Vignettes of the Rebellion

by King Empo

There are no Everdeens, no Mellarks, no Odairs in these stories, only the tales and memories of the rebel soldiers unknown to history. This collection of short stories about the First Rebellion details the surging hope and crushing defeat and the triumphant victories and bitter losses of the rebels as they fight their way to victory over the Capital in this alternate history.

"Capital bombers incoming."

The radio crackled. Brie looked into the sky, three red flares bright against the graying sun and soot smeared clouds. She moved quickly, weaving between broken concrete blocks and rubble scattered across the streets. They had only five minutes to get into position.

She pushed aside a grimy plastic sheet over the entrance to their makeshift hospital. There were people lying in the beds, bloodied and bruised from the fighting as young children ran around, distributing water and food, while the more elderly changed bandages and comforted the injured. Medicine had run out days ago after the rebels lost the cities of District 6.

"Capital bombers incoming," she said. "You know the drill everybody. Take all the injured down to the bunker. All fighters report to their stations."

Her weary band of rebels nodded their heads, trudging to their stations to wheel the beds of the injured into the bunker. Their faces were streaked with filth and grime and tears and sweat, and their clothes were tattered and torn, a stark irony considering that all of them were from District 8, and many of them were sewers in the now abandoned factories.

Brie exited the crumbling building and made her way to her station. Adrenaline surged through her veins and she felt sick to her stomach. The last time that the bombers came, they destroyed everything. She could remember the fires that raged through the city, melting glass and metal, and buildings crashing, filling the air with dust and smoke. Many of the injured in the hospital came from that day, burns and cuts forever scarring them.

She rounded the corner and found Dee lugging a pile of concrete blocks. "Brie," Dee said. "Could you help me with this?"

"Nah," Brie said. "I'm going to stand back and watch you."

Dee shot Brie a glare. "I'm just kidding," Brie said. "Of course I'll help. What type of question was that?"

They lugged the concrete blocks in front of their barrier, a pitiful pile consisting of large chunks of concrete from fallen buildings and old sack-bags filled dust. "More fortification is better," Dee said. "You know, just in case..."

There was an unspoken silence between them. They both what was going to happen if they fortification fell. The air was heavy with soot and smoke and their bodies they had cremated in the morning.

"Yeah," Brie said. "Do you have the launcher?"

"Right over here." Dee pulled out a grenade launcher from a sack bag. It was their only tool against the bombers and last time they attacked, it stopped them from burning down the city.

"How many rounds?"

"One," Dee said and sighed. "We haven't gotten any new shipments since the bases out west fell."

"You want to take it?"

"Nah," Dee said. "You've always been a better shot than me."

Brie took the heavy launcher and they crouched behind the fortification. The sun sifted through the haze in the air and bits of ash flitted through the air like the ghosts of bees. Brie could feel her heart thumping in her chest and sweat coated her hands. The waiting was always the worst. "You scared?" Dee asked all of a sudden.

"A little," Brie said. "Why you asking?"

Dee turned towards her. "How do you deal with it?"

"I don't know," Brie said. "You just do. Maybe a part of it is just accepting what happens next. Maybe a part of it is just to know that you did your best. Maybe it's something else."

"I've been thinking about heaven a lot," Dee said.

"You're not going to die," Brie said. "Repeat after me. I'm not going to die."

They shifted on the concrete pile, sending pebbles scattering. The air was still silent. The bombers must've been still a while away.

"Don't you believe that there's a higher purpose that transcends our lives down here?" Dee asked. "Ma always said that God would reward those who sacrificed their lives for the greater good."

"Dee. You're not going to die today," Brie said and faced her friend. "You aren't."

"I'm so scared," she said. "Not of dying or maybe. I'm so scared of leaving unfinished."

"Dee. I'm going to keep you safe. We're going to live past this. " Brie stretched out her cramping legs. The soot in the air laid low, and Dee coughed, spitting ashy saliva on the ground, and wiped her mouth.

Brie looked at Dee, softening her eyes. "Remember our promise."

Brie could imagine Dee's mind sifting through her collection of memories to that day.

They were only nine year olds, and this was just after the war started eleven years back when it was the Capital playing defense and the rebels taking territory. They were sitting by the docks next to the lake, water lapping gently against their legs. Dragonflies flitted across the stones and sturdy marsh plants sprung from the water even though the air was sooty and a haze smothered the city day and night.

They were skipping stones across the water, watching them slide across the surface before sinking. "Do you think the stones ever get carried out to the ocean?" Dee asked.

"Maybe," Brie replied.

"I wish I was one of those stones," Dee said. "I've always wanted to visit District 4. Pa had old pictures of it when the world was free. The skies, the ocean, the everything was so beautiful."

