I woke up sweaty and startled from an intense dream that I can't seem to remember. I'm nearly positive that it's the same dream that's been waking me up for the past few weeks, and it always leaves me clueless. I couldn't get over the fact that the dream seemed like it was on the tip of my tongue. As if there should be something that I needed to remember.​
​ I looked around my room. It was still dark out, but I knew that if I fell back to sleep I would be woken up again by my usual nightmare. I quietly got out of bed and changed into a gray t-shirt and pair of jeans. I slipped on my tennis shoes and cracked my door open. I looked around before I decided that nobody was there and I could sneak out of my cramped room.
​ I walked down the hallways, cautiously looking in every direction. I was slowly inching toward the exit of this prison. I could already see the doors. One more step and I would be there; I would be able to have fresh air. Then the hopefulness that I built up dissipated into nothing as a gun was stabbed into my spine.
"Ow!" I whispered loudly as I slowly put my hands over my head.​
​"If you didn't want this to happen you shouldn't have left your cabin," said a harsh voice. I turned around and was surprised to be greeted by a boy not much older than me.
​ "I just wanted some fresh air. I hardly ever get to go outside this prison," I scolded him.
​ "This isn't a prison. It's a building to protect you and everyone else from the outside. And you get plenty of fresh air every—"
​ "If this isn't a prison then why are you pointing a gun at me?"
​"What?"
​ "If this place is not a prison, why are you pointing that stupid gun at me?" I repeated more slowly and clearly with the same annoyance.
​ He paused for a second in thought but quickly dismissed the idea when he couldn't think of an answer and said angrily, "Just go back to your cabin now or I'll tell the nightly patrol to lock your door every night." He hesitated and his voice lightened a little. "What's your name? I need to know in case you sneak out again."
​ "My name is Autumn Rose," I sighed as I turned to go to my cabin.
PERPLEXTION
CHAPTER ONE
AUTUMN
CHAPTER TWO
​
AUTUMN
​ A sound like thunder startled me out of the book I was reading. The metal door shook under the pressure of my friend's fist making contact with it. I rushed out of bed and opened the door. The girl came barging in and jumped on my messy bed. I slowly closed the door as I watched my overly hyperactive friend bounce up and down.
​ "I heard what happened last night," she started to say once the door was closed. Her hazel eyes sparkled with curiosity. "What where you thinking?"
​ "What are you talking about?" I asked, knowing the truth.
​ "Oh, come on. You think I don't know that you tried to sneak out of this place," her shoulder length brown hair swayed back and forth with every shake of her head. "To be honest I think everyone here already knows. So, why did you try to leave?"
​ I bounced down next to her as I groaned, "You know how much I hate this place Heather. I'm stuck in here doing nothing all the time. I hardly ever get to go outside." She began to stare at me warily. "What's wrong?" I wondered.
​ "Are you okay? You look horrible." I got up to look at myself in the mirror. My brown hair was an enormous rat's nest. Bags haunted my blue eyes, and the usual white in my eyes had turned a light pink.
​ "I'm just really tired."
​ "Okay," she said, letting the discussion drop even though she knew that there was more. "Let's go eat then."
​ We both got up and left my cabin. We walked down the hallway into the stainless steel cafeteria. We grabbed our trays and went around the buffet full of different kinds of disgusting food. I ended up with two pieces of bread in the attempt to avoid the variety of slops.
​ "Well, that's something different, " Heather stated sarcastically as she glanced at the pieces of bread I took.
​ "Sorry, I really don't want that disgusting sludge that you are eating."
​ "First of all it's not sludge; it's called oatmeal. And second of all it's actually good. You should try it."
​ "I'll pass," I groaned.
​ "Okay, your choice. You can just eat bread for breakfast the rest of your life," she said as we sat down at an empty table. I started eating my bread and noticed the guy that caught me.
​ "Heather, look. It's the boy that made me go back to my room last night," I whispered as I nodded my head in his direction and she looked over.
​ "Him? He's kinda cute isn't he?" she responded loudly with her mouth full.
​ "Shhh! Be quiet. The whole building can hear you. And stop looking; that's weird."
​ "He's looking at us!" she squealed.
​ "What?!?" I looked over through the corner of my eye and sure enough he was looking right at us and even walking towards us. I quickly looked away and began to shovel food into my mouth in a sad attempt to avoid him. A tray was slapped onto our table, and I looked up irritated to see the boy.
