The Luminosity Series (Book 1): Luminosity (28 page)

“Evan!” I screamed. But there was no time. I made a
beeline across the street, crawling underneath a deserted car as their boots
surrounded him. All I could do was pray to myself they wouldn’t hurt him.

Seconds later, the men’s deep chortling and Evan’s
struggling grumbles echoed through the street. I pulled myself forward, enough
to peek around the tires. Beside Evan stood a large, tall man dressed in black.
He was grabbing the back of Evan’s collar, pulling him by his neck as he shoved
him against the car repeatedly. I squeezed my eyes shut as his head slammed
against the vehicle. Refusing to cry, I caught my breath in the moments that
passed, my vision flinging in every direction. Droplets of blood splattered
against the blacktop as Evan spit to the side, soon to be seared in flames.

“Please… just—just take what you want,” he begged in a
desperate attempt to get rid of them. The tall man laughed as the others
approached him, searching the two duffle bags of supplies we carried. Each of
them wore bandanas, black leather and denim jackets, typical motorcycle attire.
It was unclear whether they were with the rebellion or not.

“Find the girl,” the tall man ordered, looking back to
the other three men. And in the seconds he turned his face, Evan collided his
knuckles into the man’s jaw.

“Aubrey, run!” he screamed as the men surrounded him,
kicking him to the pavement. And before I could pull myself to my feet, the man
stomped on Evan’s ankle. Evan bellowed out, coughing and whimpering in pain. I
cried out in desperation as I flung myself in the opposite direction, paralyzed
by his sharp cries.

I hadn’t gotten far enough away before the tightness
of a man’s grip prevailed. Gravity took over as I plunged to the blacktop on my
stomach, my lungs deflating upon impact. Then, the man pulled me up and spun me
around to face him. His hair was gray and long—his teeth rotted—the odor of his
smoky breath polluting the surrounding air. His yellowish grin was enough to
make anyone ill. I spit in his face, knowing it was my last defense. But
instead of getting angry, his eyes drifted across my face, his grim glances
signifying I was just an animal in his hunt for survival.

Behind me, gunfire exploded again. I panicked, scouting
past him as the other men pulled out their guns, forcing Evan to surrender. I
let out a nervous groan. The man grabbed me by my hair, dragging me toward the
group, my eyes watering from the exertion of his pull. He shoved me into Evan.
Evan caught me, nearly stumbling from the weight of my body.

“On your knees… both of you,” the tall man demanded.
Evan swallowed before looking to me. His forehead was bleeding, his vision
bloodshot and weak. I nodded at him in tears before we dropped to the ground. “Take
whatever we can use,” the man ordered. An exhale of discouragement left me while
the men took everything— our food, clothing, and medicine. “Alright, that’s
enough! Let’s get a move on! There’s plenty of houses that haven’t burned yet!”
the tall man shouted in a gruff voice. The others finished packing the items
into their storage compartments.

“Shouldn’t we take the girl?” one of the men whispered
in a provocative tone to the tall man. Fear sparked through me as the words slithered
from his tongue.

“Don’t you fucking touch her,” Evan spit out in a
warning, eyeballing the men standing over us. Then, without expecting it, they
laughed in a deep roar, grinning at me and raising a brow. I looked at the
concrete to avoid them, but I couldn’t ignore the fear.

“She’s not worth the trouble. She’d die out here
anyway. Now get moving!” the tall man said. I huffed in relief as they got back
on their motorcycles. Evan clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth in pain as the
growl of their engines flooded the street. We waited until they were out of
sight before moving again. After they fled, I lifted my body from the ground,
crouching next to him to help him up.

“Are you okay?” I asked, rocky from the adrenaline. He
coughed in a painful wince.

“This was my fault, Aubs...” he groaned.

“Let’s just—let’s just get out of here!” I squealed in
tears. I picked up the supply bags, swinging them over my shoulder. He flinched
as he limped to me, desperate to keep one foot in front of the other.

The fire from town continued to growl as I fought to
push us along. Evan was groggy, dizzy, and weak. He’d pass out from the pain
without the proper medication. I wanted to remain hopeful, but I was losing
faith within his weary glances.

“Maybe we should rest.”

“No, we—we can’t. It isn’t safe here,” he said between
coughs. I nodded to him, knowing he was right.

After the coast was clear, we walked for miles as the
cries in town came to a dead halt. He pushed through the pain as I let go of
everything. I wept for our families. For Jake, Janelle, Aaron, and everyone
whose lives were now questionable. I cried for the pity, the guilt, and the
shame that came with living. But I held onto the hope that it would all be over
soon—that we’d either find a way to survive, or we’d die. But I was determined
to keep fighting.

