Prologue
I know not how this happened. I am lying here on the ground. All feelings gone, drained away with my blood. I lay here dying, my blood flowing like a stream. I know not how this happened. I'm here all alone, dying in silence.
PART 1- THE FIRE
Chapter one.
My life is gone. It went up in flames. They got everything. My parents, my friends, my house, all gone. All that is left is me. I see no survivors. I scrounge through the thick ash, turning my hands black. As I soon realize, there is nothing left. Not a body, not a pot, nothing. As I continue to search, it begins to rain, turning the ash into a sticky, black mud. I soon give up, as the rain begins to pound. The village of Compton is no more. I am the last survivor. I am Jacwishe Harding. As I run into the forest, I feel the rain dripping through the trees, splashing down on my neck, my back, my face. I run until the sobs racking my body wear me out and I collapse onto my hands and knees, the panting and sobbing making a weird sound that sounds something like a person retching. I crawl into a bush, knowing I'm vulnerable in the open, and try to stop sobbing. I had no clue that this would happen. After all, we were all just innocent people, who by chance, had ruined the plans of the dark council. All we had done was survive their storm. In doing so we had caused this to happen. We had written ourselves a death sentence.
Chapter two.
I took a few moments to run over what happened. I had gone to practice swimming and throwing my knifes. I had stole them from a dangerwatcher once and I had been practicing with them ever since. Just in case. I picked out a long knife for my first throw, grabbing it by the blade. I threw it with the slight flick of my wrist, just hard enough to land it perfectly on the x I had carved into a tree. I grabbed another knife out of my green backpack, and started through my throwing motions when I saw it. The smoke rising from my town. It distracted me and as the knife sliced through the air, it slowed and missed the x by a long shot. It flew passed the tree and into the murky brown water of the pond, never to be seen again. I took no notice. The town was burning. I raced off, only pausing to grab my backpack filled with my knives and to quickly grab the knife out of the tree as I ran past. By the time I reached the fence that bordered the town, the town was gone. I flinch away from the memory and try to calm myself. I know I need to move soon, climb into a tree where I was less vulnerable, but I can't. I lay there for countless heartbeats, and as my heart rate slows, it begins to rain. As soon as I finally can force myself to move, I push out of the bush and into the open. As I begin to walk, I hear voices call me.
"Jacwishe! Jacwishe!" they call. They are getting closer. I quickly scale a tree, reaching all the way to the highest branches when I see them. It's Jonathan and Malcolm!
Chapter 3
Before I knew it, Jonathan and Malcolm mobbed me. Tear pricked my eyes again. Tears of happiness.
"How did you survive?" I ask Jonathan but Malcolm replies.
"We saw the bombers flying towards the town and we bolted. We grabbed Mya and Lily too. They're over there!" he said pointing towards the bushes behind them. They emerged from the bushes and ran to give me hugs. I accepted them happily.
"What about-" I started to say.
"They're all dead Jacwishe. My family, your family, all gone." Mya interrupted.
"No!" I whispered falling to my knees. Tears threatened to come back up.
Jonathan knelt beside me. He wrapped his arms around me and I put my head on his shoulder. I had to be strong. I stood back up.
"We need to make camp." I said. "Mya. Go find some firewood. We need to be warm. Lily. Go find a good place to set up camp. Near a bunch of trees please!" I said to the twins. They turned and headed off. I turned to Jonathan and Malcolm.
"We need to start hunting. Jon, go find some plants that we can eat. Malcolm, we're going hunting. " I said and grinned. This was my specialty.
"Ok." Jon said. "Don't forget!" he said.
"What?" I asked.
"I love you." He said. Then we heard the screams.