3: Revolution

Claire stared at Faith, who stood there speechless. Claire puts her hand onto the pendant around her neck. It was her mother's pendant, it wasn't made of gold or an expensive gemstone, but it was the last thing her mother gave to her before she died.

A young Claire is huddled in the bed sheets of her parent's room. Claire's mom, Silvia, walks into the bedroom. Her long, brown hair is put into a tight pony-tail she was wearing her pajamas. She walks to the bed where Claire is hiding. She lies on it, "You can come out now Claire."

"Did you check for all the monsters?" Claire voice was muffled from under the sheets.

"Yes, I did. There are no monsters in your room." Silvia sweetly expresses.

"Did you check under the bed?" The sheets move as if facing Silvia.

"Yes, Claire." Silvia gives out a smile.

"And the closet?" Claire shyly lets out.

"Of course." Silvia cheerfully says to the sheet.

"And, um…um…the fishbowl?"

Silvia lets out a slight laugh, "I looked all over your room. Now come on out"

A moment goes by. Claire slowly takes the bed sheet off her body. Her hair now frazzled. Claire gives out a little pout. Silvia makes a gesture for Claire to lie down next to her. Claire wraps her arms around her mother. Silvia opens the nightstand next to the bed and pulls out a purple pendant. It was a circular purple ball surrounded by metal wire.

Claire knew what this was. Every night she would sneak into her mother's room and look at it. Silvia hands it to Claire. Claire stares at the magical purple orb. Flecks of purple light sparkle throughout the room. Claire can't help but smile.

"I want you to have this." Silvia takes the pendant out of Claire's hand and wraps it around her neck. "It has always given me strength when I needed it. Let it do the same for you even when I'm not around." Claire raises one of her eyebrows in confusion. "How about you sleep with daddy and me tonight, would you like that?" Claire nods her head rapidly. It wasn't until later that Claire would find out that would be the last time she saw her mother.

When Claire turned thirteen her father presented her with a letter, it was from Silvia.

Dear my sweet Claire,

I'm sorry that I could not express to you what was going on the night I left. Young minds should not be wary of the horror of how the world works. We thought we corrected the injustice that happened in the Youth Revolution of 2007. But it seems we did not. As much as I would love to spend the rest of my life watching you grow there seems to be more who need my help, a future to help us all. I'm going to Washington D.C. to protest the further restrictions the youth have to suffer through. I know you may hate me now and that's okay. I just want you to remember to always fight for what you believe in. Everything is worth fighting for and I'm fighting for you. I might have to do something drastic and it would be hard for me to come back from that. In the case that I don't return I will always be with you. I hope your father made you strong just like I tried to make you. Hopefully this letter will never have to be given to you but just know I love you with all my heart.

Love Your Loving Mother,

Be Strong

"Be Strong and always fight for what you believe in." these words has always stuck in her head especially now and it indeed made her stronger. One look at her pendant and Claire knew what she had to do. I'll do you proud mother. She looks back at Faith. "So will you join us?"

"I…Claire, I…" Faith stutters as she tries to form an answer.

Claire knew though, "Its okay, you don't have to join us." Claire reaches out for Faith's arm. "I didn't expect you to anyways."

Tami couldn't hold in her anger anymore, "Like the others! They were all too scared to stand up against them! All of them a pack of pathetic weaklings! These are the people who we grew up with."

"You can't blame them." Travis quietly starts, "People are scared. Once we leave that hospital you can't blame anyone for their actions."

Annoyed that Travis had a point Tami say to Travis, "Shut up, Travis." Travis' face softened and almost looked apologetic.

"Claire…I-I don't want this to happen." Tears roll down Faith's cheeks.

Claire grabs Faith and hugs her tight. She brings Faith's head onto her shoulder. "We'll always be friends. Take care out there. Do you best to help them." Claire stayed strong. Her eyes became watery but she never shed a tear. She looks at her watch. 3:31 we better get a move on. Claire turns to Tami and Travis, "Are you guys ready?"