The sky cleared as we ventured forward, revealing a
bright moon through the auroras. We passed the remnants of barricades and
abandoned military trucks, navigating toward the land beyond the fallen wall. Nothing
but destruction remained.

We steered east toward my mother’s house before Evan
stopped to break. In an open field, he rested on a large boulder, letting the
pressure off his ankle. Only then could I see his injury was worse than I
thought.

The once raging fire burning in town now faded. The
smoke filled the sky in a heavy blanket of ash to our west. Evan’s breathing
was rough and shaky, the silence between disturbing me. He looked weaker and
paler than I’d ever seen him that night. Still, I battled the doubt inside.

“Don’t blame yourself for this, Ev…” I pressed my forehead
against his as his eyelids drooped from exhaustion.

“It’s okay. We’ll—We’ll be okay,” he said with a deep
sigh.

“They took everything from us…” I let a hopeless tear
drop down my cheek until it fell onto his arm.

“Not everything,” Evan staggered as his eyes returned
to me.

I pulled my head back, taken off guard by his comment,
observing as he reached for our bags. Inside the duffle bag, he revealed my
father’s compass. Behind it lied my mother’s diary, peeking out underneath an
old shirt of mine. The hollow wind hissed against the rocks as we faced one
another. Evan’s face lit up from the moonlight as his hair ruffled in the
breeze. I was grateful the pieces of my past remained, but it wouldn’t keep us
alive.

“Aubrey, look at me.” He mustered up his strength to
sit up straighter, gazing back at me. And within the scene of our burning town,
his determination returned. “This isn’t over, remember?” He swallowed as he
winced again. “Not yet. Not like this, okay?” Sweat beaded across his forehead
as I nodded, convincing him of my agreement. Hope rekindled in those last few
seconds. And now, our only option was to believe we’d carry on.

After making it back to the remnants of my mother’s
house, we discovered a familiar red X splashed against the doors at our feet. Only
then did we realize what had taken place. Evan winced in agony as he stared up
at the sky through the charred beams of the garage. I clenched my fists in
outrage before the tears came.

Out here, much of the town was quiet now as the flames
dissipated. To our ease, it didn’t require much effort to get our own fire
going.

“You were right about everything, Aubrey... I’m sorry
I didn’t listen to you. We should have fled while we had the chance,” he
groaned. I shook my head in anguish.

“We need to find more supplies,” I said, wiping away a
tear, struggling to ignore the suffering behind his eyes.

“We’ll look in the morning,” he said. I nodded in
agreement. “There has to be a town somewhere we can get to that hasn’t been
raided yet.”

“The closest town is more than a day’s walk from here,
Evan,” I said, peering at his ankle.

“Don’t worry about me,” he snapped.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen...” I stared into the
fire. Evan remained silent for a few seconds before speaking again.

“Maybe that was never up to us to decide,” he said.
“But making it this far has to mean something.”

“How are we going to survive without supplies?” I
asked.

“We’ll just have to find a way, Aubrey,” Evan said,
glaring at me in pain.

In the moments that passed, I discovered my power in
the absence of his. We took turns being strong in a world that warned of our
insignificance, oblivious of what was to come. Now, the pieces of our past were
behind us. This was how it had to be. We couldn’t bear the burden of our former
lives any longer.

In a moments glance, I rose up as the town burned in
the distance. Evan’s eyes grew heavier in front of the fire until he passed out
from the pain. But I couldn’t rest. Not after so much horror and destruction.
Something inside me still ached for answers—for a reason to continue. And it
wasn’t until I leaned backward and dug through Evan’s duffle bag a new
discovery found me. Too distracted by chaos, I hadn’t noticed it before, but
the compass opened on both sides. I clasped it in my hand, flipping the
backside open. A small piece of paper was folded over eight times into a neat
square, locked and hidden away discretely. My heart hammered as I unraveled it,
eager to find out what words dwelled inside. That’s when the bold, black ink
gave it away—it was a message from my father.

“My Dearest Aubrey,

By the time you see this letter,
you’ll know who you really are. You may have heard of me before, and believe I
am the enemy. But what you’ve been told is far from the truth...

My name is Andrew Henry Ellis, your
father…

The day I escaped, I wanted nothing
more than to witness your fascinations, to comfort you before everything fell
apart. I wished to see you grow up, to watch you fulfill your dreams, to help
you find your true purpose before this was over. But the day of my discovery, I
knew I would never get the chance.

Four years after your birth, I
discovered a secret—a mystery hidden within the lights that now invade our
skies. This single discovery had the same ability to save life as it did to end
it. But your future, and the future of our entire planet became a risk our
government was unwilling to compromise. Now, their hunger for control has already
destroyed much of our world, forcing our commoners into slavery and deprivation
only to be denied survival. They say one day our world may end in fire. But it
must burn before we can rise from the ashes.

