothbrush. Never again would she take the common everyday task of brushing her teeth for granted.

“Lorah!” Jack was standing directly in front of her. “Are you okay? You look sick.”

“I’m fine,” she lied. She’d calmed her stomach enough to stand up. Her stomach rumbled.

“You haven’t eaten yet, either?”

“No.” She continued to rub her hands.

“Are you cold?” Lorah nodded. Normally she would have had some sarcastic remark, but she was too tired to think about it right now. Jack reached over and grabbed her hands. Lorah resisted, a little surprised. “No, its okay. I’m just going to put your hands in my pockets. They’re nice and warm.”

Lorah watched him warily as, Jack continued to bring her hands forward and placed them in his jacket pockets. Her entire hand, up to her wrist, was enclosed in a cotton-lined pouch. She could tell his hands had been in there earlier because they were much warmer than her own shallow pockets.

Jack moved closer, so that Lorah could reach in all the way. It looked like she was hugging him. Even though she wasn’t, Lorah felt very awkward. She had never been this close to anyone and she’d just only just met Jack. Suddenly she felt very dirty. Her hair was ratty and disheveled. Dirt covered her face and bags were beginning to form under her eyes. But her hands were warm, so she didn’t say anything.

“How’s Brenna?”

Brenna was not allowed to leave the compound without and adult. The guards didn’t believe Holla or Lorah was an adult, so Brenna stayed. Holla didn’t have any interest in coming to recess so she always stayed with Brenna.

“She’s fine.” A lie. Brenna caught pneumonia yesterday. There was not reason to let Will know. He would panic and stress out.

“Oh, here. I saved this for you.” Jack reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a back of potato chips.

“Where’d you get that?” Lorah gasped. Her eyes grew wide, but she didn’t reach for the bag.

“A straggler got picked up with a semi full of Lays products. Most of the men were away so the ones there got extra chips.”

Lorah’s mouth watered. She stared at the bag. Jack smiled. He opened it, pulled out one of her hands, and set the bag in her palm.

“Eat them.” It sounded like an order more than anything else. Lorah frowned at him.

“My hands are cold.”

“Well, would you rather me feed them to you-”

“No.” Lorah snatched her other hand out and ate.

“I don’t know what kind you like but I ate the Doritos. These are barbeque. By the way, I‘m planning a way for us to escape.” Lorah stared at him. The hunger was starting to get to her. She must not have been hearing correctly because she thought she had just heard Jack say something about escaping. Jack shifted uncomfortable and changed the subject quickly back to chips.

“Do you like them?”

“Are you insane!”

“Hmm, I guess not…” Jack sighed.

“We can’t escape!”

As if that statement were some kind of queue, an eruption of noise broke out on Lorah’s left. Lorah jumped and looked. Everyone in the alley watched as more guards flocked around a group of mutinous prisoners. They barred down on them, beating with their guns and nightsticks.

The group was outnumbered. They lost. Even after they surrendered the guards continued to pummel the captives ruthlessly. Their screams and cries of pain carried on the still night air. Everyone watched in silent horror as the beating continued. Ten minutes of the cruelest, most unmerciful flogging that Lorah had ever seen.

Finally, the guards came to a halt and backed away. Lorah was surprised to see movement on the ground. They were alive, but just barely. Lorah caught her breath. Everyone was silent. No one moved. No one even dared to breathe.

The prisoners were roughly dragged off the ground and their hands bound cruely behind their backs. Another band of soldiers appeared and escorted them out of the alley to who knows where. Everyone watched in wonderment. What was to happen to them now? The entire alley was frozen. No one moved for what seem like an eternity. A short man in green with black, thick rimmed glasses appeared on a platform above the fence.

The man and the guards that were left shouted something to each other, Lorah couldn’t understand. Finally the man in green faced the hushed and shocked onlookers in the alley.

“I have been told that some of you prisoners has just tried to escape. Unfortunately, for them, their plan failed. Just like anyone else who thinks they can pull a stunt like this again.” He paused to let this sink in. “Now the are going to pay for their stupid, and rash actions. And all of you will see what disobedience will lead to… You Americans seem to think you are invincible, that you are better than everyone else. Well, I am here to tell you other wise. You can not win this battle. And you will not win this war.” Another pause. “Oh yes- yes- there will be a war,” he said slowly, almost deviously. “There’s no preventing that. Regardless of your country’s glorious history, I’m afraid you won’t rise victorious this time. You are poor, stupid Americans who do not know anything but your own useless, lives.” He turned to leave. “Tomorrow morning, at 8:00 AM sharp, there will be an execution in honor of your rebellious friends. Have a nice evening.”