​ "Autumn, right? You know, when you're trying to go somewhere without being caught, you really should be more quiet."
​ I chewed my food and continued to look up at him in surprise because of the kindness in his voice, but I quickly recovered. I glared at him for several seconds before I responded, "What are you doing?"
​ "I'm sitting; is that a problem?" he replied, undaunted by my glare.
​ I turned back to my food in attempt to ignore the person sitting right next to me. The stale bread tasted blander than usual with the person that I now hated beside me. The awkward silence bore down on me, making me feel even more annoyance and hatred for the brown haired boy.
​ "By the way, my name is Warren," he broke the silence.
​ I looked up and stared daggers at him as I spoke. "Well, hi Warren. I wish I could say that it was nice to meet you, but it's not."
​ "Wow, harsh. You know it isn't my fault that I had to make you go back to your room last night. I was just following orders."
​ "Really? Can't you disobey your orders at least once!" I paused then and quietly stated, "You don't know how claustrophobic I feel in those cabins and in this building; it's horrible." I glanced down in my sorrow and self-pity.
​ "Then you should try joining the Patrol; you could be outside more," he said, trying to raise my spirit.
​ I lifted my head up and saw him studying me, but he quickly looked down at his hands. I looked away and pleaded, " Please, please just leave." Looking hurt, he got up and left without a word.
​ A few minutes later Heather broke the silence and stated with sarcasm. "Autumn, I'm mad at you. You ruined my chances at dating Warren once you started yelling."
​ "Not that you would ever date him or anyone soon; you just like the idea," I replied. This was true because Heather still seemed immature both mentally and physically. However, she only acted a year or two younger than our actual age of fifteen .
​ "True, but still, in the future there was a slight possibility."
​ "You can just keep telling yourself that," I said with a smirk as she returned the smile and pushed me.
​ "You really should join the Patrol though. I think it would be good for you." I looked at her and my smile fell.
​ "Yah, I really don't think so."
"Why not?" she wondered as the freckles on her forehead blended together and her eyebrows moved downward.
"I don't know. I just don't think it's my sort of thing."
"How about you do the training just for a week, and I'll even try it with you," she tried to compromise.
"I don't know, but I guess I'll think about it as long as you stop bothering me," I stated, annoyed.
✵ ✵ ✵
​
ADEN
​
​ It has been almost a month since they took her, and I still can't figure out which one of their campouts they placed her in. I unconsciously swept my blonde hair back, which is a habit of mine when I'm worried or nervous. I was walking in the direction where I thought I saw the Jeeps go after they took her. I tried following them, but now it seems like I am just walking in circles. I kept seeing the same stump over and over again everyday for the past week.
​ The look in her eyes the last time I saw her still haunts me, getting me up everyday because of the guilt and pity I feel for her. Those blue eyes filled with desperation and fear as she screamed for me to go and I obeyed. That was my biggest mistake; I left her.
​ The faint sound rushing of water reminded me how thirsty I was. I listened and tried to locate the source. In a few minutes, I was soon refreshed by the cool stream of water that I found. I slowly looked up from the water and noticed some car tracks in the mud. I walked over and saw that the tracks were still wet, indicating that it was a fresh lead. So, I grabbed my things and followed.
CHAPTER THREE
​
AUTUMN
I was startled awake from my dream and was even more surprised when I recalled something. I heard it ringing over and over in my head. It was my voice, screaming a name at the top of my lungs: Aden. I don't know who it is or what it means, but I have this strange desire to find him. That is, if he actually exists. But all I know is that I need to find him.
​ Loud knocking startled me, and I remembered that today was the first day of training. I rushed to put on some boots and the uniform that was assigned to each person in training. I opened my door and crashed into Warren's chest.
"Hey," he said sweetly as he looked down at me.
​ I shivered as warmth rushed through my body. I scolded myself. I shouldn't be feeling this way about him. I glared at him and didn't respond.
​ "What's wrong?" he said in the same voice but with added worry.
​ "You," I stated as I backed away from him before he could notice my discomfort from being so close to him. He rolled his eyes as he moved to let me start walking to the training room.
​ "You're going the wrong way," he laughed.​ With my arms crossed, I turned around and went the other direction. And unfortunately for me, Warren decided to follow.
