The Rule of One (The Rule of One, #1)

by Ashley Saunders

That longing ache of desperately wanting something I never actually had in the first place, I’m learning, is the pain of true disappointment.

The people can fight solely with their raised voices, and I’ve only ever heard them silenced.

The sirens grow louder, and Father gently lets go of us. I see tears in his eyes. I see strength.

Resist much, obey little.

Show me a hundred-foot wall, and I will show you a hundred-and-one-foot ladder.

In grief all the little flaws of those we loved are colored over.

“The United States was once the most idolized superpower in the world. Our power lay in our equality, our liberty, and our democracy of the common people,” Rayla says, her quiet words emanating strength, drawing Ava even closer. “And look what we’ve become.”

“We’ve allowed our country to deteriorate into a military state. We’ve allowed ourselves to be monitored, controlled, ruled unchecked by the corrupt elite—subservient

Humankind is everything’s and everyone’s most dangerous predator. Blindly killing its own planet, slowly wounding it over the centuries. Forcing my generation to mop up the blood.

For thousands of years, societies have built walls to keep their adversaries out or their populations in. But history tells us they all eventually fall. Stone, brick, wood, concrete, barbed wire, and tamped earth cannot keep a sharp mind and a desperate determination at bay forever.