Invincible

The sweat. There was so much of it. Pouring down the faces of many children. Myself included. Slap slap slap, our shoes hit the cold, wet pavement. Puddles made everyone that much wetter as we ran through them.

The pattern of feet hitting the pavement almost made music. No one was paying attention to that. No one cared. Every single kid had only one thought. Run.

Running away from their parents, teachers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, librarians, and older siblings. We were no longer humans in the eyes of the adults.

They saw us as animals, animals that should be extinct. They were hunting us down. They didn't want any of us to be alive. We didn't want to die. So, we ran.

We didn't just run anywhere. There was this legend. It was a society run entirely by kids. That's where we were running to.

The legend started when I was a little girl.

_____________________________________

"Charlotte Cora Capello!" Teddy Bear called.

Teddy Bear is my friend's nickname. His real name is Theodore Benson. He always would call me by my full name because it all starts with C.

"What, Teddy Bear?"

"Suzy Bear (Susana), Eli (Eliot), Princess (Anastasia), and I are planning on running away. We want to create our own city! One where only kids are allowed. Wanna come? The five of us will be famous!"

I loved my parents too much. I couldn't.

"Sorry, Teddy. My parents need me. How bout I visit sometime? Mommy could drive me."

"That wouldn't be aloud. No parent can know where we live. You can't trust them with that sort of stuff."

"Teddy, will you visit?"

"No, they might follow me."

"I'll miss you Teddy." I began to cry.

"We'll miss you too. Especially me. If you ever change your mind, go to the Hollow Tree. I'll leave directions for where we will be inside."

"Ok, Teddy." I sniffled.

He gave me one last sad glance and walked into the forest behind my house.

That was the last time I saw him.

_____________________________________

Back then, Teddy and I were real close. If he wouldn't have left, we would have been dating now. Instead, here we were. Me, forever single, still longing for Teddy Bear and him, probably living the life.

Over the next years, rumors were spreading. Teddy and the others were trying to recruit. They were pretty successful. In the next three years alone, 5,475 kids went missing. In elementary school, that meant enough kids to fill over 18 elementary schools.

Now, that we were being hunted down by parents I recruited most of the kids in our state who were still alive. There were about 93 of us. We were heading toward the society formed by my friends. Together, when we combined forces, we would equal around 5,600 kids.

"Sawette? Wi you cawy me?" a cute little boy about two years old poked me.

"Of course, Adrian." I smiled and picked up the little boy.

His curly hair was matted from his sweat. I remembered when I first saw him. He was only 6 months old. I had taken him from his parents who were going to kill him. Since I didn't know his name, I got to name him. So, knowing his last name was Riese, I tried to find a name that would sound good and I would also like.

That's when I came up with Adrian Archibald. As far as Adrian knew, I was his mom. I told him that I did not give birth to him but I was still his mommy anyways. I was the closest he would get.

His innocent blue eyes searched mine, "Why is da woad wed?"

I poked his freckled nose, "A red road? Let me check this out."

All the other kids had stopped. Some were crouched down looking intently at the road. Others were crying silently. The last few people were comforting the criers.

I joined the crouch-ers by crouching down and inspecting the road. I looked deep and I sniffed. The smell hit me like a bullet to a heart. Blood. A bloody road.

What had made this road so bloody? It stretched farther than my eyes could see. Who all had died to make this drenched road? It was so long too, no visible patches of black.

I stood up and announced, "We have to investigate. C'mon. We must continue down this road."

The kids got up and together we walked onward. One thought crossed my mind as I looked at the directions. This was the last leg of our journey. What if something bad happened to Teddy? I don't think I would have been able to stand it.

Adrian squirmed in my arms, "Sawette?"

I looked up, a black cloud of smoke filled the air ahead of us. I took one tentative step ahead. A sudden darkness filled the air. Screams were heard, they were coming from everywhere.

Black smoke and so much of it could only mean one thing. Something big was burning. The town. There was no other explanation.

I quickly ran to my side. I bumped into someone. I had no clue who it was but by the feel of it, it was a kid around my age.

"Here, take Adrian! I need to investigate."

"Ok." a male voice said.

I ran forward. Teddy, Teddy, Teddy, where are you? I looked about and sudden burst of orange, red, yellow, and blue came. Fire. I kept running. I was looking for signs of life.

As I ran along I started to see figures of burning things. Buildings, corpses, water supplies, everything and anything that could burn. I wasn't really looking for burning stuff though. I was looking for signs of life.

Suddenly, I heard a cough. I turned to it and began to run. Finally, I found the source. It was a body covered in ash.

"I was standing guard." he said when he saw me. "Look behind me. In that building is all the living. It's too late for me but save them."

"Eli?"

