1 Chapter 1
Running through the smoke of the battlefield Ezra's feet pounding from the hard gravel ground slows to take a deep breath breathing in more.
"Slow down!", his little sister yells
Elise is slow and sluggish from the smoke and pain running through her legs, she collapses. Ezra hears a thud and turns back, "Elise!" he yells. Thinking to himself that they must get out of the open, he grabs her knowing he is not strong enough to quickly get to shelter. He drags his feet kicking up dust into his lungs. About forty meters away a grenade goes off. Erza shields Elise so nothing would happen. A big cloud of dust gets pushed by them. After running to the best of his abilities for miles he comes to a creek with a small bridge, he sits and checks to hear if he could hear the bombarding sound from the city, but it was the least amount of noise they have heard in three years. Ezra slid down into the creek to not be seen and under the bridge. Then he sat and looked up at the clearest sky he has seen in awhile wondering if the sky was ever clear before the Revolution. A little while later Elise wakes because of the cool water on her body.
"Big brother what had happened I thought we had miles to go from getting out of the city?" she said
"You had passed out for hours.", he replied
"Then do I have time to walk around and look at stuff?", she asked while staring at the ground
"No we have to go together, because you might get caught.", he said
"NO!", she yelled, "It is for your ninth birthday.", quickly covering her mouth thinking that it would take back what she said.
"Oh yeah", said Erza with a sigh, "I nearly forgot thank you, but we can't be alone at this time. I am sorry if you want to surprise me then I will have to come with you and the same for your birthday."
"Fine I can figure something out.", she said frustrated
"Thank you. You know I just want to keep you safe."
The sun came down and the pitch black night arose. The smog and smoke covered the ground like a child's blanket. Once Ezra had started snoring Elise stopped fake sleeping and put her rugged shoes in the mud and climbed up to the bridge. The bridge had a small street light on it, Elise used that as a beacon so she could not get lost. She went out about fifty feet and could still see it, so she then bent down to look for flowers in the ground. All she found was dry dirt and rocks. She grabbed the bottom of her old cut up shirt and used it as a bag to grab as many rocks as possible, they were quite small so she had a lot. Then she grabbed a stick and a larger rock knowing that Ezra would need it to make a fire, and after she had done what she had wanted she started heading back to the bridge. Then she saw a car coming towards her from about two and a half kilometers away, she started thinking about what the Kingdom of Humans had done to her parents. She got scared and sprinted to the bridge, once she had got to the entrance she jumped down into the creek.
"Did you see something up there Commander Leo?", said the man in the passenger's seat.
"No, but you should go take a look up by the bridge.", said Leo with an aggravated voice
The man hops out of the now still vehicle and runs to the bridge, he turns on his flashlight then starts to scan the area. Elise curls up next to Ezra, startled, he awakes and yells, "Elise!". She quickly whispers, "There is. . . They are. . Ezra knew what she was trying to say, "Elise", he whispered, "We are going to hold our breaths for as long as possible and swim under the water. Ok?". Elise nods her head trying to not make much noise as they go under the water and upstream.
The man scans by the bridge trying to find the figure he saw. Commander Leo walks out of the vehicle with authority and he fires his gun. Elise jumps up out of the water like a scared cat. Commander Leo points his gun at the water not aiming and fires about three times.
"Those people are slaves if they ain't got a house", he said, "They are probably spies."
"Sir, should we take them in for interrogation?", said the man
"These people aren't pure, they don't deserve to live if they aren't slaves.", he said angrily, "They look like mantises and they've got that jaw. Now what are you waiting for? Get in!"
The man runs toward the vehicle and hops in without opening the door. The Commander starts the car and the other man's legs are hanging out, swaying in the wind.
"Jump out.", says the Commander
"Are you insane?", the man yells, "I am staying in here unless there is a nuclear bomb that will hit the car."
" Fine then.", the Commander says while getting ready to jump on to the hand sand, "Have fun!", he said with a smile ear to ear as he jumped out and in a sardonic laugh.
The car jumps to the other side of the creek crashing with a fiery explosion. Parts of the car rip off and Ezra pops his head up as his green skin looks darker as it is under a shadow. He sees the raging flames as bright as the sun devouring the car and the land around it. Elise comes up from the water in terror. Her mantis mandibles clenched as her pale skin is brighter from the flames as she walks in front of her brother. "Help! Help Me Please! I am gonna die.", both and Elise hear a voice cry from the flames. Ezra starts pushing his legs through the smooth rocky bottom.
"Elise grab water and splash it onto the vehicle."
She starts kicking water up at the car and tries to kick faster and faster. As Ezra drenched in water he grabs the warm door and tries to pull the door back into the water. Steam rises up as Ezra breathes it in. The Commander sees the flames and limps to them, he had landed on his right ankle as it snapped to the left as the bone poked out. "You bug slaves!", the Commander yells. The car door melts off as fire touches the hinge. Ezra throws the door down in fear of being burned, but too heavy it drops on his leg dragging him into the creek. The man in the passenger's seat jumps out into the creek letting the cool water touch his blisters. "I am gonna kill those slaves.", said the Commander with a grin, "Then I will show their heads to the King!".
"Come on.", the man whispers
"What you are not going to kill us?", Ezra said in disbelief
"I did not know you were kids. You are just trying to survive. I will get you to the border of France then you are on your own, and then I will have to send the men on you.", he said
"Thank you so much.", said Ezra, "Elise we have to go!", he turns and yells
They start running the opposite way, leaping over the front of the car, as the Commander yells, "Get back here.", the man grabs his guns with his right hand and starts firing at his Commander. Trying to protect Ezra and Elise he has them run behind him as his gun lights up the night sky. The Commander fires back as he walks forward holding the gun with his left hand to keep it still and pressing the trigger with his right index finger. "Get down!", the man yells as he crouches so the Commander will not hit him. Ezra hears something roaring up in the night sky. It was a bomber. The plane was loaded with huge bombs to detonate right when they hit the ground.
"It is a bomber!", yells Ezra pointing up to the plane
"Get down and run!", yells the man
The plan screams across the sky as it crosses the creek. A whistle is heard from the left of the creek. Ezra jumps to the mud side of the creek and Elise follows. BOOM! The bomb hits the hard ground, the sun instantly turns red unlike the orange color it was and the sky fills with ash and dirt falling like snow. It became darker and harder to see. The Commander gets hit in the side by a rock, as he falls it gives them a chance to run away. They climb out of the creek where it is easier to run and then do so. The farther they go north the more gray the skies grow getting closer to Berlin. Ezra and Elise's feet get cut up, not rich enough to buy shoes. Both of their legs are tired they both start to collapse then they both look up and they see a small run down town. "Welcome to the town of Extremadura.", said the man.
