Dawn of Rebellion (Dawn of Rebellion Series Book 1) Read online

  “Hey Gabby, I could use a little help if you would be so inclined.” I choose not to be bothered by his rudeness. Instead, I am just happy that he said anything at all. With my help, we are able to get the tree over to where they are piling the rest of them. We walk back towards the center of camp side by side to get the next one.

  We work like this for most of the day. Neither of us saying much, but working as a team.

  “Jeremy, don’t we have to go pick oranges or something today?”

  “Not after a big storm. We have to rebuild the camp.”

  “Oh.”

  “We probably can’t even get to the grove right now anyways; Not with all this mud and such. Come on.” He gestures for me to follow him, “Let’s get some food.”

  I still don’t know how everyone else will react to me today, so I’m a little reluctant. Jeremy just keeps walking without looking back. I decide to brave it because I’m hungry. I have to run to catch up with him. Daft move. If the mud makes walking hard, then running in it is impossible. I end up face down, covered from head to toe. Jeremy stops and turns around to see what the noise was. He is grinning as he looks down at me; the first smile I have seen on his face.

  “Not funny,” I say through gritted teeth. He begins to chuckle as he extends his hand to help me up.

  “Come, I’ll show you where you can clean up.”

  Letting go of my pride, I grab his hand and pull myself to my feet. He starts walking off and I follow him, exasperated.

  We reach a patch of trees that are surrounding a small pond. I tell him to turn his back and I strip off my grotty clothes. They are heavy from the weight of the mud. I sink down into the water and sigh. It feels wonderful. Once I am clean, I scrub my clothing between my hands and reluctantly climb out of the pond.

  I wring my clothes out the best I can, but I know they’ll still be wet most of the day. Oh well, I guess I can live with it. I put them on and go find Jeremy. He is leaning on a tree nearby, singing in a low voice. I don’t know the song but his voice surprises me. He doesn’t hear me coming until I am right next to him. He stops his singing abruptly and starts walking back to camp.

  “That was beautiful. You shouldn’t have stopped.” He turns to look at me for a second then turns back to keep walking.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I can’t tell if he’s angry or being defensive for some reason. I said beautiful right?

  “I never would have guessed you could sing like that.”

  “Drop it OK?” I do as he asks, but only because we’ve reached the others and my stomach is growling. What I find here surprises me. No one is staring and the conversation does not stop just because I’m there. They’re still not making an effort to talk to me but this is a huge improvement.

  I grab my food and find a place to sit. I am alone until Amanda walks up.

  “Can I join you?” she asks.

  “Sure, if you can find a place to sit that is.” She smiles at my joke and sits across from me. Jeremy joins us as well.

  As I am eating I am looking around, trying to find Claire. She isn’t here. That’s odd. Meal time isn’t really optional. Everyone needs to eat and food is only available twice a day. I glance at Jeremy and find him searching the crowd as well.

  “Where do you think she is?” he asks me.

  “I don’t know. She was still asleep when I left her this morning.”

  “I’m going to find her. She needs to eat.” He gets up and goes to grab some food for his sister.

  “Wait!” I yell after him. “I’m coming with you!” I don’t run this time but I do speed up a bit. I'm worried.

  We reach the door to the hut that Jeremy shares with Claire and stop. Before we enter he calls in to his sister.

  “Claire? You in there?” At first, there’s no response. We’re both listening intently when I hear the faintest sound of a cough. I look over to Jeremy but he’s already darted inside.

  I go in slowly, very aware that this isn’t my place. I stay by the door, not wanting to intrude on the scene that is playing out before me. Claire is in the same spot that I left her in hours ago. Her eyes are closed and she is curled up in a little ball. I would almost think she was sleeping peacefully if it wasn’t for the constant shivering. Jeremy is kneeling besides her trying to wake her up. I turn as someone else enters the room and see that Amanda has followed us. She doesn’t seem to mind intruding as she walks past me and crouches down next to Jeremy.