"Yes, it's me. Who are you?"

"I'm Charlotte."

"Charlotte Cora Capello?"

"The very one."

"I'm glad you've finally decided to join us."

"Me too, me too." I whispered and with that, Eliot closed his eyes forever.

I choked back my tears. There were living. I had to save them. Breathing in all the ash could not be good. I already was beginning to cough.

I turned the door knob and walked inside. There were a whole bunch of people huddled together in a corner. One person was standing up trying to comfort the others. I smiled. I liked that guy.

"Hello?" I called out.

The figure turned. His eyes widened and suddenly, he smiled.

"Charlotte?! Is that you?"

"Yes," I said coming closer.

Suddenly, I recognised his features. That dark brown hair, his firm eyebrows, his cute smile, his pointy nose, his gentle hands. This could only be one person.

"Teddy Bear!" I ran up to him and gave him a huge hug.

"Charlotte," he laughed, "We've missed you. I've missed you."

I nodded, "I've missed you too."

"Eliot, why didn't he come in? He was supposed to come in when it got bad."

"He died." I gulped, "What about Susana and Anastasia?"

"Dead." He said simply while leaving his head down.

"Oh no…"

Teddy nodded. I hugged him tighter. He finally looked me in the eyes. I saw weakness, he was scared and had lost all hope. No, this wasn't the Teddy Bear I once knew.

"C'mon." I said confidently. "I'm going to get you all out of here. We will meet up with my children. They are all waiting outside this town. They'll be welcoming."

"How many?" Teddy asked.

I knew what he meant. How many kids.

"There are about 93 kids. Not including me. How many are there of you?"

"About 89, including me." Teddy sighed.

"Alright, that's about 182 kids." I said quickly doing the math in my head.

"That's such a small number." Teddy complained.

"Enough though. There are only 119 adults in our state." I said firmly.

"What does that matter? They are strong. We are weak. We are just sitting ducks."

"Come with me. Trust me, I have a plan."

"Besides coming here?"

"Of course, it was part of the long term plan anyways."

Teddy nodded and we headed for my kids. My mind was active. I had a plan brewing.

_____________________________________

The first thing I did upon arriving was hug Adrian. They were all camping out in the grass around the bloody road.

The second thing I did was turn to Teddy, "Why is this road bloody?"

"We had a guard set up but they would not have produced this much blood. It's a mystery to us too."

"Then I guess this bloody road will remain a mystery." I nodded.

I stood up and cleared my throat, "Kids of all ages. We are gathered together with the remains of two groups of kids. One group is a group of kids from the state who managed to survive the mass slaughterings of the adults. The other group is kids who came from the remains of the shattered kids only society."

A collective gasp arose from the unknowing children who had been camping here.

"I know, I know. The adults burnt down the city. They found our strength and made it our weakness. I stand here in front of you all. You kids with no hope left in your hearts. And I tell you what, you should not give up hope yet."

"You!" I said pointing to the group of kids who came from the burned city.

"What are you waiting for? No one's going to help us! We're alone in this."

"And you!" I shouted pointing to my group of kids.

"What are we running for? There's nowhere left to run to. They've burnt down our only hope! They've unjustly shattered our dreams! We've got the right to be angry!"

A shouted "Yeah!" came from all the kids.

"So what are we waiting for? Now's the time to take action! We've got to face our enemy! It's a do or die situation! They'll kill us as quick as they would take a shower! We've got to help ourselves. It's the only way things are going to get better for us!"

There was another shout of approval from the crowd. I had to admit, this felt good. Real good.

"And you know what?" I asked building excitement, "We will be better than the adults! We will work together as a team. Unified! We will not sacrifice each other as they do on a daily basis! We will set an example of what good citizens should be like. For once, we will teach the adults a lesson and they will have to listen! We will scream, shout, and fight back until we are satisfied! Until children are once again accepted and protected!

"We will no longer be those innocent little kids! We can't afford that. They'd tear us to pieces! We have to show our strength that I know we all have. We are (and should be) confident!

"We have what it takes, they will be begging for mercy! With our immense power of conviction, and our other traits, we WILL be invincible! We WILL win the war. And we WILL prosper! It's ours for the taking! Let's show the adults that it is not alright to mess with us! We will not let them walk all over us! We will not die! We WILL live!"

A great big cheer of hope, excitement, and joy erupted. They were cheering for me. I motivated them. ME! I couldn't believe it. Then again, I always knew I had it in me, and I played to their emotions and logic.

I also had credibility. I had gotten most of them this far hadn't I? So far, I was proving to be just what they needed. I think they liked that. They were cheering and shouting my name. They were enthused about my ideas. They were ready to start the fight.

Maybe we had hope after all.