Pompeii (Updated)

POMPEII



CHAPTER ONE

          I never, ever asked for this. I didn't want it. I was disgusted by it, but I was chosen. I could see why they chose me. I would pick me, but I refused to co-operate. They ripped me from home, and doubted me. I swear, I would lead the Rebellious to victory. Even if it means death.



"Turn on the press conference." Ezra, my Co-captain says. "I don't want to see it." I say. "We need to." I fumble for the remote, turning on the television. An image pans over the city we just call York now. I hated it. It was too clean, too sanitary. Too new. Too foreign. An announcer comes on screen.



Chaz Wellington was a man of forty-two, and has had so much plastic surgery he looks like a half melted Ken doll. He had white teeth, and coco brown eyes. "Hello Nation. Welcome to this year's Crisis introduction. May I say, this year will be great. Let's meet our leaders, but first let's see their intertwining paths." I close my eyes, and let the memory consume me.



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"I'm all in." I say, throwing my chips in. I get a warning look from Elliot, my older brother. His friend snickers, "Worried about your precious little Kennedy?" Elliot's eye's narrow. "Shut up Chive." he says. "Yea-" I start, but a dozen guards swarm in. They grab Elliot and I, and we struggle. They were going to kill us. We were in the Lost City, once called Chicago. "What are you doing?" I yell, kicking. "Kennedy and Elliot Jacks, you are chosen to lead the Governs and the Rebellious. You are to enter the Crisis."



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I zip back into reality, just in time to see the message I had earlier recorded. My face comes up on the screen. My dark purple hair, and my electric blue eyes. They look piercing, framed with eyeliner and a dark smudge of eyelashes. "Hello. I'm Kennedy Jacks, Rebellion leader. Over the next period of time, you will further get to know me. But, for now, I need to change my identity. Now, my name is Rebel Jacks." My picture dissolves into flames, our symbol. Elliot's picture cuts in, and my throat tightens.



"I am Elliot, leader of the Governs. To change myself, I am forgetting my last name for obvious reasons. I look forward to The Crisis." That last part cuts into me like a knife, a wound that can only be mended with time.