We the People: The Second 'Amendment'

Author's Note: This story might be deleted! If you can't find it, please go to fisco2345.blogspot.com!!!!

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Montana came home right on time. Her face was flushed, and she was running up Sal's porch steps.

"Wait, slow down! You don't want the steps to collapse, do you?"

Montana chuckled and went inside. She sat down at the old table, where a glass of orange juice and a slice of toast with fresh strawberry jam was laid out for her. More delicacies she had hardly ever tasted.

"How come the home doesn't give this food to us? Where did you get it from?"

Sal slid onto a chair across from Montana. It shook violently, but then soon settled. "Someone came to see me, and they gave me those things. The home can't afford it," Sal answered. Montana nodded her head and bit into the toast, then took a sip of the juice. "Hurry up, though. There's a new show at the puppet theater. We need to hurry up before the seats fill like last time." Sal got up and went over to her trunk, where she pulled out black sneakers and slipped them on.

"Oh, a new show! I can't wait!" Montana finished her snack and got up. They both exited the house and walked towards the theater which was not very far away.

"Guess what?" she asked as she skipped along. "What?" Sal answered. "I made some new friends at school! They were talking about the rebellion."

Sal stopped in her tracks and gave Montana a hard look. "What do you mean by that?"

Montana shrugged. "They wanted me to help them, so I did. It's no big deal."

Sal sat down on the bench at the lunch table where she always sat, alone. She picked at her peas, wishing that she had better food to eat then the kinds the cafe served. She turned around and looked at all the other tables.

There was the popular table where all the popular people sat at. Then there was the geeks, the writers, the artists, and the jocks.

But one table confused Sal. People called them 'The Rebels'.

Sal picked up her tray and plunked it at the TR table. She sat down.

The other kids there stared at her, but she just continued eating. Sal had never fit in with any of the other kids. Maybe she would fit in with them.

TR ignored her and kept up their conversation.

"When is the Rebellion starting?"

"It should've already started. We still haven't found anyone to kill President Trainer."

Sal dropped her fork and looked up. "A Rebellion? In Appleton? Never!"

The kids looked at each other, and a mischievous smile came across their faces.

"Do you think you can become friends with Resonant Trainer?"

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"I loved the part when Omar threw the pie at Emma!" Montana explained. Sal laughed, heavyhearted. The same thing couldn't happen to Montana that had happened to her.

They were getting closer to the orphanage when Sal smelled smoke. Montana coughed.  "What is that?"

Sal sniffed the air and froze. She grabbed Montana and threw her down to the earth. "Breath, Monty. Breath!"

Montana obliged and started heaving. Sal looked around the corner and almost choked with thick air when she saw it.

The orphanage was ablaze.

There were kids everywhere, and adults trying to control them. They were all crying.

Trunks were in piles close to everyone, labeled with the kids' names.

Sal picked up Montana and grabbed her shoulders.

"Monty," she said, "What do you think of staying with me for a while?"

Montana smiled. "OK. That's fine."

Sal got up and led Montana through the alleyway and into her house. She found an extra mattress in the closet and put it on the floor.

"Time to go to sleep."

Montana sighed but jumped face down on the bed. Sal smirked and quietly exited the house and went across the street.

She saw a helper from the orphanage and approached her. "What happened?"

The helper shook her head and lowered her voice.

"The laws have changed. He's becoming like his mother."

Sal yelped and sat down, staring at all the helpless little children around her. What would become of them? Not everyone could take them in. Tears escaped from her eyes.

She couldn't help it.

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Sal woke up to the shouts and screams of the neighborhood. She quickly got up and put on her boots. She ran down the steps and was greeted by a thick dark cloud hanging in the sky.

"The dark days are here!"

"The rebellion! The rebellion has come!"

Sal had just arrived, and already she was not liking Rag Town. Hopefully she would get used to it.

She went back inside and laid back down, but was awoken again by a hard pounding on her door. She grunted and opened it, finding a man and a young women standing on her porch, holding a young child wrapped in an old cotton blanket.

The young women looked up, her face masked in worry and defeat. The man looked the same. "Please," she said, "Take care of our child. We are needed in the fight." The women pleaded.

Sal couldn't say no. That would make her seem heartless.

"OK," she said. "Come back safely."

The women brightened and she ran off in the trees with the man.

Sal closed the door and went back inside, laying the baby on the table. She grabbed a bottle from the fridge and put some milk in it, then fed it to the baby.

"What's your name, little one?"

The baby laughed and made the most adorable sounds.

"I'm gonna call you Montana until your parents come back."

The baby laughed again.

The next day the cloud was gone. The air was fresh and people were about doing their business. They seemed happy. Much happier than before.

"We won!"

"The new president is reigning!"

Sal picked up the baby and walked down a few houses to where the couple lived. She knocked on the door and waited.

No one came.

She knocked again.

The same results.

Maybe they hadn't arrived yet, she thought. She went back to her house and fed the child, then left it with a mother nearby so she could go off to work.

The same thing happened for a whole week until a messenger came from another neighborhood.

"I have news!" he said. Sal went out to her porch, clutching the baby.

"Juliet and Ulysses Thompson have been declared dead. Their bodies were found in a ditch not too far away." he looked at Sal. "Their last wishes were to have their baby raised and taught to be free. Thank you for your time." Then he jogged back into the waiting car and drove off.

Everyone looked at Sal with pity. It was hard to raise a child in Rag Town. What would she do?

Sal walked across the street to the local orphanage. She couldn't do it. She had just arrived and was expected to raise a baby?

No way.

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In the deep of the night, Sal put on her black jacket and walked into the trees. She was in need of more supplies since Montana was going to live with her.

There was a neighborhood on the edge of Rag Town where an old man lived. He had robbed a bank, and snuck an old family heirloom with him when he was sentenced to living in Rag Town.

It was a survival book.

He had made many delicacies that were easy to afford if you had things to trade.

Sal tightened the coat around her body. She was hiding a puppet that she had stolen from the theater. Old habits die hard.

Sal reached her destination.

The old man's house was worse than all the others. The steps had collapsed and so had a part of the house. The roof had to be patched with mud and grass daily. People usually did it as a trade. Sal did once.

Sal carefully walked up the stairs and into the old man's house.

There were tables full of goods and different supplies no one else could make. Sal grabbed many things here and there, like goat milk, strawberries, cookies, and cups.

When Sal got to the back table, the old man was just sitting there. He counted her items and scratched his beard.

"What's in it for me?"

Sal took out the puppet. "You can sell this puppet for the kids. They'll love it."

The old man eyed the puppet, and then gave Sal a bag.

"Have a nice night."

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"Milk and cereal? Wow!"

Montana eagerly sat down and dug in to her food.

Sal laughed tiredly. She couldn't sleep the last night. It was impossible for her.

She took her own cereal and sat down, eating it less fast than Montana was.

"Remember what I told you, Monty-"

"I know, I know! Sit with my usual friends!"

Sal nodded and pushed her bowl away. She couldn't eat her banana nut.

About half an hour later, Sal dropped Montana off at the bus stop.

Montana was got on the bus. She didn't notice that Sal was still there, watching her.

She sat down next to a kid with bright red hair, probably dyed with cherries, and wearing a grey suit.

"Don't forget, the ambush is tomorrow night."

"What's the plan?"

"We leave at midnight and leave some people here to make sure the normals don't follow us. We head to the president's mansion, and you do what you have to do."

"What about on our way there?"

"We flaunt you. You are the face of the Rebellion. The 2nd Rebellion, I mean."

The bus pulled off, and Sal was left there, anger boiling up inside of her.