Midnight Fire - Rise of the Dark Angel - Book One (20 page)

             
“We’
ve made really good time.
I expected us
to rest earlier so I think we’re more than saf
e to stop for a few minutes and get some food and water,” Chastity told the group. She didn’t have to say anything else, the women immediately headed
for
the trees. They
couldn’t remember the last time they’d
had fruit. The camps would’ve neve
r given them anything that good. I
t was saved for
the soldiers
. The prisoner
s were lucky to get moldy bread
and onl
y fed enough to stave off death
and sometimes not eve
n that much.
Most of
their loved ones died from disease, starvation, or
beatings
.

             
“This is so good,” one of the women sighed as she bit into the crisp red apple.
The other women nodded and Chastity munched on one
simply
because she enjoyed the crunching sound it made.

             
They quickly ate their fruit and picked more to bring with them, refilled the water and then it was time for them to
go
again. The small stop had done
wonders
for their morale
,
though because the women were beginning to smile and there was a bounce in their steps. Chastit
y was humbled by them.

             
They walked the entire day, only stopping a couple times when they reache
d water or food.
They were
more fearful of being caught than willing to cave to their exhaustion. Chastity could see the
y
were barely able to stand, let alone walk so she started looking for a safe place for them to rest. She found a rock cropping that would give them shelter.

             
“We need to stop for a few hours and get some sleep,” she told the women. She saw the conflicting emotions cross their features. They were exhausted but they were so afraid
if they stopped they’
d certainly be caught.

             
“I know
you’
re afraid
but
we have many hours advance on the soldiers and they h
ave no idea what direction we’
ve taken. It will be safe to rest and
we’
ll be able to travel faster and
farther
,” she told them. They finally agreed and
laid
down. The five women were asleep within seconds.

             
Chastity
checked
the area, climbing high in the trees and felt relief when she saw no sign of soldiers anywhere near them. She stayed on alert for the few hours she allowed the women to get must
needed
rest. When she felt
they’
d stayed long enough she woke them. It was still dark
but
the women came alert quickly, looking around them in fear.

             
“Everything’
s fine
but
I think we should get going,” she told them. Even though they were still tired not one of them complained. They got up and the women were quickly on their way, all hoping the rumors of a safe place were true. Chastity was the only one
who
knew the place existed for sure and they were heading straight for it.

             
I was sitting on the floor playing with Patch when I heard a commotion
from
down the hall. It must mean more people were coming in. There was a lot of laughter and speaking at once. I looked, hoping more kids were
arriving
. I’d turned
sixteen
a few weeks ago and loved the growing numbers that kept coming through our doors.

             
“Phoenix, hurry up. There’s a huge group of people who
were just rescued
,” Sadie said as she came running up to me. “
There are
several teenagers
,
too,” she finished. She could barely contain her excitement.

             
We walked to the meeting hall and
watched
as a large group entered the room. I spotted Brian and made a beeline in his direction. He was gone so much with the other guys I took every chance possible to see him.

             
“Sit down. The elders are going to speak in a minute,” Brian said. We quickly sat with him. He smiled and my heart fluttered a bit.

             
“It looks like everyone made it,” my dad said from the podium. “We’ve been blessed today. Our searche
r
s found a large group who
was hiding
in a small structure about twenty miles from here. Our numbers
have grown
today by over a hundred,” dad finished. There was loud clapping from the crowd.

             
“They did really well for themselves but have been through hard times. They were completely out of food and wondering what their next step was going to be. I don’t know who was happier, them or us, to have found their group. It gives me hope we’ll find many more groups like this. Mankind has survival instincts. I think our numbers will continue to grow
strong. I know someday we’ll be able to break free from our cave and take back our world.” My dad’s voice rose as he continued to talk. I knew what he was saying was important but it was hard to listen in all the excitement.

             
I
wanted
to meet the new people. Sadie was practically jumping
in her seat,
next to me. She wanted the meeting to end so we could just
get to the introductions
. Finally, dad
finished speaking
. We jumped up and headed toward the group. There were so many people around them it was hard to talk to anyone. Finally
,
we managed to get
to
one of the teens and she was really sweet.
She was around my age with dark circles under her eyes.

             
“Welcome to our group.
We’re so happ
y you’
re safe and here
,” Brian said. I had to fight back the chuckle at the look of adoration instantly
lighting
in
her eyes when Brian spoke to her. He had that effect on
many of the
girls.

             
“I’m so happy to be here,” she responded to him
,
shyly.

             
“Well, who are you, handsome,”
another girl broke in, talking to
Brian. She completely ignored both me and Sadie. I thought that was a bit rude but she was probably nervous being in a new place and all. My parents always told me not to judge a book by its cover and to never base a friendship off just one interaction.

             
“I’m Brian,” he answered. He seemed taken
back
but not unhappy about her attention. I wasn’t too thrilled about
it
.

             
“I’m Jessica
. A
nd it’s my pleasure to meet you,” she practically purred at him, while running her hand up his arm. I wanted to smack her.

             
“This is Phoenix and Sadie,” Brian added. She didn’t even bother to take her eyes off him long enough to acknowledge either of us. Wow, I was trying really hard no
t to judge her but the girl wasn’
t very nice.

             
“It’s nice to meet you
,
Jessica,” I said, trying to strike up a conversation.

             
“So, Brian, why don’t you give me a tour?”
She
said, once again refusing to acknowledge Sadie or
me
. I gave up at that point. If she wanted to drool all over Brian then I wasn’t going to stand there and watch it. I turned to leave, hoping Brian would come with us but not holding out much hope.

