I Will Not Bow

Boom!

****disclaimer**** I do not own the song I Will Not Bow it is owned by Breaking Benjamin.

****disclaimer**** I also do not own Fahrenheit 451 that is owned by Ray Bradbury.

Chicago. Guy. Book. Crying. Alarm. Fire. It all ends in flames. Now the world is crashing down on me. Now the dark begins to rise. As I look around I'm surprised by what I see. People are dropping like flies! Houses are crumbling like cookies. Think of all the parlor walls gone! Shame! It really is. Think of my beautiful house. It brings tears to my eyes and, to think it is all HIS fault that this happened. But that can be put aside to think about later. Now is not the time. But what I can wonder is what am I to do now. Is anyone alive as I am? Sigh. I guess I will have to take a look around. Maybe I'll find some survivors. Who knows?

These past few days have been horrible and good at the same time. I almost don't know who I am. Just thinking about it amazes me.

As I am walking around in hopes of finding people. I stumble across my favorite person in the world! Clarisse McClellan, and you wouldn't believe what she had in her possession… a book! This girl must simply be loony. Doesn't she know that is against the law. Her back was turned to me and I thought of leaving but thought against it. So instead I try to be nice. "Hello Clarisse,"

"Hello stranger," Clarisse turned, " why who are you? If you don't mind me asking."

"Oh sorry about that," I say while chuckling a little. "My name is Mildred Montag…"

"Oh! Your 's wife!" She said while pouncing on me like a tiger hugging me tightly as she continued. "Where is he? I've got some books for him that I've been trying to read."

"Well to be honest I don't know where he is," I replied sadly.

"What!" she screamed.

"Well I sort of called the alarm on him , then left in a cab immediately afterward," I replied in a low voice.

"Why would you do a thing like that Ms. Mildred? Mr. Montag was a nice man," Clarisse questioned.

"Well… because he started reading poetry in front of my friends. Then one of them started crying and he was hiding books. I was so afraid that they were going to ring the alarm on us. So I did it. After that I don't know what happened to him," I finished in a whisper.

"Well it's ok we will find him soon enough!" she was as bright as the sun I thought. I'm going to like her. Maybe. As we walking around looking at the damage done we decided we needed a place to rest for the night. As we found a place Clarisse started to make a fire startling me.

"What are you doing!" I ask frightened.

"Trying to keep us warm. You know fire can be good as well as bad. But don't worry you are in good hands," she replied.

I was a little wary at first at first but decided to trust her, next topic. "So why are you reading books?" I ask.

"I guess because there is nothing else to do?" Clarisse replies as a question. "Maybe just maybe it can help save or world from ourselves. We need this information that we have been deprived of!"

"Oh I guess that's a good reason I guess. But so far it has only brought me sadness and destruction. The lose of my home, the lose of my husband. Everything!" I replied yelling.

"Maybe they did," she said evenly. "But I think that you should try to read them you learn a lot from them. Please!" Clarisse begged me.

" I don't know if I can," I paused. "But I will try… for the good of the city or what is left of it," I added quickly.

From the bag that I just noticed Clarisse carrying she pulled out many books.

"Here I think you should start out reading Dr. Susses." Clarisse said while handing me a book with Green Eggs and Ham for a title. Warily I took the book from her and started to read.

As I finished reading I noticed we should get to bed. But in what I wondered. As if she read my mind she pulled out two sleeping bags. "I was carrying them around just incase something happened," she answered my dumbfound face. As we laid around the fire I felt as if there was an army of men surrounding us, protecting us.

"Good night," Clarisse whispered.

"Goodnight to you to Clarisse," I replied back sleepily.

As the next day rolled around I got up to the feeling of shade. Wait, shade! Shouldn't I feel the sun on my face? As I got up, my face came to look upon a blanket. Where did that come from?

"I went to look through the rubbish of the homes and found us some blankets, pillows, food, and even more books!" Clarisse looked like a three year old in a candy shop for the first time.

"So what shall we do today," I questioned.

"First we eat then we read," she explained while handing me a toast, egg and bacon sandwich.

" What can I read?" I wondered.

"You can pick from this pile of book," she replied back.

"So what books did you read and what were they about?" Clarisse questioned at dinner time.

"Well I read Green Eggs and Ham. What I got from that story is that when you try new things they can be good to you. Then I read Anthem by Ayn Rand. They lived in a very controlled society. I don't think I could live there but it was a good love story I must admit," I finished in a dreamy tone. Who knew books could do this.

"That sounds good I'll have to read that one," she commented. "Well today I read Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Beautiful story overall. Tragic ending through. I suggest you read it."

"Time for bed. Night Clarisse," I yawned out loud.

"Night Mildred," Clarisse whispered back.

I awoke to shadows though that was not new to me. But when I opened my eyes the sight in front of me shocked me. Guy Montag was here, standing over me, alive, not dead, how can this be? A million thoughts ran through me. Then he opened his mouth and he spoke.

"I'm so glad your awake now Mildred" Montag replied coolly.

"How are you alive," I asked in my shock induced tone.

"I fled to the woods where I met others like me," he paused to point behind himself. "This is Granger. Granger this is my wife Mildred." We then shook hands.

During my shock induced state I met a man by the name Faber. I found out he helped Montag escape. I thanked him for that. As the day wore on we all got acquainted. If you just looked at us we looked like one big happy family.

Now back to present time. As we were sitting around the fire I brought up the topic of books. "I've been reading Montag," I said.

"That's good Mildred," Montag replied happily.

I then preceded to tell every one my thoughts that books are good and can help society. We then talked about how we were going to find survivors and teach them to read. We were going to rebuild this world one city at a time.

At this moment in time I felt I finally had hope