An unwind never dies
Ally covered her ears as the screams of her two half siblings reached her. She sat across the street from her house, hidden in the shadow of a building, knowing that no person in their right mind would help anyone living in this neighborhood. The blaze that engulfed her home grew bigger and the houses next door on either side also got caught up in the inferno. She knew that if she didn't move now, she would be caught in the fire as well. But, what did that matter; she was set to be unwound anyway. Her mother had sent in the papers yesterday morning and she was scheduled to be taken to the unwind camp at the end of the week. She may as well die now and get it over with. Immediately, her best friend's words filled her mind, I won't die Ally. I won't let them take me without a fight. An Unwind never gives up. An Unwind never dies. The more Ally thought this, the more strength she had. Ally willed her legs to move and she threw herself out of the way, just as on of the buildings walls came tumbling down on the place where she had been.
Ally sat straight up. Her ragged blanket was thrown across the ally from her and the night was getting cold. But the cold wasn't what had woken her, no; she was used to the cold. Sirens could be heard faintly at first, but getting louder with every passing minute. Ally looked down to the open end of the ally, the end that opened up onto the street. Three people stood there, silhouetted by the street lamps. Ally dug under her makeshift mattress for her dagger. When she finally found it, she got up gently shook the other children awake. They too, were extremely quiet. They got up and moved father down into the ally. Only one stayed with her. A boy, about her age. Together, they moved forward, towards the three people. One was a small girl with dark hair and a dark complexion. The other two were both men. One was relatively muscular, the other was short, shorter than the girl who was only about 5'5", one inch smaller than Ally, and was quite twiggy looking. As the sirens drew nearer, Ally grabbed one of the girls arms, and one of the muscular boys arms at the same moment that the boy with her grabbed one of the smaller boy's arms and the other one of the muscular boys arms. Quickly, they pulled the three people farther into the ally. When they finally let the people go, they were at the very end of the ally. "You're lucky we grabbed you. You could've been seen by the passerby's and thrust me, people that come looking down here are not things that I want to deal with." Ally informed them. "Now, who are you?" she asked.
"Who are you?" asked the smaller boy abruptly.
Ally looked him up and down. "She asked first." The boy next to Ally growled.
The girl spoke up. "I'm Risa, and these two are Connor and Lev." She told them, pointing to each in turn. Connor, the muscular one, nodded in acknowledgement of his name.
"I'm Althea, Ally for short, and this is my friend Mitchell and those four behind you..." Risa, Connor, and Lev jumped and looked behind them. Ally chuckled. "Those four behind you are Angela, Caleb, Phoenix, and Joey." She told them.
"Why are they here?" asked Angela snidely. She had dirty blonde hair that fell in loose curls down her back and a small, well built frame. Caleb nodded in agreement. Ally turned to Risa, Conner, and Lev, brushing a strand of her own, straight, blonde hair out of her eyes. Mitchell raised an eyebrow at them as well.
"You may not believe us, well maybe you might but, we're here to help Unwinds." Conner explained.
Ally looked back at Mitchell, who shrugged. "I believe you." She said quietly, turning to face them again. Phoenix ran to Ally and Ally picked up the girl.
Risa, Conner, and Lev looked at each other and then back at Ally and Mitchell, who now had Joey, who was a miniature model of himself, black hair, pale skin, blue eyes, in his arms.
Ally absently played with one of Phoenix's red curls, which came to her shoulders. "What do you think we are?" she said. "Mitchell and I are Unwinds, as is Angela." Angela, who couldn't have been older than the minimum Unwind age of thirteen, shrugged. "Caleb is a runaway tithe. Phoenix is a storked child and Joey is Mitchell's son, who's mother was Unwound." Ally explained sadly. Mitchell nodded behind her.
Risa watched Ally as she spoke, noticing the little things she did, like the way that she held Phoenix in her arms, or the way that her eyes would flick over to Mitchell every so often. Something in the back of her brain told her that something about this girl's story was off. She didn't believe that Phoenix was a storked child. Ally wouldn't have been holding Phoenix the way she was if Phoenix was a storked child. There was also something about her claim of her and Mitchell merely being friends. Ally seemed to want him to stay close to her, like Risa did with Conner every time they went into a harvest camp. The sound of approaching voices brought her back to her senses. Ally had turned around and had given Phoenix to Angela. Mitchell had done very nearly the same thing, except that he had given Joey to Caleb. Ally had pulled a short dagger out of her sleeve as had Mitchell and they appeared to be sending silent signals to Caleb and Angela. The next thing Risa knew, Angela had taken hold of her hand and was dragging her around a corner and out o sight of the road. Caleb was following with Connor and Lev was following them. "Hide here." Angela told them, quietly. "Ally and Mitchell will take care of it. They have experience with cops."