  “She isn’t waking up Mandy. What’s wrong with her?” His voice is no more than a whisper and there’s a quiver in it. I wish I could help him but, despite last night, we’re practically strangers.

  “Jeremy, I need you to back away and let me try to help her.” First me, and now Claire, I’m guessing Amanda is the unofficial doc.

  “But…”

  “Jeremy, go. I need you to build a fire in here. Go try to find some dry wood, and tell someone to bring me a bowl of water and a dry blanket. She’s already sweat through this one.”

  Jeremy finally gives in and walks out. I go to follow him because I need to do something useful.

  “Gabby, you stay here. I need your help. Jeremy would have just gotten in my way.” I don’t really know how I can help but I listen to her anyway. I get the feeling that in situations like these, everyone just does what Amanda tells them to.

  A few moments later, a girl that I don’t remember ever seeing comes in with a bowl of water.

  “Thank you Kait.” Amanda takes the bowl and the girl leaves.

  Amanda hands me a rag and I immediately dip it in the water and start cooling down Claire’s face. She is burning up. I know there is not much more we can do here. Living in the east end, you learn very quickly to accept limitations.

  My sister, Dawn, used to get sick all the time. Usually she would get over it fairly quickly but there was one time when Dawn was so sick that she couldn’t even get out of bed. I waited and waited for her to get better, but she just kept getting worse. I was fifteen at the time and I’ve never been more scared. I ended up breaking in to one of the medical buildings nearby and stealing the medicine. I never told Dawn how I got it; she wouldn’t approve, but I couldn’t lose my sister.

  I can’t lose Claire. She is the one bright spot since I’ve gotten here, but there is no medical building this time. Jeremy hurries back in and builds the fire. It is a hot day, but Claire is soaked in sweat and freezing cold.

  “Jer.” It’s quiet but we all hear it.

  “I’m here.” He comes over, sits next to me, and grabs her hand. Claire reaches with her other hand and grabs mine. We sit her up just enough so that we can help her drink some water but that is almost too much for her. She falls back asleep soon after.

  Amanda leaves the room, saying that sleep is probably the best thing for Claire. Jeremy and I are both still holding her hands, even though her grip has loosened.

  “I should never have let her outside before a storm,” he mumbles. I vaguely remember Claire coming in a while after me, soaking wet. Without even thinking, I reach over with my free hand and grab Jeremy’s.

  “You can’t blame yourself. It’ll drive you nuts.” He doesn’t respond, and he doesn’t remove his hand from mine. With neither one of us wanting to leave Claire’s side, we sit in silence.

  Chapter 22

  Dawn

  We’ve been here for four days now and I worry about overstaying our welcome, not like we were ever really welcome in the first place. My ankle is feeling a lot better but I’m not there yet. I need to be able to cover long distances and run if need be. You never know what’s going to happen around these parts.

  People here are warming up to us, well, to me anyways. Even Lee helps me hop around if there is no one else nearby. Drew, on the other hand, is another story altogether. We haven’t spoken since the incident; that’s what I’m calling it. I don’t know how he got the hair brained idea to kiss me. Everything was going perfectly. We were actually getting along pre
tty well, even becoming friends. I know what his reputation was back home. I even saw first-hand how he earned that reputation. He thinks that just because he looks my way I’m gonna swoon and go all weak at the knees. Well, guess again buddy.

  I can’t help but wonder if I mislead him; giving off the impression that I was the kind of girl that would go after her sister’s boyfriend. I’m not, or at least I’m trying not to be. Underneath my anger towards Drew, I’m feeling a little guilty. It’s not that I wanted him to kiss me, but I didn’t stop it soon enough.

  I’d never been kissed before. And I didn’t hate it. Actually, I can’t stop thinking about how much I enjoyed it and that’s why I’m so damn narked at Drew for doing it. We were sharing our deepest secrets and it was very intimate, but now I need to stay away from him for a while. I don’t care that he’s mad at me for avoiding him, but does he have to be so moody? If he was just rude to me that would be one thing, but I’m afraid his brooding is making Ma and Sam and everyone regret letting us stay. He’s being a proper prat.

