SOLO ELITE THE GREAT AWAKENING

I must have fallen asleep at some point because I was woken up by a guard kicking at my feet, telling me to get up. I was suddenly faced with the realization that today I was going to be put to death; I took a deep breath and sighed. With my body drained from crying the night before, there were no more tears left to cry. I stood up, limping from lying on the hard floor all night. Slowly I approached the jail cell doorway, mentally defeated, but still trying to make sense of all this.

We started down the hall, passing other cells. By now the daylight lit up the cells enough to see that they were filled with the good people who had been captured by the Swine. I couldn’t even look at them because I felt that I had failed them. These people had lost everything, and I myself had everything but didn’t even realize it until now. I thought about Mama and me sitting with her at the kitchen table and how she would smile at me with so much love. I was her everything, her reason to live, but that’s all gone now.

A giant set of wooden doors opened before me. Dozens of the Swine were standing in a huge courtyard, cheering at the sight of me, Robin, the little girl from Davilla, Texas, their captive, who was about to be killed for their entertainment. Straight in front of me was La Cinder, who was now sitting on a golden chair as an apparent authority figure. This man, who was their leader of some sort, was at the heart of the Swine who pumped pure evil through men.

As I was pulled by the guards toward the podium, my will to live came back to me, and my feet dug into the ground. None of this did any good because a man with very wide shoulders standing nearby reached for my hand, pulling me up like a rag doll, making me feel as if my arm were about to be pulled from its socket. I stood there watching, scanning the crowd, looking for any kind of remorse from the Swine, only to find nothing but the desire for my blood. I tried to swallow, but my mouth was dry. I was startled at the sound of La Cinder screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Bring them in!”

Immediately the people who had been taken prisoner were escorted in the courtyard. As scared as I was for myself, my thoughts were with them and how, to them, I was their everything—their hope and reason to live. My body began to come alive. I can’t do this to all of them. Maybe I am just a little girl from Texas, but, to them, I am the Solo Elite. The tall man beside me manhandled me to my knees and lay my head on a small table. My heart raced and my breaths quickened as I realized that I was about to die by beheading. Stepping back, the man drew his sword.

Come on, Abigail. Where are you? Robin, think! Think! My eyes squinted as the man yelled, thrusting his sword downward to my neck. The roar of the Swine abruptly stopped. Silence filled my ears. “Is this it? Am I dead?” I opened my eyes, looking up at the executioner’s sword frozen in time right at my neck. Puzzled, I looked up further and saw a bloody arrow coming through the man’s chest! The man began to fall my way, like a great redwood tree. Quickly I moved back as the man collapsed in front of me. I couldn’t believe it. I was alive, but who had saved me?

I looked around the courtyard for anyone with a bow but to no avail. Slowly the silence turned into whispering and then into a very loud commotion. My gaze caught everyone looking east, above the courtyard walls. I too looked up in the same direction. Standing there above me with the sun at his back was a dominating figure.

I struggled to see his face in the light cast from the sunrise, and finally there he was. “Teddy? You’re alive!” Somehow, someway, we had found each other. For a minute I was in shock, staring up at this little boy who I had grown up with, who had now become this fierce warrior. Slowly, one by one, other men around him stood up with their weapons drawn. Teddy had not come alone but with a huge army of soldiers.

I could see him clearly, and, with a smile and a nod, he told me that I’m here. Let’s do this.

The Swine’s focus quickly turned to the west side of the courtyard. Abigail had brought her army, just like she had promised. I quickly grabbed the sword from the executioner, who was dead on the ground beside me, and I stood up. At the same time La Cinder, the Swine’s king, rose angrily with smoke pouring from his gold mask. Swinging the heavy sword in a circle, I gained momentum and separated his head from his body, slicing through it like soft butter, sending his mask to the ground. In an instant his clothes dropped from midair, and he was gone. Smoke rose into the clouds above. All at once my entire world erupted with war, but I was not in fear but in harmony with my surroundings. The Swine bellowed, “Charge the podium,” as I began to pick them off with ease, one after another dropping like acorns in the fall season. Arrows from the men above rained down upon the Swine.

The courtyard doors slammed open. Men, women and children poured out, ripping off their bracelets and throwing them in the air. The ground shook, and a roar grew in the distance. I could hear what sounded like Mama’s voice calling for me, “Robin, Robin,” over and over again. Slowly Mama’s voice sounded like a ringing bell in the distance and then became the deafening wail of a siren. I felt as if my ears could bleed from the ringing when suddenly a massive tidal wave rose up from behind the walls and came crashing down.

My world went totally dark, and the sounds faded as my body violently shook. For a moment it would be calm, as I found myself laying on the sea floor, letting the sand flow through my fingers. I felt my spirit effortlessly leaving my body, being peeled away, like a banana peel. Hundreds of bracelets came floating past me as I floated upward. I heard the sound of roaring waves from the surface getting louder the farther I ascended. Eventually the roaring drowned out the bubbles around me.

Instantly I felt as if I had emerged out of icy waters into the frigid air while still in complete darkness. My nerves were on fire from the stinging of the icy-cold water, when instantly I was placed back into my flesh with a quick jolt. The light poured in my eyes, making them sting, which made them water. I couldn’t make out much because everything was blurry, but I could feel that Mama was sitting here, holding my hand at the edge of my bed, and, when my eyes focused, I could see she also had her familiar loving smile.

“Hey, baby. Glad to have you back,” she said while patting me on the hand.

Looking around, I could see I was in a hospital room with flowers and cards for me. Staring back at Mama, I tried to talk, but my lips did not want to cooperate. The dried saliva had sealed my lips together, so I put my tongue behind my mouth and slowly pried it open. I tried once again to speak. “Mama.”

“Yes, baby. It’s me,” she said as she began to cry. I sat up and quickly fell into her arms and tried to soak up as much of Mama as I could. “I should have never fallen asleep, baby,” she said, while holding me so tight that it felt as if my skull would cave in.

“Mom, you’re hurting me,” I said, muffled under her arms.

“Oh, I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t think I was ever going to hear your voice again,” she said, wiping her tears.