Angela looked at her sword. “How can I help?”
Jesse chuckled, “Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.”
Jesse and Emi fired in unison at the Wardens.
Chapter Eighteen
Emi’s bullet flew past the Wardens and crashed into the crumbling walls of the old mall, before ricocheting towards the crowd but hitting no one. However, Jesse was a good shot. His bullet struck the chest of a Warden, causing confusion to flash onto the face of the other two as they looked around to see where the attack came from. One of them looked over at Jesse, Emi, and Angela, and Angela’s heart sank as she recognized her familiar face again. The female Warden, Dinah, locked eyes with her. Angela watched her confusion shift to rage.
“Over there!” Dinah called out to her partner. The male Warden turned towards Angela and readied his gun. Angela ducked behind the debris.
Jesse fired again as if their beating hearts were bull’s-eyes. The two Wardens fired as well, and everything was happening so quickly that Angela wasn't sure who had fired first. Bullets struck Dinah and the other Warden. They fell to the ground, victims of Jesse's aim. Before Angela could process that all three wardens were dead, she heard Emi cry out and fall to the ground as well. Angela turned to her friend, seeing blood on the part of Emi’s shirt that covered her stomach. At least one of the Wardens had been a good shot, too.
Despite Emi’s attempts at providing pressure, the bloodstain grew. Jesse rushed over to Emi, fully embracing her slight frame, forgetting the Watch and the commotion around them, if only for a moment.
Realizing they had a chance to escape death, the prisoners took off running. In their panic and haste to get away, they forgot about the chain that linked them together and fell over each other. Angela ran over to the pile of people on the ground, reaching for her father.
Most of the crowd had run away at the first gunshot, but a few men stood around to yell insults at Jesse and Angela for killing the Wardens. One onlooker lunged at Angela as she tried to help her father to his feet, landing painful blows on Angela’s back. Angela pointed the sharp end of her sword at the woman, causing her to back away.
“Back off!” Angela yelled as she led her father and the other two prisoners back to Jesse.
“Murderers!” a man screamed. “Find more Wardens! We need backup!”
It was the first time Angela had considered that the majority of the people in the city didn’t hate the Watch. The Watch gave them food and order. To those who were not mutants or un-carded they might seem like saviors, but for the remainder, they were a death sentence.
Jesse pointed his gun towards the man threatening Angela, causing the onlookers to retreat, as well. Angela looked up at her father.
“Daddy!” Angela embraced him. His hair and skin were dirty and he was noticeably skinnier than she remembered. “I’m so glad you are alive!”
“I thought I'd never see you again.” Tears fell from her father's eyes. She hugged him, and he did his best to embrace her back, despite the fact that his hands were chained to two other men.
Jesse placed his hand on Angela's shoulder. “We need to get out of here. More Wardens will be here soon.”
Jesse’s touch pulled Angela’s attention away from her father and caused her to look over at Emi. Her body lay motionless, the ground around her covered in blood.
“Emi!” Angela called, rushing over to her friend. She cupped her face, brushing wild blue hair away from her empty eyes. “We need to take her back to Rain. She needs medicine.”
“She’s gone, Angela,” Jesse said. “We need to go. Now.”
Jesse pulled Angela up. He looked as if he was holding back tears, but he wouldn't let them fall.
“Now,” Jesse repeated.
Before he had a chance to pull her away, Angela picked up Emi’s gun.
They guided the prisoners back to The Resistance. It was a slow process that involved taking back roads and trying desperately to avoid the Wardens that were out looking for them.
They took off down an alleyway. Angela lead the way, racing ahead with pistol in hand, while Jesse trailed behind to guard their backs. The three prisoners struggled to coordinate their steps and stumbled over each other. Angela glanced over her shoulder and saw her father cough and wheeze, sweat causing his hair to cling to his skin. Every time she turned to check on him, it looked like he was further behind.
They tried to stay off the beaten path, but people still followed.
