Author:
M.J. Swenson has been writing stories since elementary school and earned a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota. Besides writing and reading, M.J. also enjoys playing music and video games.

I woke up feeling that something had changed.

I blinked twice, waiting for my eyes to adjust, and glanced at the clock beside my bed. It read 6:38, as it did every morning. I slid out of bed and moved to my dresser, where I opened the third drawer and pulled out a dark blue V-necked shirt with short sleeves and a dark blue pair of pants. I changed in front of the mirror and examined myself. I looked just as I had the last time I’d looked in the mirror: long, straight, dark brown hair; blue eyes; an absurdly straight and narrow nose; the slight scar at the edge of my eyebrow. The scar whose origin I still couldn’t remember.

Familiar Assassins

Fire. Fire blazed everywhere I looked, penetrating the darkness and throwing strange shadows over the other buildings. Screams pierced the air. Shouts issued by the System's Officers echoed, sounding farther away, and followed by other voices that sounded like rebels.


"If you get to Terminus, you can make it out!" they were saying. "Get to the Terminal! You can make it out!"


Make it out? I turned to Thane, who deliberately glanced away from me. He'd left something out. He'd neglected to tell me something.


"What are they saying?" I asked. "Make it out? They're not supposed to leave Incipio, Thane. You said you were destroying the System's Headquarters, not . . ." My eyes widened as I came to the realization. "Thane, you're destroying Incipio. You're destroying Incipio!"


Chapter 47