"We'll visit it once the Capital is burnt down."

There was this pause in their conversation. Brie remember this distinctly because that was when the sun dipped below the horizon, sending streaks of orange and lavender across the sky. Even through the smog blanketing the building, they could see the bright colors blossoming amongst the shadows. "Have you ever had any dreams?" Dee asked.

"To become a soldier," Brie said. "To have a world where we're all free."

Dee sighed. "Your goals are so grown-up."

"Well, what would you want?"

"A house," she said. "A home for myself only. I wouldn't have to share it with my ma or pa. It'll be by the beach and every morning, I'd wake up and swim in the ocean or take a walk down the beach."

"That's it?" Brie asked. "What about food?"

"Oh, yeah," Dee said. "I'd have big platters of food every night. More than enough so that Ma and Pa and all of us will never go hungry again. We'd eat bread and cake everyday."

"And we'd have a forest in our backyard," Brie said and joined in. "The one with all the deer and bears and the rest of the animals."

"Except for pigeons," Dee replied. "I never want to see a pigeon again in my life. And we'd have a meadow too filled with flowers and grass and the skies would be clear and not gray."

"You know," Dee said. "We should make a promise."

"A promise about what?"

"A promise to help each other achieve each others dreams. I'll do it first. I swear to help Brie become a rebel and make the world free."

"And I promise to help Dee with her oceanside house with the big forest and the meadow where the skies are bright blue."

Brie snapped out of her memory. "You remember that, right?"

"Yeah," Dee said and laughed. "God. We were so young then."

"I promised to help you with that oceanside home, and no god is going to take that away from me. Not even if they say that it is your time to leave this world," Brie said. "So stop thinking about heaven and start thinking about that home. When you and I move to District 4 after the war ends, I want you to have the perfect house ready to build."

Brie moved her leg and a mound of stones fell over, rolling down the street. The sky was still empty, and the air hung heavy to the ground. It had been more than five minutes, and there were no roars of the bombers, no explosions in the distance. There was just nothing. "Something's wrong," Dee said. "Maybe they sent a false warning."

"No," Brie said. "They'd never do that."

Brie pulled out her hand-held radio. "This is position five to position two. Do you see any bombers? I've not no visuals on anything from the Capital. Do you copy?"

There was silence across the radio. No acknowledgement of a positive or negative, just staticky silence. "I repeat. Do you copy position two."

Another round of silence. Brie brought the radio close to her mouth. "Positions one, three, four, six. Do you copy?"

There was no response. "We should head to position two," Dee said. "They're close by and we'll see if something is up."

"But we're going to be abandoning our position."

"There's no position to abandon if no one is coming," Dee replied. "Two minute run to position two just to see if everything is good, and then, we'll head back."

"Fine," Brie said. "Let's hurry. I don't want to be caught without protection when the bombers come."

Brie grabbed her gun and moved down the street. Dee followed behind her, shifting her eyes around. Brie turned a corner and motioned for Dee to follow. She looked up ahead. There was a flicker of shadow through the haze. Brie looked closer, but there was nothing. She though it must've been a change in the sunlight streaming though the thick smog as the dust settled.

They walked carefully, taking care not to kick any stones or step on sharp debris. Brie motioned at Dee, an unspoken signaling for Dee to cover their behind while Brie looked forwards. There was no sound except for the crunch of their footsteps against the dust caked floor. The air was stifling and hot, and Brie wiped a bead of sweat down her forehead.

"Position two," Brie whispered loudly. "This is position five. We are approaching your area. Do not open fire."

There was no response. A gust of wind swept through the street, kicking up dust and clouding the air. Brie waved out the dust from her face and coughed. She turned the corner and saw their fortification, a loose pile of rubble. There was a figure slumped against a concrete boulder.

Are they sleeping? Brie thought.

She walked through the gray haze. "Soldiers," Brie said. "We're in war. This is no time to take a nap."

She expected the figure to wake up, embarrassed and startled, and get back into position, ready to fight against the Capital. It was strange that none of the bombers had even arrived. Maybe the base out west shot down some of the bombers and delayed them, but that seemed unlikely. Something was wrong. Brie could taste it in the air.

"Soldiers," she said. "Get up and man your posts."

Still no movement. Maybe they were on tranquilizers, stolen from the hospital, to calm their nerves. She could have to cite them for robbery, and they'd be punished with reduced rations. She never like punishing her fellow soldiers, especially since many of them were only teenagers, barely old enough to fight.

Another gale whipped up dust into the air, obscuring the slumped body. "Dee?" Brie asked. "You behind me?"

"Yes," Dee said and looked at Brie.

