Lisa stood on the top of the city and smiled. Today
was her fifteenth birthday and it was a perfect day.
The sky was blue, and although there was a breeze it
was a warm one.
The entire city was celebrating. Music was coming
from the floor below. A group of her closest friends
were with her on the roof. They had presents and cake
for her.
As another present was opened, Lisa looked out over
the side of the roof and noticed something moving in
the bushes below. The movement had caught her
attention and she stood to go have a better look. She
walked over and peered down.
"What's wrong Lisa?" Her younger brother, Todd, came
over and asked her.
She pointed down to the bushes, keeping her eyes glued
on the moving object. Just in time she ducked, for a
bang went off followed by the whistle of a speeding
bullet.
"Everybody get down! We're under attack!" She
yelled.
Almost immediately the atmospere changed. The city's
children never had their guard down for long. This
time it had never been down at all. The attack
yesterday, had kept them all on their toes. That the
attackers would come back was no surprise. At the very
least it had been expected.
Lisa grabbed a gun and fired at the bush where the
movement had been before. Some leaves moved, but not
much more. She hadn't done a thing. These enemies were
different then the others. They were soldiers not
just children. They were from Chicago.
"Todd," she called and he came up beside her. "Go down
into the city and see if they're having problems. I
have a bad feeling about all this."
Todd nodded and ran to the door. He would be back
soon with a report, and she'd be able to get
everything fixed and back on track.
More shots were fired, and not all from the top of the
city. The children on the roof had the advantage, of
course, but the children on the ground were trained
just as well.
Not many of the shots taken were anywhere near their
marks. This was no good. They couldn't keep doing
this.
What did the attackers really want? Lisa thought to
herself. It couldn't be the city. They wouldn't come
this far just to take it over. Unless they were trying
to spread the King of Chicago's control. Lisa sighed
at this thought. Things just weren't working
themselves out.
"Lisa! Lisa!" Todd came back up again and ran over to
her. "We're having problems inside! You need to go
in!"
Todd grabbed her wrist and pulled her down. The two
rushed down the stairs, and found a scared crowd
around the bottom. Lisa was blasted by questions and
comments that were the tiniest bit irritating.
"OK. Everyone calm down. Now, what do we need to
work on first?" Lisa asked.
"The front door! They're about to break it down."
Came the response.
Lisa's eyes widened in terror. She had known the door
was in bad shape before this attack. The attackers
must have known that to.
When the attacks had started two days ago, they had
continually shot burning piles of wet wood onto the
roof. Lisa had thought that they were trying to smoke
them out.
She closed her eyes and shook her head. How could she
have missed what they were really doing the entire
time?
"How bad is it?" She asked the entire group.
"You can almost see through it, through the cracks.
It's gonna break soon. We have an hour at most." A
boy named Jacob told her.
"Okay, that's more then enough time. Get everybody
into the west wing on the first floor. I'll be there
in fifteen minutes." Lisa told them then ran off down
the hallway.
She ran through the halls and pounded on each door she
went past, and opened the doors too. "Go to the west!"
She called out to the occupants of the city. To me and
you this sounds kind of odd but there are codes used
in emergency and all these codes are known by those to
which the code effects.
The children began to stream out of their rooms, and
head to the closest stairs and then to the west.
Lisa ran to her office and grabbed some of her more
important notes and plans. She had that feeling again
and was going to give these to Todd.
As she came out of her room she came face to face with
Chad. "We have to get out of here, don't we?" He
asked.
"Yes. They're going to break down the door soon.
We're going to have to use to secret escape passage.
I'm so glad I didn't tell anybody but the council. I
hope that information hasn't leaked out, It's our only
way out." She said looking at her feet.
"You're not coming with us, are you?" Chad asked
already knowing the answer. He had a bad habit of
knowing her plans without being told. "I'm coming
with you then."
"No, you can't. I need to distract them so everyone
can get out. If they follow me, I can make sure
everyone gets out safe." She said, then looked him in
the eye. "You need to go with Todd and help him. I'm
giving him these," Lisa said and held up the papers
and books. "It's everything they'll need to survive."
