Dawn of Rebellion (Dawn of Rebellion Series Book 1) Page 3

  “No. Please. Put me out.” I wake up and there is no fire. The heat is still there but I’m not burning to death. I can’t think of a worse way to die. But where am I, if not dead?

  I can’t control my breathing as I start to panic. It is too hot; I don’t know how long I can stand it. I would give anything for a drop of water, just one drop that isn’t my own sweat. I am alone in what seems like a small box. It is too small for me to stretch out my cramped legs but the pain is the least of my worries.

  My head pounds from the heat. I know enough to realize that if I keep sweating like this, I won’t survive long unless I get some water.

  I don’t know if it’s because of the heat, the thirst, or simply a left over effect from whatever they drugged me with, but I can’t stay awake. I just need a little kip. At least, that's what I tell myself before I pass out.

  How long does this go on? A day? A week? I pass in and out of consciousness. I wake up to a hand reaching through a small door at the bottom of my prison. The mysterious hand places a small cup of water and a piece of bread on the floor and then pulls back. I want to cry out to whoever is out there but I can’t find my voice. I reach for the cup and could swear that the water sizzles as it hits my tongue. That may just be the delirium talking. My thirst is worse than ever as I suck up the last dribble of water from the cup. When it is empty, I throw it to the ground and attempt to eat the bread. I can barely choke it down my swollen throat. I curl back up and sink into the darkness once again.

  In rare coherent moments, I can’t believe this is happening to me. It’s not like I’m a danger to anyone. I’m a teenage girl! And I’m all that my sister Dawn has.

  I just wanted my sister to have a nice birthday in the middle of this shite world. She deserved it. What will happen to her now? Oh Dawn, I’m so sorry. The tears fight to come but they lack the water and so I end up dry heaving instead. I have nothing left to give.

  Chapter 7

  Dawn

  I can’t believe I’m here, but it’s not like I had another choice, right? I stayed up all last night trying to figure out how to help my sister and came up with nothing. I don’t know what Drew has planned but I have to go along with it. By the time I reach hanger 18 Drew is nowhere to be found but neither is anyone else. A plane sits on the tarmac, waiting to take off.

  I don’t know what to do so I wait, hoping Drew actually shows. I am crouched down low, hiding behind a truck when I hear footsteps behind me. I flatten myself against the side of the truck and listen intently.

  “Dawn?” A whisper comes from the dark. The footsteps have stopped by the time he whispers again. “Dawn are you out here?”

  “I’m here.” I step out from behind the truck. He walks up and grins.

  “I wasn’t sure you’d come,” he says.

  “Well, I had no other choice.”

  “I know.” At any other time his cockiness would make me mad but I just shake my head and let it slide.

  “Is it strange that no one is guarding the plane?” I ask.

  “Yes and no. Come on, we don’t have much time.” He takes off running across the pavement. I follow him, looking around constantly to make sure we won’t be caught. We reach the plane and Drew immediately gets to work on some sort of latch. He manages to get it open and the door swings upwards. Without hesitation, Drew hauls himself up through the opening and then reaches down to give me a hand. I take his outstretched hand and grab the bottom of the door frame as well. It takes some effort but I manage to pull myself into the plane. Drew closes the door behind us and I let out a sigh of relief.

  My breath is coming fast as I lie on the ground and look around. We are surrounded by boxes. Most of them are unmarked but I recognize the Red Cross that symbolizes medical supplies. This must be a supply plane headed for the colonies. Good, Drew was right.

  I sit up and look at Drew. I realize he has been watching me. “What?” I ask, harsher than I had intended.

  “You haven’t thanked me yet,” he says.

  “What!” He can’t be serious.

  “I got you on the plane and I’m coming to help.” His cockiness knows no end.

  “You have got to be kidding me. I don’t need you to help. I am grateful for what you’ve done but don’t expect anything more than that. Feel free to just head back to London as soon as we get there.”