​ "Why do you hate me so much?" he frowned.
​ "You know why." I looked over at him and noticed him studying my face.
​ "Can't you give me another chance?" he pleaded.
​ I paused in thought and sighed, "I'll think about it." He smiled in response and gestured to the door that led to the training area. I opened the door and was surprised by the size of the room. It held a gun range, a fighting rink and even a full sized running track. There were also some other utilities and training areas that I didn't even recognize. However, when I saw Heather I quickly made my way to her, happy I could finally get rid of Warren.
"Heather!" I called and waved to get her attention. My voice echoed, and everyone in the room turned towards me. Embarrassed, I quickly lowered my hand. And Warren, who I forgot was behind me, laughed. I turned around and glared at him.
​ "Finally you're here." Heather walked towards me. "Did you wake up late? Because it should only take a minute to get here from your room."
​ "I might've taken her the long way," Warren smirked guiltily.
​ I glared at him. "I thought I was going the right way!" Heather looked at me, shocked by the information she was just now receiving. She then glanced up with a smirk and looked between me and him as if asking if I liked him now. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. My answer was a defiant no, which she most likely didn't believe.
​ "So, who's training us?" I asked Warren
​ He looked up at me and smiled. "I am."
​ "Well let's get on with this then." I rolled my eyes.
​ Warren gathered up all the people and started telling us what we were going to do today. We were going to start out with running, then shooting, and last fighting. We walked to the track; Warren was behind everyone and Heather was next to me. Everyone was now ready to run the two miles.
Warren went to the side of the track and called out, "Take your marks, go!"
​ I sprinted ahead of everyone and felt the most free I have felt in well as long as I can remember. I was now at least ten yards in front of everyone else, now fifteen, twenty. But at the second lap I started slowing down. I passed Warren. He noticed my tiredness and gave me a disapproving frown.
​ He called out, "Come on Autumn, you got this!"
Confidence rushed through me. I started running faster again and I knew I could do this. I knew that I could keep running at the same fast pace and I knew I could finish the two miles. I didn't want to admit it, but Warren seemed to give me confidence and he made me want to impress him. I didn't want to have any feelings for him, but how could I not when he was acting like this to me? He was being so charming and cute; it was nearly impossible to keep my act up for much longer. I wanted to pretend like I hated him, but I don't think I could. I was still sprinting ahead and now even lapping people. "I only have one more lap. Come on," I told myself. "Now I only have twenty five yards left."
​ I crossed the finish line and looked over at Warren. He smiled at me proudly and said, "Good job! I thought you were going to give up on the second lap, but you pulled it through. How did you find all that energy?"
​ "No clue," I lied.
​ "Okay," he responded with a hint of suspicion his voice.
​ Heather finished forth and came up to me and Warren. "Warren, do you mind if Autumn and I have a little discussion?" she asked.
​ "Sure, go right ahead," he chuckled.
​ We walked behind a wall to talk in private. "Okay, I thought you and I were good enough friends were you would tell me if or when you like somebody," she started.
​ "What are you talking about?"
​ "You think I didn't see you staring at Warren almost the whole time while you were running?"
​ "Wait, what? I was staring at him?" I was perplexed; I could barely believe it. I didn't even recall looking at him.
​ "You didn't even know that you liked him or even that you were looking at him, did you?" she giggled.
​ "No, yes, I don't know." I sighed.
​ "Okay, well, tell me when you know for sure."
​ I nodded my head in response. We came out from behind the wall and almost laughed when I saw Warren trying to eavesdrop even though he was too far away to hear anything we were saying. We walked back to where everyone else was, and Warren started to give instructions about how to shoot a gun. Heather gave me a confused look because she didn't understand what Warren was saying very well because she didn't know any of the parts of the gun. Once he finished, he handed us some handguns and headphones. Then we walked over to the range. The range had benches for us to sit at, and farther out there were targets, the type that were shaped like bodies.
​ "You may begin," Warren called out. I stood up and held the gun in my hand and made sure the scoop lead up with what would be the heart of the target. BOOM! My gun was the first to go off, and I hit the center of the target's chest. It felt so normal to shoot, almost like something I haven't done in a while but I pick it up still know how to do it again right away. I caulked and pulled the trigger. Once again I hit the target's chest. I kept repeating my process, and each time I was hitting the target in the same place. Warren looked over at me in shock. I was way too good for what should be my first time shooting, since they only allow the soldiers and patrol to have a gun or even shoot a gun. The rest of the people in the room were lucky if they had even hit the board.
