Gloria sat up on the bed when the shed door banged open. "Kendle?" She called, cautious.

"No! It's her brother, Michael. I have Henry. Kendle is in trouble. She told us to run. She said she had a friend out here who could help us!" A voice called.

Gloria was on her feet in an instant and rushed the short distance to the front door. When Michael saw her, he set Henry down. "What's going on?" Henry said, looking up at Michael, confused. Then he turned around and saw Gloria. He gasped and ran forward to hug her tightly. "Gloria!" He cried.

She hugged him tightly and ruffled his hair. "Hey, little man! How've you been?" Henry pulled away.

"I've been great! Kendle still helps me with all my homework and makes me snacks and plays with me and puts me to bed every night!" Henry beamed. But then he frowned, turning way too solemn for a six-year-old. "But sometimes I hear her crying. Sometimes she'll smile but it won't be a happy smile, it's more like it's a sad smile." Henry bit his lip and beckoned Gloria downward so he could whisper in her ear. "Sometimes, I see her walking funny or holding something funny or just acting funny. She'll wince when I tap her somewhere or if I hug her too tight." Henry lowered his voice even further, making Gloria lean closer. "I think mommy and daddy hurt her." She pulled back and there were tears gathering in his eyes and a worried look on his face. "They never say anything, but I notice the way she keeps her gaze lowered and how she flinches if daddy raises his hand or makes his voice loud to yell."

Gloria frowned. Henry was six. He shouldn't have to worry about things like that. But what worried her more, was what he was telling her. "Tell you what, buddy," Gloria placed her hands on Henry's shoulders and kneeled in front of him. "I'm going to go into the house, and I'm going to get Kendle out of there, and I'm going to take her with me to the Resistance. You can come with us, if you'd like. But you'd have to leave your mommy and daddy behind, though." Gloria said gently. Henry thought for a moment.

"I wanna come with you." He said firmly, nodding his head in determination, his shaggy brown hair flopping.

"Okay." Gloria looked up at Michael. "Are you going to come as well?"

He nodded. "I've been trying to find a way to run away to the resistance for years. But my parents kept too close an eye on me. And now... Knowing that Kendle is alive, I want to be with her. I want to make up for our lost time as siblings. I want to get to know her. And I want to fight to make sure that what happened to us, won't happen to anyone else ever again." His words were sharp and clear.

Gloria nodded sharply and then pushed Henry toward Michael. "You, stay here with Michael. I'm going to go get Kendle, okay? And then we'll all run away together." Henry went to Michael, who scooped him up. Gloria rose from her crouch. "There's a bed over there. Hide behind it." She pointed toward the back of the shack. Michael nodded and took Henry back there. Gloria followed. "When I get back here with Kendle, there's most likely going to be angry people on my tail and we're going to have to get out of here quick. There's a secret door that Kendle and I made in the wall that's hidden behind the headboard of the bed. It's not that big of a door, we'll probably have to crawl, but get the bed moved out of the way and be ready to open that door and run like hell for the trees." Gloria instructed.

In order to get to the trees though, they'd have to cross a rather busy street. She hoped that none of them ended up ran over.

She turned, and headed out the front door of the shed, sprinting for the house.

She threw open the kitchen door and found Kendle bent backwards over a counter, a woman Gloria assumed to be her mother pressing a knife against her throat.

"Kendle!" Gloria cried. The woman sneered and pressed the knife down harder against Kendle's soft skin.

"One more step and I kill her right now."

Gloria froze. How could she save Kendle if she couldn't move?

Gloria swore under her breath.

"Put down the knife, Mrs. Brooks. Please, there is something else we can do. Another way go handle this." Gloria pleaded.

"Don't call me 'Mrs. Brooks' you wretched creature. And don't you dare call me Maria. You have no right so speak my name from your filthy mouth. To you and all your kind I am 'Mistress'. Or better yet, don't speak at all. Slaves aren't ment to talk." Maria growled, splitting Kendle's skin a little more.

Gloria watched the blood leak onto the counter. She looked back at Maria.

"You're not mistress. You're not better than us. You're a witch and a horrible excuse for a human being. Go to hell." Gloria fumed and spit on the floor.

Maria screamed in outrage and pulled the knife from Kendle's neck.

She pulled her arm back and hurled the knife toward Gloria.

Gloria barely had time to drop to the ground before the knife whistled through the air above her head and embedded itself in the wall.

Gloria jumped to her feet and launched herself at Maria with a feral howl. Maria screeched and they both crashed to the floor.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Kendle jumped away from the counter and backed up toward the wall, half caught in flashbacks and half aware of the fight between Gloria and her mother.

One moment it was Maria and Gloria wrestling on the floor. The next it was Krystal and Emmet's dead bodies staring at her in the back of that truck.

"STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!" She screamed, pressing her hands to her ears and closing her eyes.

She snapped open the silver pools a moment later and cried, "GLORIA, MOVE!" She waited a moment for her friend to roll out of the way and then she threw herself into the table she was backed up against and sent it crashing down on top of Maria.

Maria shrieked in outrage and pain and struggled to lift the table. "Get this thing off me, you wretched rat!" She screamed, voice shrill.

