Jaxon made it back to the cave in less than an hour.
“Did you find anything?” Olivia asked.
“Yeah, I found a great place for us to set up camp. There’s a stream and shade. There are animals up there. The only problem is that we have to find a way to get up there. There’s got to be a way to get up there besides climbing, we just have to find it.”
Olivia looked doubtful. “Maybe we should find somewhere else to go if it’s hard to access.”
“No,” Jaxon argued. “This place is perfect.”
“Not if we can’t get to it.”
“We’ll find a way, trust me,” Jaxon said, grabbing Olivia’s hands.
Olivia sighed. “Alright. Let’s try this.”
They grabbed what little supplies they had and set off to find a way up the cliff.
Zoe, who Olivia had fastened to the saddle in front of her, was happy to be back on the horses.
“Mommy, I want one,” Zoe said, pulling on the mane of the horse her and Olivia were riding.
“Sweetie, if we get through this, you can have whatever you want,” Olivia told her.
Zoe clapped in delight.
Jaxon handed Olivia a canteen of water that he had taken from the river earlier. “Drink up,” He said. “We could be out here for awhile.”
Olivia took the canteen and held it in front of Zoe. “Drink,” She instructed.
Jaxon stopped suddenly.
“What?” Olivia asked with concern.
“It looks like there’s a break in the rocks up ahead.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means there could be a passageway to get up to where we need to go. I’m going to go check it out, you stay here.”
The horse started trotting up ahead. About one hundred feet away, Jaxon stopped the horse. There was a large opening in the wall, and the path was on an upward slope.
Jaxon grinned. “I think I found it!” He called to Olivia and Zoe.
Olivia’s horse slowly made its way to Jaxon. Olivia was worried about going too fast with Zoe on the horse. When she finally got to Jaxon, she peered into the passageway. “Is it safe?”
“I guess we’ll find out.” Jaxon shrugged as his horse started into the passage.
Olivia looked unsure but still followed.
After twenty minutes, they got to the top of the hill.
Jaxon looked around. There was a cliff a few hundred yards away, and on the other side of them was a giant rock wall. “I think we’re here,” He said. “The river is this way.” He took off to the left.
Olivia had to start the horse into a fast trot to keep up.
After a few minutes, they got to the spot Jaxon had found earlier.
Olivia got off her horse, looking around. “This is beautiful,” She said.
Jaxon smiled, putting his arm around her. “Isn’t it?” He walked over to the horses and started unpacking. He looked at Zoe. “Do you like our new home?” He asked.
Zoe nodded. “Home,” She said simply.
Albert
Albert and a group of his advisors were sitting around a table in the White House. Albert was rubbing his temples.
“They have to have died, sir,” One of the men said.
“Why would you think that?” Albert asked slowly.
“They disappeared into the desert. The chances of surviving out there are low.”
“No!” Albert yelled, pounding his fist on the table. “I didn’t get to execute them! Now people are going to think I’m a bad leader!”
“You could tell everyone you killed them,” Someone else pointed out.
“No, I’ll look stupid if I don’t have bodies to show.”
“You’ll look stupid if people find out they got away again,” The man argued.
Albert looked up. He turned to his Secret Service men. “Out,” He said, nodding toward the man who had just spoken.
The Secret Service men grabbed the man and lead him out of the room.
“Anyone else have anything they want to say?” Albert asked sarcastically.
“What about more executions?” The first man suggested.
“Now there’s an idea.” Albert grinned.
Everyone else at the table murmured in agreement.
“Of course, we’d need a reason to start conducting more executions. We’d need stricter laws,” Another man said.
Albert nodded. He had already known that. He didn’t mind that. In fact, he loved that. “Any ideas?” He asked the group.
“Anyone with possession of cigarettes could be executed. Cigarettes have already been banned for nearly twenty years and people should have had plenty of time to get over their addiction,” Someone suggested.
Albert nodded again. He turned to his secretary. “Write all these ideas down,” He told her.
“We could move curfew up a few hours. Anyone who’s out past eight o’clock gets executed,” Someone else said.
“What about this?” Another one began. “Any woman who wears pants in public gets executed. I mean, they need to look presentable.”
Albert grinned. “I’m loving these ideas! Keep them coming!”
Albert and his advisors spent the rest of the afternoon coming up with new laws that if broken, would result in execution. That night, he rolled out the new laws.
“Listen up, America,” He said, looking into the camera. “People in these last few weeks have been way out of line.” He was sure that wasn’t true, but he’d say whatever needed to be said. “And I’m sick of it. I’ve had enough. So, we’re rolling out some new laws. If any of these laws are broken, it will result in a public execution. These executions will take place once a month, beginning two weeks from now. Here are the new laws…”
There were over thirty new laws, all equally ridiculous. Even so, they would do the trick. By the time Albert had finished reading them, he was ready for bed. He’d have plenty of time to show America who was in charge tomorrow.
Two weeks later, everyone was preparing for the first round of executions. The guillotine was on the front lawn of the White House, and there was a crowd. Some of the people in the crowd were reporters.