​ Warren walked over to me. "How are you so good?"
​ "I don't know, maybe just beginner's luck?"
​ "Beginner's luck doesn't go as far to shoot six bullets in the heart," he stated so quiet I could barely hear him
​ "I honestly don't know. It just felt normal to me, okay?"
​ "Okay," he said warily. "Come with me then." I obeyed. We walked silently to a shed and he pushed in the numbers 2776 into a keypad. I could hear a click of the shed unlocking and he opened the door.
​ "Wow," I said in awe. Inside there were dozens of different types of guns. There were sniper rifles, handguns, rocket launchers, and even some high tech Electric Stinger guns. He grabbed a sniper rifle and some bullets and handed it to me. He then took me back to the range and pulled a lever that made my target go back by at least a hundred yards.
​ "Now try this," he said.
​ I nodded and took aim at the target, which was now one hundred and fifty feet away. I looked through the scoop and led the cross hairs up with the target on the silhouette's head. I slowly caulked the gun and breathed in and out; then when I breathed out, I pulled the trigger. My body jerked from the kick of the gun. However, when I looked at where the bullet should've hit, I saw a mark. I hit it. I smiled and looked at Warren, but he didn't return the smile; instead he looked at me cautiously.
​ "What's wrong?" I asked.
​ "Nothing," he said distractedly. He looked confused, like he was trying to solve a complicated problem. So I went back to my shooting and didn't miss any of the bullseyes.
​ "Time for a break," Warren yelled out. "Nobody leave. I need to talk to someone." Warren left and everyone sighed in relief for the break.
​ "What was that about?" Heather asked, referring to Warren's sudden absence.
​ "I don't know," I responded.
✵ ✵ ✵
​
Warren walked back into the room with a frown on his face. He looked angry and mad. After that Warren called us to the fighting rink. He showed us some moves and then put two boys in the rink. One boy easily beat the other by getting him in a headlock. After that Warren called up Heather and another girl named Ash. Heather was barely defending herself from the other girl and was tiring quickly. She still hadn't thrown any punches. A second later Ash punched Heather straight in the face. Heather dropped to floor and I winced. She stayed on the ground until she could call it a quit. Ash pulled Heather up and apologized. Heather limped out of the rink exhausted. I patted her on the back and helped her walk to a bench.
​ Warren called out, "Autumn and Rebecca." I walked up and got inside of the rink. I looked at Warren and he looked at me with no emotion at all. I was devastated. What could've changed between now and earlier when he was being extremely friendly. Did I do something wrong?
​ I was so distracted that I didn't realize the match had already begun, and my wake up call was a fist to my face. I fell backward but got back up right away. I was now ready. She tried punching me, but I grabbed her hand and arm. I then pulled her over me and she flung to the ground. She groaned in pain.
​ "Sorry," I whispered.
​ She got back up and she lunged to punch me, but I ducked and kicked her legs out from under her. She landed face first and I winced. I waited for her to get up again but she didn't, signifying that she gave up. After five seconds I tried to help her up, but she just flung my hand out of the way. After everyone fought, Warren told us that we were done for today.
​ Heather and I left together. "You might want to put some ice on that," I recommended to her.
​ "Don't worry I will; it hurts like crazy." She said as she rubbed the discolored lump on the side her jaw.
I looked down and sighed as we walked to the cafeteria. I wish I knew what happened that changed Warren's idea of me so quickly. I wanted to know so badly. Should I just ask him? No, that would be awkward and weird. I looked behind me unconsciously searching for Warren. Shockingly he was a few feet behind me not paying any attention to me what so ever. I groaned; I really wished he would pay attention to me.
This was one of my first books that I tried to write and the first one I got farther than three chapters. However, because the book is so old, there are many errors and the plot isn't as original as my other books. Also be warned that this book is not finished and is unlikely to ever be finished.
CHAPTER FOUR
​
WARREN
Don't look at her. Don't look at her. Why is it so hard not to look at Autumn? I can't trust her; she's them. Not that she remembers that, but still I can't trust her. Ugh, why is it so hard not to look at her! Why does she have to be hard for me to resist?!? I looked up at her unconsciously, and groaned in anger when I realized what I did. I then locked my eyes on the ground in attempt to avoid looking at her.
