An Excerpt from "We Want Our Country Back"

Author's Note: I've been working on a piece called "We Want Our Country Back" and decided to put one of the most descriptive scenes in a blog post to meet my goal for Word Choice and Context Analysis. The actual piece is six pages long (and counting), so I decided not to post that. 

I woke to an acrid smell. Rubbing my stinging eyes, I looked around me and immediately wished I hadn't. What used to be alive with fire, now sat dead and charred. The city that I used to call home, obliterated and turned to rubble. Only a few of the buildings had survived. Even the hill I stood on had been called home by a layer of ash. That included Luke and I; we were both covered in soot. 

The empty pit of nothingness I had felt the day before inside me turned to rage, boiling over at the thought of what those stupid soldiers had done. I kicked the ground and sent up a shower of ash that landed right in Luke’s face.

“Hey!” He spluttered, bolting upright and shaking the ash out of his hair. “What was that for?”

“Sorry. I just got really mad about...that.” I gestured to our almost non-existent city.

“I know. I woke up before and saw it, but...I didn’t want to say anything,” he muttered.

I nodded. “But what are we supposed to do now?”

“Well, there’s these things.” Luke reached into his backpack and pulled out two guns.

“Luke, where did you get those?!” I gasped.

“I found them just laying against a tree in that forest yesterday. Even found more ammunition next to them. Come on, we can take out soldiers as we go.” He started back down the hill with his gun up. I shook my head, smiling, and ran after him.

My lightened mood dimmed again as Luke and I entered the city and I saw things I hadn’t before. Everyday items, broken and melted. Vehicles of all kinds, crushed and blackened. But what was worst of all, what made my stomach jump into my throat, were the bodies. Charred, mutilated bodies. Everywhere. Fear filled my heart as we picked our way over the debris. Except for the occasional gunshot, which scared me every time, it was eerily silent and it made me uneasy.

“Dawn, are you okay?” Luke asked. I realized I had been clenching my fists so tightly that they had turned white, and I was sweating.

“Yeah. I just...” I trailed off. “I can’t do this Luke! It’s too upsetting and I feel like puking!” I heard a bloodcurdling scream somewhere in the distance, and suddenly I just couldn’t take it anymore. I slumped down, head between my knees, and cried. I saw my tears fall to the ground, blackened by the ash on my face. 

Luke crouched down next to me, and I felt his hand on my back. “I know how hard it is, Dawn. But I also know you can do this,” he said.

I looked up at him with uncertainty. “Really?” He nodded and smiled.

“Come on. We have to do it for Canada.” He stood and helped me up, then started walking slowly along a path littered with debris. I took a deep breath, gritted my teeth and followed him.