Albert nodded. “Sounds good. When do we start the executions?”
“We’re gathering those who are to be executed right now. We should be finished by Sunday. We’ll most likely start executions the day after.”
“Excellent.” Albert smiled as he said, “I can’t wait.”
An hour later, Albert was sitting at the dinner table with his wife. They didn’t have kids. Albert hated kids.
“Can you believe it?” He asked. “Somebody had the nerve to run away from me!”
“Maybe you should rethink the executions,” His wife, Aurora, said.
Albert laughed. “Since when do you care about what I do?”
Aurora shrugged. “Maybe people would think more of you if you broke a horrible tradition.”
He stopped cutting his steak and pointed the knife at her. “Do you want to be executed too? I won’t hesitate to put you up there on the guillotine.”
Albert and Aurora were in a very loveless marriage. In fact, Albert had only married Aurora to improve his political career. A single man could never be President. It made him seem too unlikable. Aurora had only married Albert for his money. She didn’t care about him stopping the executions for his reputation, she wanted him to stop them for her reputation. Her friends couldn’t believe that she could remain married to such a heartless person.
Aurora looked down at her plate. “Sorry,” She muttered.
Albert smiled one of his fake smiles. “It’s fine, babe.” He leaned over to kiss her. He had to make her happy, because she could tell the world about what an awful person he truly was.
Chapter 3
Jaxon
Jaxon and Olivia were sitting next to each other on the plane. Zoe was sitting on Olivia’s lap. They were waiting for the plane to take off. It should have left twenty minutes ago, but there seemed to be some sort of delay.
“I’m sorry, but if you don’t have a ticket, you can’t get on,” The stewardess said, standing in front of the entrance to the plane.
“Ma’am, we’re part of the federal government. We work directly for the President. We do not need your permission to board this plane.” And with that, the men in the black suits and sunglasses shoved past the stewardess.
Jaxon started sweating. These men were part of the government. Where they here for him and Olivia?
Sure enough, the men walked right up to him and Olivia.
“Jaxon and Olivia Ribelle?”
Olivia looked up from wiping Zoe’s mouth with her bib. “Yes?”
Jaxon couldn’t answer. He was frozen.
“We’re going to need you to come with us,” The taller man said.
Jaxon found his voice. “What is this about?”
“We think you know,” The shorter one said.
Olivia and Jaxon looked at each other but didn’t move. What were they supposed to do?
Olivia turned back toward the men. “We haven’t done anything wrong.”
“You two are criminals. We need you to come with us. We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” The taller one responded.
“We’re criminals?” Olivia cried. “All we did was vote for the guy who didn’t win! This is ridiculous! You two don’t have to do this. You can help change things!”
“And you’re changing things by fleeing the country?” The shorter one laughed.
Before either Jaxon or Olivia thought of a response, the taller one grabbed Jaxon and yanked him out of his seat. The shorter one grabbed Olivia and pulled her into the aisle of the plane. They lead Olivia and Jaxon off the plane.
At least they aren’t taking Zoe away yet, Jaxon thought.
As Olivia and Jaxon were lead through the airport, Olivia still carrying Zoe, a million thoughts raced through Jaxon’s head. The thought were mainly about the self-defense lessons Jaxon’s father had taught him back when Jaxon was ten years old and was bullied every day at school.
When they were in a secluded area, Jaxon suddenly threw himself backward, putting all his bodyweight against the man leading him. The man fell backward, and Jaxon turned to face him. He wasn’t quite sure what he was going to do, but he knew that he wasn’t going to let this man take him anywhere. And that’s when he spotted the gun clipped to the man’s belt. Jaxon grabbed the gun. He aimed it at the man on the floor.
“Drop it!” The other man shouted, aiming his gun at Jaxon.
“You drop yours and let my wife go,” Jaxon demanded.
The man leading Olivia didn’t drop his gun, but Jaxon noticed that the man’s hand was shaking.
“Drop it,” The man on the floor ordered his partner.
The man set his gun on the floor.
“Pick it up,” Jaxon told Olivia.
Olivia did as she was told.
Jaxon backed away with Olivia following him. “You’re going to let us leave,” Jaxon told the men. “If we see you follow us, we will shoot you.”
The men stayed in place, completely in shock.
Once they were a few hundred feet away, Jaxon and Olivia turned and started running.
“Where are we going?” Olivia asked.
“We need a cab. We have to get out of here,” Jaxon told her.
Olivia pointed out a cab outside the doors, at the front of the airport. Her and Jaxon ran up to it and pulled the doors open. Olivia and Zoe got in the back and Jaxon got in the front.
Jaxon held the gun to the cab driver’s head. “Drive,” He commanded.
“Jaxon!” Olivia cried.
Jaxon didn’t turn his gaze from the cab driver as he asked, “What?”
“You can’t do that! Especially in front of Zoe.”
“Hunny, this is an emergency,” He turned to Zoe. “This is an emergency, sweetie. Never do what I’m doing, alright?”
Zoe nodded but didn’t say anything. She didn’t like to talk in front of strangers. It had been an effort to get her to talk in front of Alissa.
“Hey, man, I don’t want any trouble,” The cab driver said.