“They’re over here!” a stranger called out to an unseen Warden.
Jesse pointed his weapon towards the stranger, hoping he would back off, but when that stranger left others came.
The Warden’s followed the crowd to discover Angela’s location. One emerged ahead of Angela, blocking their path. He pulled out a gun and aimed.
They froze in their tracks. Angela heard Jesse swear under his breath and saw him look back, considering running the other way. But what good is running while a gun is pointed at your back? He dropped his weapon and put his hand up.
The warden sneered at him, approaching quickly, his pistol pointed at Jesse's temple. He picked up Jesse’s gun, then turned to Angela.
“Your weapons miss?” there was a condescending tone in his voice. Angela knew the moment they were unarmed they would be killed. Angela slowly lifted her hand to offer him her gun.
While the warden was distracted by the pistol, Angela quickly pulled up her sword and bashed its hilt on the man’s head. The man dropped the weapons and fell to the ground. She bashed his head again. As he lay unconscious on the ground, they grabbed all of the weapons and took off running towards the Resistance.
After Angela, Jesse, and the prisoners made it back to headquarters, they took the elevator down into the basement, but no one was there. Angela’s heart raced. Had the Wardens gotten there first? How did they even find this place?
“Jesse, is everyone gone?” Angela asked.
“Maybe not,” Jesse said, and Angela smiled, realizing that there was one place they still might be.
She took her father and the other two prisoners down into The City Below, cursing herself for willingly venturing back towards the cage.
His instincts proved correct. Freedom, Rain, and Zinc were inside the hidden room. So was Violet, despite Angela’s request that she stay behind with Winter. But Violet was the least of Angela’s worries now. As soon as Angela walked into the room she lunged at Freedom, shoving her against a wall. Freedom looked stunned that Angela had dared push her.
“How could you lock me up in there?” Angela said. “My father was about to be killed!”
Freedom sighed at Angela. “That's exactly why I locked you away. So you wouldn't run off and get yourself killed.”
“But it's okay for my father to die, right?” Angela shot back. “I guess his life is worth less because he doesn't have my mutation?”
“I was trying to protect you,” Freedom said through gritted teeth.
“We don’t have time for this right now,” Rain interrupted. “Where’s Emi?”
Angela and Jesse said nothing, but the tragedy was written on their faces. Rain was wide-eyed, and Zinc had to take a seat. Even Freedom, usually so stoic, couldn't keep the tears from falling. Angela knew that they understood.
“We did…we did all we could,” said Jesse.
“This is why I locked her away,” Freedom said.
“Don’t blame her. I let her out. And Emi knew the risk when she decided to come.”
Freedom nodded, her voice uncharacteristically soft as she replied, “I know.”
Freedom worked to get Nathan and the other prisoners out of their chains. The moment her father was free, Angela rushed into his arms sobbing, exhausted. He gave her a full embrace.
“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry,” Angela said. “I should have listened to you, I should have never run away.”
“I should have never expected to be able to keep you in one place forever,” Nathan said. “I should have told you what yo
u are. This is my fault.”
“It doesn't matter who's at fault,” Freedom said. “The question is, what do we do next? If you guys did what I heard you did, kill three Wardens in public, they will not relent until they find you.”
Jesse used his phone to access the internet. President Kane was live streaming a video across the country, offering rewards for anyone who could find the killers of the Chicago Watch. Everyone watched intently, working themselves into a panic. Eventually, Jesse turned it off.
“They'll raid and raid until they find the ones who did this,” Jesse said. “We are not safe in this location, but I have no idea how we could possibly get out of Chicago with the entire settlement, heck the entire country, looking for us. I am the one who killed the Wardens. Maybe if they catch me, they will leave you all alone.”
Freedom spoke with force, “The Resistance is a family. While I am furious that you ran off and did this behind my back, you should know that we must stick together. You will not allow yourself to be caught for us.”
