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Chapter 26 |
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“After the decimation of nearly every Radical, survivors huddled together in those dark times waiting for the dawn. It had to come…especially since it couldn’t get much darker.” Radical Archive – excerpt from Radical Government Origins
“He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day. I always wondered what that meant in school. We learned it as part of our ancient literature lessons. I remember raising my hand and asking my teacher about it. How could someone run away from a fight? Didn’t that make them a coward? She smiled with amusement and walked over to my desk. ‘Veronica,’ she’d say. ‘It’s an expression. It means you are allowed to bow out of difficult situations sometimes.’ I asked her when… when did ‘sometimes’ mean? She couldn’t answer my question, nor could anyone else in my years going to school in Las Vegas. Had I been able to complete school I may have learned those lessons and more; unfortunately, the Central Government stole that opportunity from me, along with my parents, my foster parent, my friends, and my chances at a decent future.” Veronica leaned in and whispered, “I’ve learned now though… I’ve learned what it means, and when sometimes is.” “How did you do it?” the child asked. She couldn’t have been any older than seven or eight; age didn’t matter anymore though. Everyone old enough to walk and talk was old enough to fight. “I did the only thing I knew how to: I fought. I faced them, I battled them, and I ran.” Veronica stared off into the corner of the small bedroom and realized the girl had no toys. No toys, no dolls, no anything that indicated a little girl lived here in this dingy two bedroom apartment. “Would you like me to tell you the story?” Veronica asked. With ocean blue eyes, the young girl with brown, wavy locks of hair covering every inch of her head smiled and bounced on her bed. “Yes please!” she exclaimed. She dove under the covers, eagerly awaiting her bedtime story. “You remember Molly, right? I told you the story last night of how she and I met,” Veronica said. “I knew she and my friend Alex tried to help people escape the Blithe Spirit.” The girl nodded knowingly. “Well the bad man tricked us, and had a trap waiting for them. Since they were closest to me, I went for them first.” Veronica closed her eyes and found herself back in Blithe Spirit again. Alarms sounded, the halls were filled with smoke and debris dust, and the structure continued to shake as the CJ Guild attacked from the surface. Sweat dripped down her face relentlessly as Veronica raced toward the tunnels. She didn’t care if she had to dig through miles of rubble to get to them… she’d find a way. As she ran, Todd’s words swam around her head. His lies, his truths, and his unspoken allusions all intermingled internally, dancing in synchronized motion to the beat of the alarms. How long had this day been planned? Why go through all the subterfuge just to expose himself in the end? But then again, the devastation answered that question. The more Veronica thought about it, the more it made sense. If a high level Section 7 operative worked in each large Radical facility, the Central Government could easily reduce the Radical movement… possibly even bring it crashing down to its knees. Given the news across the wire, things seemed to be pointing in that direction too. Why had no one listened to her when she cried out for centralization? Weeding out Central Government operatives would be so much easier then! Veronica shook off the thoughts. She needed to focus. She needed help… but that was beside the point. She turned a corner at the end of the main hallway and began the short run to the exit door that would lead to the tunnels. Even from there she could smell it – the metallic, acrimonious stench of death permeating every crack and crevice. Dust from the cave-in caked the walls and floor. As Veronica walked through it, she saw just how much was there as she carved out foot-shaped holes in the thick soot. On the other side of the door, where the room ended and the excavated cave walls began. Veronica found Alex lying on the ground. “Alex!” she screamed. She ran up to check his pulse and breathing, and thankfully found he was still among the living. Weakly, Alex opened his eyes and lifted his head slightly. “Veronica? What happened?” “Todd happened. Where’s Molly?” Veronica asked. “She was at the front. I told her to lead them out, and I’d run the other end to be sure everyone made it out okay.” “So she’s somewhere in the tunnels?” Veronica asked. She didn’t want to consider the other possibility. She couldn’t if she wanted to function. “I don’t know,” Alex coughed. Veronica felt his chest and realized he probably had a couple of cracked ribs from the blast impact and tumble down to the ground. “I’m going to get you cleaned up, give you some painkillers, and get you moving back to the control center so I can go help everyone else,” she said. “Who else? Everyone down here is either dead or on the other side of the wall collapse,” Alex said. He coughed, cringing with each exhale. “Upstairs,” Veronica said. “There has to be another way up… Todd wouldn’t have allowed an attack otherwise. What if he’d been trapped down here when it began? He planted the bomb down here and led the CJ Guild to the pantry upstairs. If he’d been here accidentally when it all went down, he