  It’s hard to think of Drew as my ally now. In a strange way, we were in this together, just the two of us, but now I feel more alone than ever. I don’t even know why he came. OK, his brother, I get that.

  I spend most of my time with Sam. He’s been teaching me a lot about the colonies. There are all sorts of people living hidden lives all over the country. Sam has even met some of them. Aaron, for example, lived about a day’s walk from here and he used to hang around. He was even considering moving in so he could be with Jesse. Before he could, though, he was killed on a raiding mission in the French colony. Raiding colony outposts is the only way to get a lot of the supplies that keeps these people alive.

  The Americans have all sorts of stories about what happened to this country. Sam says that he thinks most of them are true but there’s no way to know because they aren’t written down. A lot of the tales are similar to what I learned in school but some of them are different. I don’t know whether to believe what I’ve been taught in my lessons or Sam’s stories. I tend to think mine might be more accurate since the facts come out of books rather than oral history but I can imagine my government altering certain things and hiding others.

  Sam and I both know that the drought started everything. It affected most countries around the world but the strong governments were able to adapt and survive. The American government would have been one of those to survive had it not been for a terrorist attack.

  “It was the British, right?” Sam asks.

  “No,” I pause. “They called it domestic terrorism.”

  “What does that mean?” He scrunches his face in confusion.

  “Sam, it means it was your own people that destroyed your government. At least I think that’s what happened. I can’t really trust much of what I’ve been taught.” Sam looks away.

  “That can’t be true.” He says this more to himself than to me.

  Over the next few days Sam answers all my questions about religion but there is no more mention of the colonies history. It’s as if it hurts too much for him to talk about.

  These people believe in all this stuff that they’ve never even seen. If I hadn’t gotten to know them, I might think they’re just a bunch of nutters or something. They pray to a god, whom they’ve never seen, thanking him for all this stuff that he doesn’t really deserve the credit for. Food? I see Lee and Jesse and the rest go out hunting every day. They’re the ones who bring the food. They talk about some guy who did all this crazy stuff thousands of years ago; as if he can really heal people or walk on water. I totally get why all this crap was outlawed in England. I don’t understand how Drew believes any of it, but I can’t ask him because that would require him to talk to me.

  On the second day of our stay, Sam brought me to a clearing in the woods to see the pond that they use for all their water needs. It’s in a beautiful spot in the woods. Surrounded by large, majestic looking trees, oaks I think. The sunlight breaks through the leaves and illuminates the water. The pond is clothed in lily pads and blue and yellow water lilies. I have never been in a more peaceful place. I have spent much of my time here over the past few days. If it wasn’t for my sister, I could stay here forever.

  I am sitting alone when I hear someone say, “Hey Dawn, you busy?” Sam, Lee, and a girl, I think her name is Shay, come into view. I don’t answer right away.

  “Earth to Dawn.” Sam is still trying to get my attention.

  “Oh hey!” I snap out of my daydream.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Lee is ever so kind. Shay just stares at me. She never says anything, instead preferring to give me these odd looks. It’s kind of weird but, hey, to each her own, right?

  “Nothing,” I mumble. “What’s up?” I look at the baskets of berries the three of them are carrying and my mouth begins to water. “Berry Paradise,” that would be a great name for this place.

  “We’re heading back to the caves. There’s rain in the air, must be coming soon.”

  “The sun is still out.” I’m confused. When it rains in England, everything is dark and gray. The world becomes an ugly, scary place.

  “Trust me it’s coming.” I shrug and stand up, favoring my good ankle. My legs are stiff from sitting for the past few hours. I guess I hadn’t realized how long I was here. Sam hands his basket to Lee and moves to help me but I wave him off. If I’m ever going to be able to get back on the road to save my sister, I need to start trying to get back to normal. Sam doesn’t back away from me but he doesn’t reach for my arm either. He’s just there if I need him.

