Alice loosened her grip on the man's shirt and nodded her head, choking back nervous and joyful tears. Caleb put his arm around her, silently watching the scene in front of him. He was overjoyed to see that Aaron had made it away from the Guardians back at the cabin, and had made his way to the resistance group.
Behind them, two men came running out from the hallway wheeling a metallic-looking bed. The group of men hoisted Aaron onto it and rushed him back into the hallway. Caleb and Alice stood silently staring at the doors as they slowly closed shut behind them. "Hey, are you guys alright?" a concerned voice asked from behind them.
It was Alex. Caleb and Alice both turned and looked at him. "Yeah, we're ok. Thanks," Caleb said. "That man is her father," he said, looking over at Alice, who was staring at the doors leading into the hallway where Aaron had just been brought, trying to hide the concern in her face. "He's going to be okay, right?"
Alex softly smiled. He reached forward and gently, but firmly, placed his hand on Alice's shoulder, reassuring her. "Don't worry. The medical team here is top notch. They'll have him up and around in no time." He removed his hand from Alice's shoulder. She looked up and smiled back at him.
"Thanks," she said with a sniffle.
Martin made his way over to where the three of them were standing, looked at Alice and asked, "Alice? Is your name Alice Browitz?"
She looked at him, somewhat startled. "Yes ... but ... how do you know that?"
Martin gasped. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened. A beaming smile appeared on his face. "Alice Browitz. I used to be a very close friend of your father’s." Then with open arms, he walked over and embraced her. "I haven't seen you since you were little!”
Alice stood still, not sure what to do in the moment. She didn't remember this man, she had no idea who he was, but he acted as if he was a long lost friend. When he let her go, she took a step back and smiled at him. “You probably don’t remember me, do you?” Martin asked.
“No, I’m sorry.” Alice replied, “I don’t really remember much of anything from when I was younger.”
Martin gently took her hand and said, “That’s alright. We’ll just need to get to know each other a little better while you’re here.”
Alice smiled and said, “I’d like that, Martin.”
After a short moment of silence Caleb broke in, "Not to interrupt, but you know Patrick too, right? He found this place a while back and told Aaron about it. That's how we all found our way here."
"Yes, of course! Patrick has been with us for quite a while now! I can't believe this is actually happening. I need to speak with Aaron!" Martin exclaimed, excitedly.
Alice softly spoke up, "We can't yet. One of the men who took him down the hallway told us we had to wait until he was stabilized. He said I'd be the first to know when he could be seen."
"Hmm. Well okay. As soon as you know, can you tell me? It's been such a long time since I've seen him. We have a lot of catching up to do." Martin began to walk away from the three of them, saying, "I need to discuss our plan of action for the ambush. I'll be right over here."
Alex chuckled under his breath. "Small world, huh?" he said.
Caleb and Alice both smiled. "I'm glad that your dad made it to us safely, Alice," Alex said, "I need to get over there too, I'm going to be in with the group going after the flame-tank. If you guys need anything, just come get me."
"Thanks Alex," Alice said.
"Oh, Alex, wait!" Caleb shouted, as Alex began to walk away. "Here. Can you give this to Martin?" He removed the EMP device from his pocket and handed it over to Alex. "I'm sure you guys already know, but all of the people living inside of the grids ... err, sectors, have small chips implanted in their necks. This device removes them."
Alex held the small EMP device in his fingers. He rotated it around as he examined the object. "Yeah. We have heard of these, we just haven't been able to get our hands on one of them. This will be very helpful, Caleb. I'll give it to him, we can have some of our men look at it, and see if they can find a way to replicate it."
"Great!" Caleb exclaimed.
Alex smiled and said, "Thanks for hanging on to it.”
Caleb nodded as Alex walked away from them, over toward where Martin and a small group of men were huddled around a table looking at a large piece of paper.
"I wonder what they're looking at," Caleb said to Alice.
"Probably a map," she replied.
"What's that?"
"My dad had a few of them back at the cabin. It's something that helps you get around certain areas. It shows an overhead view of the land, mountains, rivers, lakes, and all that kind of stuff."