  “You are just like Gabby. If she had let me help her, she wouldn’t be in this mess.” As he says this, the plane lurches forward and takes off. I groan as this means there is no getting rid of Drew. I don’t like this boy. He is the worst kind of person. He is rich and his family is powerful so he thinks he can do whatever the hell he wants no matter who he hurts in the process. Maybe I can shake him in the colonies.

  “Fine, whatever.” I sigh and start to make myself more comfortable. “We have a long flight, I’m going to try and get some sleep.”

  Chapter 8

  Dawn

  The flight seems like it will never end. I feel trapped in this cargo bay. My whole life I have always been looking for escape routes. I don’t confront things like my sister does, I run. There is nowhere left to run. I don’t know what kind of dangers wait for me when this plane touches down. For the first time in my life, I am heading straight for the fight, straight for trouble. No more avoiding, no more hiding behind Gabby. It’s my turn to be there for her and I won’t fail, I can’t. Even though I have no plan and my only ally is this boy I only know by his bad reputation, I will do this. I may be daft for trying, but I will try.

  “Dawn?” Drew interrupts my thinking. “Are you hungry?”

  I lift my head and turn to look at him. He is sitting on his knees, leaning towards me, and holding out something in his hand. In it is a long, thin, red and yellow package. “What is it?” I ask.

  “Jerky.”

  “Huh?”

  “Seriously? You’ve never had jerky? These things are the best!” His face splitting grin is enough to lift my mood and I take the food, opening it slowly. It is tough and hard to bite in to, but as soon as I do the delicious juice fills my mouth. It only gets better as I chew and soon I have my own smile to match Drew’s. I wouldn't have admitted this to Drew, but I was famished.

  In between bites, I try to explain, “There’s no way we could ever have afforded something that tastes this good. Food was on short supply in our flat.”

  At this Drew is silent. I look up from my food and catch him watching me. Sensing I don’t want to elaborate on my money issues, he says, “Well, it looks like it’s a popular food in the colonies. They have whole crates of this stuff here!”

  “Yeah, must be a treat for the officers or something.” Drew hands me another piece of jerky and as we’re eating, I think of something. “How did you do it?” I ask.

  “Do what?”

  “Get us on this plane.” I answer.

  “I had help,” he says. “The officer in charge at the airport is a friend and a sympathizer.”

  “A sympathizer?” I have never heard this word before.

  Drew looks at me for a moment, considering his answer. “You’ve come across the rebels before right? I mean, most of them live in the east end.” An image of the gaffer I saw gunned down in the middle of the street comes to mind. “That’s why they shut down your high school. That’s where the rebels were recruiting.”

  “But sympathizers aren’t rebels right?” I ask.

  “Not exactly. They are people in the military and the government that agree with much of what the rebels are fighting for; independence from military rule, freedom.” His voice grows quiet as he speaks, until the last word is no more than a whisper. In London, talk like that can get you killed, or worse, sent to the colonies.

  After a moment of silence, I lean back, realizing our conversation is over for now.

  Chapter 9

  Dawn

  “Hey Dawn, I think we’re landing.” Drew is lightly shaking me awake. I hadn’t really been sleeping. I just didn’t feel like talking a
nymore. Everything Drew told me makes sense and that’s the problem. It explains a lot of things that happened in London. What bothers me is that, before now, I never questioned anything. I was blind. I picture every person I knew in the east end and wonder if they were rebels. How much did Gabby know? Was she involved?

  No, she couldn’t have been. I would have known, right? Why did Drew tell me all of this? It takes me a long time to trust someone enough to really tell them anything. He basically told me he was a rebel, or at least that he knew a sympathizer. Does his father know?

  I’m looking at Drew differently now. There is something about him that puts me at ease. That’s probably how he gets girls to trust him before he breaks their hearts. His charm is disarming. In order to keep my walls up, I picture him with that slag at school. I can’t let myself forget that. I spent the past hour laying here trying to figure everything out. Maybe I won’t ditch him like I’d planned. I guess we’ll see.