Jake and Emma burst through the door then, Kendle's father right behind them. "Kendle! What did you do?" Emma cried, rushing forward to help Maria free herself. Jake snarled and stalked toward her, raising his hand, ready to give her a harsh slap.

Mike leapt forward and tackled Jake to the floor. "WHAT IS THIS!?" Jake yelled, voice filled with rage.

"Run, Kendle! Run!" Her father cried, tussling with Jake on the floor.

Kendle was frozen, shocked. Gloria grabbed her arm and tugged her out of the house.

"HENRY!" Kendle heard Emma scream followed by a crash and a pained cry from her mother. "WHERE'S MY HENRY!?" Gloria swore and pulled Kendle along faster.

"MICHAEL! RUN!" Gloria screamed. They were halfway to the shed.

Kendle heard a crash and then a thud and assumed that Michael had grabbed Henry and they had run out the secret back door she and Gloria had made. The two girls ran as fast as they could, ran like hell itself was after them. Which Kendle assumed it was.

Slamming open the door of the shed, the two girls sprinted to the back and slid through the secret door as well. They came out the other side and sprinted across the field and toward the road, spotting Michael and Henry ahead of them.

The two boys froze at the edge of the road and Gloria and Kendle skidded to a halt beside them.

The road was busy today. Cars flew past, no break in sight.

Gloria swore viciously. Michael gasped and clapped his hands over Henry's ears.

"Gloria! There are young ears here!" He said sternly, frowning. Gloria and Kendle stared at him for a moment, then at each other, and started laughing. Michael gazed at them in shock for a moment.

"What-What's so funny?" He accused, frowning, removing his hands from Henry's ears.

"I-I'm sorry, " Kendle said, wiping her eyes of the tears that came from laughing so hard. Gloria continued to laugh, doubled over and clutching her stomach. "It's just- Oh, it's just that this it too funny! We're running for our lives, we're stuck at the edge of a road that we need to be able to cross to get away, and you covered Henry's ears because Gloria swore?" Kendle started laughing again and Michael blushed. "Besides, Emma might not know it, but Jake swears in front of him all the time."

"You're right," Michael laughed. "It's stupid."

"Besides, he'll hear a lot more of it once we get to the rebel base." Gloria said, straightening. She eyed Michael. "They'll probably put you in the kitchens. They might try and teach you how to shoot a gun."

Kendle looked at the road again and noticed that the cars were slowing down, and now they were all stopping. "Guys! The cars all stopped. There must be something wrong with traffic! Come on, let's get across now."

Kendle scooped Henry up in her arms and dashed across the street, swerving around the cars and ignoring the drivers' angry honking.

She stopped once she reached the edge of the forest on the other side and turned to see Gloria and Michael crossing after her. They reached her side and, while Gloria didn't look the least tired out, Michael doubled over and braced his hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. Kendle giggled and Gloria shook her head, letting out a breathy laugh.

"Man! You are really out of shape, big brother!" Kendle said, smiling. She hadn't spent much time with Micheal since they were both so young when she was taken away, but she loved him with her whole heart.

And boy, did it feel good to call him her brother.

"I never had to do anything! Mother has kept me cooped up inside the house ever since Rachel ran away to join the Rebellion. She didn't even let me go to school!" Michael laughed and straightened. "But I'm sure we have a long way to go, so let's get going!"

Gloria smirked like she knew something they didn't. Which she probably did.

"What is it?" Kendle asked, putting Henry down.

"There's actually a long chain of small camps set up between here and the main base out in the Rockies. In fact, there's one in this forest. They're all within roughly a two day's walk of each other." Gloria said, smiling.

Kendle gaped, then tackled Gloria in a hug. "I love you!" Kendle pecked Gloria's cheek and laughed. "The Rebellion is awesome!" Gloria smiled wider and laughed.

"Hell yeah it is!" Kendle pumped her fist in the air.

"Let's go already!" Michael laughed, grabbing Henry's hand and using the other to usher them toward the trees.

"Lets go!" Kendle took Gloria's hand and pulled her into the forest behind her.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Michael watched Kendle as she walked ahead of him with Gloria.

She had grown so much since he had last seen her. He had as well. It was to be expected. It had been seven years.

He had thought she was dead.

The joy and ecstasy that filled him when she confirmed that she was his sister, that she wasn't dead like he had thought for seven years, it was unexplainable. He couldn't express the feelings that filled him knowing that she was alive.

He saw her throw back her head and laugh at something that Gloria had said, it was an amazing sound. He missed the sound of laughter.

No one laughed in their house. Their other was too strict, and horrible. Their mother didnt act much like a mother, let alone a mom.

It's like that saying. 'Any man can be a father, but it takes a great man to be a dad.' It's works for women too. Any woman can be a mother, but it takes a special kind of woman to be a mom.

He heard Kendle laugh again and smiled, he really had missed the sounds of laughter and happiness.

Kendle smiled at Gloria, and Michael though it was the best sight he had ever seen.

Even after all she had undoubtedly been through, she could still smile and laugh.

He would make sure that she always could.

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