Chad smiled at her, then leaned over and kissed her
forehead. "Fine then. Let's go."
The two ran past the rest of the rooms and yelled out
the code, then went down two flights of stairs and
into the library. All the children were there. They
looked scared, but smiled at Lisa and Chad as they
past.
"Everybody! Everybody! Listen up! We need to leave
the city." Lisa said.
A murmur went through the crowd. Nobody wanted to
leave the city. Why did they have to? The attackers
would never get in. Nobody ever did.
"Is everybody here?" Lisa asked. Just then, Todd came
in with a group of stragglers.
"They were on the fifth floor. All we need to do now
is tell the guards." Lisa sighed. The fifth floor was
the top floor below the roof, so they had everybody
here. The guards all knew about the plan, she would
go and tell them it had been put into action.
"Okay. Since you're all here, it's time to go. Stay
calm. I'm going to tell the guards where we're going,
so I need you all to follow Todd. Everything will be
okay, just listen to him and the other council
members. Now, we leave the city," she said and
swallowed. She climbed up the ladder to her left, and
reached for a book called "The Demonic War" and pulled
it out.
All of a sudden, one of the smaller book cases opened
to reveal a door and a set of stairs. The children all
gasped. "Follow me." Todd said, and grabbing a
flashlight started the journey down the stairs.
Chad started handing out flashlights to each family of
children as they started to file out the passage.
"Be brave, stay strong and always believe in our
success. You'll all be fine." Lisa called out
encouraging words to her people, and watched as the
atmosphere changed from worried and weak to hopeful
and powerful.
She smiled at the thought that it was her words that
gave these children strength. She had no fear about
their future. They would survive.
Lisa looked at Chad and got an encouraging smile. He
understood. She turned and ran up to the roof.
As soon as she came through the door, the guards all
turned. "We need to go." Was all she said and they
all came with her. It was only a group of twelve, so
they moved quickly. As they got to the library, Lisa
said, "Your families are waiting. You've been loyal
and faithful citizens and I am eternally grateful.
Now go." With that she handed them their flashlights.
"Thank you, Lisa." A girl named, Fiona said. They
had
become good friends. Fiona gave her a hug, then took
her little brother's hand and ran down the tunnel. The
rest of the guards followed her, saying things much
along the same line as Fiona.
Lisa closed the bookcase as she saw the last person
disappear into the darkness. She turned and began to
run out of the library. As she reached the doorway, a
hand grabbed her arm.
Lisa gave a jump and turned. Chad was standing right
beside her.
"I'd never let you stay alone to face them," he said.
Lisa almost laughed. She had expected him to put up
more of a fight when she told him to go, but this
explained it all. As they stood together, the crash of
the front door echoed through the halls.
"Come on, let's go." Lisa said and Chad nodded his
agreement.
They ran in the opposite direction and up some stairs,
yelling to people to follow them this way and that.
Of
course, there was no one to actually follow them, but
the attackers didn't know that.
Lisa ran up another set of stairs and Chad went
straight. They could hear the attackers getting
closer, but they needed to make sure they never found
the passage in the library. Lisa ran through the fifth
floor quickly.
As she was running she heard a whimper and turned to
her left. Her eyes widened when she saw what had been
left behind. There was a little bundle on the floor.
She ran over to it and scooped it up. She then began
to run again. As she got to the stairs, Chad came up
them.
"Oh, Chad, look." She said and handed him the bundle.
He uncovered the little bundle and a little head
popped
up. As the little tongue gave him a lick, he laughed.
It was a little puppy. Lisa sighed. She had thought
it was a baby.
"Come on. The elevator is just over here." Lisa said
and opened a closet.
"What? That's just a closet." Chad said.
"Only to those who've never gone in it before," She
said smiling, and took his hand. They stepped into
it and she pressed the button for the first floor.