Jaxon responded, “Don’t give us any trouble and we won’t give you any.”
“Where am I taking you, anyway?”
Jaxon looked at Olivia. They hadn’t thought this through at all. They certainly couldn’t go back to their apartment. And they couldn’t really give the cab driver an exact location. If they did that, he could tell the police where he had taken them.
“Well?” The cab driver asked.
Jaxon stared at Olivia. She was usually the one who knew what to do. He had said many times that he’d be lost without her.
“Take us to West End Avenue and Eighty-Sixth Street,” Olivia said.
“Alright, then,” The cab driver said, turning his blinker on to change lanes.
Jaxon turned back around to look out the windshield. Where was Olivia taking them? All that was there was an abandoned church.
Once they were out of the cab, Jaxon asked, “Why did you tell him to bring us here?”
“We’re walking to Central Park,” Olivia explained. “We’ll hide out there until we can think of something else to do.”
“Going to Central Park isn’t exactly hiding,” Jaxon said as he followed Olivia, who had already started walking.
“We’ll be hiding in plain sight.”
“Yeah, with all the homeless people, drug addicts, and people looking to mug someone.” Jaxon took Zoe from Olivia as he asked, “Seriously, Liv, is that where you want to go? Is that where you want to take Zoe?”
“We have no choice! Unless you want to stay here.”
“Why don’t we? We’ll just stay here for tonight. Then we’ll figure something out in the morning.”
Olivia paused before nodding. Jaxon could tell that all she wanted was to keep Zoe safe. That was all he wanted too.
The next morning, Jaxon and Olivia were heading toward the docks with Zoe. They had come up with a plan in the late hours of the night when they had discovered that neither of them could fall asleep. Their plan was to get on a boat and sail to Hawaii.
Maybe they’d be able to buy their way onto a cargo ship.
“Where ya lookin’ to go?” The guy at the ticket booth asked.
“Hawaii, please,” Jaxon said.
The man stared at him for a minute before saying, “You’re that guy they’re looking for, aren’t ya?”
“I-I don’t-”
He waved his hand. “I don’t care. Fuck the government, am I right?”
Jaxon laughed. He supposed that he and Olivia were saying, “Fuck the government” as well, but it felt strange.
“It’s alright, you can say it,” The man said.
Jaxon nodded. “Yeah. Fuck the government.”
The man grinned. He was missing a few teeth. He leaned forward. “So, if you don’t mind me askin’, what’d ya do?”
“What are they saying?”
“You know, the same as always. All they’re tellin’ us is that you and your wife held two Secret Service men at gunpoint. But there’s gotta be more than that, right? There’s always more’n that.”
“We voted for Capper,” Jaxon said. “And we tried to leave for Hawaii.”
The guy grinned. “That’s pretty good. So they tried to stop ya?”
Jaxon nodded.
“Listen,” The man said, playing with his long, red beard. “You’re not gonna get anywhere. They’ve got people lookin’ for ya everywhere. But I know a place you can hide.”
Jaxon turned to look at Olivia, who was feeding Zoe some french fries they had bought at the shack a little way down the pier. The french fries were supposed to come with fried cod, but Zoe was too young to like fish yet. “I’m listening,” He said.
Albert
“Sir, we found her,” Edwin said, leading a cuffed girl into the Oval Office.
Albert looked at her. She was young and good looking. He probably would have kept her for himself if she wasn’t a criminal.
“You’re Alissa Corgan?” He asked.
The girl nodded. “I haven’t done anything wrong. Why am I here?”
Albert kept staring at her. She was so good looking. Criminal or not, maybe he should keep her around.
“You work for the Ribelles?”
Alissa nodded.
“Where are they?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about!” Albert yelled. “They ran from me! Someone has to answer to me! If you don’t tell me where they are, I’ll kill you instead of them. Then when I find them, I’ll kill them too!”
Alissa started crying. “I don’t know where they are! Please. I don’t know, I’d tell you if I did!”
Albert took a gun out of his desk drawer. “You better figure it out real quick.”
“Sir,” Edwin began.
“Quiet.” Albert pointed the gun at Edwin.
“Sorry,” Edwin said.
Albert pointed the gun at Alissa. “Tell me where they are.”
“I don’t know,” Alissa sobbed.
“That’s too bad,” Albert sighed. He was half smiling as he pulled the trigger.
At lunch that day, Albert absent-mindedly pushed his food around on his plate.
“Are you alright, dear?” Aurora asked.
“I’m fine.”
“You seem distracted.”
Albert looked up from his plate. He turned around to make sure that the dining room door was closed before saying, “Those people ran away from me. It makes me look weak. And now all I can do is wait for someone to say they found them. Do you know how that makes me look?”
“It makes you look weak. You just said that.”
“Right. But what am I supposed to do about it?”
Aurora began to speak. “You could-”
Albert waved his hand. “Oh, what do you know? You’re just a woman.”
“You know I wanted to be in the military. I think that I have some ideas that could help you be a successful President.”
“Right. And they don’t let women in the military for a reason.” He chuckled. “Besides, I don’t need any help. Why don’t you just stick to getting your nails done?”
