Her legs swung lazily over the edge of the tin roof. Her tattered leather boots bleached by the sun and dust. “Jay!” A rugged voice called, then the hoofbeats of a galloping horse echoed through the dusk. A smile crept along Jaylen’s tanned, freckled face; she saw her best friend waiting on horseback, about twenty feet below her. “We’re all waiting for you,” Mackenzie grinned, whipping his ash-blonde hair to the side of his face. “Will it be anything like the last meeting?” Jaylen snickered, beginning to climb down the rough, broken brick structure. “No booze, no cigarettes, no drugs; just planning.” Mackenzie replied. Jaylen’s blue eyes narrowed at the boy, acting as if he was well into his thirties, but -in reality- he was only seventeen. The wiry young man offered his hand to Jaylen. She regretfully locked her hand around his wrist, then hoisted onto the steed. “I swear to God; you shouldn’t even be drinking, Kenz.” Jaylen muttered as the horse sped to a trot. “You worry too much.” Mackenzie chuckled, then spurred the horse onward.

The group of teenagers were sprawled around the dying fire, each a misfit in their own sense. One boy never stopped tinkering his obscure little machines; his much-needed glasses cracked in the left lens. Then there was a strong, well-built girl, her thick brown hair hacked off into a choppy bob, a multitude of tattoos staining her body. A boy with blonde hair, sat alone, but always had something to say. The piercings that covered his face were something unusual, making him stand out from the rest. Jaylen smiled as she was reunited with her friends, the dirty or sour faces a warm welcome from the gray, bleek expressions she encountered every day. “Why, don’t we all look cheery today?” Mackenzie teased, playfully shoving the boy with piercings. “Do you know what day it is?” The somber boy seemed to explode at Mackenzie’s joke. “The foot soldiers came through my town and took everything, Mac! Every-freaking-thing we owned!” Then Mackenzie’s excited smile turned downwards, his chocolate eyes became cold. “I’m sorry, Trevor.” He mumbled, then sat down beside the stocky girl. “Malory, what time is it?” Jaylen asked the girl. “About midnight, why?” She replied. “Perfect.” Jaylen grinned mischievously. “What’s so special about midnight?” The meek boy asked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Everyone’s asleep, Toby.” Jaylen exhaled, sinking to the dusty ground. “So I have a plan---” Jaylen started, only to be interrupted by unhappy groans. “Again?” “Really?” “You always have some kind of plan, Jaylen; come on, they won’t ever work.” The group protested. “Shut up and listen, okay?” Jaylen quipped, then the others quieted. “I have a plan; we stop screwing around with the soldiers and law enforcement. It’s a massive waste of time and we’re not making a damn dent in the system. So...” She smirked, adding unnecessary suspense. “...we take the fight to the Hub.” Jaylen’s eyes glittered with anticipation and danger. Mackenzie caught onto Jaylen’s plan, smirking devilishly at the rest of the group. “When should we leave?” Malory regretfully asked. “Not for a few days; after the rebellion in town a few days ago, security’s up and awake so they’d be on our tails from the first step.” Toby stuttered, then continued to build his contraption. “He’s right,” Jaylen agreed. “We should let the action die down for a few days, then we can move.” “Isn’t the Hub hundreds of miles away?” Malory asked, almost scoffing at the idea. “We could make away with some horses; that would cut the journey down considerably.” Trevor suggested, a glimmer igniting in his eyes. “My neighbor has a stable full of horses, but they belong to the Court.” Mackenzie stated. “We might actually get through this time.” Jaylen smiled proudly.

In four-days time, the group was off. Their goal was to reach the Hub in four days. Unfortunately, one of the horses was far older than the rest and had the hardest time keeping up. “If we keep waiting on Roodie, we’ll never make it.” Jaylen sighed, patting the old horse’s withers. “Then what do we do?” Malory wondered aloud, slowing her horse to a halt. “I can walk.” Jaylen snickered at her own joke, then raking her fingers through the horse’s mane. “We’ll send him home; we’re less than two miles out, so he can find his way home.” Mackenzie spoke up, removing Roodie’s tack, then sending him back to town.