“If we leave the settlement, who will protect the mutants and the un-carded here?” Rain asked. “We give them food, medicine.”
Angela faced Freedom. “They only saw Jesse, Emi, and I. They do not know Zinc, Rain, or you are any part of this. I think you all would still be safe if Jesse and I found a place to hide.”
“I’m tired of hiding,” Jesse said.
“It’s a necessity,” Freedom threw back. “Maybe you could go back to Angela's garden? If they were undiscovered there for thirteen years, you should be safe until this dies down.”
“No,” Angela spoke up. “I have a job here. This is the first place where my gift can be used to help more than just my father and me. My life can’t go back to being about just protecting myself.”
Freedom rolled her eyes, but Jesse spoke up.
“I agree, Angela,” he said. “We are not the first people whose lives have been threatened by the Watch. Maybe at your garden, we can build a new sanctuary.”
Violet’s eyes grew wide, “A Lighthouse outside of the city? Now you're talkin’ my language.”
“No!” Nathan spoke up. “What will prevent the Watch from coming to my home and killing us all?”
“Look around you, have you seen our armory? We have all we need to keep the place guarded,” Jesse promised. “Besides, the Watch only cares about controlling citizens inside the settlement. They don’t know any habitable land exists outside. When people run out into the forest, they assume we are as good as dead. I doubt they will look for us unless our community gets so big we become a threat. We have some time before we have to worry about that.”
“People need more than food and water to live,” Angela said. “They need art, beauty, nature, music, hope. If we turn our home into a Lighthouse, we can offer them that.”
Nathan nodded slowly, “I guess it would be nice to have a few more people to talk to.”
“What about us?” one of the other prisoners, a middle-aged man with bright red hair and a snake tattoo that covered the majority of his face, asked. “Are you just going to send us back out there with the Watch?”
“What's your name,” Jesse asked.
“Kevin,” he said.
The other prisoner, an athletic-looking, bronze-skinned girl with straight, thick hair, spoke up, “My name is Akeria.”
“Our lighthouse already has a few residents,” Jesse said. “Come with us.”
And with that Jesse walked over to the trap door.
Chapter Nineteen
Jesse pulled the carpet away from the tiny trap door that concealed the entrance to The City Below. He hopped inside, a flashlight in one hand and gun in the other, and smiled up at Violet and the prisoners. Akeria and Kevin looked bewildered. They gawked at him from above.
“The City Below? I thought that was a myth,” Kevin said. Akeria nodded in agreement.
“There are no such things as myths,” Jesse said, before opening the second door and vanishing into darkness.
Violet’s face was visibly pale as she looked into Angela's eyes for assurance. Angela knew how scary it could be to leave home and venture into an unknown world. She reached out and held her friend's hand, hoping to soothe her nerves.
“Lets go,” Angela said. “We will build a new Lighthouse there.”
Angela and Violet hopped in, followed by Nathan, Kevin, and Akeria. They ventured through the darkness beyond the room that housed the underground garden. Jesse shone his flashlight on a second door that Angela had not noticed before. He pulled the key out of his pocket and opened it. As soon as the door opened, a putrid smell filled the air, causing her to cough and cover her nose.
“My god, that's awful!” Violet exclaimed.
Jesse walked inside, causing the entire party to scramble to keep up with him.
The tunnel beyond this door didn’t look much different from the tunnel on the other side. Both were dark, cool, and wet. But this one was much longer, and tiny signs of life reminded Angela that they were not alone. Angela could hear faint sounds echoing from further inside the tunnels — the squeaks of rodents and other unidentifiable forms of life.
“Do you think the Watch could be patrolling down here as well?” Nathan asked. Angela wondered what horrors he had faced in his short time with the Wardens.
“They are the least of your worries down here,” Jesse reassured him. “They are concerned with order in the places they rule, once you’re outside of their boundaries, they count you as dead. That’s why I’m hoping that where you live, we will be left alone.”