I realized who she really was when see seemed so good at everything. People don't have that kind of skill naturally, she was trained and it defiantly wasn't here. The General told me nearly everything and that was enough. I knew I couldn't trust her or even get close to her now that I knew who she was.
The cafeteria was in chaos as usual. There were people everywhere talking so loudly I couldn't think. I kept checking on Autumn every few seconds. But only because that's what the Supreme General told me to do. I got in line and made sure I was a few people behind Autumn. Once I grabbed all my food I sat down a few tables away from her. I looked around the cafeteria so I wasn't starring at her the whole time.
"Hey," I looked up and saw that it was only Hunter and Jordan.
"Hey" I responded to them as they sat down across from me. I was kind of annoyed with them because now I couldn't see Autumn as well. At least if I look in her direction people might just think I'm looking at my friends. I looked down at my plate and started eating.
✵ ✵ ✵
AUTUMN
I looked up at Warren who was talking to his friends. He was a few tables across from me facing towards but was ignoring me by what I could tell.
"Ugh," I sighed in annoyance. Why isn't he looking at me? What could I do to make him look at me? Maybe staring? It's worth a try. Maybe it will work? I started to stare at him.
Heather who was sitting across from me then gave me an odd look; her forehead wrinkled and it seem like she was saying, What the heck? I looked at her guiltily and embarrassed.
She looked behind her then looked back at me but now her face was relaxed and she rolled her eyes, "Yeah, you don't like him at all," she said as sarcasm dripped off of the words she spoke.
I sighed and said. "I'm trying to get his attention. I want to see if he's ignoring me totally."
"Oh, ok," she said elongating each word she pronounced while shaking her head.
I looked back towards Warren. My heart did a back flip. He was looking at me! He quickly looked away avoiding my gaze. But a few seconds later he looked back up at me. I took this time to try to non-verbally ask him what happened, it didn't turn out well. I cocked my head side ways and put my hands up and mouthed, "What happened earlier?"
He shook his head and looked down at his plate. Dang it, what should I do? Ha! I have the perfect idea, act like Warren. I smirked and started to get up from my seat.
"I need to talk to someone," I informed Heather.
"Well if your talking to Warren, count me in." she got up and followed me. I groaned in disagreement but still let her tag along.
✵ ✵ ✵
WARREN
I was intently staring at my food tray still in attempt not to make eye contact with Autumn when Hunter and Jordan laughed. I looked up at them curious wondering what they were laughing at. After a second of looking at them I noticed people who weren't there before were siting next to me. I looked over; startled I jumped. With no coordination and a lack of grace, I fell out of my seat onto the floor. I was now looking up at Autumn who was only about and inch away from me and trying not to laugh. I looked on the other side of me and saw Heather, Autumn's best friend. I exhaled loudly and slouched in defeat.
"What do you want," I was surprised by how my voice sounded. My voice inflected that I didn't want them here; of course this was only half true. I wanted her here but my common sense was telling me that I didn't want to grow close to her. I now think it's too late for that but the best way to stop each other from getting close is to pretend that I disliked her.
"What happened earlier?" she asked only sounding slightly disappointed by how I was acting towards her.
"I found out the truth," I said flatly. I was nervous because if I told her the truth who knows what would happen? Who knows how she would respond? But I knew either way it wouldn't end well.
"The truth?" She and everyone else at the table gave me a questioning look. "What do mean by that?"
"Your lucky I even told you that," I stood up and walked away.
​
✵ ✵ ✵
AUTUMN
I got up from my seat and made eye contact with Heather. I held out my hand to stop her from following me. I chased after Warren.
"Warren, what did you mean?" I said once I caught up with him.
"I can't tell you," his voice was hard and emotionless as he kept walking, his back faced towards me.
"Please, you can trust me," I pleaded.
At that moment he turned around, "No, that's the problem I can't trust you," his voice cracked on the last syllable and for a second I could see his real feelings surface; hurt and desperation. After a split second he regained his stoic expression.
"What did I do?" I whispered.
"Ugh! I told you already. I can't tell you!" He sighed, "I wish I could tell you, I really do." He tuned back around and continued walking as I stood in the same place, wondering what I did to hurt him.