Upon arriving at the Hub, danger was around every corner. The group didn’t look like those living in the Hub; the group was dirty, dusty, tanned, and rugged. Everyone living in the city was posh, clean, cheery, and unusually-dressed. If Jaylen or her friends were to be caught, they could be sentenced to a lifetime in prison for treachery, or possibly even worse. They dodged into dark alleys, the rural landscape they traveled now a busy cityscape. The hard concrete new under their dusty shoes. “Look...” Malory gasped, pointing towards a dark, looming building, standing out from the city of white and glass. The group quickly headed towards it, ready to make their voices heard, for all of the injustice, for the cruel treatments, for the greed and corruption in society.
Mackenzie knew too much for his own good; he knew that the changing of the guards was simultaneous to their arrival, but in order to make it into the fortress unscathed, they would have to hurry to get to their destination. Jaylen led the group, slipping right by the guards, without any notice. They hurried up a flight of stairs, rushed to find the room, or any room really; a place to hide before they would be caught.


Winding flights of stairs made the group dizzy, all exhausted from the upward fight. “Why didn’t we just take the freaking elevator?” Mackenzie huffed as he used all of his strength to push forward. “Because that’s expected.” Trevor hissed, then forced his tired body onward. They came to a large door, daunting and dark. Mackenzie and Malory made use of any remaining strength to open the large pieces of wood, a small, stout, pompous man was revealed, his posh clothing caught the sunlight which shined through the windows. “Who are you?” His high, squeaky voice demanded. “Your last sight...” Mackenzie growled, his body lurched towards the man. The ruler reached for a dagger, no second thought given, then drove the knife into his chest. Jaylen launched herself towards Mackenzie in hopes to prevent any further incrimination. “What just happened?” Toby gasped, his small, awkward voice rung in the now-silent room. “Unbelievable....” Malory scoffed, her fist then colliding with the wall of books, a dull thud echoed through the space. “We came all this way....for the prick to kill himself.” Trevor remorsed, kicking the lifeless corpse. “What do we do now?” Jaylen spoke up. “We leave.” Mackenzie snarled, his body darted for the door. Malory’s hand wrapped around Mackenzie’s forearm, her grip causing her hand to turn white. “Don’t you dare walk out now!” Malory barked. “We traveled a thousand miles to get here and you just want to leave?” “What do you suggest, Malory?” Mackenzie spat, his voice now sharper than a double-edged sword. “We stay. We turn ourselves in. I would rather be in prison here than in that hell-hole you call ‘home’.” She replied, her tone unchanged. “Then have a nice life!” Mackenzie hollered. “Come on, Jaylen...” He grumbled as he headed further towards the door. “No.” Her voice, clean and clear, rang. “I’m staying here...with Mal, Trevor, and Toby.” Then -as if on cue- guards rushed in. “Who are you?” One ordered, his sharp weapon pointed straight towards them. “We’re...we’re outsiders.” Jaylen whimpered, her face drained of any color. This was it; they would never see their families again. Their lives would be wasted in a prison cell. “Did you kill him?” Another guard piped in, ushered to the bleeding body of the once-powerful man. “Not entirely...” Trevor spoke up. “Come with us.” An official-looking man told them, then led them down a series of corridors.

The friends waited two hours in a sterile, white room; the minutes ticked away as if they were hours. “Think we’re ever gettin’ out of here?” Malory sighed, her body settled against the wall. “Nope.” Jaylen’s lips popped the ‘P’. A guard returned, his weapon concealed. “Now that our glittering society has no ruler, we are faced with a predicament.” He stated as he leaned against the frame of the door. “You said you kids were from the Dust Bowl?” The rugged man asked, a sly smirk crawled across his lips. “Yes, sir.” Jaylen answered, then swallowed the lump growing in her throat. “You travelled over a thousand miles to get here, to kill the leader of our society. Why?” This caused Mackenzie to rise to his feet. “People in the Dust Bowl are treated like crap! We starve on a weekly basis; the system was corrupt so we came to the source...” Mackenzie’s usually-calm voice was now booming with anger, his face flushed red with fury. “Then I believe I have a solution to this problem.” The guard chuckled easily. “Who better to run our society than those who lived in the worst of it?” “You want us to rule you?” Trevor asked, his voice filled with disbelief. “Clean up and we’ll have the coronation tomorrow.”

By the time the sun rose the next morning, the group was awake, prepped for the sudden coronation. This didn’t make sense, but they didn’t care. They could finally run the country the way they saw fit. By noon-time, they stood in-front of millions of the Hub’s flamboyant inhabitants. The group was crowned; they became royalty from a life of living in rags. But would pure desire -for a better society, for a better life- be enough to control a race?