             
“The elders will be giving
the whole group
a tour in a few minutes,” he said, which made me smile.

             
“Oh, but it would be so much better if you could just show me
around, yourself
. I don’t want to
get
lost in a large gr
oup,” she said in a pouty voice, making
me gag. Sadie looked at me with the same
disgusted expression
. We moved further away from them, not wanting to hear any
more of the conversation.

             
I did turn around in time to see she’d gotten her way. Brian was leading her toward the hallway. It looked like she’d gotten her own personal tour guide. He seemed to buy into her little game.

             
When
dinner time
came around, Sadie and I sat in our usual spot. Brian and John joined us, along with some other kids. Jessica walked in the room and actually narrowed her eyes at me when she saw I was sitting next to Brian. I seriously couldn’t figure out what her problem was. She walked up to our table. I was disappointed but knew I couldn’t be rude to her.

             
“Can I join you?”
She
asked, looking only at Brian.

             
“Sure, there’s plenty of room,” he told her, seeming oblivious to her lack of manners
to
anyone but him. Even though there were open spots down the table she had the nerve to push me aside and slide in right next to Brian. I was seething by that point.
I scooted down further, though because I didn’t want to have any part of me touching her
.

             
I quickly finished my meal and stood up. I couldn’t stand listening to her flirt with Brian for one second lon
g
er. Apparently, Sadie couldn’t stand it either and quickly followed me from the room. The next couple of we
eks were much of the same thing
.
Jessica
constantly threw herself at Brian and made it clear to everyone she was claiming him for her own.

             
Some of the things she wore shocked me. I couldn’t believe when she’d left home she’d thought to pack jewelry, nail polish, make-up and
skimpy
clothes. Most of the people here, who’d had the option of bringing items from home, brought
things
that had special meaning. They didn’t waste their valuable space by
bringing
items
to help with their appearance. It didn’t take me long to figure out how very vain the girl was.

             
I was proud of myself, though because I tried a few times to like her. She simply made it impossible to do so.
She always interrupted when I was with Brian, which had me wanting to hit her.
He deserved a good punch in the face too, for being
so dang ignorant
to
the entire situation.

**********

             
Phoenix was sitting
by
the fire waiting for Jayden to join her when she
saw seve
ral people start running toward
the hall
. She craned her neck around
, trying to see what was happening. No alarms had sounded so she knew they weren’t in any danger. The trackers were already back so she couldn’t imagine anyone was coming in from the outside.

             
“What’s going on?” Sadie asked as she came and sat next to her.

             
“I don’t know, I saw several of the elders go running in that direction,” Phoenix answered
,
while pointing towards the entrance.

             
“I’m sure we’
ll know soon enough,” Sadie said, though both girls were still staring in the directions the adults had gone.

             
“Hi Phoenix,” Jayden said as he sat down on her other side. All of her tension eased away as his leg brushed against hers.

             
“Do you know what’s happening?” she asked him.

             
“No, I was talking with John and all the sudden your dad grabbed him and they took off. John offered for me to come with them
but
I wanted to find you,” he told her, making her heart speed up a bit.

             
“
Oh, they’ll tell us. If something was seriously wrong, they’d put on a red alert
,” she said, no longer concerned.

             
The three of them
stayed
there as the room slowly started to fill and worried w
hispers were muttered through
the place. When the elders seemed worried or there was any kind of commotion the place
became
hushed up and everyone slightly panicked. They felt safe most of the time
but
they knew the enemy soldiers were cruel
.
I
f their camp was
discovered
they wouldn’t be
spared
.
They’d successfully hidden out in large numbers for too many years.
The enemy would take great pride in using them as an example of what happened to traitors, as
they’
d done with many others.

             
Soon
,
a couple of the elders stepped up to the stage and you could’ve heard a pin drop the room became so silent. The people all wanted to be reassured they were safe and sound.

             
“We’
re sorry to have kept you waiting
.
I’m sure you heard the commotion and know something is
happening
,” Larry said to the room. Everyone waited.

             
“A group of women just came in. They escaped one of the prison camps and are currently in the infirmary being looked over. I need to get back there
but
didn’t want to keep you waiting
too
long. We’
ll speak to them and find out what information we can
but
from their initial stories it doesn’t sound good. It seems these camps are getting worse and I don’t know how much longer we can just sit here in hiding while our people are being tortured,” he said with a pained expression on his face.

             
Phoenix thought about how easy it was for them to live safely in their sanctuary while their fellow human beings were being tortured beyond anything she could even comprehend. It suddenly felt so very wrong.

             
“We’
ll inform you further as soon as we know more. Why don’t
we meet
back here in two hours,” Larry said and
he
and the others quickly left the room. There was a moment
longer
of silence and then sound exploded as everyone started talking at once.

             
“Let’s get out of here for a
while,” Jayden said to Phoenix.
He
took her hand and pulled her
up
. She was still a bit shocked and followed him without really thinking about it.

             
Phoenix didn’t
realize
Jayden
was
le
a
d
ing
her away from the rest of the group
as she contemplated the
news
. Soon
,
she found herself outside and walking along a trail next to the cave.

             
“Do you think it’
s safe for us to be out?”
She
asked Jayden, though when she was with him she
always f
el
t
safe.

             
“We’
re safer right now than normal as all the guards are on high alert. The women breaking out will in
furiate the soldiers and they’
ll be searching for them far and wide, which means
we’
re most likely going to have to go out there and fight,” Jayden said tensely.