This was the only thing that held any hope for them to
get out of the city. It went slowly. As the elevator
came to a stop, Chad leaned over and kissed her on the
lips. A kiss for good luck. She smiled at him and
grabbed his hand. They were ready to run. As soon as
the door opened, they took off.
"Stop!" Yelled a voice and children with guns
surrounded them. They stopped dead. Lisa felt her
heart and hope shatter into pieces. They had been
caught. "You're the girl who owns this city, aren't
you?" The child who seemed to be the leader asked
her.
With her head held high, Lisa looked him in the eye
and said, "Who's asking?"
"Me," he said with the same attitude. "It's her."
"Are you sure, sir?" A small child asked.
"Don't question my authority!" He yelled and smacked
the kid. Lisa noticed how the child cringed. The
power had gone to this guy's head a long time ago.
"Take her!" The leader said. A big soldier came at her
with the butt of his gun raised.
As he brought it down, Chad pushed her out of the way
and punched him. Although the guy's nose began to
bleed it didn't seem to effect him. He swung the gun
at Chad, but Chad ducked and jumped out of the way.
Lisa was having trouble of her own. Two soldiers were
coming after her. She grabbed a pole, from the fench
they had been working on, and swung it at the
soldiers.
They both ducked but it caught the second in the arm.
The soldier-child fell and clutched at her arm where
the pole had hit her.
The other soldier had a sword, something that hadn't
been used as a weapon for a long time, and swung back
at Lisa. The two engaged in something that could have
been a sword fight, if they had both had swords.
Chad on the other hand had gotten hit and had fallen
to his knees. As he cried out, Lisa lost her
concentration and found herself on the ground with the
knife at her neck. A hefty blow landed itself on
Chad's face and he blacked out. Lisa got hit with the
butt of a gun from the soldier she had hit with the
pole and met the same fate as Chad.
"Take them both," The leader said. "The boy will
make a good soldier." He laughed wickedly and walked
out the door. The rest of the party followed.
Although they didn't hear it, a desperate "NOOO!" came
from the floor above. For Todd had come back to get
the map, and seen the entire thing.
was her fifteenth birthday and it was a perfect day.
The sky was blue, and although there was a breeze it
was a warm one.
The entire city was celebrating. Music was coming
from the floor below. A group of her closest friends
were with her on the roof. They had presents and cake
for her.
As another present was opened, Lisa looked out over
the side of the roof and noticed something moving in
the bushes below. The movement had caught her
attention and she stood to go have a better look. She
walked over and peered down.
"What's wrong Lisa?" Her younger brother, Todd, came
over and asked her.
She pointed down to the bushes, keeping her eyes glued
on the moving object. Just in time she ducked, for a
bang went off followed by the whistle of a speeding
bullet.
"Everybody get down! We're under attack!" She
yelled.
Almost immediately the atmospere changed. The city's
children never had their guard down for long. This
time it had never been down at all. The attack
yesterday, had kept them all on their toes. That the
attackers would come back was no surprise. At the very
least it had been expected.
Lisa grabbed a gun and fired at the bush where the
movement had been before. Some leaves moved, but not
much more. She hadn't done a thing. These enemies were
different then the others. They were soldiers not
just children. They were from Chicago.
"Todd," she called and he came up beside her. "Go down
into the city and see if they're having problems. I
have a bad feeling about all this."
Todd nodded and ran to the door. He would be back
soon with a report, and she'd be able to get
everything fixed and back on track.
More shots were fired, and not all from the top of the
city. The children on the roof had the advantage, of
course, but the children on the ground were trained
just as well.
Not many of the shots taken were anywhere near their
marks. This was no good. They couldn't keep doing
this.
What did the attackers really want? Lisa thought to
herself. It couldn't be the city. They wouldn't come
this far just to take it over. Unless they were trying
to spread the King of Chicago's control. Lisa sighed
at this thought. Things just weren't working
themselves out.
"Lisa! Lisa!" Todd came back up again and ran over to
her. "We're having problems inside! You need to go
in!"
