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a new dawn midnight outside the capitol building smoke covers everything fires have broken out all over the city citizens are panicking screaming and running to find safety all is in turmoil jaide ryley and micah run up the steps of the capitol building keeping their guns aimed low and force open the door go left ryley whispers that s where his office is and that s where he ll be we must go quickly if he escapes or takes control then all this will be for naught warns micah then shut up and let s go jaide says tersely she races off down the hall and the boys follow they reach the end of the hall and try the doorknob jaide swears it s locked micah motions her aside move over let me try he backs up a few steps then charges at the door he rams into it with his shoulder and it crashes open he stumbles inside and disappears jaide and ryley rush in after him but freeze in the doorway as they take in the scene marcus sensoli the president of the world stands at the back of the room with a smug look on his face his two guards stand slightly in front of him one of them holding micah at gunpoint and the other taking aim at jaide and ryley who raise their guns sensoli smiles at them don t do anything stupid or your friend dies you cannot win your plan has failed that is exactly what it looks like if they die there will be no one to stop sensoli from

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gaining back control and making himself look like a hero if he saves the citizens from the rebels then he will gain their loyalty and crush the rebellion if that happens there will be no chance of it rising again for decades if it ever could before sensoli s death do it micah looks at jaide whose gun is aimed at sensoli s head shoot him i do not care if i must give up my life so long as he accompanies me pull the ­ the guard had grabbed him around the neck and was choking him jaide puts her finger on the trigger let go let go or i shoot right now i never miss everything stands still the tension is palpable the screams of terror pain and rage from outside can be heard clearly suddenly ryley s gun goes off and everything happens at once the guard holding micah shoots him in the head and drops him to take aim at ryley the other guard drops his gun and falls to the floor when the gun hits the ground it goes off and the bullet hits ryley in the leg making him stumble which is lucky because the other guard fires at him but the bullet flies through the space his head had been as all this is going on jaide is watching sensoli and keeps her gun trained on him when the first shot was fired he had ducked down and was now making has way to the window to escape oh no you don t jaide takes careful aim and as he stands up she fires all becomes quiet the sounds of rioting outside can still be heard but in the room there is complete silence jaide looks up from the lifeless body of marcus sensoli to see what had happened the floor is littered with the dead bodies of the guards micah and sensoli ryley is sitting on the

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floor holding a strip of cloth from his shirt on his leg to staunch the bleeding jaide rushes over and ties a tourniquet on his leg and helps him stand up is he dead jaide looks over at the still body of the former president yeah he s dead she hasn t realized that she is crying until ryley reaches over and wipes a tear from her cheek we did it jaide it s over we won jaide looks over at micah s dead body glazed eyes staring at nothing chest never to move again with the breath of life he had been a spirited man and now he would never laugh again she looks back at ryley her eyes dry once more yeah but at what price ryley can think of no response they walk out to the front steps of the capitol building to see what had been the outcome of the riot all is silent there is no screaming no one crying the dogs aren t even barking everything is in ruins a few fires still burn and a layer of ash lays over everything doors are hanging off their hinges windows are broken furniture is strewn everywhere people are standing in the streets looking towards the capitol building waiting for the outcome of the invasion jaide looks out at all the desperate faces waiting for her to seal their fate it s over marcus sensoli is dead his reign has ended and we are free no more dictators no more government controlling our lives we make our own destinies now there is a split second pause and then a deafening roar as the crowd starts cheering and

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clapping with that she walks down the steps to start the clean-up of the city 5:00 am on the steps of the capitol building a red-haired woman in her mid 30s holding a microphone and followed by a camera crew ascends the steps of the capitol building and strolls over to where jaide is resting are you jaide fairshaw i m meggie allen with global news we heard that you were the leader of this whole coup do you mind if we do an interview jaide looks up at her with tired eyes if you want but i wasn t the only leader there were others ryley and she pauses to dry her eyes and calm herself down and micah along with many others meggie allen waves her hand to as if to say that the others are of no importance but you were the one who shot president sensoli yes he s not president anymore and yeah i did alrighty then well with you being such a prominent figure in this rebellion we were wondering what brought you into it why did you join what happened that set you so strongly against the government that s a long sad story and it actually started with another story one from someone else who had seen the wrong side of the government she takes a deep breath and begins it started when i was 16 i was in jail for the murder of my father and that s where i met her kally i was shoved into the cell and the door slammed shut behind me it was dark and dank and smelled slightly of mold there was a single window about a foot tall and two feet wide

