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word count: 2.2k

genre: dystopian au

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As soon as I heard the scream, I was awake and up on my feet. I quietly made my way to the window and looked out just as two guards dragged a girl down the road by her arms. Her legs were flailing and she was cursing at them. I tried to force myself to look away but I couldn't seem to.

As the dull street lights hit her face, I recognized her. She was one of my classmates. I didn't know her personally. In fact, I didn't know a lot of people. I wasn't a very talkative person and the only friend I've ever had was a boy named Eric. But he had gotten sick during The End and ended up dying.

In a way, I feel like the Court doesn't want us to have friends. I feel like they thought the worst. But I didn't know what exactly they expected us to do.

Did they think someone was going to rebel? You would think they wouldn't want to because of what happened to the last person who did. Talk about a public punishment. You would've thought we were living in the biblical times and we were watching Jesus get whipped.

I didn't consider myself a rebel. I was just a curious person. Perhaps a bit too curious. Of course, I couldn't tell anyone about the way I thought. I'd be punished by the Court. Or even worse, killed.

Life had been pretty rough in District 8. If you were eighteen or younger, you were forced to go to school six days a week with Sundays off. But school wasn't how it was before The End. You know, where you learned completely irrelevant information and was tested on it just so you could pass the class.

Ever since the world was divided into eight districts, school became different. They still tested you on your knowledge but it wasn't how you expected. The first day of every month, you would put on an all white uniform and sit in a large room with people your age. A teacher would pass out a test and you'd spend pretty much the whole day on it.

You must pass every subject with a seventy or higher. If you fail to do so, you are put into a special class until you pass that one subject. Then you can move onto the next level.

It doesn't make sense. Not to me at least. I didn't understand the point of it all. It was tiring to even think about it. They crammed so much into our heads, I was surprised that any of us weren't brain dead yet.

The sound of the siren blaring brought me back to my senses. Oh no, I thought. Another public punishment. I heard my older brother start to shuffle around in his room. I rushed to my own room and started to get dressed.

"Hurry up, Y/N," I heard Chan say from outside of my bedroom. I quickly stuffed my feet into my boots and tied the laces. Then I grabbed my jacket and slipped it on before swinging the door open. Chan looked me over then nodded. "Come on."

It was just the two of us in the house. Our parents had died during The End, along with our two younger siblings. I vaguely remember those last few months. I mostly remember the screams, gunshots, and fire. A lot of fire. Some say it was like Hell had came up and took out the weak ones for us.

Chan and I stepped out into the cold air and walked towards the Circle. The two guards from earlier had chained the girl up to the post. She was screaming and I wanted to help but I knew better. I would be punished, probably even worse, if I even lended a finger.

Everyone gathered around the Circle and the Head Minister made his way inside. "I've called you all here to bring attention to a rebel in our system," he said loud enough for everyone to hear. After he said that, I couldn't watch.

A boy my brother's age walked up beside of Chan. "It's starting," he said, keeping his voice low. My eyebrows scrunched together. "We have to make our move soon."

"I know, Changbin," Chan said. "But not now. Everyone will be watching, especially the Court. We have to be careful."

"Trust me. We know," Changbin said. He nudged Chan's shoulder, causing him to look at him. He nodded his head backwards and they both looked back. I did too.

I saw another boy standing further away. He noticed us staring and smirked. Then he made a bird with both of his hands and flapped its "wings". I turned to face Chan but Changbin caught my eye. He winked then he walked over to the boy.

I wanted to ask Chan about it but I couldn't. Not with eyes watching and ears listening. I'd have to wait. But I knew what the bird meant. It was the symbol of a rebellion.

》 》 》

"You need to keep up," Chan said as he adjusted his sword. I had been right about his rebellion but I still found it shocking. My brother had always been a good kid and did outstanding in his field. So what made him want to rebel against the Court?

Chan told me that after the first public punishment, he knew something wasn't right. The system was failing. Well, he said that was what he thought the Court thought. He said that it would only be a matter of time until the Court starts locking us up like prisoners and watching our every move.

"Sorry," I mumbled. Then I picked up my pace to match his. His legs were much longer than mine though so it was kind of difficult. My gaze moved over to the ocean as it lapped up against the rocky shore.

We were going to the rebellion hide out. Well, that's what I called it. Chan called it the Dome. It was a cave hidden in the rocks, only visible when the tide was low. So that's exactly why we were out here at three in the morning.

We entered the cave and I followed him inside. The rocky walls glistened as we continued walking. I could smell the salty ocean as we went deeper into the cave. I heard voices and soon a group of boys came into view.

I counted them up and there were eight of them, including Chan. I recognized Changbin and the boy from the Circle that one night. I noticed there weren't any girls either, which made me shy away. The boys all looked at us.

"What is she doing here?" One of them demanded as he looked me up and down. He had dark hair that covered his forehead and he was skinny. His eyes were kind of close to one another but he was still cute. Even though  he was being rude.

