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“Group 2, you may continue your search. Please follow the path that Group 1 has created for you. It is the safest route to proceed in; remain calm and collected. Stay together and keep an eye out for any signs of life.” Connie calls in the ears of the group she is addressing as well as all the others. Connie Montag is a very beautiful woman, beautiful indeed. Her eyes shine a deep green, with flickers of blue towards her pupils. Her blonde hair is pulled back from her face in a tight bun that rests on her neck. A few pieces of hair fall through the camouflage hat she is wearing to cover her greying hair. Connie wears a loose fitted gray shirt with quarter length sleeves and army green pants with combat boots. After the last five years of being commander of the army, she showed no signs of aging in her face, even though her hair said otherwise; it was incredible. Connie is also the second wife of Guy Montag.
Montag met Connie when he reached the city the day his own was bombed, which was five years ago. Montag was on the run that night for breaking the law, his first wife, Mildred, betrayed him and called the fire department on him. Montag escaped the city with the help of an old English professor named Faber. He handed Montag a suitcase of his old clothes to help hide Montag’s scent for the mechanical hound so he could cross the river safely and flee the city without getting caught. There, Montag met a group of old men that came to the city with him, along with many more people that follow Montag along the way.
The group of people arrived at the city at exactly noon. The city Montag arrived at was a refuge city. People that come into this city were from many others that forbade books. If books were found, the accused person would be arrested and his books would be destroyed with fire. The city was named Anchor. Hundreds of people fled their cities to come to Anchor every year. Here, a man or woman would be welcomed to read a book, enjoy nature, or show hospitality to another person. Many of times, large celebrations would be held to commemorate the days the people came to Anchor to seek freedom to read and do many other things that were forbidden in other corrupt cities.
It was a hidden city. Only refugees knew of the name and had to ask for the location of the city. This prevented any enemy jets from bombing the city that inhabited hundreds of innocent people. It has been around for over 50 years.
Connie was born in the city; she was known as Connie Stain. Connie grew up loving people and reading every book she could get her hands on. Her parents never told her of the horrors of the world outside this protected city. Until Guy Montag came into the city, Connie never knew of a world where technology overruled books and forbade them.
Connie was assigned to take care of Guy Montag. Then did she learn of the horrific world that was beyond the walls of Anchor, oh what a horrific world indeed! Montag told Connie about the seventeen-year-old girl named Clarisse, who in a small conversation, changed Montag’s view of the world. “At that moment,” he remembered. “I realized I wasn’t happy. I went home that night thinking about her, and I haven’t stopped. She pasted away a few days later of me meeting her. My wife, Mildred, told me that she died in a car crash.”
Every night, Montag would tell her of his city. How the television screens were the size of the walls, and when you watched a show, the screens would interact with you. “Mildred would call the people of the screen her ‘family.’” Montag would also talk about Faber very highly. He said that Faber helped him with learning about what books are supposed to do. Connie smiled at the thought. She thought that Faber was a very good man.
About 2 years after meeting him, they got married. Montag loved Connie, for real this time. Connie took the surname Montag and they decided to join the army together. The army at Anchor was to help any survivors of any bombed cities and bring them back to Anchor for help. Connie became the leader of one of the teams in the army. She split them into four groups.
Group 1 was to create clear paths to walk on. They would also check for signs of radiation or anything unsafe. After the paths were cleared, Group 2 would find any sources of life under and rubble. Once life was found, members of Group 2 brought the life to Group 3, who would send the life back to Anchor safely. Group 4 would do all the reports and calculations. Connie Montag’s group became the best army in Anchor. Soon, her team went farther than any other team from Anchor has gone before.
Because of the help from these teams, the population has increased exponentially. Slowly but surely, people have been reproducing. The new population has been showing more hospitality and has been making the effort to not use technology as much as possible. Now, the resources have been increasing as well. There are more trees in a few miles then there were in a state over 100 years ago. People are being more aware of the environment around them. It is amazing how quickly people can change for the better.
Today, Connie has the task of going with her team and investigating a recently bombed city. Her team received a report that morning about it. The bombing happened the day before. In the early morning, the team set off. This city was another refuge city, but the location of that city was told to the wrong person.
Group 1 just finished their job, so now it is up to Group 2 to find any forms of life. Connie put her husband in Group 2 because she thinks that Montag will make sure that some bit of life will be found, no matter how big or small.