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situated right under the low ceiling and by its light i could see two uncomfortable-looking cots against the concrete walls one of which was occupied the girl sitting on it looked to be around my age she had long light brown hair that was pulled back into a messy ponytail she was looking at me with a small smile on her face i didn t get how she could be smiling in a place like this she watched me as i went to the other cot and sat down not looking at her it was quiet for a few minutes so why are you here i started and glanced over at her her voice was high and soft and she looked genuinely interested but i wasn t buying it who cares about some bum who goes to jail i figured she just wanted to get something from me though i couldn t imagine what when we re locked up in an empty cell with no personal possessions except the clothes we were wearing `why do you care well if we re gonna be roomies for a while it d probably be a good idea to get to know each other right i m kally by the way she sounded way to nice and optimistic i mean `roomies really to be locked up in jail i couldn t think of anything she could have done to get herself in here i decided to humor her and see where it would go `jaide so you didn t answer my question i figured that this little ray of sunshine would freak at my answer so i looked away as i said `i shot my dad killed him any good reason i looked back over at her she didn t seemed put off at all he beat me my mom and my younger siblings mom killed herself and i couldn t stand to see kris and kyle hurt any more i don t regret what i did either only that kris and kyle

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have to go to an orphanage and i can t take care of them that s horrible how long are you in here i got a year well i m glad you and your siblings were able to make it out of there i can t believe a father could be so horrible to his own kids she actually sounded sincere i decided there could be worse people to be locked in a cell with yeah so how `bout you what are you in for well that s a bit of a story she sounded like she would really like to tell it but didn t want to impose on me or anything i ve got a year it s not like there s anything else to do i told you my story you tell me yours okay then you may want to make yourself comfortable that made me laugh a little it all started when i was ten daddy received a letter from the government asking him to infiltrate a rebel group in the neighborhood well i should actually say that they ordered him he told them that he wouldn t snitch on those who may possibly be his friends or neighbors a few days later he was beaten to death in a back alley when he went to town for work after that my mother went into a complete decline she became depressed her health started failing and she would forget what she was doing that she had two daughters and even her own name she was eventually taken to a mental institution and my sister alyse and i became orphans alyse and i were forced to work in the mines it was dark damp and extremely dangerous there were toxic gases that could be released and kill you rock falls tunnels collapsing poisonous bugs and snakes kids were forced to climb into some of the least stable

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tunnels because they were too small for adults to fit one day alyse and i were working in parallel tunnels i was taking a short break to get a drink of water when i heard the rumbling that signaled a cave-in i started running away from the sound until i realized that it was coming from my sister s tunnel when i started back for her one of the other workers grabbed me and pulled me along they never recovered her body they gave me one week to mourn and then i was to go back to work i spent three sleepless nights in our room alone before i decided that i couldn t stay there i had to get away from the memories and the place that took from me the only person i had left i packed my few belongings and when it came time for the workers to leave i joined them and slipped off into the nearest side street and began my life as an outcast i learned to take care of myself i figured out where the best places were to curl up for the night and how to keep others out of them i learned how to steal food and not get caught and i learned how to stand up for myself when anyone tried taking advantage of me i was doing pretty well on my own one day a man saw me stealing an apple he followed me back to my hiding place and confronted me he said he didn t like the idea of children having to take care of themselves so he offered to take me in i was reluctant not sure why he had chosen me when there were so many other helpless orphans living on the streets but i decided that anything was better than what i had then and i could always escape if i had to so i agreed his name was darron he was tall with dark brown hair and eyes he always dressed exceptionally well and he was supposedly the owner of a large corporation i never figured out if that was true or not but it didn t take me long to learn that he was part of a very active rebel group after a couple months with him he started allowing me to go with him to the meetings it

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was during those meetings that i came to realize that i could do something against the government that had taken everything away from me i could fight and hopefully one day we would defeat this corrupt government and no one else would have to go through what i did it was then that i decided to fight back no matter the cost the group was mostly made up of adults with only three other teenagers but the adults treated us with the same respect they showed each other knowing that we all had our own grievances against the government the other teenagers were shayne sara and tyrus shayne was an energetic hyperactive guy of about 19 with shaggy blonde hair and bright blue eyes who was also made an orphan by the government sara was a quiet girl of 16 with chocolate brown hair and eyes whose whole family was a part of the group tyrus was 16 and had sandy blonde hair and green eyes he had been friends with someone in the group who began bringing tyrus to the meetings until he was killed in a raid tyrus continued coming by himself after that without his family knowing about it most of what we did were raids where we attacked trucks with shipments of supplies we would knock out the guards or steal the trucks when no one was watching we then distributed the supplies among the needy we were like robin hood the old story daddy used to tell to me in secret even though it was banned by the government we stole from the rich and gave to the poor things were going well until about eight months after i joined we were planning a raid on a shipment of clothes when the door burst open and in stormed a troop of government soldiers there wasn t time to react before they started shooting when i heard the gunshots i immediately dropped to the floor i heard tyrus calling the teenagers to him so i crawled over as fast as i could when i reached him i looked back for shayne and sara and saw

