Le Liberté

The community was constantly regulated to make sure things were running smoothly and satisfied His needs as a dictator. The adults in their world had all been overthrown. Anybody at the age or over the age of 24 was brutally murdered at the hands of His men. Once somebody reached the age of 24, they would be taken someplace far where no one really knew what happened. The teens Hartley had seen before; the black, greasy haired one, the purple haired one, the teen with the Aviator glasses and the boy with spiked blonde hair, turned out to be accomplices to Him. He had grown up with this idea and had brainwashed His friends into believing the world would be better off without adults.

Hartley had been brainwashed until the day after her 16th birthday when she met a young man with fiery red hair. She remembered how he looked the night she first met him and he convinced her that His world was imperfect, that the world He created was shallow and that they needed to rise up against Him. The boy had black leather pants with white and gray designs sewn into the legs of them. His shirt was a gray which had been torn and ripped at certain parts. He had a red and white bandanna tied around his neck. A sign of rebellion, Hartley knew.

There were underground rebellions, groups trying to overthrow Him. At first, Hartley was obviously reluctant. She had grown up in this world without adults, without rules, and she loved every minute of it. She didn't change her mind until she found out what He had done to the boy's family. They dragged his brothers and sisters right out of his arms, shooting them one-by-one in the head in front of him because he had denied joining the fourth battalion rebellion. It was the night she heard the story that Hartley changed her opinion on Him. He was a brutal murderer only thinking for Himself. Hartley couldn't believe she had been brainwashed and duped so easily.

The boy with the fiery red hair had the pleasant name of Joel. He was a fantastic person in this time of weakness and fear of Him. Joel was the only person who ever gave Hartley hope, but Joel was 23, reaching the age of 24. The ringleader Him would find out about his age and order his execution immediately.

Hartley had been coming up with a plan on how to overthrow Him. It was going to be difficult, but she could do it if the other rebels helped her.

She planned on causing the Uprising, something the rebels of Him had been planning for a while. They would throw a specially made tear gas into the crowd of His followers while they were rallying for His speech of sorts. The tear gas could cause asthma attacks as well as a shock-induced coma for anyone who breathed in the correct amount. Hartley and a few rebels would then move in and take out His hit men of sorts while somebody else finished Him off. It would be as easy as that if people joined her plan.

Others were reluctant. People had heard that His friends were violent and would never be taken down so easily by a bunch of rebels. They weren't small, Hartley had to admit. To think they could defeat them was almost a delusion, but they couldn't lose hope.

So Hartley and a few other hundred rebels were planning on attacking Him on May 23rd. At the time of His rally, they would scream out battle cries and begin their plan to infiltrate the corrupt system they had once believed so strongly in.

It was the time of the rally. His children, as he called them, were standing in front of His podium. His men were all talking on walkie-talkies, staring around at every corner of the stage. They had all looked so different. The originally purple haired one now had dark black hair. The greasy haired one had grown his hair out longer. The blonde one had now darkened his hair to a deep brown.

He was not yet to be found, but Hartley was ready for Him at any moment. Her hands were trembling against the tear gas in her hands. All she had to do was pull it out, and then everything would be going to plan.

"Hartley." Joel nudged her in the side. She turned to him, and he had a small smile on his face. To know there was one person she could truly trust in the rebellion was a fantastic feeling. She never felt better. "We're gonna get Him."

Hartley nodded, turning her gaze back to the crowd as they screamed and hooted when He walked onto the stage, standing at the exact podium she had seen Him at three years ago. He was taller now, more threatening. He had grown His hair out to a decent length. It was a deep black color, and His tattoos had intensified among His arms. He didn't wear a shirt today. Foolish, Hartley thought.

"Hello, my children." He smiled. The crowd hooted once in reply. "My battalion four rebels." He stopped, looking out amongst the crowd, almost where Hartley and Joel were sitting with the tear gas sitting in the palms of their hands. "My teeny boppers and motor-braces-babies." His voice had intensified in anger. "Our oppression is over, isn't it? Our generation has flowed through life without being told what to do with ourselves." But He stopped Himself and sighed gently, rubbing His shoulder. "But I'm aging, my children. I'm... getting older. My youth will soon escape my body."

The crowd jeered, a few loud sobs escaping the women of the group.

"I do not have an heir." He shook His head. An audible gasp passed through the crowd, including Hartley. She had thought a man like Him would have thought things through. How was the world going to change? Especially since He was the dictator. What were people to do? The society always had heirs, whether they wanted one or not. Hartley had a young heir named Nel. Joel even had an heir named Rocky, another rebel of His. "I will soon be picking an heir. Our generation and the ones ahead will never be silenced again."

Loud cheers from the spectators.

"Our voices will always be heard, my children! We rise above the evils of oppression to make ourselves heard. Can you dig it?"

"Yeah!" A roar from the crowd.

"Can you dig it?" He shouted again.

"Yeah!"

He stopped, and smiled to the back of the crowd.

"I can see you, teeny boppers." He pointed directly at Hartley. Joel's hand tightened around the tear gas. He pulled the key out of it and the gas slowly began to start hissing. "Can you dig it?"

"Rebels! Falsifiers!" A rebel on Hartley's team, or so she thought, threw their arms up. "Cheats! Blasphemers!" The boy screamed, jumping out of Hartley's group of rebels, running toward Him and His spectators.

"Rocky!" Joel shouted, standing up with a ravaging scream. The group of people in front of Him rose up and had the same smile He did on their face. He threw His hands over to Hartley's direction. In a flash, a pair of arms wrapped around Hartley's elbows, jerking her back. The man with Aviator glasses smiled against the skin of her neck, ripping the bandanna off of her throat.

"The first blasphemer!" He screamed, throwing the bandanna to His children like animals. They tore the bandanna apart like it was diseased. He smiled from His podium, staring directly at Hartley.

Joel, in the midst of the screams and shouts, was trying his best to protect himself. He landed a hard punch on the jaw of the greasy haired teen. Joel then turned to Hartley being dragged off toward His podium. It seemed as though Hartley would blink and she would be three miles closer to Him. Then she found herself being thrown on the ground only to be tugged up by her long black locks of hair.

"You should be able to tell when there is a traitor in your midst, little girl." He said in her face. She stared directly in the shivering icy blue eyes surrounded by darkness from lack of sleep. He smiled and pinched her cheek. "You're just a kid." Hartley spat on His hand, showing no remorse when He blinked hurtfully a few times. The black greasy haired one punched Joel in the chest, the sound of breaking bones filling the air. It sounds like a snap of wood whenever he landed a punch. "You don't know who you're dealing with, do you?"

Hartley kept her lips sealed, blinking away a few tears while Joel groaned and tumbled onto the ground.

"Take these two away." He ordered. "Kill the rest of them. Slowly." He smiled deviously at Hartley, inching closer to her face. He kissed the corner of her lips. "Painfully."

Then darkness.