“Line up, Citizen 498!”
Jason dropped the ball, angrily. He felt as his light brown hair whipped behind his neck. The wind from the window was slamming against his body, trying to push him away from the angry crowd.
The soldier pointed his gun at Jason, a look of contempt flashed across his face.
Jason didn’t want to go back. He didn’t want to be held in that building any longer. They’d been there for five weeks without any contact from the outside world.
The soldiers forced them in there; made sure they couldn’t get out. But everyone was tired of that. The soldiers hadn’t let them even catch a glimpse of the sunlight.
What had gone on when they were all locked up? What had happened to their world?
The noise of screaming brought him back to the real world. The ball he had used to smash the window open was now on the floor against the wall. The crowd immediately dispersed.
He couldn’t catch a glimpse at what had made everyone scurry away so fast, but his gut told him that it wasn’t something he wanted to see.
He turned away, his eyes catching on the rays of sunlight that shined through the window.
“Citizen 498, I told you to line up!”
Jason felt the butt of the gun push up against his temples, warning him about the decision he was about to make.
“We’ve been locked up for 35 days! Why won’t you let us out?” He growled.
The soldier’s face darkened until he could hardly tell that there was a soul left in there.
“LINE UP!” he snapped. Jason’s shoulders dropped. There was something in the soldier’s voice that told him if he didn’t stand down, he would be bleeding out.
“Fine, I’m going.” He grumbled. The soldier grabbed him by the arm, shoving him forward until he rammed into the side of a boy next to him.
“Ow! Watch what you’re doing!” the boy snipped.
Jason glared at the soldier and straightened up. The soldier returned to the front next to the other soldiers.
“Those fricking bastards.” Jason heard a boy next to him mumble.
He turned to look at the boy. His body was scrawny, bones poked out everywhere. His hair looked like it used to be red, but now it looked like dusty cinnamon and his blue eyes filled with hatred.
“Everything will be alright.” A woman behind him mumbled to the boy. She must’ve been his mother.
Jason wished he could be with his own, but he knew it wouldn’t happen. The rules had been clear. Boys will be set loose amongst each other. Women will enjoy tea and TV. Girls will be left alone to play with their dolls and men will be put to work.
They were all segregated. The only time they got to see their families’ was when they were passing each other to get into their separate lines.
“Why can’t we go home, Mom? I want to go home!” The boy exclaimed.
The woman’s head dropped, “I don’t know, baby. I don’t know what’s going on out there.”
Tears rushed down the boy’s face.
“Stand strong, my boy. We will make it through all this. We will see your father again.” She sniffled.
Tears rushed down Jason’s cheeks at her words. Even though the line wasn’t meant for him, it meant a lot. It was good to know that people were staying strong. It was good to know that he wasn’t the only one fighting back.
He missed his mother. He missed his father something awful and he missed his older brother like hell.
“Women first!”
Jason’s eyes snapped back to the front. Three soldiers were making their way over to the women. They were the furthest back from the front. The boys would be next.
“Up straight! We’re not running an elementary school!” the soldier that shoved him, yelled.
“I love you, baby. Remember what I told you….I…” the mother started.
The soldier yanked her backward by her hair. The woman let out a yelp.
“Is there something you would like to share with the rest of us, 4589?” he questioned.
The woman shook her head, staring into the boy’s eyes. His chest pumped up and down with fury. Unfortunately, Jason wasn’t the only one that followed her gaze.
“Oh, this must be your son. Well, then, I think we have a violation here, today.” He said, yanking the boy out of line.
Jason’s heart leapt. They couldn’t hurt these people! They only wanted to see each other, hear each other again!
“No! Leave him alone! He hasn’t done anything!” she screamed.
“As a rebel to this country, he’s to be shot.” The man replied, “and so are you.”
Jason’s heart pumped faster than he’d known it could, shredding heat left and right. It warmed his body to the core. If he wasn’t careful, there would be an explosion of emotions. The words would flow out like lava and acid would lace the words like ash.
The soldier pointed the gun at the boy whose eyes were now closed. He was only a little boy. Only about six or seven. They couldn’t kill him!
“Prepare for death, lad.” The soldier said.
“NOOOO! Kill me, he’s just a little boy!” the mother shouted. The soldier backhanded her. She fell over onto her back, smacking her head on a boulder close to their line.