Todd grabbed her wrist and pulled her down. The two
rushed down the stairs, and found a scared crowd
around the bottom. Lisa was blasted by questions and
comments that were the tiniest bit irritating.
"OK. Everyone calm down. Now, what do we need to
work on first?" Lisa asked.
"The front door! They're about to break it down."
Came the response.
Lisa's eyes widened in terror. She had known the door
was in bad shape before this attack. The attackers
must have known that to.
When the attacks had started two days ago, they had
continually shot burning piles of wet wood onto the
roof. Lisa had thought that they were trying to smoke
them out.
She closed her eyes and shook her head. How could she
have missed what they were really doing the entire
time?
"How bad is it?" She asked the entire group.
"You can almost see through it, through the cracks.
It's gonna break soon. We have an hour at most." A
boy named Jacob told her.
"Okay, that's more then enough time. Get everybody
into the west wing on the first floor. I'll be there
in fifteen minutes." Lisa told them then ran off down
the hallway.
She ran through the halls and pounded on each door she
went past, and opened the doors too. "Go to the west!"
She called out to the occupants of the city. To me and
you this sounds kind of odd but there are codes used
in emergency and all these codes are known by those to
which the code effects.
The children began to stream out of their rooms, and
head to the closest stairs and then to the west.
Lisa ran to her office and grabbed some of her more
important notes and plans. She had that feeling again
and was going to give these to Todd.
As she came out of her room she came face to face with
Chad. "We have to get out of here, don't we?" He
asked.
"Yes. They're going to break down the door soon.
We're going to have to use to secret escape passage.
I'm so glad I didn't tell anybody but the council. I
hope that information hasn't leaked out, It's our only
way out." She said looking at her feet.
"You're not coming with us, are you?" Chad asked
already knowing the answer. He had a bad habit of
knowing her plans without being told. "I'm coming
with you then."
"No, you can't. I need to distract them so everyone
can get out. If they follow me, I can make sure
everyone gets out safe." She said, then looked him in
the eye. "You need to go with Todd and help him. I'm
giving him these," Lisa said and held up the papers
and books. "It's everything they'll need to survive."
Chad smiled at her, then leaned over and kissed her
forehead. "Fine then. Let's go."
The two ran past the rest of the rooms and yelled out
the code, then went down two flights of stairs and
into the library. All the children were there. They
looked scared, but smiled at Lisa and Chad as they
past.
"Everybody! Everybody! Listen up! We need to leave
the city." Lisa said.
A murmur went through the crowd. Nobody wanted to
leave the city. Why did they have to? The attackers
would never get in. Nobody ever did.
"Is everybody here?" Lisa asked. Just then, Todd came
in with a group of stragglers.
"They were on the fifth floor. All we need to do now
is tell the guards." Lisa sighed. The fifth floor was
the top floor below the roof, so they had everybody
here. The guards all knew about the plan, she would
go and tell them it had been put into action.
"Okay. Since you're all here, it's time to go. Stay
calm. I'm going to tell the guards where we're going,
so I need you all to follow Todd. Everything will be
okay, just listen to him and the other council
members. Now, we leave the city," she said and
swallowed. She climbed up the ladder to her left, and
reached for a book called "The Demonic War" and pulled
it out.
All of a sudden, one of the smaller book cases opened
to reveal a door and a set of stairs. The children all
gasped. "Follow me." Todd said, and grabbing a
flashlight started the journey down the stairs.
Chad started handing out flashlights to each family of
children as they started to file out the passage.
"Be brave, stay strong and always believe in our
success. You'll all be fine." Lisa called out
encouraging words to her people, and watched as the
atmosphere changed from worried and weak to hopeful
and powerful.
She smiled at the thought that it was her words that
gave these children strength. She had no fear about
their future. They would survive.
Lisa looked at Chad and got an encouraging smile. He
understood. She turned and ran up to the roof.
As soon as she came through the door, the guards all
turned. "We need to go." Was all she said and they
all came with her. It was only a group of twelve, so
they moved quickly. As they got to the library, Lisa
said, "Your families are waiting. You've been loyal
and faithful citizens and I am eternally grateful.