"Today is the day boys," Chan said ignoring the question. Then he looked straight at the boy. "And she's here because she's my sister, Seungmin. I'm not going to leave her behind. Would you want me to leave you behind?"

Seungmin didn't say anything. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"As I was saying, today is the day," Chan repeated. "We're leaving today."

That's when it made sense. My brother wasn't rebelling against the Court. We were just going to leave. We were going to escape. And my guess is that they knew exactly how to do so.

"We'll be leaving before the tide comes back up," Chan said and they all nodded in agreement. "So that gives us ten minutes. Make sure you have everything."

I watched as the boys started walking around the cave, getting their things together. All of them had backpacks and some sort of weapon. A backpack was shoved into my hands and I blinked as I looked at it. Then I looked at Chan, who gave me a small smile.

"I packed some things for you," he said and I returned the smile. Then I looked inside of the backpack. He had packed me some clothes, along with my stuffed bear. I kept a smile on my face as I zipped the bag then put it onto my back.

"All right. Let's go!" Chan yelled and we all headed out of the cave. We walked with cautious steps along the slippery rocks. We approached a forest.

"So, how old are you?" Someone asked me and I looked over to see one of the boys. "I'm Jisung, by the way."

"I'm eighteen," I said and he smiled. He had dirty blonde hair and chubby cheeks, almost like a squirrel. But he managed to pull it off. He was still very handsome.

"I'm eighteen too," he said. "You can be apart of the 00' liners, if you want." I raised an eyebrow at him. "There's four of us who were born in 2000. Me, Felix, Hyunjin, and you met Seungmin."

As he named off the boys, he pointed to each one. "Not formally," I said and Jisung shrugged.

"The baby of the group is Jeongin," he said. "But don't let his cuteness fool you. He's evil."

"I'm not evil to everyone," a boy said as he nudged Jisung. My guess is that this was Jeongin. "It's mainly just you and Hyunjin."

I had to laugh as Jisung's mouth fell open in shock. He looked at me. "See what I mean?" He said and I shrugged.

"Will you guys shut the hell up?" Seungmin hissed and I frowned. Why was he so mean?

"Don't worry, he's mean to everyone. It's not just you," Jeongin said and I nodded.

Chan suddenly stopped and so did Changbin. Chan looked back at us and put his finger to his lips. We all shut up and it became quiet. Too quiet.

"The Court demands you to stop!" Someone suddenly yelled from behind and we all turned around. There was a group of guards running towards us. I counted at least twenty of them.

Chan pulled his gun out and the boys all got into position, some of them holding guns. Chan was the first to run at the guards, shooting at them as he did so.

The boys who had guns shot at them and the others fought. Two guards approached me and I did my best to fight them off. One of them landed a harsh blow to my ribs, sending me onto the ground and I cried out in pain.

Seungmin rushed over to me, shooting both of the guards then squatted down. "Are you okay?" He asked and I managed to nod while wincing. He put his gun away and scooped his arms under me. He picked me up and carried me away from the scene.

The boys managed to get rid of all of the guards and rushed over to us. "What the fuck happened?" One of them yelled and Chan scowled at him.

"Language, Minho," he scolded then came over to me. "What happened?"

"It's nothing," I said and Seungmin shook his head, rolling his eyes a bit.

"She got hit by one of the guards," he told them. "She's lucky that her ribs aren't broken."

"Shit, can you walk?" Minho asked and Chan glared at him again. It was probably because he cussed again.

"Maybe," I said. I tried to get up on my own but ended up failing. Seungmin sighed and helped me up. He wrapped my arm around him and waited until I was steady enough. I looked at Chan and the others. "I'm fine. Let's just go."

"Damn, Chan. Your sister is tough," the one named Hyunjin said as we started walking again. As I looked over at him, he sent me a charming smile.

"Hyunjin," Chan scolded. "Watch your mouth." Then he glanced back at me. "But yeah. She's tougher than you know."

We kept walking until we came upon a wall. It was maybe seven feet tall and made completely of concrete. There was no way under it, through it, or around it.

"What's on the other side?" I asked curiously as we all looked up at it.

"District 9," Changbin said and my eyebrows scrunched together with confusion. There was no District 9. There were just eight districts.

"But..."

"Trust me, Y/N," Chan said. "It's there."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Changbin said. "Let's go." Chan and Changbin climbed the wall first. The rest of the boys took turns climbing until it was just me and Seungmin.

"Do you think you'll be okay? You know, to climb by yourself?" He asked me and I nodded my head faintly. I was confused as to why he was being so nice now.

He motioned for me to start climbing so I adjusted my backpack straps and started climbing. I made it to the top of the wall and my mouth dropped. It was beautiful.

The sky was painted with purples and pinks, which matched almost perfectly with the never ending fields of wildflowers. I hauled myself to the other side and carefully climbed down. Chan helped me a bit and I turned around, smiling at him. Seungmin made it to the other side and Chan grinned at him as well.

"Welcome to District 9."