~Authors note~

Just thought I'd let you know, this story actually came out of a dream. Of course I had to add more info etc to make it make sense, but the basics came out of a dream. Enjoy!

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The sun was bright as she and her friends ran down a pathway, it was about five feet wide with tree's on either side. A slight breeze ruffled Alei's strawberry blond hair. They stopped to catch their breath, laughing. There was herself; Alei, James, and his brother Timmy. There would have been four of them, but their fourth best friend; Christine, had moved away a couple of weeks ago.

"I'll race you!" Alei shouted as she started running further down the pathway. The boys darted after her.

Coming to the end of the trail, they came into a clearing. Usually, it was empty. With only a few bushes here and there. They gasped, marching their way towards the kids, were thousands of soldiers. One man suddenly picked up James, and another Timmy. They were being taken away.

Alei's eyes widened, her eyes starting to fill up with tears, she reached out her hands to them, "Timmy….James…!" She shrieked.

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Somebody was shaking her shoulders, "Alei… Alei! Wake up!" She whimpered, still not totally out of her dream.

The shaking stopped for a moment, and then the next thing she felt was… water dripping down her face.

She shot up, her eyes wide in terror and shock, her breathing was uneven and her sheets were soaked. Her breathing slowed as she realized it had all been a dream. As her blurry vision cleared, she saw a concerned James and Timmy standing beside her bed.

"Our first intention was to come up here and scare the living daylights out of you, but you were having a nightmare. You kept calling our names."

Alei put her hand to her head, "It's the same one." She said quietly. She always had this dream. Ever since the war started, she had been having this dream; her friends being taken away from her.

James slapped her on the back, "Well! It's just a dream!" He said happily, than observed his now slightly wet hand, "Um… maybe it would be a good idea to go take a shower. We'll wait downstairs." He said, wiping his hand on his jeans. Alei shot him a look, "Good idea. Shoo," She said, shooing them out of her room with her hands.

When they were younger, they didn't have any worries. That was the beginning of her dream; they were young, and playing. Not a care in the world. Then, the war was starting, and for some reason, it was taking her friends away.

Alei sighed and got out of bed. Opening her wardrobe she picked out a T-shirt and jeans. Something simple. A few minutes later she hopped into the shower, enjoying the warmth as it spread through her whole body.

They were only seventeen; but they were already stressed out. The war was coming to their area, but people weren't that worried about it. "The government is planning to intercept them; they've never been defeated so why would they now? The Vikings won't even make it to our home town." They say. But Alei had a bad feeling about this, what if they did break through the barrier? If the town isn't ready…

Alei stopped her thoughts there, and hopped out of the shower. Drying off, she quickly put on her clothes and grabbed her brush off of the counter. Brushing through her still wet hair, she stared into the eyes in the mirror. They were dark chocolate, kind of a strange combination to go with strawberry blond hair. She was about 5'5, not that tall but not a total shrimp either. Leaving her hair down, she entered the hallway and went down the stairs.

James and Timmy were sitting in the chairs, munching on blueberry muffins that Alei's mom had made.

James raised his head, "There ferry goo." He said, crumbs flying out of his mouth as he spoke. Alei walked pasted him and whopped him on his head, almost making him choke, "Don't talk with your mouth full."

They had grown up together, they had always down everything together. James was 5'9, medium brown hair, it kind of fell in his eyes, but not that much. He had brown/hazel eyes. Timmy was a year younger than James and Alei; he was 5'8 with striking blonde hair and True Blue eyes.

Just like she did every morning, Alei turned on the shortwave radio to the channel that would tell them the update on the war.

At first it was all crackling noises, but a voice finally made it through. "Yes, I see what you mean." The radio announcer said, replying to a caller. "Many towns have been destroyed by The Vikings; it seems they are after world domination, that's all we can see from what they are doing. There have been a few reports that they have different war equipment; their nothing like anybody has seen before. We only know one thing about it though; that they are huge."

Another voice came through, but they couldn't make it out. "Yes yes, that is a good piece of advice." He replied to the unknown speaker, "This is advice for all towns, start stocking up on your war equipment and be ready. We don't know what to expect." He said in a serious tone, "This is ---…----" His voice turned into static, so Alei turned it off.

She grabbed a blueberry muffin, slabbed some butter on it and sat at the table beside the boys. "See, their saying it too. Why isn't anybody doing anything?" She grumbled, nibbling on her muffin.

They shrugged, drinking their milk. Alei's mom came into the room, all beautified for going to town.

"Hey mom, did you hear the shortwave?" Alei asked nonchalantly, fully away of what her mom was going to say.

"Yes, Alei." Said her mom, stopping to look at her with her crisp, blue eyes, "And it's fine, they don't know what they are talking about. None of the townspeople are worried; the government will win. They always win. You should stop worrying."

"But mom…"

"No buts! I have to get to town, bye!" With that her mom scurried out of the house, avoiding having the same argument with Alei.

Alei grunted in frustration and leaned back in hear chair, putting her arms behind her head. "Stubborn woman…" She muttered.

James and Timmy rolled their eyes at each other, "Come on Alei, let's go outside and get some fresh air."

She brought down her arms and stood up, going to get her shoes. "Alright, good idea."

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Is it a mistake that the townspeople are not getting prepared for a possible attack? Little do they know what the war has in store for them in a couple of days.

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~Authors Note~

Sorry if it's a little boring, don't worry it will get more exciting PLEASE REVIEW and tell me what you think of it so far; receiving reviews is very encouraging to keep on adding chapters :)

By the way, Alei is pronounced Ah-Lay.