Now go." With that she handed them their flashlights.
"Thank you, Lisa." A girl named, Fiona said. They
had
become good friends. Fiona gave her a hug, then took
her little brother's hand and ran down the tunnel. The
rest of the guards followed her, saying things much
along the same line as Fiona.
Lisa closed the bookcase as she saw the last person
disappear into the darkness. She turned and began to
run out of the library. As she reached the doorway, a
hand grabbed her arm.
Lisa gave a jump and turned. Chad was standing right
beside her.
"I'd never let you stay alone to face them," he said.
Lisa almost laughed. She had expected him to put up
more of a fight when she told him to go, but this
explained it all. As they stood together, the crash of
the front door echoed through the halls.
"Come on, let's go." Lisa said and Chad nodded his
agreement.
They ran in the opposite direction and up some stairs,
yelling to people to follow them this way and that.
Of
course, there was no one to actually follow them, but
the attackers didn't know that.
Lisa ran up another set of stairs and Chad went
straight. They could hear the attackers getting
closer, but they needed to make sure they never found
the passage in the library. Lisa ran through the fifth
floor quickly.
As she was running she heard a whimper and turned to
her left. Her eyes widened when she saw what had been
left behind. There was a little bundle on the floor.
She ran over to it and scooped it up. She then began
to run again. As she got to the stairs, Chad came up
them.
"Oh, Chad, look." She said and handed him the bundle.
He uncovered the little bundle and a little head
popped
up. As the little tongue gave him a lick, he laughed.
It was a little puppy. Lisa sighed. She had thought
it was a baby.
"Come on. The elevator is just over here." Lisa said
and opened a closet.
"What? That's just a closet." Chad said.
"Only to those who've never gone in it before," She
said smiling, and took his hand. They stepped into
it and she pressed the button for the first floor.
This was the only thing that held any hope for them to
get out of the city. It went slowly. As the elevator
came to a stop, Chad leaned over and kissed her on the
lips. A kiss for good luck. She smiled at him and
grabbed his hand. They were ready to run. As soon as
the door opened, they took off.
"Stop!" Yelled a voice and children with guns
surrounded them. They stopped dead. Lisa felt her
heart and hope shatter into pieces. They had been
caught. "You're the girl who owns this city, aren't
you?" The child who seemed to be the leader asked
her.
With her head held high, Lisa looked him in the eye
and said, "Who's asking?"
"Me," he said with the same attitude. "It's her."
"Are you sure, sir?" A small child asked.
"Don't question my authority!" He yelled and smacked
the kid. Lisa noticed how the child cringed. The
power had gone to this guy's head a long time ago.
"Take her!" The leader said. A big soldier came at her
with the butt of his gun raised.
As he brought it down, Chad pushed her out of the way
and punched him. Although the guy's nose began to
bleed it didn't seem to effect him. He swung the gun
at Chad, but Chad ducked and jumped out of the way.
Lisa was having trouble of her own. Two soldiers were
coming after her. She grabbed a pole, from the fench
they had been working on, and swung it at the
soldiers.
They both ducked but it caught the second in the arm.
The soldier-child fell and clutched at her arm where
the pole had hit her.
The other soldier had a sword, something that hadn't
been used as a weapon for a long time, and swung back
at Lisa. The two engaged in something that could have
been a sword fight, if they had both had swords.
Chad on the other hand had gotten hit and had fallen
to his knees. As he cried out, Lisa lost her
concentration and found herself on the ground with the
knife at her neck. A hefty blow landed itself on
Chad's face and he blacked out. Lisa got hit with the
butt of a gun from the soldier she had hit with the
pole and met the same fate as Chad.
"Take them both," The leader said. "The boy will
make a good soldier." He laughed wickedly and walked
out the door. The rest of the party followed.
Although they didn't hear it, a desperate "NOOO!" came
from the floor above. For Todd had come back to get
the map, and seen the entire thing.