His finger was on the trigger. The boy’s eyes opened. Tears rushed down his face. His eyes were puffy and pink. He was terrified.
“NOOOOOOO! Leave them alone!” Jason shouted and stepped in front of the boy.
The soldier looked at him with dismay.
What had he just done? That man was going to kill him for that! And if he wasn’t dead then he would be punished severely.
“Step aside, 498! This matter does not involve you!” he shouted.
Jason wrapped his arms around the poor boy.
“This is my business! I was talking with her, not him! She was just zoning out!” he exclaimed.
“Do you think I was born yesterday? I can tell when there’s a lie, especially when it’s slapping me in the face! Stand down!” he growled.
Jason’s jaw clenched shut. He knew he would dig himself in a deeper hole if he said anything else.
The boy pulled away from him and gazed into his eyes, “Thank you for trying, but it’s my time. I’m ready to die.”
Chills rushed over his slender body as he watched the boy clutch onto his mother’s hand. The mother seemed to snap out of shock, gripping the boy’s hand with tenderness. Their eyes met.
A second later, the gun fired. Jason dropped to his knees. He had never seen anything like it before. That boy…that boy had acted so calm. So peaceful. He turned away from the two as the next shot went off.
The boy had crawled into his mother’s lap. They had died holding hands. Things just got very serious.
The soldiers were ready to execute for families’ interacting with one another. Where had our freedom of speech gone? What had happened to the constitution that made them take our rights away?
“Remember that because next time, that’s going to be you.” The soldier warned.
Jason wiped his eyes and returned to the line. All the boys watched him with shock.
“The rest of you women, front and center!”

Chapter Two
“How could they have done that? How could they have killed that little boy!” Jason snapped. Tears still rushed down his cheeks. That poor boy. It wasn’t his fault. He was just scared. And then he wasn’t. He had come to terms with his death.
“Shh! They’ll hear you!” a boy next to him exclaimed.
He reared on the boy, anger enflaming his heart, “how can you be worried about yourselves? This isn’t about us. It’s about everyone!”
A hand clamped shut on his shoulder. He turned around. His friend, Manny, gave him a reassuring look.
“This war is not over, Jason. It’s just the beginning. We have to keep our heads about us or they’ll break all of us. Be brave.” He soothed.
“How can we just let all this happen? How could our parents?” Jason mumbled.
Manny’s brown eyes filled with tears, “I don’t know, Jason. But they’ll get us out of here. We will take our lives back.”
Jason’s jaw clenched once again. He hadn’t been able to relax it since the day they ripped them from their houses. They were evacuated from the city. From there they had made them walk all the way to the middle of nowhere. They had slept there on the dirt for three days before they were forced to move again. The next week they had arrived in this place. A building surrounded by barbed wire and electric fences.
“How are we going to make it out of here if we aren’t even allowed to see our parents? It’s up to us to take it all back, Manny. We can’t just sit here and pretend that we’re living a nightmare!” Jason snapped.
“And what if they decide to kill us all?” a boy from the back, questioned.
Jason faced the boy with a stern look, “would you rather live like this for the rest of your life?”
The boy’s dark eyes softened.
“I want my mom back.” He muttered.
Jason turned to face all the boys. All eyes were on him.
“We’ve got to take our land back! We’ve got to escape this hell hole!” he shouted.
Manny’s head dropped.
“You saw what they did out there to that boy and his mother! This is not a haven. It’s hell!” Jason continued.
A few of the boys looked around, scanning the area for soldiers. They didn’t have to worry about that. The soldiers didn’t like to come into the citizens’ corridors.
“Help me stop them. Help me save us. Help me find our parents.” Jason begged.
A boy in the front held up two fingers. Peace. In response, a circle of the sign spread around, until the whole room was full of the sign.
Relief flooded through Jason. He wasn’t sure that that’d work. He was glad he could count on some of the boys to help.
They needed their homes back. They needed to kick the soldiers out of here.
“Okay, then let’s discuss what we’re going to do to make it out of here without dying.” He said.

Nine Days Later
“Jason, Manny was caught stealing a few of the guns! They’re holding him for questioning!”
Jason swore under his breath. How the hell had they caught him? They were supposed to be distracted by the riot played out by the boys!
He pushed past the boy, hell bent on rescuing Manny.
“What are you going to do?” the boy asked, catching Jason’s arm.
