The soldiers are marching again, with the heavy sound of drums quick to follow.
Everyone in the town who knows what is coming stays silent and tries to hide, praying that they won't stop here, in Woodson.
And it's every week now that they pick a new...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
My first instinct is to run, but I can't.
People have started falling down like dominoes, not even minutes after the Others caught us in the clearing like deer in car headlights. They have no mercy as they shoot at everyone on the ground, including the women behind the army lines who aren't even carrying guns.
I don't have a gun.
I don't even have a knife.
"Get back! Set up the tent!" Over the sound of gunfire, Beatrice screeches at the nurses to start setting up the hospital tent, and my heart lurches out of my stomach and into my ears.
What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?
I'm too close to the firing lines, my ears are ringing from the sudden frequency change, and my nose is tickling from the gun smoke that is slowly covering us all like a blanket of fog. My eyes are wildly searching the features of dead bodies that begin to form around me, while I pray that it isn't Andres.
Searching for brunette curls and blue eyes, my tense body eases when I can't find him on the ground.
But then I see there's a man next to me on the floor with blond hair, and his dark eyes are still open - devoid of life. Then there's another boy with a bullet embedded within his heart, blood pouring out of the hole in his uniform like a river that won't end.
My hand comes up to cover my mouth, gagging.
How did things change around me so quickly?
Reluctantly, I force my body to move away.
Get away from the screams, get away from the blood and the burning skin in your peripheral vision -
You would think that in the midst of horror of this situation, I would feel a bit more sickened, yet, all I can think about is how numb I have to force my mind to be in order to keep on moving.
Run, Adeline.
Keep moving.
One step, two steps, three.
Be thankful it isn't your brother.
Keep moving.
Guilty, I rip my eyes away from the ground of the dead.
I reach the nursing tent.
Why do I feel so bad for running away?
I need to help, I need to do something to stop this attack.
But I am just a girl, I realize. A girl who took on more than she could chew.
I stand frozen in front of the nursing tent, the real battle happening only meters away, until a strong force grips my arm backwards, pushing me into the tent.
