Chapter 1

"Katie, what if…what if, we get caught," Emily whispers, trepidation in her voice. She stares at the white blank wall opposite of the wall that she is currently leaning on, her back slightly aching from the position that she had been holding for over an hour now.

She sighs as she leans her head back, shifting the weight of her body so that the numbness from the side that she had been sitting on could subside.

She could feel the bed shift, as Katie, who is sitting a couple of inches away and is almost mirroring her exact position, turns her head to face her twin.

"Ems, don't think like that. When have we ever been caught? We're THE Fitch twins. I'll be surprised if they even manage to realize that we've fucked off," Katie whispers back. Emily notices the fatigue in her sister's voice. Katie masks it well with her unwavering confidence.

Emily isn't convinced, but she appreciates Katie's optimism.

She feels a hand cover her own, and a smile tugs at the corner of her mouth. She turns her palm over and holds Katie's hand. They stay like this for another couple of hours, and aside from the quiet buzzing of the faded flickering light above their heads, silence consumes the air.

It's been almost a year now since they've joined Calavent 3. Almost a year since they've last seen James and their parents. Emily squeezes her eyes shut, trying to forget, trying to stop the overwhelming urge to be sad. Sadness doesn't get anyone anywhere. She feels Katie give her hand a comforting squeeze, which Emily gladly accepts. "At least I have Katie," She thinks to herself. She doesn't know what she would do if she had lost her twin as well.

Emily closes her eyes once more, thinking back to when they had first joined the force. She and Katie had been wandering the thick forests of Proelio, with no idea where to go, no idea what to do. Both distraught, confused, lost, and without hope, all they could do was wander.

They should feel relieved, grateful even, that they had managed to survive the onslaught of raiders that attacked their humble town. They felt anything but. Their friends and family…all gone; never to be able to breathe the same air as them.

After a long bout of walking, they had somehow managed to fall asleep underneath the shelter of a massive clump of roots from a large withering sequoia. Emily had been awakened by the sounds of rustling in the nearby shrubbery, and crouched down as low as she could, backing further into the shelter of the roots. She squinted, frantically trying to figure out the source of the sound. She feels Katie awakening, but doesn't worry about her making any sounds. She would already know what it was that has her on edge, the gift of being a twin, but even more so in their case. Katie and she would somehow always know, no matter the circumstance, what the other was feeling, and not in a telepathic sort of way. There was something about their twin connection that always immediately knew what the other was thinking, feeling, and everything in between, to the exact thought that they would be thinking, no eye contact nor words necessary. She feels Katie wriggle silently next to her, no words needing to be exchanged. Together, they scope the outside area, their eyes in sync with one another. Katie notices it first; movement, in the shrubbery only five feet away from them. Emily's breathe hitches, and she feels Katie do the same. Surely, opposing enemy wouldn't get so close, especially since they were both very aware of their presence.

"Fuck," Katie breathes, and as if on cue, multiple cloaked figures jump out from behind the underbrush. Without a second thought, both Katie and Emily jump up simultaneously, following the lead of their invaders.

It was then that everything seemed to happen at once. Emily doesn't remember the exact details of the occurrences, but what she does remember is this: these invaders weren't there to kill or maim them. If they had been, Katie and she would have already been dead within the first few seconds of their fight. She remembers being thrown back onto the ground; her arms and legs were being held down by two of the cloaked figures. She struggles, kicks and thrashes to the best of her abilities, but to no avail. Not needing to even look toward Katie, she already knows that she is being put through a similar treatment. Next thing she knew, a rucksack has been placed over her head, and lifted, not thrown, into a small vehicle, and that's when her consciousness had failed her.

Emily feels Katie squeeze her hand harder, and she knows that Katie can feel her heart rate speed up, as it always did when she reminisced about things passed. Emily squeezes back once more, willing herself to stop thinking. But, as always, it doesn't work.

She thinks back to when she had awoken from her unconsciousness, hands and legs no longer being held down, her frantic thoughts kept at bay when she feels Katie near her. She looked around, realizing that they were not alone. All around her, she sees the cloaked, no longer hooded, men surrounding the bed that she had been placed. Panic setting in once more, she sits straight up, scrambling to get up. Before she could act, a rather large man step forward and lightly holds both of her wrists in his right hand, placing his other arm around her waist, lifting her off the ground.