Jason ripped his arm away, “doing what you all should have done. I’m saving Manny.”
The boy grabbed Jason’s arm again. Jason glared at the boy.
“But you can’t! You are the most important part of the uprising! If we lose you, there is no resistance. Everything will just fall back to what it was before.” He exclaimed.
“If we let them kill Manny then we aren’t any better than they are!” Jason snapped.
The boy sighed, releasing his arm.
Jason let go of a deep breath and stormed out of the room. Manny was his best friend. His savior from the depression that tried to take him over.

“TELL US! Who’s the leader? Why did you want the guns?” a soldier shouted
Jason peered around the corner, cautiously and almost gasped aloud. Manny was tied to a chair, his face swollen. He looked as though he had gotten in a fight with the wall and the wall had bashed his head in.
He couldn’t have been there more than twenty minutes and he already had bruises forming around his neck and face. A surge of guilt stopped his heart cold. And then there was hate.
Jason hadn’t done this to Manny. The soldiers did, and everyone that stood by them. They needed to be taken down.
Manny closed his eyes. The soldier sighed and pulled out a baton.
“I know you’re not strong enough to organize a riot. Tell me who it was and we’ll let you go.” The soldier said.
Manny opened his eyes in response. A tear spilled down his cheek. He was terrified. He wouldn’t rat out one of his friends. Jason knew this. That was why he had to stop them.
“Go to HELL!” he spat, blood splattering all over the soldier’s face from his mouth.
The soldier wiped his face, his jaw setting.
“I was hoping that we could do this without a death, but it looks as though you’re worthless.” He said, raising the baton.
Jason’s heart sped up. He had to do something before they killed him! He gazed around the room, searching for anything that could be used as a weapon. Nothing.
He knew what he had to do. Dread filled him as he stepped out from the shadows.
“Wait! Don’t hurt him!” he shouted. The soldier spun around in surprise. Jason froze. It was the same soldier from the week before. The one that killed the mother and boy.
“You! I should’ve known that you were behind it all!” the soldier growled.
Jason gulped, “Leave him alone. I’m the one you want. I did all this. I ordered him to get the guns.”
The soldier smirked, “That’s what I wanted to hear. You’ve been a pain in my side ever since you’ve gotten here. Now I get to enjoy this.”
He gazed beyond Manny and whistled. Jason glanced at Manny. His head was c***ed, all the weight hanging on one side.
“Secure the boy while I finish this one off. There’ll be some fun tonight.” He ordered.
Jason stumbled backward. Fear scrambled his thoughts, destroying any logic left in his head.
He only managed to back into another soldier. It took about two seconds before he was secured and shoved down to the ground.
The first soldier raised his baton at Manny. Jason’s eyes widened.
“What are you doing? He didn’t do anything wrong! Release him!” he cried.
The soldier glared at him, his dark eyes shooting arrows full of rage.
“He did! He coerced a plan with a traitor! That’s you, Jason!” he shouted.
The wind was knocked out of him. He stared into the soldier’s eyes with his own full of tears.
“H—how do you know my name?” he gasped.
The soldier’s face hardened, “you’re a special case. Your father was an employee for the government. We had records on you. Especially with his betrayal.”
Jason’s nostrils flared in fumes of anger.
With that, the baton connected with Manny’s temples with such force that he heard a snap before his eyes rolled back.
“Nooooo!” he shrieked. His body went limp, the life leaving his eyes. How could he have done that? How could he have killed him without a second thought?
The blood splattered all over his face and black gear. He killed him in cold blood. He had just murdered him! What had happened on the outside?
“Take him away. We’ll have a chat later.” The soldier commanded.

Chapter Three
Jason’s wrists were raw from the metal cuffs that kept him chained to the table. He was their prisoner. Why hadn’t they killed him yet? Made an example out of him?
He’d been in the dark, rusty room for a few hours now, at least. Where was the soldier? He’d said he would talk with him later.
The door opened as if on cue. The soldier watched him from a distance away before actually walking into the room.
“Why don’t you just get it over with? I won’t beg for my life.” he said, though, he wasn’t sure about the last part.
“Oh, trust me, your death will come very soon, but we need to talk first.” The soldier replied.
Jason raised a brow in surprise. The soldier had made it seem like he wanted to torture him.
“And why would you want to talk to me?” he questioned.