Angela opened her mouth to respond, but before any words could make it past her lips, a small creature zipped by Angela's feet. It had a rat-like body, but there was something not quite right about its form. Angela squinted at the critter. It was a bit too long to be a rat, with eight tiny legs and two tails moving so effortlessly that its deformities seemed almost correct. Angela screamed in shock.
“Quiet,” Jesse said, turning off his flashlight. It was so dark that Angela couldn't see her hands. But it was too late. Angela could hear the distant echo of a much bigger creature approaching. Angela, Jesse, and Violet pressed their backs onto the wall hoping to blend into the darkness. They did their best not to move, or even breathe.
A human-like figure stood in the distance, but due to Jesse's warnings, Angela knew not to assume it was safe. Why would anyone live down here who wasn't forced to? He was tall, and broad across the chest. His breath came heavy and deep as he stood there, watching them.
“Who’s there?” he asked. And even though they could not see him well, they heard the familiar click of a gun preparing to fire. Angela squeezed Jesse's hand, hoping to prevent him from going full cowboy and trying to start a shootout. She had seen enough death for one lifetime.
“I’m warning you!” the man said, and he fired his pistol into the dark. The bullet crashed into the concrete wall.
“Wait!” Angela was the first to speak. “We don’t mean any harm. We are trying to get out of here. The Watch is after us.”
The man chuckled, “Isn't that why we all end up down here anyway?”
“Can you help us find our way out of the settlement?” Angela asked.
The man grew quiet. Thoughtfully, he spoke, “Leave the settlement? Why, that's a death sentence. You’ll die out there in the forest from starvation alone.”
“We have plans to make a safe house,” Angela spoke up. “We have ways of getting food out there. Medicine, even. Connections with people still living in Chicago. I want to build a community where people like you . . . like us…can live in peace.”
The man shone his flashlight to get a good look at Angela and her friends, allowing Angela to do the same to him. He had warm, deep brown skin, close-cropped black, coily hair, and a kind, round face. He looked to be about the same age as Angela's father. His gaze lingered on Angela.
“You sure look familiar,” he said.
Jesse stepped between Angela and the man. “She is n
ot from around here. I’m sure you are mistaken.”
He sighed at them and put his gun away, but his voice was shaky when he spoke.
“There are some mutants up ahead who don’t take kindly to new faces in these parts. We best tread carefully,” he said, turning his back on them and taking off. Angela looked over at Jesse, uncertain what to do next.
“Come on!” The man called out. Jesse shrugged at Angela, and they were off with their new guide.
With the man in the lead, they ventured into deeper darkness. They tried to keep their voices to a whisper as they got to know their new friend. His name was Trace, and he had lived in The City Below for fifteen years. Angela felt that was way too long to never see the sunlight. He wasn’t a mutant, but his sister was, and the Watch started investigating him for buying medicine that was not prescribed to him. His sister had diabetes, and just because she happened to be a mutant did not mean those issues went away.
“When an adult applies for a CitCard they go through testing. If it’s determined that they have a mutation, they are killed,” Trace explained. “Even if she risked applying, during the process they would test her blood for mutations.”
Trace broke the law by trying to get insulin for her with his card. A Warden realized what he was doing, but initially let him get away. Later that night, three Wardens raided Trace’s home, trying to figure out who the medicine was for. Trace hid his sister in a locked freezer in the basement as the Wardens searched the home. They found nothing, but Trace knew luck had run out for him and his sister. That night, they moved to The City Below.
“Where is your sister now?” Angela asked.
“She died, thirteen years ago,” he said. “From her illness, not from any mutation. It was hard getting the meds she needed down here. Some carded people from above ground tried to help us as much as they could, but you know how it is. I think most of them ended up getting mutations themselves. You can’t buy meds without citizenship cards. Up there, they would have killed her even sooner. It’s always been a situation where you can’t win, but I'm glad she got a couple extra years of life down here.”
Saving Eden Page 13