  I stand up as straight as I can, which still means I’m hunched over a little bit in this tight space. “I’ve got a plan. First, though, let’s fill our bags with some of this food.”

  “You got it boss.” Drew gives me a mock salute and I can’t help the smile that comes to my lips as I roll my eyes.

  I immediately go for the Jerky! I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything so good. I look over and see Drew going for the sweets, now that I have had before! Laughing and shaking my head I say, “Uh…I think we should get food that will actually keep us alive, not send us into a sugar coma.” I see him put all the sweets back and then slip a couple pieces into the side pocket of his rucksack.

  As soon as we feel the plane touch down, we hide ourselves and wait for the door to open. It feels like an eternity goes by before someone finally comes to unload the plane. The door creaks loudly as it opens and then a man is standing within arm’s length of our hiding place. He is a tall, imposing figure and needs to bend almost all the way over in order to get through the door. As soon as he does, he begins looking around inspecting the boxes. His eyes sweep right past us without stopping and I inhale sharply, sure that he will see us any second now.

  The colonies man steps closer into the cargo bay to count the boxes. “Monsieur, vous avez un appel téléphonique.” He turns and exits the door without a second glance. I exhale the breath I only now realize I was holding.

  “Drew, he left the door open. We need to go now.” He goes to the open door and sticks his head out, checking to see if the coast is clear. He motions me forward and I see that there is only one man on the runway and he is busy pumping petrol from a truck into the plane.

  I crouch by the edge of the door, watching the man, waiting for my opening. He walks behind the truck and I immediately jump out. I stumble when I hit the ground but pop right back up. Drew is right behind me. I have legged it this fast in my life. My legs are throbbing and my chest starts to burn but I don’t stop, I can’t.

  We reach the nearest tree cover and allow ourselves to slow down. Silence follows as we listen for any sign of a pursuit. There is none.

  I bend over, resting my hands on my knees. I am exhausted and panting.

  “We made it,” I whisper to myself. Drew hears me and tries to pull me into a hug. Immediately, I stiffen and pull away. This doesn’t seem to bother him. He releases me, still grinning like a prat.

  “We can do this Dawn.”

  We move a little further into the woods to find a place to rest. We decide on a small clearing where we find a patch of grass to lie down on. We settle in and pull out our packs. I choose a very small nosh, just enough to hold us over because we don’t know how long this food has to last us.

  The first thing I noticed about this place was the warmth. Even though the sun is long gone, the air is still way warmer than it ever is in England.

  Over dinner we get down to planning our next move. “Where do you think we are?” I resist the urge to freeze him out because Drew knows more about the colonies that I do. He used to eavesdrop on his father talking about them. I figure he might have a better idea about our location than I would.

  “Well, I know we’re somewhere in a French colony, because that’s what the man on the plane was speaking. “

  “You speak French?”

  “Yeah, my father wanted to make sure his son was worldly.” He sticks his nose into the air, mocking his father.

  “OK, well, do you know how far the English colony is from the French?”

  “It’s quite a ways. The British have different reasons for being here than the French do. The French are expansionists. They wanted more land so they didn’t need to be near the ocean. The British wanted the land but they also needed to produce more food since it’s so cold back home. The British colony is down south where food can be grown and shipped out of ports.”

  “How do you know all this?” Usually, information about the current colonies is scarce.

  “My father has all sorts of charts. That’s how I know where the colonies are and the rest is just a guess. There has to be some logic to the ways things are.”

  “He didn’t care that you looked at all of this? “I ask.

  “He would if he knew.” He walks off into the dark to take a piss, leaving me completely and utterly alone.

