"Attention, citizens of East Sector!" A dark soldier stood in the center of the Main Strip on his panting horse that shone with sweat. The man was clad in golden armor, his eyes hidden under his mask to match the rest of his faceless army.

His squadron of men formed a straight blockade across the road in front of their captain, gazing down at us through the thin slits in their helmets. They stood unmoving in two thick lines, giant swords in every right hand. They divided our large herd from their commander like sheep dogs.

We'd been called into the center of East Sector after the smoke became intolerable and nearly caused a citywide evacuation. Fears of a deadly wild fire filled every heart, including my own. 

We'd been ready to flee with the rest until a lone horseman rode through the streets. He'd been ringing a bell, shouting at us all to group on the Main Strip as there we would find safety. Emperor Tron's army had been sent out from the Ultrona Capital when word hit them about havoc in every sector.

Or so that's what I'd heard from the louder voices on the street.

Malaki, Matilda, Andrew and I stood among the people of our sector, all of us in our pajamas with red eyes and scorched lungs. Andrew looked unsettled, unable to stand still in the crowd. His dark brunette hair was disheveled while his blue eyes scanned around us as though he were looking for something in particular.  I didn't understand it either, but I felt like my veins were full of ice. Something felt off, and Andrew felt the same.

There hasn't ever been a fire this large or a response from Ultrona so urgent.

There'd been trouble in the other sectors, the Benton Brothers had explained one evening when we were out late on the tracks. Trains had been moving in with greater frequency, carrying supplies, food, and more soldiers. Emperor Tron was importing more and more fighters each month, and I was one of few who could guess why. 

The secret word was spreading that rebellion was on the horizon in a form more violent than any of the poaching the boys did each day, and the Bentons had been offered a spot in the fight. Leighton had told that something had happened in another sector, a massacre. It made my blood run cold as we stood staring into the faceless mask of our city's army.

"There is no need for an evacuation at this time or any in the future. There is no risk to your security as citizens under our protector, King Tron." The captain's voice was cold and his words like a whip cracking in the air. "All citizens under our Lord must signify their allegiance through a quarterly donation of wealth in return for continual protection under Ultrona's army and government. Then, you will receive fire relief."

A quarterly donation? My mouth fell open. 

In order to live under King Tron and have citizenship, we had to pay, what I'd guess, a large sum of money four times a year? This entire Sector is already poor! How can they expect us to scrap up more money for them? Everyone already pays for their homes, business fees, taxes and the production distribution!

When Tron took control of our city, it was already a mess. Wars from the previous era had caused the creation of our city on practically nothing. We hardly had a functioning government in place or enough money for any family to live comfortably.

Ultrona became our capital and Tron had tried to appease his new citizens by the production distribution law, which called for an annual distribution of goods to every Sector. Unfortunately, the goods being distributed to the Sectors weren't enough to feed every person, so distribution priority came into place as well as the military drafts. 

Larger number families and the more well off had priority in the distribution, and the drafts helped to lessen the household numbers. Our family now capped at three after the draft had little to no priority even with our parents at war, and we were given some of the worst pickings each month. You couldn't win.

Sectors lost their strongest men, as Tron refused to have women in his army except as medics like my mother, and jobs became slim. With less food to begin with and the distribution's goods  slowly dropping based on every sector's head count, we were all getting poorer and hungrier. The new quarterly tax only added a bag of bricks onto our broken backs.

Mumbling started to rise around us as Malaki growled under his breathe. "Bastards. This is unbelievable!"

"What do they even need the money for? The Capital is the richest area in the entire city!" Matilda whispered.

"Definitely not." Malaki responded. "They're in debt. Big time."

"Seriously?" I gaped. "I thought they got the funds in order after Tron came to power."

"On the contrary, they've been losing money. Friends from inside Ultrona Capital informed us that Tron's been paying another kingdom for soldiers and support for his throne here. The trains, remember? The worlds' have been trying to up security in their kingdoms after a successful putsch in the region of Gala, and now Tron's worried another will spring up here."

"I thought Gala was finally secure, at least wasn't it?" I asked, trying to remember the name I'd heard Andrew talking about before.

"Metallic." Andrew answered for me. "He'd been in control of the entire country for a handful of years after ending the tyrant Galamari's rule, but he got himself into trouble with the upper class."

"Apparently, one of his own men wanted to flip him out of his throne, but Metallic was electrocuted to death before the assassination could take place a couple years ago." Malaki shuddered. "Tron's been paying his way to gain security just like most monarchs in other kingdoms to make sure they avoid the same fate. He's trying to tax us to pay off his private purchases."

"We won't pay!" Shouts from the crowd awoke us from our conversation. "We won't pay!"

"We've already paid our taxes! We've already gained our citizenship! We've been here longer than Tron! Why aren't we citizens?" A voice screamed out above the crowd, sending shouts of approval in waves from around us. The energy in the crowd was growing into a frenzy as people began to shove us around on all sides.

"Tron is your King, and his word is Law!" The commander yelled above the shouts. "If you refuse to pay for your citizenship, than we shall greet you as traitors and outsiders!"

 A horn blew from the ranks of golden soldiers, their long swords drawn from their sides in a war stance. I grabbed Andrew's arm as he pulled me into his side, the sound of the horns making me shutter when it reverberated into the air over and over again like a heartbeat.

I couldn't breath as the smoke seemed to get thicker. Everyone around us was becoming more vicious, pushing forward against the guards as their screams grew louder. We were being thrust forward by their wake, barely able to fight the current.

"Time to leave!" Andrew hissed. "I've been watching and they're beginning to circle us!"

"We can sneak out through there!" Malaki pointed across me towards a clear alleyway.

"What happens after that?" I said, feeling my heart pound against my ribcage. East Sector was practically declaring war on their King, and we were in the center of their riot.

