I whipped around. Was there something there? I couldn’t see through the inky black, couldn’t see anything. My pulse raced, my breath came in and out too fast. I had to breathe, had to breathe. Couldn’t fall now. Now that I was so close, so close to success. If I failed now, would they let me come back? Would I ever be accepted again? Could I even show my face before them? How could I do this? My breath came faster, my pulse raced harder. I reached maximum capacity. Blacker than black, and I fainted.

“Indigo! Indigo? Indigo?!?!” I shot up in bed and instantly felt a rush of pain, and fell back. I slowly rolled over to see who was calling my name. Chen. He was the 22 year old who ran the apothecary at our mountaintop sanctuary. It was cold and windy here all the time, with more than enough rain, which is often snow or sleet. Somehow a population of strong willed clover flourished around the paths. It was barren of all other plants and consisted of stones, boulders, pebbles... basically rocks. And more rocks. But who am I to complain? The Tip, our little cluster of buildings, is the only home I have ever known. The dining hall the only place I eat. The Bunkhouse the only place I have ever slept, besides the occasional camping trip or mission. I’ve never gone farther than five miles from here, at least that I know of. I wasn’t born here, but I don’t know much of my past. I roll over to look at Chen.

My memories start two years ago, when I remember waking up to this same dark, African face. They told me they found me about 20 miles away, delusional and dehydrated.  When I woke up, I didn’t feel dehydrated, but I took their word for it. I trusted them. They took me in, and probably saved my life. They’ve protected me ever since, and given me everything I needed to live. I had to trust them, because I had nowhere else to go. I’d made friends- my bunk mate Haylee was a bit rambunctious, but I liked her. And Chen and I had bonded over the fact that we both were basically alone in the world.