"Oh, okay," Caleb replied. He looked back over at Alice and took her hand. "Are you feeling better now?" he asked.
Alice looked at him and smiled. "Yeah, I'm okay. I can't wait to see my dad." She gave Caleb’s hand a gentle squeeze.
"I'm sure Alex is right, they'll be out to get you soon." Caleb remained silent momentarily, then said, "I'm glad he made it."
Suddenly, the man who had taken Aaron down the hallway moments before approached Alice and said with a smile, "Miss? I just wanted to let you know that your father is fine now. We have him stabilized, but he is sleeping. You're more than welcome to go into his room and sit with him, but he will probably be asleep for a while. I went ahead and put a chair in there for you if you wanted to do that."
Alice put her hand over her mouth and tears welled up behind her eyes. "Thank you so much!" she replied with relief.
The man nodded his head and said, "You're very welcome."
The man turned and walked back into the hallway across the room. "Alice, did you want me to sit with you?" Caleb asked, "Or would you rather be alone with him?"
"Really?" she said, sniffling, "You wouldn't mind staying with me?"
Caleb smiled. "Of course not, I'd be happy to."
"Alright ... let's go," she said, gripping Caleb’s hand more tightly as they made their way toward the closed doors leading into the hallway.
When they had gotten halfway across the room, Alice said, "Oh wait, I should probably tell Martin what's going on first."
Both of them walked over to where Martin was standing with Alex, the captain who had made the announcement, and a small group of other men. They all looked up at Caleb and Alice as they approached. "Martin, do you have a moment?" Alice asked softly.
"Of course," he replied, stepping away from the table, "Is he alright?"
Alice nodded her head. "Yeah. One of the medical people just told me that he is okay, he's stable, but sleeping. We're going to go sit with him for a while."
Martin beamed. "I'm so glad to hear that. I'll let you guys go on ahead and stay with him. I'm going to give him the night to rest and hopefully he'll be up to talking with me tomorrow."
Caleb and Alice began to walk away before Martin called after them, "Caleb, hang on."
Caleb turned and looked at him. "Yes? What is it?"
"Caleb, Alex gave me the EMP device. Thank you for that. I gave it to my tech men here, they're going to see if they can figure out a way to make more of them."
"Sure, no problem," Caleb replied. "I'm glad that you'll be able to use it."
"Yes we will." Martin said. He paused briefly before speaking again, "I also wanted to ask ... how you are with a gun. Have you ever fired one before?"
"Well ..." Caleb replied, "just once, but I didn't really have to aim it. Other than that, I’ve never had to use one before."
"How would you like to learn how?" Martin asked, "Alex was telling me about how you wanted to help us fight the Inner Circle. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that you will ever need to fire a gun again, but we've got people who can train you here so you’re prepared.”
Caleb looked over at Alice who smiled at him. "I would like that very much Martin, thank you."
"Okay, good. Tomorrow you will meet up with Alex in the morning and he will take you out to our range."
Caleb looked over at
Alex who was still standing by the table with the small group of men. He glanced over at Caleb, smiled, and nodded his head.
"Sounds good, thanks again."
Martin gave Caleb a gentle pat on the shoulder and walked back over to the table.
"Wow, look at you," Alice said playfully, "Here only a little while and already making your way up the ranks."
Caleb smiled, it was hard to hide the feelings he had inside at this moment. Aaron was safe, he and Alice had found this resistance group, and now he was going to get a chance to help the people being held inside of the grids. "Let's go see your dad," he said, as the two of them made their way toward the hallway.
They walked down the corridor and into the room where Aaron was sleeping. There was a steady, rhythmic breathing emanating from Aaron's lungs. An IV hung from the corner of the bed and delivered fluid through a tube into his arm. Alice walked over to the chair that the man had told her he would leave there. She pulled it close to the bed and laid her head on Aaron's hand as she gripped it with both of hers. Caleb stood on the opposite side of the bed, looking down at Aaron as he rested. Alice looked up at him and asked, "Did you want to sit here with me?" indicating a small portion of the chair that was unoccupied by her.