His hold on her is firm, but unnaturally gentle.

"Miss Fitch, will you kindly not thrash about," a deep, knowing voice floats toward her ears. Emily immediately stiffens. The voice was so, kind. Somehow, the voice calmed her enough to stop her muscles from continuing their assault on her captor.

"Can YOU kindly tell us what the fuck is going on?"

Emily hears Katie's voice come from a large body that stood right next to the man who held her at bay. She notices the irritation in Katie's voice, which is of course, masked with indifference.

"Please," the voice speaks again, "allow me to explain the events that have transpired in the last 24 hours, but you two young ladies need to promise me that you will not cause any trouble during my explanation. I would rather my men unhand you both so that we can talk civilly."

The man with the soothing voice appears from behind the cloaked figures. His face shows his old age, but aside from the deep forming wrinkles and crevices on his face, nothing about him was young. His body was built in an almost bionic way, muscles bulging through his blue and silver uniform.

Katie and Emily look at each other briefly, coming to a silent agreement.

Emily locked eyes with the man, and nods her head briefly.

"Very well," he says. He looks at the men holding the two girls, giving them both a nod. The hand that held Emily's wrists suddenly let go, and so does the arm that is wrapped around her waist. With surprising gentleness, he places her back on the bed that he captured her from. Emily's senses told her that Katie was experiencing the gentle treatment.

After both Katie and Emily were both situated, they look back at the old man that stood in front of them, as if to signal for him to begin.

And so he did.

Emily slowly opens her eyes, feeling Katie's eyes boring holes onto her face.

"Ems, stop thinking about it."

Emily looks up into Katie's eyes. "I can't," she whispers back.

"There was no way we could have predict-," Katie begins, but is cut off.

"I know."

Katie sighs, and with her hand still firmly holding Emily's, she turns over, back facing her.

"Get some sleep, Ems. Please. Tomorrow is a big day," Katie mutters.

Katie was right. There was no way that they could have predicted the mutiny. When Dr. Crenshaw, the man responsible for their capture, offered them a job working with the Cantavit 3, a special forces group within the small community of Tectum, they accepted without hesitation.

The job promised them what they could not obtain by themselves; protection from opposing communities. Sure, the two were more than capable of taking care of themselves, but from other individuals, not entire communities. Both Emily and Katie were extremely skilled in hand to hand combat, and most importantly, stealth, which was perfected with their exceptional twin intuition. But when it comes down to it, there was no way they would survive the violent, war torn chaos that Proelio had become, on their own. Tectum, along with other neighboring communities within the land of Proelio, would be in constant battle with one another, and it didn't do good to be in the middle of the crossfire on one's own.

She doesn't remember a time when the land of Proelio wasn't in constant chaos. The worst part was, that everyone in the land was at fault. The continuing depletion of all the land's resources was caused by the people of Proelio. Century after century, people ignored the fact that the land's natural resources were precious and needed to be conserved and rationed.

Centuries later, the land had run out.

It had been exactly two decades since the citizens of Proelio finally realized that there were not nearly enough natural resources to go around. Things like water, good land, flora, and fauna, were depleting rapidly. People started to panic, and communities started planning ways to give themselves the upper hand in the fight to preserve what was left of the land to keep for as their own. As years went by, it was no longer about preserving the land. It became a fight to survive no matter the cost, until the inevitable fact that sometime in the near future, the land will soon die, taking the people, along with it.

Both Katie and Emily had been working with the Cantavit 3 for over a year now. The job of the Cantavit 3 was simple. Kill opposing authority. Along with the other members of Cantavit 3, 15 extremely skilled soldiers in total, the Fitch twins went on missions that required them to track, then assassinate, people of power in communities that were against Tectum. The group was responsible for Tectum's main tactic point against the hundreds of other smaller communities in Proelio: get rid of the higher powers, and everyone else will follow suit.

Emily scoffs. Simple, they said. It was anything but.