Aurora stood up and walked out of the dining room.
“Bye,” Albert called sarcastically as she left. He turned back to his lunch, moving food around on his plate as he thought.
These people had a kid with them. It would make it harder for them to travel. It would also make them stand out more. Not too many people had kids anymore, they were all worried that the government would put a ban on kids sooner or later. Albert had been seriously considering it himself.
Albert loudly slurped his soup. What else did he know?
He knew that these people had been heading for Hawaii. Hawaii would be safe since they had become their own country back in 2042. Albert thought that Hawaii had been its own country once before, but he wasn’t sure. Anyway, that didn’t matter. What did matter was the fact that it was going to be hard for these people to get to Hawaii. The only airline left in America, America Flies, had been told to watch for the Ribelles. Of course, they could take a bus to Los Angeles. Or a boat straight to Hawaii. He didn’t think they would, though. It would take a long time. But a boat would take even longer.
“Hmm. Perhaps they would take the bus,” Albert thought out loud. He stood up. He had to find Edwin.
Albert found Edwin outside the Oval Office. “Edwin, is the office clean yet?”
“They’re working on it, sir,” Edwin said. “Is there something you need in there?”
“No, but I was thinking. Perhaps these Ribelles are on a bus. Have you guys considered that?”
Edwin looked both embarrassed and afraid as he said, “No, sir. We haven’t.”
“Well, I want all bus stations between New York and Los Angeles to have someone watching them. The Ribelles could appear anywhere.”
Edwin nodded. “Yes, sir. Right away, sir.” He got out a walkie-talkie and began walking away.
Albert smiled to himself. His plan was flawless.
Chapter 4
Jaxon
The man from the docks, who Jaxon had learned was named Travis, lead Jaxon and Olivia into a warehouse full of shipping containers.
“Well, here we are,” Travis said.
“We’re in a warehouse,” Olivia said slowly. She turned to glare at Jaxon as if to say, I told you this was a bad idea. She had been hesitant when Jaxon told her that someone wanted to help them.
“Lady, we ain’t just in a warehouse. We’re in the perfect hiding spot. No one’s gonna find ya in here.”
“Look, Liv,” Jaxon began. “These are all empty. We can hide in any one. There are thousands in here.”
It was true. The containers were stacked from the floor to the ceiling. They were packed in side by side. The only space in the entire warehouse was a narrow walkway going down the center of all the containers.
Olivia sighed. “Alright, fine. We’ll stay here for tonight.” She turned to Travis. “Thank you very much.”
Travis grinned, showing his missing teeth again. “No problem, darlin’. I’ll let ya get settled.”
Once he was gone, Olivia turned to Jaxon. “We can’t stay here!” She cried. “He could call the feds at any moment.”
“I don’t think he’s going to,” Jaxon said, putting Zoe down. “He isn’t interested in helping the government. He’s from the South, do you know how against the government they are?”
Olivia didn’t say anything for awhile. Instead, she walked around the warehouse, looking into all of the containers. Jaxon let her look around. He knew that she was most dangerous when she was silent. Finally, she said, “Give me a boost.”
“What?”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “I want to get in that container,” She said, pointing to a container on the second row.
Jaxon walked over and made a stirrup with his hands. Olivia put one foot in it and put her hands on his shoulders. Jaxon lifted her up, and she climbed into the open container.
Olivia disappeared for a second bef
ore sticking her head over the edge. “This one’s good,” She said.
Jaxon couldn’t reach the container on his own, so he went to search for a ladder. He came back with one a few minutes later. When he was halfway up the ladder, he handed Zoe to Olivia. Once he was inside the container, he looked around. “Wow. It’s huge in here.”
Olivia nodded. “I know. We could hide out in here for awhile. If Travis will let us.”
“Does this mean you trust him now?”
“Do you?”
“Yeah, I do.”
Olivia smiled. “Then I do too.”
That night, after everyone working at the dock had gone home, Travis brought everyone food. It was just peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but it was better than nothing. He had even cut Zoe’s sandwich up into bite-sized pieces.
“Why are you helping us?” Jaxon asked.
“My whole family was executed,” Travis explained. “I just keep gettin’ lucky enough to vote for the right guy, but this system ain’t right. Something’s gotta change.”
“Your whole family?” Olivia asked.
Jaxon knew that Olivia was thinking about her family. Her parents had been executed when she was less than a year old. Her only family members were her aunt and cousins who lived in Hawaii, and they couldn’t help her because the law made it so that if you have no living relatives in the country, you automatically became a ward of the state. Even if the relatives in another country want to adopt you. It was yet another result of cruel people having too much power.
The next morning, Travis let Jaxon into his office. He told Olivia she could come as well, but she had wanted to stay back with Zoe.
“Why did you want me to come in here?” Jaxon asked as Travis shut and locked the office door.
“I have a tv in here. You gotta see what they’re sayin’ on the tv.” He turned on the tv. Albert Franch was standing at a podium, giving a speech.
“These Ribelles are dangerous people,” He said. “They assaulted two of my men. They’re running from the law. They’re dangerous and they will not hesitate to kill you. We believe that they are on a bus to Los Angeles.”
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