"No, I'm alright," Caleb whispered, "I'll go grab our sleeping bags from our room if you want. We can spend the night in here."
Alice smiled, "Yeah that would be great."
Caleb left the room and returned shortly after with their sleeping bags. He opened Alice's and draped it over her lap as she remained seated in the chair. Then he walked over to the wall behind where Alice was seated and laid his on the floor. He was just now beginning to realize how tired he was. He yawned and laid down on his bag. "I'm beat," he whispered to Alice, "I'm sorry if I fall asleep. I just want to rest my eyes for a little bit."
"It's ok, you can sleep Caleb," she replied.
It wasn’t long before Caleb fell asleep.
Caleb's eyes opened the next morning, staring at the white ceiling above him. He could see Alice curled up on the chair next to Aaron's bed. It was bright inside of the room as the sun shone in through the large glass windows. Caleb sat up and rubbed his eyes. From behind Alice he heard a quiet voice say, "Good morning, Caleb. It looks like you're still able to get some sleep, regardless of your surroundings."
Caleb leaned forward so he could see behind Alice. Aaron was sitting up in the bed smiling at him. "Aaron!" he whispered, "I'm so glad to see you!"
Aaron continued smiling at him and said, "It's great to see you too."
3.9 (Resistance)
The color had returned to Aaron's face as he sat stoically in the bed. Caleb had moved over from his sleeping bag on the floor across the room and was standing beside Alice. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
Aaron slowly squirmed his body in an attempt to sit up further. "I've been better. But I'm alright," he said with a smile.
Aaron looked over at Alice, who was still sleeping in the chair beside him. "I'm glad you guys are both safe," he said, looking back up at Caleb, "I saw you disappear into the forest with the group of Guardians chasing after you."
Caleb nodded. "Yeah, we were lucky. We were able to get far enough ahead to force them to spread out. One of them found us ...” Caleb’s voice trailed off for a moment. “I had no choice but to kill him," he continued as a sad look came over his face. "I don't get it. I gave him the chance to just sit still and let us go. He didn't care. It was like he wanted us dead no matter what."
"He was probably furious that he had wound up in that situation. You did what you had to do Caleb, there's no reason for you to feel guilty."
"Maybe ... I guess." Caleb said, looking down at the ground, "But I still wish it could have ended differently."
Aaron patted Caleb's arm. "They're different, the Guardians. They have no empathy, no emotions whatsoever. Their sole purpose in life is for violence."
Caleb looked back up at Aaron and asked, "Were they always like that? I always thought it had something to do with the different set of pills they had to take."
"I don't know anything about the pills, but yes, for the most part they have always been that way," Aaron replied, shifting his position in the bed. "After the transition, the idea of power and control drove them to do unspeakable things to people. The Inner Circle used them to completely wipe out entire towns and cities. I didn't know that they were being used in such a way until long after I left the Inner Circle."
Aaron glanced over toward the door. The sound of heavy footsteps echoed from down the hallway. Martin appeared and stood motionless in the doorway. Aaron stared, squinting at the figure in the doorway and said, “Martin? Is that you?!"
Martin quickly walked over to the side of the bed opposite Caleb and Alice. "Aaron, my friend! It is so great to see you!"
Aaron's eyes began to tear up and both men started sobbing. Martin dropped down on his knees and gripped Aaron's hand with both of his. "Martin, I thought you were dead!" Aaron exclaimed.
Martin wiped the tears from his face and said, "And I thought for sure that you had been killed! They came for me, at my house, the day we were going to present our policy to the board. I killed one of the armed men and managed to escape into the woods along the back side of my yard. I ran as fast and as long as I could. I had no idea whether or not they had gone for you first."
Martin let go of Aaron’s hands as he stood up beside the bed. "I got to your house and saw the front door bashed in," Aaron said, "Then I saw the broken glass out on the patio and the pool of blood on the ground. I just assumed that it was yours. I looked through your briefcase, but couldn't find our proposition ... they took it."
