Liberation

Chapter 8

JULIA'S POINT OF VIEW:

Thud...ouch...pain.

I am on the ground, hitting it hard from being transported by the mechanism, which is now nowhere to be found. Rising up, I brush the dirt off of my clothes and help everyone up. We all take in our surroundings, but the only thing there to see is a giant, stone wall. "Well, I guess we're here," I announce to everyone.

Suddenly, I feel someone's hand go over my mouth and pull me against the wall, effectively preventing me from saying anything more. Looking over my shoulder, I see that it is Peter who has done this. Adam and Cassia are pressed against the wall as well.

Shaking his hand off my mouth, I glare at him. "What in the world was that for?" I demand. Peter, in turn, puts his index finger against his lips to indicate silence, and then points to the top of the wall.

Closing my eyes, I sense there to be ten men, two for five watchtowers, set up around the top of the wall. If Peter hadn't have warned us, we would have been spotted. "Grab hands, everyone," I whisper. We do so, and I turn us all transparent. "Don't make a sound," I say to them.

We pass through the wall, quiet as mice, and what my eyes see is exactly like my dream, but it still shocks me seeing it in person.

Color seems to be nonexistent here, for there are no trees, no grass, nothing but concrete. Houses look like steel boxes, nothing to make them look inviting. People walk aimlessly like mindless drones, and the looks in their eyes tell me that their thoughts are not their own. The women wear various forms of ragged, grey dresses while the men wear grey trousers and tunics. They all have the same black hair and grey eyes, not setting anyone much apart from the other.

People dressed in military suits keep an eye on the people from above on watch towers, armed with assault rifles in case someone steps out of line. However, I can't picture someone getting shot when they can't even think for themselves.

But when a shot rings out, I lose all meaning of that thought. There's a faint scream, and I look over to see an old woman haunched over, clutching her stomach while her blood begins to stain the concrete. "Adam, what's going on? Why are they doing this?!" I demand.

"It's how they keep the population under control. They select a certain number of people to come out in the open, and the ones deemed undesirable are picked off. Those who are spared are sent back home until the next selection takes place," he explains.

"Julia, don't," I hear Peter tell me, already knowing what I'm about to do before I do it. "She'll die! We've got to help her!" I protest. Cassia is the next one to speak up. "Healing does not come without loss; you can't save everyone. We'd blow our cover and they'd kill the woman again if we tried to heal her," she says, much to my surprise. "But she's going to die," I say as I look at the woman's frail body writhing in pain as she bleeds to death.

"Then look away," a voice unfamiliar to me says. I quickly turn around, only to see a woman standing in the doorway of her home. She's small and frail, but I can tell by looking at her that what she lacks in size, she makes up for in personality. She wears an apron over her grey dress, as if she had just been baking something. She keeps her black hair tied away from her face, but a few strands find their way loose around her grey eyes. "I can't see you, but I can hear you; come inside, I know it's help you seek," she says. But I don't budge, not trusting the stranger. "You needn't be afraid. I had a vision that my family and I would be a great help to the one to free us all. Come inside," she beckons again. Curious, I follow, taking everyone else with me.

We all step into her house, and I allow us to become visible again. The woman initially gasps, taken by surprise at the way we look, I suppose. She approaches me gingerly, almost afraid that I might lash out if she makes one wrong move. She gently reaches her hand out and touches my face, closes her eyes, and then opens them as tears spill out. "It's you," she says happily.