In the past month alone, Emily and Katie had endured more wounds and had experienced more near death experiences then they could count. Emily was surprised that they'd managed to no get themselves killed yet.

"Ems, please, get some sleep. Worrying won't help anyone."

Katie rolls over, her voice thick with sleep. She looks up at her restless twin and sighs.

She draws herself up to her sister's level, and brings he arms up, encasing her in a hug.

Emily stiffens. Katie was never one to show affection. It's nice, she thought, as she leans her head on top of her sister's head, Katie's own head fixed at the crook of her neck.

"Let's sleep, yeah?" Katie whispers.

Emily smiles, resting her head more comfortably on Katie, her tired eyes slowly closes.

"Ems, I promise you, everything will be okay. I won't let anything happen to us."

Her palms start to sweat, eyes darting more frequently, as she navigates through the security holds of her confinement. Her back is beginning to ache, due to the constant crouching. Although she cannot see her, Emily can feel Katie close by, following as close as she could without raising suspicion. Tonight's escape should raise no complications. She and Katie had planned everything, down to the last second. She shouldn't be worried.

Tonight was the night they would finally be free from the confines of the walls of Tectum.

It took weeks of planning their escape, but they needed to leave. It was essential. The communities alliances were breaking, and at a rapid pace. Soon, there would be no alliance, within ANY of the communities, not just Tectum, and it would be a free for all. The one and only priority people would have now would be themselves. Everyone against everyone.

It was Katie's idea to leave. She explained to Emily her concerns about them becoming primary targets, seeing as they would soon be viewed as a threat from the other citizens of Tectum. Especially their fellow soldiers from Cantavit 3. They knew of their combative skills, which immediately earned them a spot on the top of the threat list.

Emily didn't need more convincing.

But something was wrong. She could feel it. The air tasted of formidable conflict. Her senses are warning her of something, but she continues as planned. There's no turning back now.

She can see the end of their trek, just ahead. Just another hundred feet, and they were safe. The plan will have worked.

All of a sudden she feels a sharp pain of foreboding in her heart, which makes her stumble. Keeping her balance, she continues.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees movement in the shadows, and before she can act, a blunt object collides with the side of her body, just below her left rib. Her eyes widen as she gasps for air. Red, hot searing pain catches her off guard, as she momentarily freezes from shock. She grits her teeth, not wanting to go down so easily, crouching low to the ground and sweeps her left leg toward her invader. Her foot catches, and in one swift movement, the intruder falls to the ground. She quickly repositions her vulnerable stance, and stands beside the body, her right foot positioned right between his neck, and she pushes hard. The man squeals in pain, and attempts to escape, but she knows it's futile. The hold that she has on him is meant to completely render an opposing force useless.

She could have killed him right there and then, but a blood curdling scream breaks her focus. She looks to her left where the scream was emitted, and her heart stops.

Katie was lying face down on the ground, several men surrounding her limp body.

Without a second thought, Emily breaks into a full sprint toward her hurt, possibly dead twin. "KATIE!" She screams, as she gets closer. As she approaches, she sees Katie struggling to lift her head, her face sporting a deep red cut on her right cheek along with several other scratches. "Emily stop! Turn the fuck around and go!" Katie screeches, her voice laced in pain. The authority in her voice stops her in her tracks. Emily is breathing hard and she starts to tremble, dread creeping up her spine as she locks eyes with Katie.

Katie's eyes are full of pain and unshed tears. Katie would never cry. She was too strong for tears. But under all that, Emily sees determination, and pleading. Her eyes are pleading for Emily to run. Emily's heart tears and she grits her teeth once more to stop her own impending tears that threatened to fall down her face. Katie wouldn't dare tell her to leave without her. She just couldn't. She wouldn't. "Kati-," she begins but is interrupted.

"I promise I'll be okay. I won't let anything happen to us," she croaks out, pain evident in each syllable.

Before Emily could react, the man closest to Katie, lifts up his foot, and smashes his heavy leather boots on top of her head, effectively silencing her. Emily watches in horror as blood, Katie's blood, begins to pool around her head.

Emily's scream is deafening.