"We should stick close. The visibility is awful."

Dee positioned herself right behind Brie, pointing her gun into the haze, as Brie edged forwards towards the body. There was crimson coating the dust around the body, and the soldier was slumped against the concrete wall, dead and lifeless. Long gashes ran across the man's chest, blood slowly trickling out. Brie took her ear next to the man's mouth to feel any breath, but there was none.

Dee vomited on the ground. "What could do that?"

Brie knew exactly what they were. She never expected the Capital to actually use them and only thought they were rumors to scare them, but there was no denying what killed the man. "Brie," Dee said and shook her.

"It's the mutts," Brie said and then suddenly remembered something. "The hospital. We have to go."

Brie ran through the streets, Dee barely following behind her. They weaved through the alleys and crumbling fabric factories and soot-stained walls. Brie's heart pumped hard and adrenaline shot through her veins, pushing her through the tiredness she feels in her bones from days of eating handfuls of food. They expected Capital bombers, leaving the hospital undefended, except for position one, but if they were not responding, then they may have lost the hospital.

"Brie, wait up," Dee said. "I can't see you."

Brie stopped for a second. "We have to keep moving. What if the mutts are heading towards the hospital. People are depending on our lives to save them."

Dee appeared from the haze. "We can't defend them if we're too tired to fight. A ten second break, and we'll continue."

"Fine," Dee said and pulled out her radio. "Position one. Do you copy? Position two has been compromised. I repeat. Position two has been compromised."

Silence on the radio. Brie panted hard, looking at the ground.

Maybe the radio was broken or maybe the signal wasn't working because of the haze. She thought, but in her mind, she had a strong feeling that a broken radio wasn't the reason why she couldn't hear from position one.

"Break's up," Brie said. "Let's hurry."

Brie ran down the streets. Shadows flickered all around her, dark figures slinked across the ground, enshrouded in the haze. She wasn't sure if they were the mutts or just her eyes and mind playing tricks on her, feeding on her paranoia. Brie spotted the soot-stained building that was her makeshift hospital and pushed aside the plastic covering over the entrance.

She dropped to her knees and gasped at what she saw. Blood splattered across the walls and floor, seeping through the cracks and rivets in the ground, staining their makeshift beds deep crimson, coating the dust a deep scarlet. "Oh..." Dee said when she entered. "I think I'm going to throw up again."

Brie walked towards the bodies, tears streaking her tears. These people were her troops, her family, her friends, her hope for a better future. They were everything to her, and to see them dead was just too much. "Brie. Brie," Dee said softly, holding her friend's shoulder. "We have to go."

Brie began crying harder, and Dee moved next to her to comfort her. She had failed them, all the children that depended on her to have a grand future without oppression, all the parents who depended on her to protect their children if they got injured or died in the battlefield, all the elderly who depended on her to keep their children and grandchildren alive to see a better future. She had failed them all, and that was her greatest shame.

"Brie. The mutts could be nearby," Dee said. "We have to go now."

There was something that hardened in Brie's chest. She had to defend their hospital. She may have lost her family, but she won't lose her home. "We're staying. We cannot abandon our position."

"We have to go," Dee said. "Take the passage out of here and save our lives."

"I cannot leave them," Brie replied and clutched her weapon.

"We have to," Dee said. "The fight only continues if we're alive."

Brie couldn't leave them broken and bloodied on the floor. It was too awful, too shameful. Brie stared at the blood soaked floor while Dee rubbed her back. Brie looked back and saw a flurry of motion behind Dee. "Duck," Brie shouted and pulled out her gun, shooting the mutt.

It was a grotesque creature, prowling like a wolf, but vaguely human shaped and deep gray like ash. Brie shot it again, and it shrieked again and slinked out of the door, disappearing into the haze. It must've gotten in when they were not paying attention "We need to go," Dee said. "There may be hundreds of them inside the city. We cannot stay."

"We're in a defensible place," Brie said. "We've got walls around us and shelter."

"For how long?" Dee said. "You've seen these monsters. We haven't got enough ammo to kill them."

"If we hold this place long enough, we'll get supplies, troops-"

"Listen to yourself. Brie, you're the smartest person I know. You have to know that we're los-"

"We aren't."

"We are," Dee said and held Brie. "We've been losing for a long time. They don't have enough supplies for us. We have got to go."

Brie looked down at the ground, unable to meet her friend's eyes. Brie knew that she was right. They were losing ground everyday to the Capital. But she couldn't leave. She just couldn't. "If you want to leave, then go," Brie said. "Just go."

"Brie," Dee said. "Please come. We can make it out of here together. You don't have to die. Now's not your time."

"I have to stay. If you want to leave, go."