I have witnessed the evil and greed
behind our society for many years. You are not safe, nor were you ever. Change,
in the eyes of those in power, requires a large-scale sacrifice of innocent
people. But our rulers have abused this nation by exploiting and provoking the
innocent with walls and deception. You must be careful who you trust now. Most
importantly, you mustn’t tell anyone who you are. Please understand you, my
dear daughter, are among the few who deserve to live past these dark days
ahead. But the ruthless will never stop hunting you. I ask that you stay aware,
as their plan to eradicate the outsiders has already begun.

Never forget Aubrey, you exist
within the lies of a corrupt government—one that kills to save only those in
power. Now, you must defend the ones you love from their genocide. Run. Use the
coordinates I’ve engraved into your compass. The meridian hides many
destinations. Let it lead you in the right direction—to a place where you can
be with those I’ve called upon to protect you. Always remember, I love you. And
with the discovery of truth comes the valor to take action, and only through
those actions can we change the future, can we survive.

Love,

Your father”

I covered my mouth, trying to hold in the urge to cry
out before it escaped me. After falling to my hands and knees, I clawed my
nails into the ash, dust, and debris surrounding us. I was trembling now,
crouched down, sitting on my legs as I gazed up at the northern lights hanging above,
the empty silence ringing in my ears.

I played a bigger role in this war all along. The
people who rebelled and fled the territories were never our true enemy. Our
real enemies were the few still in control, the ones who played god. But regardless
of who held the power, we could change the course of our future with a single
spark.

Evan woke, but I couldn’t hear him saying my name. He
limped to my side, beaten and weary. I turned in every direction, but
everything still felt like an illusion, like I was trapped inside my
nightmares. It wasn’t until he shook me I came out of the aurora’s trance. Evan’s
gaze drifted to the piece of paper in my fingers. After he slipped it from my grasp,
his eyes devoured the words my father had written.

“He’s still alive…” Evan whispered in deep thought,
blinking from the heat of the fire. I shot up from the ground. And after
digging through my bag, I paused when I found the envelope with my colony
selection results. My lips trembled in anger as I pulled out the letter. The
words
“Aubrey Rae Ellis—Qualified and Assigned—Colony 6”
remained
stamped across the top. Then, I recalled the man at the warehouse. The image of
his name,
“Edwin S. Malcolm,”
embroidered on the familiar patch, sending
me back into the moment on the prison truck where it had almost ended for me.
Only then did I remember I had killed a guard in my pursuit to escape—injected
him like Charlie—a sacrifice that this time
I
had chosen. And in that
second, I tossed the paper into the flames.

Our eyes followed as the corners curled up, darkening
amidst the smoldering sparks. That was when the memory from my childhood hit
me—my mother scampering around the house, tossing papers and pictures into a
fire in the backyard. The news headlines of Andrew Ellis blared from the
television inside. I was just five years old when she burned the bridges of our
past. Now, I’d do the same.

Until that night, my life was a series of broken
promises—a cluster of lies and cover-ups. But if one thing was for sure, it was
that my future never rested in the hands of someone else. Now, I lived by my
own rules. We couldn’t always prevent the inevitable. Getting to the end would
always be a difficult journey, one filled with unlikely odds and dangers. But
the paths we took provided a purpose—a mission. At times it seemed we were
powerless and insignificant to their control, but as we faced our own darkness,
it was our ability to see through the shadows that delivered the courage to
fight for a new light.

♦  ♦  ♦

Evan nudged me. I sat next to him beside the flames,
my eyes wide open.

“We were born to survive this, Aubrey,” he said,
turning his head to look at me with a hopeful smile. I took a deep breath,
staring back at the scars on his face as a tear fell.

“And we will,” I said with a shaky lip. Evan gazed at
the night sky. And with that final thought, I allowed myself to surrender to
the auroras, letting myself slip into darkness—an eclipse that would once again
vanish in the light.

Our world was different now. The rules had changed. We
became involuntary participants in a cruel hunt for survival, and there was no
escape. Ignorance and denial didn’t exist out here—not for those who refused to
become casualties. The truth would always hide beneath the surface, yet no
matter how deep it ran, something beautiful lied deep within it. It appeared
when I least expected it, when everything familiar slipped away. In the darkest
times in history, I stared it in the face—a life, a purpose built upon the edge
of catastrophe. The real tragedy wasn’t what had happened, or who I was. It was
the years I lost to fear. It was that I hadn’t lived until after I accepted
that my existence would one day detonate the stars, and that I too would be
rattled by its bang. But in those moments under endless shades of green, I made
a promise to myself I would stop at nothing to put an end to the deception.
This was the moment I waited for—the hour my life had served its purpose—to
reclaim our future.

END OF BOOK ONE