Montag is going along the path to find any source of life. So far, everybody he has seen has been pronounced dead. His team walks down an old neighborhood. The houses are nothing but rubble now. But Montag thinks about what they were before the bombs came. They are so pretty. The colors of the houses all complement one another. Montag can see imaginary houses, all so beautiful and bright and full of laughter. Inside he can see families, all eating around the dinner table. They all have bright smiling faces, laughing about a funny story, not having a care of the world. I wonder if these families are still together, or if they all perished.He thought.
“Montag! I think I found something!” Zak points to one of the destroyed houses while holding a gun that detects inferred. Zak is a good friend of Montag. He has auburn hair that curls around his head. His eyes are a brilliant blue. He is wearing the same thing as Montag, all black.
Montag puts on his mask and runs towards the remnants of the house. It has the worst damage in the neighborhood. He thinks. He starts searching through the rubble. Nearly everything is destroyed. It looks like the aftermath of a tornado storm. There are not any walls left, but Montag could trace how big the base of the house was. All the furniture, that is left, is in crumbles. Stairs leading to the second floor go nowhere now. The second floor crashed on the base level, leaving anyone or anything that was there, into crumbles.
Montag turns around to see Zak pointing the infrared gun at the stairs. “The gun says that something is in the stairs.” He explains to Montag.
Montag takes off his mask. “But how can someone in the stairs survive the bombing? This house took the worst of it in my opinion.” Montag scratches his head with his free hand; his other hand holds the mask that he just took off.
Zak shrugs his hefty shoulders. “I do not know. But if this gun says there’s some form of life here, then we should at least investigate,” Zak is cut off short when a shriek erupted in the stairs. It sounds like a younger child. Montag thinks.
“Let us go investigate.” Montag turns back to Zak.
Zak nods in reply and they both go to the stairs, where the shriek was heard.
“Hello?” Montag calls.
“We come in peace,” Zak starts. “Is anyone there?”
Montag creeps closer to the stairs, looking for any opening. Finally, he finds a small crack, only a few inches long and a pinky finger wide. Montag motions for Zak to give him a flash light. Zak obeys and hands him a small, but strong flashlight with the brightest light Montag has ever seen. Montag shines the light into the small crack; he tries to find any source of life. He finds there is a small cupboard that has been broken into. Then, he sees something move. It does not look like a rat, but a small child.
“Someone is in there,” Montag turns off the flashlight and hands it back to Zak. “We need to get him or her out of there, right now. Help me get this wood off. I think there is a cupboard here.”
“Guy Montag, do you hear me?” His watch speaks.
Montag presses a button on his watch and a screen illuminates. Connie is on the screen, looking worried. “Everyone has gone back and continued on the route. Is everything ok?” She asks.
Montag nods at the screen. “Yes, Zak Wilde and I think we have found some life in one of the houses. We heard a shriek coming from the stairs.”
Connie sighs. “Okay, but please be careful. I will send you directions to the rest of Group 2 once you notify me that you and Zak are done there.” Connie signs off the screen and his watch goes back to being its bland, grey color.
Montag proceeds to break the wood. Zak uses some of his tools to get the rusty nails off, but to no avail; the nails are rusted in the wood. Montag decides to use his foot. With a few kicks, the wood gives in. Montag is able to make a hole big enough to get his arms and legs in. Montag notices more movement. He makes out a little girl.
She has dark hair that has many knots around her head. Her cream-colored face is caked with dirt and old leaves. Then Montag sees her eyes; they are a violet amber color and they look right through him. The girl shrinks into a small ball, hugging her knees, in the far corner. She was very small and underweight. She wore a white dress and a large jacket that eats her alive. The jacket is old, but it is her only source of safety.
“Shh, it is okay. We are here to help you.” Montag slowly steps into the cupboard. The girl fixes her eyes on him. “My name is Montag. I can get you to safety. I promise.” Montag stretches out his arms for the girl to climb into. The girl slowly climbs in Montag’s arms. He closes his arms around the girl to secure her.
“How about we get out of here and bring you to my home. I can take you in and you can meet my wife. She is the sweetest woman you will ever meet.”
“I will call in Commander Connie and let her know we found someone.” Zak informs. He presses his watch and starts talking into it.
“Do you have a name, sweetie?” Montag asks the girl in his arms. She is about five years old and very shaky. Montag holds her closer to warm her up.
The girl shook her head slightly. Montag smiles. “I will give you a name. How about Clarisse?”