"You're going to die," she pleaded. "We can keep fighting if we escape."

Brie steadied her breath. "Just go," she said and added softly. "Please."

"So this is our goodbye."

"Yeah."

"And you aren't going to change your mind."

"Just, go."

"Well," Dee said. "Goodbye, Brie."

She went through the filthy plastic sheeting and disappeared into the haze. "Goodbye Dee," Brie said.

The air lay heavy and still. Other than the crinkling of the plastic sheeting and the sounds of her sobs, it was silent. The stench of the blood began curdling, filling the air was a sickly sweet scent. Brie wanted to throw up her food, but she took a few deep breathes from her mouth, and calmed her stomach. She deserved to pain, she was responsible for their safety as their de facto leader. She should be punished for their deaths.

Time seemed to pause. The sunlight streaming through the dusty windows seemed to freeze in place. The dust in the air didn't seem to settle. Everything was still and silent without Dee. Brie didn't know how much time had passed, twenty minutes, a couple of hours, a couple of days, maybe even an eternity. All she knew was that this stillness was broken by a shrill cry. "Brie! Help me."

It was Dee's voice, loud and clear. Brie grabbed her gun and ran out of the door. "Dee! Dee!"

The wind had been rough, kicking up a storm of smog and dust, a blizzard of tan and gray. Shadows flickered around her, creatures, maybe imaginary, maybe real, slithered around her. Her eyes darted all around. There was a round of gunfire through the air. "Brie!"

"I'm coming, Dee," Brie shouted.

She ran in the direction of the gunfire, undeterred by the whirlwind of dust. There was another cry. "I'm coming, Dee! hang on."

Another burst of gunfire, and Dee could make out a figure blindly firing a gun. A creature circled around them. Dee ducked behind a concrete pillar as the figure accidentally sent a round of bullets towards her. "Dee! Stop firing," Brie shouted. "I've got visual on the mutt."

"Please, help me," Dee moaned.

Brie stepped out from the pillar. The mutt was going in for the kill. Brie raised her weapon and fired, striking it straight in the head, and the creature slumped on the ground. Brie ran for Dee. "Dee..." she said, but stopped.

The other girl was slumped against a concrete block, holding her stomach. There was blood all over her tattered shirt and pants and a nasty gash down her chest, squirting out streams of blood. "Dee, I've got you," Brie said. "I'm going to take you to into a building and get this patched up."

Brie took Dee up, the other girl's arm wrapping around Brie's neck for support. Dee screamed in pain and clenched her teeth. Brie dragged her into an abandoned factory, kicking down a rusted door, and placed her onto the ground. There was a bit of sunlight passing through a grimy window, but it was enough for Brie to analyze Dee's wound. It wasn't bad and relatively shallow, but it was long and Dee was losing a lot of blood. "I'm going to fix you up," Brie said and prepared to rip up her sweater for bandage.

Dee lifted her hand. "Don't," she whispered. "You're going to need it."

"I'm going to save your life," Brie said.

"You can't," Dee said. "I've lost too much blood already."

"Nothing's impossible," Brie said.

"I said no."

"But what about your dream," Brie said. "The ocean house in District 4. The one with the forest and the meadows and the clean skies and all the food you can eat."

Dee laughed, a hollow guttural sound. "This is what I've liked about you, Brie. You can't seem to let things go. You've always got to hold onto them."

"Please, Dee. Let me save your life," Brie said. "I made a promise to you."

"We were nine," Dee said. "We were young and naive. I've let go of that dream a long time ago."

"But-"

"Brie, just stop," Dee said. "You have to let me go."

Dee lifted her head and coughed, blood came out, mixed with spit. "I made the first promise," she said. "Remember."

"You promised to help me with becoming a rebel," Brie said. "I've become one already."

"You're forgetting the second part," Dee said. "You wanted to live in a free world. Let me go and make that dream come true. Run away from here, join some rebel outpost in 12 or 11. Fight the Capital there and win and build a better world for me."

"But what about dying unfinished?" Brie replied. "I won't-"

"I'm done," Dee said. "I'm done with all of this. My life is finished. I can feel heaven waiting for me."

"Dee, please stay with me," Brie said.

Dee shook her head. "Let me go. Goodbye, Brie."

Brie cried over Dee's body, tears dripping down her cheeks and dampening Dee's shirt. The other girl coughed, blood gurgling from her throat, eyes slowly becoming faint and dull. Brie put her mouth next to Dee's ear.

"Goodbye, Dee," Brie whispered and stood up.

She had a decision to make. Stay or leave. With tears streaking down her face, Brie turned towards the door and made the hardest choice she had made in her life.

She ran through the door and never looked back.