would’ve had a plan.” “So where’s Molly?” the girl asked, interrupting the story. “We’re not at that part of the story yet Susie,” Veronica said with a smile. “Be patient.” Susie smiled sheepishly. “Sorry Veronica.” “Where was I? That’s right, I helped Alex back to the control center so he’d be safe, and then I set out for Todd’s office.” She closed her eyes and pictured that dreadful, plain-Jane office she’d dreamt about so many nights. By the crudely lit light of waking day, it didn’t seem as menacing as it had in her dreams. She began searching the office top to bottom, looking for secret doors, latches, hatches… anything Todd would and could use to escape in case of emergency. After ten minutes of frantic looking, she collapsed into his chair, defeated. She let out e belabored, frustrated sigh and looked around his desk. Something seemed off… just not quite right. It was the picture. He had a picture of some random woman on his desk – a woman he’d never mentioned in all Veronica’s time at the facility. She smiled. Seconds later she was poking and prying at the frame, trying to get the backing off so she could reach the hidden contents beneath. Inside, she found a magnetized key card and a piece of paper with the numbers “48632” written on it in scribbled blue ink. “What the hell?” she said. She pocketed the two items and pushed away from the desk, ready to retreat back to the control center to regroup. She walked out of his office and down the hallway, shoulder bag bouncing heavily with each step. The hallway seemed to be filling more quickly with dust now – a sign that Blithe Spirit’s destruction above ground was going swimmingly. She turned the corner and entered the main hallway, paces from the control center entrance, when her transmitter vibrated with a text-only message. She noticed immediately it was from Chad. “In the dumbwaiter heading down. Please help. Don’t know where it ends, but I’m already lower than kitchen level.” “That’s it!” she exclaimed. She knew another route had to exist. She stopped, looked around, and tried to think of the most logical place it’d be inside the lower level… somewhere where people wouldn’t question it. “The kitchen…” She rushed down the hallway to the cafeteria and pushed her way through the pushed out chairs and tables, and ran into the massive kitchen. Toward the back, against the wall by the walk-in freezer, Veronica found it. She tugged at the door with all the strength she could muster. The door begrudgingly slid upward, revealing Chad’s contorted body waiting on the other side. “How in the hell did you get in the dumbwaiter shaft? And who knew there was even a dumbwaiter in Blithe Spirit?” Veronica asked. “I fled upstairs when I realized what your words meant… as the soldiers began pouring into the mansion, it was all I could do to get myself to safety, let alone the others.” Chad shook his head in sorrowful disbelief. “They’re dead Veronica… they’re all dead.” “They didn’t arrest anyone?” she asked with wide eyes. “No… this was strictly a slash and destroy mission. No survivors, no witnesses.” He held out a hand for Veronica to help him out of the cramped dumbwaiter shaft. “Are you hurt?” she asked, inspecting his body as he stretched. “They grazed me with an energy blast on my way up the main stairs.” Chad pointed to the wound on his right leg. Veronica suddenly realized what Chad had said a moment earlier. “Wait, what about Madelyn?” “She was the first to go Veronica, you know that. She wouldn’t abandon us. She held them as long as she could, making excuses and giving them false leads under the guise of cooperation. I passed her on my way through the front lobby on my way up the master stairs.” He ran a hand through his short hair. “I’m afraid it’s just the four of us.” “Three,” Veronica said. “Alex is injured in the control center, and Molly… I don’t know where she is. Todd rigged a tunnel collapse,” she said quietly. Chad’s face went pale. “Molly?” he said weakly. His knees wobbled, forcing him to grab the wall for support. “She’s not lost Chad, we just can’t get to her right now. She’s on the other side of the tunnel collapse. For all we know, she led everyone on the other side to safety.” Veronica had to say the words like she meant them… like she honestly believed them – even though she couldn’t bring herself to at that moment. “But you didn’t know where she was!” Susie said emphatically. “Isn’t that fibbing?” Veronica looked down at Susie for the first time in a few minutes as the memory fog cleared and she looked around Susie’s depressing room. “I told the truth Susie… listen to what I said. I told him as far as we knew. It was an indefinite statement. As you grow older, they’ll make more sense.” Susie shrugged. “Still sounds like a fib to me,” she said. “Maybe we should continue this story tomorrow night,” Veronica said. “This is as good as place as any to leave off.” She kissed Susie’s forehead and stood up from the bed. “Sleep tight little one.” “I’m not tired though!” Susie protested. “You will be once you close your eyes and try to go to sleep.” Veronica turned off the light and slipped out into the outer hallway. Awaiting her, Susie’s mother smiled and handed over a steaming mug of coffee. “You’re so good with her,” she said. “I guess I’m a natural,” Veronica said. “Do you have any of your own?” Veronica chuckled. “Hardly; I’m good to stay in one place for a year let alone raise a child and establish roots.” “You’d be