2.

~ Ariadne woke up in her parent's apartment. Her brother Ryan was asleep in the day bed across from her. Snoring sounds from her old bedroom meant her ant and uncle were still asleep.

She peered out the from her covers and saw that daylight had tainted the living room where she now slept. She would have to get up soon and go to work. Not her old job, or any other normal job. The invaders had her family and her neighbors building walls, cleaning streets and doing repairs if they wanted food rations for the day.

There was no day off for any of them. The invaders didn't force them to haul bricks or dig, but if they wanted to eat that day, they had to work to help the army oppress them even more.

One of the first things to happen was resettlement and inventory.

When the shock of the invasion was over, when the last gang member, gun nut and stupid kid had stopped fighting back, there was immediate assimilation.

A calmness settled over the people as the streets were no quite. No more gun fire, no more bombing. The enemy was here now. For years they had tried to keep them at bay and now that it had happened, it wasn't so bad.

People still went hungry. People still went without medicine. People still lived in fear. At least now, they did all these things without stray bullets being fired or air raids.

Ariadne's family had survived the invasion more or less intact. Her older brother Max was lost in the fighting. But her parents, other brother, her aunt and uncle and cousin Samantha were still with her. Mostly because Ryan had been too young to fight back. He was skinny and small like his sister and too kind hearted to live in this harsh new world.

Ariadne felt her cousin stirring next to her and wished she had her own bed and room again.

They had been forced to relocate to her parents small apartment in the more congested part of the city. People were crammed into apartments too small to comfortably house so many. Ariadne was lucky she only had to share a bathroom with seven people. That their new home had two bedrooms and a full kitchen. They were lucky they were family because some people were forced to share an apartment with total strangers.

The reason for the relocation was simple, the invaders needed the more comfortable apartment buildings. They needed a place to stay while they occupied the city. So, a few days after all the end fighting, everyone that was left was required to go to the local high school, have their picture taken and information gathered. They were allowed only two suitcases and had one day to make the move.

Her aunt had cried over some invader touching her nice furniture in their old apartment. How some people just had their things thrown out windows. How the owners of those things had to clean them up off the street if they wanted to eat.

Ariadne closed her eyes. It was all so terribly unfair. She felt the familiar first of anxiety grip her stomach and she longed to talk to Cobb about what to do.

She had met her friend shortly after the invasion. He had been shot and she had hidden him. He had told her it took courage and if she was brave enough, she should join him.

She had been a part of the rebellion ever since.

She felt in control of her life when she was surrounded by people who wanted to overthrow their oppressors.

"Ariadne?" her mother called from the kitchen. "Are you awake?"

Ariadne groaned and longed for a day off. One where she could sleep in again. Wished she didn't have to seem men in uniform with guns on the streets she grew up in.
"Get dressed. Make sure the kids are dressed. The hot water is out again." her mother said.

Ariadne let out a sigh and rolled out of bed.

"Samantha, get up." she told her ten year old cousin. She swatted her brother on the butt on her way to the kitchen.

She pulled her hair back into a pony tail and washed her face in the warm water her mother had set on the stove.

Her father was in the bathroom. A long parade of people needing to use the toilet before work.

It was just easier to do as much as they could outside the bathroom these days.

She washed as best she could. Wrapped her dark hair in a head scarf to keep it out of the way and put on the jumpsuit she had found for work.

It was so cold in the apartment, she had to keep moving as the rest of the family wandered around, zombie like, to get ready. No more school, no more dates or hanging out with friends. Work and home before sundown curfew. That was it.

The family would read or play card games at the kitchen table before bed, always with the black out shades drawn down so no one could see they had light.

They couldn't watch TV anymore because cable, internet, cell phones, and even radio were cut off. They received no mail and when the invaders wanted to announce something, a tank drove down the street, blaring news.

Usually it was lies about how they wanted peace and how if they all worked, they would have a good life.

Ariadne tired to ignore it, but it was so loud, she couldn't.

Samantha was the first to hear the sounds of feet on the stairs. The girl froze and looked at Ariadne with scared eyes.

Ariadne heard it to.
"Ryan?" she called out to her brother when the door was broken open and men in riot gear streamed in.

She heard Samantha scream as she pulled the child closer.

"Ryan Bell?" a man with a gas mask covering his face demanded.

Ariadne could hear her mother screaming and crying as her brother was pinned to the floor, handcuffed and drug out.