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them bleeding on the floor they weren t dead yet but there was no way anyone could save them i looked away and saw tyrus opening a secret door in the wall that would have been too small for most of the adults we weren t noticed in all the chaos as we climbed through into a small passageway and closed the door behind us tyrus had a flashlight and we wandered for a long time before we found a way out we came out in a building a few streets away from out meeting house and went into hiding we soon learned that we were the only survivors we figured that there must have been a spy in the group though they had probably died in the attack with everyone else tyrus couldn t go home because we didn t know if the spy had given the government a list of names or not we ended up living on the streets fighting for our food we wanted to continue fighting the government so we looked for little things we could do we slashed tires stole keys from unwatched trucks anything that would hinder the government agents in any way we wanted them to know that there were people out there opposed to them and they were not silent we also kept a watch out for any other resistance movements these are hard to spot because they have to keep things secret from the government but if you know what you re looking for then you re sure to find one eventually we finally tracked one down and confronted a couple of its members they denied being part of such a group which we knew was a lie so we told them about our old group they had heard that there were no survivors of that assault and took us to be spies they refused us entrance into their group and within a couple days they had moved all their operations to a new location we didn t try again knowing we d probably get a similar response most of the time we continued with our small attacks on our own for a while until we met a girl who,

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like us wanted to destroy the government when we were able to ascertain that she was sincere we let her join us that was the beginning of our own rebel group we continued gaining members and were able to seriously stymie the governments work in our area we had started with the small things but as our resistance force grew we decided that we needed to do more we began stealing the government trucks that were left unattended setting fire to government buildings and attacking government agents things were going well until our final raid our group had continued to grow and our ideas became more and more drastic our latest idea was to storm into the government headquarters in our area and hold them hostage we had a large force and plenty of arms and ammunition that we had stolen we were ready to do something big to show them that we meant business the night of the invasion was a full moon everything was going as planned everyone was there and in place we all knew our parts at midnight we began we came in from all sides ready to attack and hold the ten guards that would be inside there was one thing we didn t know though the commander in chief had come for a surprise inspection that afternoon and with him came another fifty soldiers who were all being housed in the headquarters building instead of finding ten guards who had let their guard down we found sixty armed soldiers with weapons in hand and ready to prove themselves to the chief we weren t prepared for anything like what happened that night it was a complete massacre the soldiers opened fire as soon as they saw our guns some of our people returned fire but many were frightened and tried to run in the frantic scramble to get to safety i was knocked into a wall and hit my head i was knocked unconscious and they believed i was dead i was lucky everyone else from my group was killed that night.

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when they found that i was still alive they tied me up and brought me to an interrogation room i came to in the dark with my hands tied to my chair they began questioning me but i couldn t give them any of the information they wanted because we hadn t been connected with any of the other rebels in the area and our entire group had been part of the raid when i wouldn t give them any answers they began torturing me that experience was too horrible to describe when they finally realized that i really didn t know anything they brought me here i ve been here for a month already i sat there speechless for a minute until i found my voice again i mean what can you say to that was this really the girl i d thought was in here by accident she seemed so nice and all those things she said she did theft arson just didn t fit with this kind girl with an everpresent smile wow you must really hate the government yeah well they ve never really given me a reason to like them this government is corrupt and needs to be shut down i d do anything in my power to see that happen i will always stand up for what i believe is right even if it means i may die for it those words would come back to haunt me two months later she was sentenced to death the other prisoners were made to watch she walked proudly to the gallows and right before they pulled the lever she looked me straight in the eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs `freedom watching someone die for rebelling was meant as a warning but instead it kindled the small spark of anger that had been slowly growing inside me for them to kill someone like her so easily made me want to tear them down all she was guilty of was standing up for her beliefs her rebellion had ended but it was then that mine began i would join the rebels and put a stop to

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this abomination once and for all for the rest of my sentence i told every cellmate i had of kally s story and sacrifice and i continued to tell others after i was released i joined a rebel group and worked my way up until i was one of the leaders i now had the power to make things happen to really make a difference that led to the planning of the great rebellion and to what happened today meggie sits there stunned until one of the cameramen coughs to remind her that we are live well there you have it the beginning of one of the greatest rebellions our world has ever seen was started with a conversation in a simple jail cell and now we go to helen with recent coverage of the damage as jaide walks down the steps of the capitol ryley joins her and they hold hands a small comfort in the middle of the destruction around them they walk quietly for a ways until ryley is finally able to sum up his thoughts we did it we are now free people it s hard to wrap my mind around that yeah i just wish kally could have known what her sacrifice would lead to they walk for a long time in silence until they reach what was once called the reflecting pool it is now empty of water but filled with trash and debris but as jaide looks she can imagine what it once would have looked like a majestic lake with the sun shining off it and reflecting images of the grand architecture that used to stand here memorials to the greatest leaders in history maybe just maybe with a little time and effort it could one day be as grand as it had once been jaide looks over at ryley with a new light in her eyes we have a new future ahead of us one that we will write ourselves a future filled with life love and hope she looks back out across the horizon and sees the sun rising heralding the dawning of a new day and with it a new world.

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the end

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