"We'll go back to the Capital and plan with the others from there." Malaki replied, giving me a firm shove towards the alley. "We don't have time to think about anything else. Just go!"

More accusations were thrown into the air as the crowd shoved forward again. "Tron burnt Northwest!"

"Tron killed his citizens!" 

Northwest Sector? Is that what was burning?

"Malaki," I whispered back to him as we wormed our way around people in the crowd. "Is that true?"

"I'm positive. Leighton and Vulcan were in Northwest the past few weeks and they said soldier occupation was extremely high on account of that rebellion brewing against Ultrona. It was said to be headquarters. After they left to Leighton's discontent, they saw a hell's kitchen load of gasoline being imported on the road."

That's where all the smoke is from. They burnt down an entire sector? Could they have been giving the exact same announcement that we were receiving? Shit, could they be here to burn us like Northwest sector?

Just as I thought the words, the dark sky became bright with multiple suns as balls of gasoline fireballs soared into the crowd. I was frozen in horror and disbelief as their hissing light etched across the black sky before a sudden eruption of light blinded my eyes. Screams filled my ears, pained wails and pure human terror running like static electricity through the people.

"Run!" Andrew's voice echoed in my ears, but I couldn't hear properly.

I stood, watching as explosions of gas and fire blew into the mass of people as it began to eat them away. All my ears could comprehend was the sounds of heart-stopping screams and cries as the flames licked away those fallen on the street. People were being burned alive by fire as they convulsed on the ground while the flames spread.

The balls of fire never stopped falling and the screams never ceased as I watched people devoured in the red hot embers, only able to wail as the fire charred them to death while others covered in coats of red ran in circles screaming in agony. I watched our neighbor, Mr. Douglas, fall to the ground, blood spewing from his neck as he was stabbed through the throat by a golden arrow, too petrified to even yell out for help.

Children laid abandoned in the streets as their parents burned to death or had simply left them for their own well being. Cries of babies and infants were the loudest whistles in my ears as fire encircled them. I watched a child of six be smothered in the heat of a fireball, disappearing in the smoke and flames as his cry echoed out as his last form of existence. 

Bits of singed baby blanket twirled in the smoky air like feathers as dolls and other toys laid sizzling on the cement. The air smelt of ash, gasoline and flesh as a heavy fog became to roll over the graveyard on the Main Strip, dragging every victim to hell in its dark and poisonous embrace.

"Kate, run!" I felt a hand grab my own and shove me out of the sickening heat. I turned upward, catching a glimpse of Malaki's shadowed face as he directed me towards the alley. Matilda held onto me as the world became a black and red blur around us.

We were running now, but I could still hear the screams. I could only glimpse back, watching the wall of golden men walk through the flames on the street as they cut down the survivors who clung to life on the concrete.

I looked between us, my mind numb except for one gut-wrenching, empty space. "Andrew!" I yanked on Malaki and Matilda's arms, spinning around towards the scene. Everything was red as the fire and blood mingled together while it spread through the rows of houses. "Andrew!"

"Kate, we have to keep going!" Malaki screamed at me. "We'll die by either flame or blade!"

"It's our brother! Matilda, listen to me!"

Matilda's face was grim and her eyes watered. "If he's still back there, Kate, then he's not going to follow us. We won't find him..." She choked down a sob.

"No! He's there! He was right behind me!" I cried, rubbing my eyes. Through the light of red embers, I saw the dirt and ashes that already coated the fallen bodies that littered the ground. I couldn't see him or anything that still looked alive.

"Look! There's nothing there!" Malaki pointed into the opening of hell as savage and unforgiving flames continued to lick away the buildings. It was a wall of fire, unable to be crossed or reasoned with. Fire had no friends or enemies; it devoured all.

"We need to keep going!" Matilda screamed, pulling me into her arms as heat began to swell over us. We watched as wooden walls began to crumble and the screams of innocents grew louder around us.

Malaki grabbed both of our hands, tugging us into a jog as we circled around street corners. "We need to get to the bridge before they burn it down!"

"The Bridge runs directly into the Main Strip! They've probably burnt it by now!"

"Not unless they don't want their army to escape the same fate!"

Malaki turned down another road, edging us on to match his long stride as we sprinted. A smoke screen and waves of flames crashed to our right, and the river running between us and South Island sat ahead. We turned down a second street to our right before jumping into another. Malaki was our guide dog as he flagged us left and right.

"There!" Matilda yelled, pointing ahead. At the dead end of the road, a glossy and dark body of liquid glowed in the moonlight, lapping at the edge of the sand bank on the other side.

"We're going to have to swim!" Malaki took a tight grip on my hand, giving it a squeeze. "Get ready to jump!"

I could feel unbearable heat on my back, too afraid to look behind me as it began to burn my bod. I knew the fire was spreading faster as the smoke was becoming more unbearable, making me choke as my vision swirled with fuzzy shapes.

None of us could speak now, coughing uncontrollably as we held the collars of our shirts over our noses. I felt like I couldn't breathe, and I couldn't think, adrenaline pumping through me as well as fear.

We kept running even after the street ended. We ran on the cool grass that hadn't yet been touched by fire and heat. With a last long stride, the three of us soared through the warm air. The emotionless canal babbled beneath me as I grew closer and closer before I felt its cold embrace.

I sunk deep into its darkness, its chilling temperature knocking the breathe from my lungs. I kicked with my sore legs until I reached the surface. But I wasn't greeted with sweet air or spring breeze.

All I could breathe in was smoke and all I could feel was the heat of fire's kiss on my face. Destruction and death grinned at me as its minions made of hell's embers danced on East Sector's shore.

When I jumped, I knew it was the last time I'd ever touch the grass of old East Sector again.