They both nodded simultaneously. Claire notices that Tami still had a pissed off look on her face, it was the one of the things that Tami isn't good at. She always showed what she thought with her facial expressions.

Faith remains in the bushes while the other three makes their way to the front door. Claire and Travis cock their guns. Tami puts an arrow into her crossbow. Claire and Travis remain on the left side of the stairs while Tami remains on the right. Claire looks over to Tami and sticks out three fingers. Claire mouths the number three then the number two, reducing her fingers to two as well. Right before Claire gets down to one, Travis scurries over to Tami. Dust arises from all the steps he took. Claire gasped as she thought Travis would expose them.

Travis looks into Tami's eyes. He tries to speak but his words only came out as weird noises. "I…I…"

Tami just smiles, "I know." They just stared at each other but it seems like they didn't need to say anything. Travis starts to cry but it wasn't because they might not make it out alive. It was because Tami looked so pretty in the night's light. He takes off his hat and puts in onto Tami's head. The hat was a couple sizes too big so it looked like the hat was swallowing her. Tami can't help but give out another smile. "You have hat hair."

"Why do you think I wear the hat?" Travis smiles back at her.

Claire couldn't help but think of her mother as she watches Tami and Travis share this moment. This is what you meant mother. Sometimes this is more important then the ones you love. "Hey, lovebirds!" Claire quietly yells to the couple. Not too loud to be noticed of course. "Now are you ready?" Both of them nod and connect hands.

Claire sticks out three fingers…then two…then one. The three barge through the door. The fluorescent lights from inside the hospital illuminate the darkness outside. Without any hesitance, the rapid gunfire drifted with the wind. The light coming out of the hospital silhouetted all three of their bodies. For a split second Faith could see their souls escape their bodies as their shadows scattered around the light.

The hospital doors close. It was over just like that. Their bodies were now sprawled out across the dirt. Faith gaped in horror. She slowly crawled over to the three. Claire didn't seem to be moving and nothing much was left of the right side of Travis' face.

Faith's eyes focus on Tami. Tami's fingers couldn't stop twitching. Blood flowed out of multiple holes on Tami's body. Faith tries to hold up Tami's head. Tears kept flowing out of Tami's eyes, "I…I c-can't…f-feel..." Her hand twitches even more. With all her strength Tami stretches out her arm toward Travis' body. "Tra…Travis…f-feel." Tami managed to utter right before her arm went limp and fell to the floor.

Faith sat beside Tami, motionless. She notices Travis' hat had fallen off her head. It now covered with blood. The blood had soaked into the hat creating a purple residue. Faith grabs it and puts it back onto Tami's head as she lays her head down on the ground. You could see that Tami was happy.

A murmur came from where Claire's body was. "Faith..." Claire managed to cough out.

Faith head fixates herself onto Claire. She jumps over Tami's body spreading dirt all over her. Faith grabs onto Claire's hand. "Claire…Claire are you okay?" Faith trembled as she spoke, "Please tell me you're going to be okay!" More tears release from Faith's eyes.

"I'm sorry…Faith." Claire coughed again. Blood spattered out of her mouth.

Faith's eyes continue to tear up, new tears replaced the old ones, "No…Claire, no…"

"Be strong…" Claire coughed again, her voice grew fainter by the second, "and fight…fight for w-what you…b-belie-e-v-v…" Claire words broke mid-sentence. Her body just lies there lifeless. Her eyes still fixated on Faith.

"CLAIRE!!" Faith let out a piercing scream as she hugs her friend's body. "Why…" Faith noticed Claire's pendant in her hand. Faith pries open her fingers and takes the pendant. She looks at the beautiful purple glow of the pendant before she puts it around her neck.

The clock around Claire's wrist read 3:37. Five more minutes before this place would become a danger zone. Faith closes Claire's eyes. She struggles herself to get up but she knew she had to. She had to be strong. Faith grabs her military bag she left in the bushes. What other horrors wait in the darkness? All thoughts escaped Faith's mind as she ran as fast as she could away from the bodies of her dead friends.

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