"That pool of blood belonged to one of the men that was sent to kill me. I was able to get the jump on him as the others searched my house."
Martin briefly looked over toward Caleb and said, "Oh Caleb, Alex is waiting for you out in the main room. He's got a weapon for you to start training with.”
"Thanks, Martin." Caleb said, looking down at Aaron, "You have no idea how happy I am to see you Aaron. Get some rest, I'll see you soon."
Aaron smiled at him and said, "Thanks, Caleb."
Caleb began to cross the room toward the door. Just before he left, Aaron spoke up, "Caleb, wait. Are you sure that you want to join this fight?"
Caleb turned back to Aaron with a look of determination. "I'm sure. I can't sit idly by and do nothing, knowing what's happening to the defenseless people stuck inside the grids.”
Aaron smiled at him. "You remind me so much of Patrick … I wish you the best of luck!"
"Thanks Aaron. I'll see you later on," Caleb said, then turned and left the room.
"He's a good kid Martin," Aaron said shortly after Caleb had left the doorway, "He'll be an asset to your team."
Martin smiled and said, "I know, I can see the passion he has for what he believes is right. If we had more men like him, we'd have won this fight already."
Alice rustled around in her chair and slowly opened her eyes. "Good morning, sweetheart," Aaron said softly.
"Daddy. I'm so glad you're ok!" she exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around Aaron, "I was so worried I had lost you when I saw the cabin burning. What happened?"
Aaron shook his head. "I don't know. Guardians came out of nowhere. They just happened to come across that spot I suppose. They had been searching closer and closer ever since you saw them on the country road. I guess it was only a matter of time."
Alice held Aaron's hand tightly, then looked around the room. "Where's Caleb?" she asked.
"He just left. He went to start his weapon training with Alex," Martin answered.
Alice had a soft, but nervous, smile on her face. "He finally gets to help those people he left behind," she said. "Martin, would you have a spot for me in the squad where you put Caleb?"
A look of shock came over Aaron's face and he began to speak, "Alice..."
"No daddy," Alice said, interrupting him, "You have no idea what
we saw out by the camp with the incinerators the day they burned down the cabin. It's not right what they're doing to those poor people. I’ve decided that I need to take a stand too."
Aaron remained silent for a while. He gave a soft, gentle smile, rubbed Alice's hand and said, "You do what you think is right then, Alice. I won't say anything to try to change your mind."
"Are you sure about this Aaron?" Martin asked.
"If it's what she wants to do, I won't stand in her way. She will be valuable to your squad too."
"Thank you, Daddy," Alice said.
"Alright then ... Alice, why don't you head out to the main room and join the captain at the table against the wall with the others around it," Martin said, "We're putting together a group to send out at as soon as the flame-tank leaves one of the sectors for another. We've got scouts keeping an eye on it, they're going to let us know when it heads out. It usually takes two or three days to get from one sector to the other. We'll pinpoint an area to cut off the path it's taking, and attack at that spot. Caleb will be spending the next several days practicing his shooting. He will join the squad when Alex thinks he's ready."
"Thanks, Martin, I'll make my way there now," Alice said. She stood up from the chair, bent down and embraced Aaron. "I love you Daddy," she said, standing back up and smiling at him.
"I love you too, Alice," he replied, "Be careful, okay?"
"You know I will, Colonel," she said as she began to walk out of the room and down the hall.
Martin remained in the room with Aaron as Alice's footsteps became more and more distant before completely fading away. "Aaron. I have to tell you something."
Aaron looked up at Martin, curious. "What is it, Martin?
"You know how the Inner Circle has been giving out different kinds of pills to have certain effects on the people inside of the sectors?"
Aaron nodded. "I only just found out about them. Caleb told me all about what they did not long ago. Why?"
Martin's face became serious. "There's no way we could get people out of the sectors while their minds are affected by the drugs, they're too powerful. It would be impossible to get the people to act independently."
Sector 27- Assignment Page 14