“Let go of her!” I screamed at the men. They were in dark suits and moved gracefully. About 10 had surrounded us. Two of the men had grabbed Air by her shoulders and quickly 2 other men did the same to me. I pulled on their grip but it was extremely strong. Finally I gave up and I watched Air. She hadn’t moved a muscle. She let the men hold her as she stared blankly into space. Her body slumped against the man on her right as her hair fell towards her face. Finally a shorter man, about 40 years of age came into the circle. He had on circular rimmed glasses and his silver gray hair was pulled into a low ponytail.
“Hello Dane,” he said smiling towards me. I glared at him.
“What do you want with us,” I said. The man smiled and walked towards Air. She was still looking into space as if nothing was going on around her.
“How much do you know about Air, Dane?” he asked me. He started caressing her face and then she looked at him. There were tears in her eyes. Her facial features were shockingly similar to his. Their body structure was similar as well and their eyes were both strikingly grey. I bit my lip as the terrifying realization hit me. He turned back at me with a sinister smirk.
“Oh. She didn’t tell you?” he asked with mock sympathy. I fought to keep the tears from my eyes.
“Dane,” she said quietly, now looking at me, “I am so sorry.” I looked away from her and breathed in sharply. This wasn’t real. This was just a dream. A test. Air would never, never betray me, not like this.
“Oh Dane, don’t you see, this was all part of the plan. We needed to get into the rebels’ mind. And the only way to do that was to actually become a rebel. And who the best candidate for it,” he said motioning towards Air, “my daughter.” Now it all made sense. She never talked about her family. She was rude to everyone at the camp. She told me she couldn’t afford to trust anyone. She told me that if I knew her secrets then I wouldn’t even be able to look at her. And oh how right she was.
“What about Terry?” I asked her. “She was just a little girl and she died for you. She jumped in front of that bullet for you. She loved you Air, and this is how you repay her?”
“I didn’t want this to happen!” she was crying hard now, “I was just following orders. They always told me that the system was the only system that should be followed. They told me that the rebels were dangerous, that they couldn’t be trusted. They put all of that into my head and I believed it. I believed it until I saw with my own eyes. You guys aren’t monsters. You all are just people. With families and friends and values. And now I see that.”
Her father gawked at Air. “You’ve been with them too long and now they’ve brainwashed you. I should have taken you out the first time I saw the signs. But no matter. You will have back your old life in no time. You will go back as a hero.” He turned to me. “As for your friend, we will give him a large dose of truth serum to retrieve all the information we need about the rebels and then he will be executed.” He motioned to the guards, “you can take them away now.”
“Dane!” I heard Air scream, “I’m sorry! I am so sorry!”
“Me too,” I said sadly. The guards turned me away from her and lead me down a dark hallway to my cell.