good at it.” “Thanks,” Veronica said. “How are they?” “Stable. You can’t stay here much longer though. Patrols are becoming more frequent. I think they’re monitoring food consumption too… we’ll stick out for buying food for too many mouths before it’s over.” Veronica nodded in agreement. “We’ve imposed on you too long anyway.” “I volunteered my home Veronica. The moment I saw your message on the Undernet my heart simply broke,” the mother said. “Well thank you, Vicky. Do you think they’ll be able to walk on their own by the time we’re ready to move to the next safe house?” Veronica asked. “I believe so,” she said. “I’m no doctor though. I’m just a mother and housewife who has opinions about things.” Veronica raised an eyebrow. “I think you’re more than that. Not just any mother would take in outlaws…especially when your husband is lord knows where.” “That’s the main reason why Veronica,” Vicky said. “If he’s missing, anyone could be. He didn’t stick out… he didn’t cause ripples. He made every effort to fit in… to appear normal. For all intents and purposes he wasn’t Radical. But they still got to him.” She paused to wipe her eyes before her tear ducts could betray her stoicism. “If he’s still out there I’ll find him when I break my friends out,” Veronica said. “I promise you that.” Veronica curled into the small shawl Vicky pulled out of her closet a few minutes earlier. Vicky sat in front of her fireplace, reading the book she’d been focusing on since they all arrived two days prior. It all seemed like a blur now…the attack, the death, the end of all things comfortable and familiar. She closed her eyes and tried to block out the images of all the bodies… of all the violence and death closing in around her. They waited almost a day before the tremors stopped. The CJ Guild’s attack proved devastating, as she’d find once she felt safe enough to climb up the dumbwaiter shaft. She waited until after midnight – after the citywide curfew and silence took over – and began the arduous climb up the tight, dark tunnel. Cobwebs and gear grease covered every inch of the interior. Worse though, the stench of the bodies above – at ground level – had already begun seeping down into the dumbwaiter shaft. Veronica couldn’t imagine how bad the smell would be once she actually made it out and into the mansion. Using her hands and legs as wedges against the wall, she climbed slowly, fully aware her painkillers were the only things keeping her standing. Beneath the soothed pain, she knew her muscles and joints awaited their moment. They’d scream out in agony the first moment they could, leaving Veronica helpless and incapacitated. For the moment, she climbed slowly and as silently as possible, wary of guards left behind just in case survivors managed to get out. With the bodies lying about so carelessly, she doubted anyone was there, but she didn’t want to take any chances. As the air’s weight pushed down heavier on her senses, Veronica realized she was at kitchen level. She pushed and kicked at the door, finally sliding it open just enough to used her arm as a lever to open it the rest of the way. The kitchen sat in black, putrid silence. Veronica climbed up the shaft a little more so she could exit feet-first. As her body made contact with the ground, she looked around to gather her bearings. “The far wall,” she said to no one in particular. She looked down at the ground and noticed the artwork from the wall she’d admired so many times. It’d been covering the entrance to the dumbwaiter, hiding its existence. She backed up against the wall and listened, trying to determine if anyone other than she was breathing. She also wanted to wait until her eyes adjusted to the darkness before she attempted to move anywhere. As the room came into view, the carnage from the previous day came into focus: her entire team… every single member… lay dead in various parts of the kitchen. They’d staged the conflict here trying to help people fall back, providing cover. No one ever made it though… they died there when they could’ve escaped to the safety of the base below. She peered into the pantry at the bodies she’d seen on camera… the bodies of Allison and Maria. She couldn’t look anymore. She did a quick sweep of the house and the immediate vicinity outside. They must have thought they’d done a thorough job – not a guard or watchman was anywhere to be found. She didn’t waste the opportunity. She hurried back down the dumbwaiter shaft, began sifting through the Undernet, and made contact with Vicky moments later. “Can’t sleep?” Vicky asked from across the room. She closed her book and patted the floor next to her. “Just going over all the events of the past few days in my head is all, wondering if we could have done something differently… something more.” Vicky shook her head. “No one person could’ve stopped this genocide Veronica.” Veronica knew this. “That’s why we need to stand up together,” she said. “We need to be working together… working in cells obviously got us nowhere.” “Well maybe you should stop preaching about it and begin doing something about it,” Vicky said. Her wavy brown locks – the same locks she shared with her daughter – shimmered in the fire light. “Maybe I should,” Veronica said. She rubbed her hands together in front of the fire and peered over at her new friend. “I could use a hand though.” |
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The Radical Chronicles is Copyright © 2009 by Tim Peacock.