"Where are you taking him!" demanded her mother. "What's happening?"
"He's going to a resettlement farm." the man in black said.

The room was wild and tense with fear and hatred. Ryan didn't fight back. He was too young and frail to do so.
"NO!" her mother screamed and then the very worst thing happened. The man in black pulled out his gun and shot the woman in the head.

Her father cried, her aunt and uncle cried, Samantha cried. Ariadne held her cousin tighter and didn't shed a tear.

~ Ariadne woke up in the hospital. The pain medication had made her dreams so vivid and real. She dreamed she really lived in a world where there was no invading army. No violence except on TV. A world where she was a student and she went to bed safe and happy, and never alone. Someone. A man, perhaps, he loved her. He had kissed her and she had been so happy.

She tried to remember this dream. It was such a good dream. But it faded away from her like mist.

"Colonel, she's awake." came a voice from above her.

Ariadne didn't want to open her eyes. She remembered everything. The meeting, running from those men in riot gear. She remembered being struck in the knee so hard she thought the pain might never end.

The pain. She had been in enormous pain before, but it didn't hurt now.

She tried to move her leg and was rewarded with a sharp bite that made her leave it alone.

"We had to put three pins in your leg. I wouldn't advise going for any cross country records anytime soon." a man in a white lab coat said and looked nervously at another man in the room.

Ariadne felt a cold fear rush in her body. An invader, his uniform showing the unmistakable black with red to offset all the darkness. His military rank was identified with silver along the arms. His uniform was well cut, and fitted him nicely in a world where most men she saw were in black riot gear, or in dirty clothing that was labored in. He would have looked dashing in the uniform; if he were not the enemy.

He scowled down at her as she trembled slightly.

"How do you feel?" he asked. His voice was familiar. Like something she used to know, but had forgotten.

She pursed her lips tightly shut. She wasn't going to answer.

"I'm Colonel Arthur Castus." he told her and she refused to look at him.

She looked around her room. She was in a hospital. One that was clean and nice, and not meant for civilians.

"I'm sorry my man hit you. He's not used to running. I've reprimanded him for his actions. He was upset your friends got away." the Colonel said.

She said nothing.

"You'll stay here till the doctor says you can leave." he said.

She looked out the window.
"Can you tell me where Mr. Cobb is?" he asked.

She looked out the window and said nothing.

"We lost him chasing you." he said. "You sacrificed yourself to save him. Very nobel."

She turned her head and looked back at him.

"I don't know where Mr. Cobb is, but I'm glad he escaped." she said spitefully.

"Ah, she speaks. I thought this would be much more difficult." the Colonel said with a smile. It wasn't a creepy smile like she pictured someone in his position would have. It wasn't terribly smug or self serving. He seemed glad she was talking.

'Shut up, fool. He might just be lying to you!' her mind roared. 'Don't say another word.'

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

At his words, her stomach perked up and clenched tightly. Reminding her she hadn't eaten in three days.

When she was still for any given amount of time, her hands would shake from hunger.

She said nothing and looked out her window.
"I'll have have a tray sent up. They have pizza today." he said.

"How nice." she said. Her cheeks flushing hot with anger. "You have pizza while the rest of us have to labor twelve hours a day to get a loaf of bread, two cans of beans, and a pound of rice. That's what my whole family of seven got on a normal day."

She glared at him. Remembering all the nice foods she used to enjoy. Remembering cake and ice cream. Remembering chocolate and red meat. Remembered going to a nice restaurant with a faceless man and drinking champagne till she was dizzy.

The Colonel lowered his head slightly.

"I have no say in how rations are sent to the labor." tried to explain.
"No, you just follow orders like the rest of them. You aren't responsible for the invasion. For my brother being take away to a labor camp when he turned fifteen. For your army shooting my mother in the head right in front of us. You aren't at fault for the denial of medicine and food. No, you're a high ranking officer, you have no say." she hissed.

She was sure he would kill her now. Her cheeks burned with the knowledge of what she had just done.
Instead, the Colonel, who looked far too young to have such a rank, stood a little straiter and said.

"I've been charged with rounding up the resistance. Resistance fighters, like you and your friends, making life harder than necessary for your people. If you truly care about them, then help them by telling me where Mr. Cobb is."

Ariadne looked back at her wall. She wasn't going to fall for that. Once Cobb was found, the resistance would be over and everyone would be massacred with no one left to fight back.