Ree dreamt of fire.
She dreamt f the very fire that engulfed her last prison cell, The Camp.
"RUN!"
She was six when she escaped.
The flames snaked up vines and the dry leaves that littered the forest floor.
She did it guiding the children of the flock.
Smoke filled her lungs.
Flame, Di, Chas, Scout and baby Em. Those were the ones who escaped.
Don't stop. Almost to the Main Road.
Embers flew like fireflies into the dark, starless sky.
Don't stop. Keep running.
Don't stop.
Ree sat straight up, panting, and sweat rolling down her pale white face. Sunlight streamed into her face. The rare sound of birds chirping filled the dead silence.
She gave her surroundings on last look before she realized she wasn't at The Camp.
Ree gave out a sigh of relief.
Fucking Camp.
Giving her nightmares.
"I suppose that's my punishment for escaping," she told her herself as she got up from the dirt floor.
She and the five of her "siblings" were settled in under an abandoned house in the country, where it was closet to food.
Well, not meat, since most of the animals were extinct, but crops and Vitapills.
And water.
Like swine, the six of them migrated to wherever the water was, and the water was in the country.
Ree shook her head bitterly at what the world had come to. She looked around the makeshift campsite, and did a quick role count.
There was Flame, his back towards her.
Ree gave him a resentful look. Flame was one of her "siblings" from The Camp. He was very tall, and at least a year older than Ree. No one knew his real age.
He was the color of dark chocolate, and resembled his mother a great deal.
He had his long arm draped lovingly over Em.
Ree felt warmth touch her heart.
There was her baby. Her tomboy-like, ten year old baby. She loved her as with much devotion as did her mother love her 'sister.'
But Em wasn't a backstabbing bitch, or an evil six year old.
Ree's warmth suddenly turned to boiling rage. She quickly turned to count the rest, but knowing it was useless and that they were all there.
Lying closest to the fire was Em's brother Chas, whose blond hair fell over his beautiful turquoise eyes. He was the most handsome of the group, and the most energetic. Most of the time, he was always the one to wake up the earliest.
Ree smiled.
"But I beat him to it," she thought.
There was Scout, who slept with the sleeping bag covering his head to his toes. It was a nervous habit, his older sister had told Ree.
Ree shook her head at the silly excuse.
Scout was always her little trooper, her loyal companion. He had curly black hair and a very round face. He was about twelve. She loved him dearly, although she would never show it.
Across him was his big sister Di.
She had straight wispy red hair, and pale skin that was often sunburned from traveling during the day. She had gray eyes, the opposite of Scout's, which were a vibrant blue.
Di was the spitting image of her father. And she was not the only one.
Ree herself resembled nothing of her mother, which she was glad of.
Instead, she was the girl form of her famous father, Fang.