  Chapter 10

  Dawn

  I wake in the morning not feeling refreshed at all. It’s like I’m defreshed or something. I groan as I roll over and try to sit up. My body is stiff. It can’t be the ground; I’m used to sleeping on uncomfortable surfaces. It must just be my lack of sleep. I had way too much on my mind last night. First it was Drew and then my thoughts turned to Gabby. She’s been a prisoner in the colonies for six days. I can’t imagine what’s happening to her. I just have to remember that she’s the strongest person I know. I just hope that’s enough. I’m coming big sis, don’t worry, I got you covered!

  I glance over and am relieved to see Drew. He's still here! I don’t know why this is a good thing but I just know it is. I was considering ditching him, wasn’t I? It’s probably not him; I probably just don’t want to be on my own.

  Drew is on his knees doing something with a stick. It looks like he’s just drawing; must be bored. I groan as I get to my feet and walk over to look down at him. “What are you doing?”

  “Oh hey!” I’ve startled him, “Morning Dawn. Sleep well?”

  “Yep,” I lie, “You?”

  “Kinda. Sleeping on the ground is not fun but I guess I’ll get used to it.” I nod as I kneel down next to him.

  “So, what are you doing?” I ask.

  “This is what I know about the colonies. We are somewhere here.” He points the stick to an area on the ground. “Below us, are the British colonies. There are two of them and they stretch to the ocean.”

  “Drew! That’s great! At least now we know to just travel south. You have a great memory!”

  “Don’t I know it baby!” There’s that million dollar grin again. This is a boy who’s always gotten by on his looks and his charm. Not with me though. He can’t sweet talk me.

  As I turn and walk off for some morning privy, I call back over my shoulder, “and don’t call me baby.”

  Chapter 11

  Gabby

  When I was really little, my dad would take care of me when I got sick. He would take the day off from work and sit by my bed telling me stories that he was making up on the spot. I used to get these really high fevers where my face would feel like it was on fire. My dad would wipe my forehead with an ice cold wash cloth. He would tell me that I was his little angel and that he loved me. That is the best memory I have of him.

  “Who is she?”

  “I’m not sure yet. They had her in the hot box almost all week.”

  “Wow, someone musta not liked her very much.”

  I wake up to the whispers, not knowing where I am. I don’t want to open my eyes yet because I’m not sure where I’ll be. Someone is wiping my forehead like my father used to, but the water is not cold en
ough to ease the pounding in my temples. I know I heard two people whispering, both women. I slowly open my eyes.

  I am in a small room. The roof is thatched and the walls look like they could fall at any minute. They have put me on some makeshift bed of cloths. Leaning over me is a thin blonde haired lady. She looks maybe forty or so but I could be wrong. She is wearing the most grotty clothes I have ever seen. Cutoff jeans with patches that I assume are covering the many holes. Her shirt is no better. It is faded green and just kinda hangs off her bony shoulders in the most unflattering way.

  “Hello there. Do you know where you are?” Her voice is surprisingly sweet.

  “Ummm, kind of. I know I’m in the colonies. Who are you people?” My voice comes out hoarse and scratchy.

  “Oh my dear, let’s get you some water, yeah?” I just nod, thankful for this woman’s kindness. I have never really appreciated the wonder that is water before. It is the most amazing substance in our world. You would never realize that, though, until you are without it.

  “Thank you,” I manage, in between greedy gulps.

  “After what they’ve put you through, it’s the least I can do. My name is Amanda, and this is Claire.” Amanda turns so that I can see behind her. For the first time I see the source of that second whispering voice I had heard. She is small and can’t be any older than 8. Her long red hair is unusual and I am instantly drawn to her. Her skin is like porcelain and she looks just as fragile.

  “Hi.” Claire’s voice is as tiny as she is. I smile at her and she blushes. There is something sweet in that rosy face that reminds me of Dawn when she was little.

  “Hi.” I can’t manage anything more.

  “Claire, honey, if we don’t get back to work there will be trouble.” With that, Amanda and Claire head out of the room. That was strange. They were taking care of me and didn’t even ask me my name. I need to figure out what’s going on here. But later. Now I just need to sleep.