  I tentatively put weight on my other ankle and take a step forward. I wince from the pain but it isn’t enough to make me stop. I’m moving slowly but at least I’m doing it on my own. Lee and Shay have gone on ahead but Sam stays back to ensure that I make it to the caves.

  When we first met Sam, I didn’t know what to think about him. Our encounter with the bear left me shaken. He saved us and brought us here no questions asked. I still found him strange though. The way he talked made him sound kind of daft. Not that I have any room to talk. I’m from London’s east end and that fact alone makes people assume I’m low class. I was also skeptical that anyone could be as happy as he seemed to be, especially in a place like this. In the short time we’ve been here, Sam has treated me as well as any male ever has. All my first impressions of him were dead wrong and I feel guilty for even thinking those things about him. I’ve always wanted an older brother and I would want him to be exactly like Sam. Maybe I’ll adopt him.

  It’s only a small accomplishment but I am proud of myself when we arrive. To my utter amazement, there’s a door sticking up from the ground, and people walking down into it.

  “Welcome to the caves,” Sam says. I knew there was more to this place. I knew there was something they were hiding. I look to Sam, unsure of myself, as I step down through the doorway. I reach out to stabilize myself on the stairs and find Sam ready to help me.

  “Come one, I’ll take you on a tour!” he says.

  At the bottom of the stairs there are three narrow doorways. Sam leads me into the first one and it is wall to wall beds. They all look sort of homemade but it beats the ground. There are various blankets and other belongings strewn across the beds. I’m guessing most of this came from those raids I was told about.

  The walls of the room are stone and I shiver as a chill creeps up my spine. It is much colder down here. It is also much darker. There are lights along the walls but they are dim. The only sound is the hum of a generator. Sam leads me into the next room and it is much like the first.

  The last room serves as the living space. It is much wider than the previous two and has a large cooker at one end. There is a mixture of furniture throughout the room.

  “The spoils of war,” Sam whispers as if he could guess the question forming in my mind. All of this must have come from the colonial outposts.

  Sam finds me a seat and goes to help Ma. When they finally have the cooke
r started, he sits next to me.

  My eyes find Drew in the corner talking to Shay. I had noticed them spending some time together over the past few days. He catches me staring at him and quickly looks away. I wish I knew what his problem was.

  I feel like we’re waiting for something to start but I’m not sure what it could be. Ma chooses a spot near the fire to sit and then looks around at the rest of us before speaking.

  “I have been asked to tell a story,” she begins. “This story has been passed down from generation to generation.”

  I look sideways at Sam. “This is something you’ll want to hear,” he whispers.

  Ma must have heard him because, in a voice to be feared, she says, “Samuel Anderson, if you want me to tell this story, I expect you to shut the hell up.” Sam winks at me.

  “Now, this story is only one of many that have been passed down. Some things were lost throughout the years. The colonies, as you Brits call it, were once a great nation. The United States of America it was called.” The image of the metal door we found on the road comes back to me. I catch Drew’s eye and he doesn’t look away this time. We have learned about all of this in school but, somehow, it seems more meaningful now.

  “Some say it was an act of God, like the people weren’t praying enough or something. He dried up farms all across the country and people began to starve. We’ve all been hungry before so we know what it does to people. Then the Brits got involved. They blew up our government.” She stops when Sam intercedes.

  “Uh Ma. I don’t think it was the British.” So he did believe me! He doesn’t mention that an American was involved but it’s a step.

  “Son, are you saying our most precious stories are wrong?” She speaks with a soft tone and I can’t tell if she’s angry or not.

  “Well, they’re not written,” he says.

  “No matter. Whoever it was, the government was gone. Some people tried to lead but no one succeeded. People was fightin’ all over the place. Farm states against everyone else. It turned into an all-out war. Greed versus Greed. Then the scourge came. Some say it was loosed by the losing side but most say it was divine intervention. The rest of the world took note as our population dwindled over the next hundred years until it was almost gone completely.