“What happened?” I asked Chen, my voice coming out weakly.
“Found you passed out about a mile from the path. Hit your head, but not bad. It’s just a bump. You’ll be fine, but I want you to stay overnight to make sure it doesn’t swell too badly.”
“Thanks.” I said, smiling at him. “Sorry I went off alone. I saw something weird in that part of the forest and I went over to check it out. Guess I ran too hard and freaked or something…”
“It’s ok. You should get your rest. I have some papers too fill out about your injury. Sleep well.” He stood up and with one look back and a gentle smile, walked into his connected room and office. He didn’t let anybody in there, so nobody knew what he did in there. Chen was pretty secretive. He disappeared through his door, and I fell back into my bed. I was so tired. Guess I would take the chance and sleep. I closed my eyes and let myself drift into sleep.
  “We’ve found her!” a voice exclaims. “Some sort of mountain top camp. Type of resistance they believe.” An image of our camp flashes. Soldiers marching up the path. The life I’d always known destroyed along with our futures. Ruin and pain and hopelessness.
I woke in a cold sweat. Chen was standing over me, looking quizzically down at me.
“Are you all right? You were breathing pretty hard.” Chen asked. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and sat up.
“I saw something. I need to talk to Matthew. Now.” I said urgently, and swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. I saw Chen open his mouth to protest but close it and nod. He knew that I wouldn’t over exaggerate something like a vision, or request to see Matthew unless necessary. He helped me stand and we walked out of the apothecary together.
Matthew, the leader of The Tip, looked at me in horror. I’d just explained to him what I had seen. His face hardened and he said,
“We have to get out. I can’t let that happen to us. Did you see what time they came?”
“It was dark. I don’t always see colors very well, so I could be wrong…”
“But we might want to assume the worst. It’s about noon now…We could probably be on the move before dark tonight.” He turned to Chen. “Start getting the medicines packed. Bring as much as you can. Indigo, get everyone in the dining hall as fast as you can.” He waved a hand at us, and we ran out of his cabin to our separate tasks.
Twenty minutes later, everyone except for Chen, who was still packing his medicines, was gathered in the dining hall and Matthew was explaining what I had seen. I was standing next to Haylee, who was gripping my arm tight. She was unusually quiet and kept looking at me anxiously.
“Was it really bad?” She whispered to me. I shrugged and looked around the room to see many more worried faces. Leaving was going to be hard on everyone, especially so suddenly. I snapped my attention back to Matthew, who was now discussing the journey with some of the grownups, including Haylee’s parents. Her mother kept looking back at her with sad eyes. I was almost jealous of Haylee for having her family around her all the time. But I had everyone here. And if I wanted to keep that I had to get to work.
  Three hours later, everyone was standing at the top of the path with heavy backpacks and whatever else they were bringing. My head was pounding. A lot was being left behind, but we had to get out. It was silent as we all looked back at the group of buildings which some of us had lived our entire lives in. Finally, Matthew broke the silence, and yelled for everyone to move. He went down the path first. Haylee and I fell in step with Chen near the back. We walked in silence, but there was chatter all around us. People were afraid, but the overall feel of the group was pretty relaxed.  We were going down a path that was heading down the west side of the mountain, towards the city. The sun was surprisingly out, but it was still chilly. I could see my breath in front of me, and watch it float up towards the clear, pale blue sky. Boots crunched on the tiny rocks that made up the path. My eyes flew over patches of clover that bordered the path and I inhaled their sweet scent. Haylee pointed out a bird flying high over our heads. I turned my head towards the front of the pack and saw Matthew deep in conversation with some of the other leaders. I saw them glance back towards us a couple times as we walked on. Was something wrong? Chen had noticed it too, and we exchanged a worried glance. Haylee was totally oblivious, completely lost in her own thoughts and twirling her staff. She was getting so close to her head that her short brown hair blew back every time she passed it, but she was so skilled I knew she wouldn’t hit herself even if she wasn’t concentrating. Haylee had tried to teach me to fight once, but it didn’t really work out. I didn’t think I needed to know how, and I could hunt well enough with knives and spears. It might have been helpful now though, especially if we ran into trouble.
By nightfall we had reached the edge of the woods that covered the bottom of the mountain. We traveled a little off the path, since that’s where I’d seen the soldiers. We found a little stream to refill water, and then everyone huddled in a little copse of trees, silent. Fear laced the air. My head ached. Chen, Haylee and I went a little closer to the path to watch for soldiers. Everything looked familiar for some reason. It must have been in what I’d seen. We crouched behind some bushes, and huddled together, we waited.
We waited for a long time. Or at least it felt like it. We were huddled together behind a thick line of bushes, our bodies tense. We heard them before we saw them. Footsteps, amour clanging, horses. A ton of soldiers rounded the corner in full amour. Some of it shined despite the dim light, some was older and duller. Swords, staffs, longbows and cross bows, daggers and spears hung off belts and rested over shoulders. Wagons full of food and supplies followed the small army. Soldiers laughed and talked as if they were having a day at the fair and officers rode white horses through the ranks. As they got closer we could hear snippets of their talk.
“Finally found her…We’ll kill em’...Wonder if she saw…terrorists in the mountains…” Terrorists? I turn to Chen and Haylee wide eyed. They both refused to meet my eyes. Suddenly I’m angry. Did they know we were terrorists? Were we terrorists? Why didn’t anyone tell me? Wasn’t the fact that you were a terrorist kind of major? Once the soldiers were out of earshot, I turned to Haylee and Chen and demanded answers.
“Are we actually terrorists? Did you know?” They looked at each other. Finally Chen spoke.
“Yeah.” At my horrified look he hastily added “But we don’t kill mass amounts of people. Just little stuff against the government. That’s what most of the people go on missions for. Not hunting. They steal from the governments supply so you wouldn’t find out. I joined after my parents were killed in a war against your country. I wanted revenge. I guess I was a bit crazy at that point, but after I came to my senses, they wouldn’t let me out. And I had nowhere to go or anyone to go with. I’m so sorry.” He whispered, and looked like he meant it.
“What about you?” I said turning to Haylee.
“I was born into it. I don’t want to leave my parents, so I wouldn’t leave even if I could. And I agree with what they believe. I don’t like the government either; it’s what I’ve grown up on.”
I nod then say.
“I want to follow the soldiers.”
“What?! Are you crazy?” Chen asks.
“I just want to know more. And find out who they were talking about finding.”
“I can tell you that.” Haylee says so quietly I can barely hear her, and I freeze.
“You know?” I ask. She nods slightly and takes a deep breath.
“You.” She says and looks at me with such intensity I jerk back. “You weren’t lost and alone. You were a seer for the capital, but we wanted one. So you were traveling through these woods with some soldiers and we took you. Killed the soldiers and wiped your memory. It worked, so we had hurt the capital and gained a seer. Overall it was a successful mission for us.” I gaped at her.
“You kidnapped me? I was just a mission? A way to hurt the capital? Something to be stolen? Is that really how you think of me? I thought we were friends! I can’t believe I actually fell for this!” But things were starting to come together. Why I didn’t feel sick when I first woke up. Why they didn’t let me go far from the camp alone. It explained Matthew’s decision to run instead of fight when he found out they were coming, even though we probably could have taken them. The way Haylee was looking at me in the dining hall. How the leaders were talking and looking at me earlier today. Suddenly a thought occurred to me. I turned to glare at Chen.
“Were you the one who wiped my memory? You would be the only one who knew how to make something like a memory drug.” Chen’s avoidance of my eyes gave me the answer. I groaned and dropped onto the ground with my head in my hands. It was too much. And I had to get out of here. I was basically a captive, and who knows what they’d do to me if they found out that I knew. My attention suddenly turned to Haylee. She was loyal to them. What if she told?
“Haylee?” I whispered my voice faint.
“Yeah?” She sounded regretful like she wished she hadn’t told me, which she probably did.
“You’ll let me get out right? You won’t let them keep me here?” She sighed shakily but finally, reluctantly nodded. I wrapped my arms around her. I knew it must be hard for her to let me go and betray her family.
“Thank you.” I whispered gently. Although she had lied to me, I would still miss her. I had no idea where I could go, or what I would do, but I stood up and shouldered my backpack. I knew I didn’t want to go towards the soldiers because my life as a seer for the capital probably wasn’t great. I guessed I would continue down the mountain. As I moved towards the path, Chen called out
“Indigo! Wait!” I looked back. He ran to me. “I’m coming with you. I’ve wanted to get out since I joined and you shouldn’t be out by yourself.” I nod. Nothing could surprise me after tonight. He hands some medicine to Haylee for the rest of the group. She has tears on her cheeks, but I know she wants to stay with her parents and the rest of the group.
“You know I’m going to have to tell them right? I’m so sorry.” She whimpers
“We know. Bye Haylee.” I lift a hand and give her a weak smile, and feel tears coming to my eyes too. She lifts a hand too and returns my smile. We turn our separate ways and Chen and I start down the path going east, instead of west.