Albert looked out at the crowd as he stepped onto the platform with Aurora. Neither of them would be performing the execution themselves, but as the President and First Lady, they got front row seats on the platform the guillotine was set up on. “What a great turnout,” He muttered to Aurora.
She nodded but didn’t say anything.
A few minutes later, the first person being executed was brought up onto the platform. It was a woman who couldn’t have been older than twenty-one years old.
“Harper Hollis, guilty of reading banned literature!” The executioner announced to the crowd.
The crowd booed, as Harper Hollis cried.
“Please,” She begged. “Please, I wasn’t doing anything wrong.” She turned to Albert and Aurora. “Please.”
“You do not speak to them!” The executioner told her.
Two men forced Harper into the proper position. The executioner pulled the lever.
As the blade went down, the crowd cheered.
Chapter 9
Jaxon
“I caught breakfast,” Jaxon said, holding up a medium sized rabbit as he walked toward the shelter under the tree.
Olivia jumped up. “Thank god, it’s been days!” She cried.
Jaxon shrugged. “I guess there just aren’t as many animals here as I expected.”
“I’m hungry, Daddy!” Zoe called.
Olivia looked back at her before turning to Jaxon. “We can’t keep living like this,” She said quietly.
“Hey,” Jaxon grabbed her hands. “Everything is going to be fine. I’ll go down the mountain or something to hunt. But this is probably the best spot we’re going to find in the desert. We can’t leave here.”
“Why don’t we find somewhere other than the desert to live?”
“If we leave here, and someone sees us, we could get caug
ht by President Franch. And then we’ll really be in trouble.”
“I know,” Olivia sighed.
“Liv, we’re going to survive. We’re going to live through this. I promise.”
“I believee you.” Olivia kissed Jaxon. She turned and walked back toward Zoe with a smile. “Now come on, cook us girls some breakfast!”
A few hours later, Jaxon was riding his horse on the cliffs. He was going around and picking up all his traps. He frowned to himself as he noted that all of them were empty. But that didn’t matter. He was going to put them in new places, and he was sure he’d catch something then.
He rode through the passageway, and out into the desert.
The desert was much bigger and barer than the area up on the cliffs. Jaxon had no idea how he was going to remember where he put his traps.
He looked around and sighed to himself. He’d have to draw himself a map in the dirt or on some rocks. Probably on some rocks, since the dirt map could be easily ruined.
So, Jaxon went to work. He rode around the desert, setting out the traps. He made mental notes of where each one was. Once he was done, he made his way back to the passageway. He took some berries out of his pocket and smashed them up. Then he used them to paint a map on the rock wall. He hoped that nobody would come across the map. He didn’t think anyone would. You’d have to be crazy to be out where the Ribelles were.
That night, Jaxon and Olivia were sitting at the campfire, while Zoe slept in the shelter. The shelter was nothing more than a blanket on the ground under a blanket draped over a tree branch, but it was better than nothing.
“I’ll probably be gone when you wake up,” Jaxon told Olivia. “I’m going to check the traps right when the sun rises.”
“I hope you find something.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“I was thinking that maybe we should kill the horses if food keeps running low.”
Jaxon’s head shot up. “Why would we do that?”
“Those horses could supply a lot of meat. Besides, it’s getting colder. We could probably find a way to store the meat.”
“How would we get out of here if we needed to leave?”
“How are we going to survive if we don’t eat?”
Jaxon shook his head. “We’re not killing the horses.”
“Jaxon, we can’t think about the ‘what-ifs’ of the future. We need to think about right now. And right now? Right now we’re starving. The three of us have shared two rabbits in eleven days.”
“I’m going to get food. Don’t worry.”
Olivia stared at him for a moment before standing up. “Alright. Whatever you say.”
In the morning, Jaxon got up at sunrise to check the traps. He came back an hour later to a panicked Olivia.
“Jaxon!” She cried, running over to him. “Where were you?”
“I went to check the traps… Have you been crying?”
Olivia wiped her eyes with her arm. “I was worried about you. I thought you had left, or-Or that you had been taken. I don’t know. Don’t ever do that to me again!”
“I told my plans last night.”
Olivia thought for a moment. “You’re right.” She nodded. “You did.”
Jaxon got off the horse and kissed her. “I’m sorry I scared you.”
“I just don’t want anything to happen to you. I love you.”
As they hugged, Jaxon sighed to himself. Olivia was right, they couldn’t keep living like this. They had to figure something out.
Albert
“Aurora, are you almost ready?” Albert asked, knocking on the master bedroom’s bathroom door.
“Almost!” Aurora called.
Albert sighed through his nose. “Please hurry, hunny. Our guests are waiting,” He said through a fake smile.
Aurora opened the bathroom door. “Ready,” She said, grinning.
Albert stared at her. She was wearing a tight and short sequined dress.
“Go change,” He demanded.
Aurora looked down at herself. “You don’t like it?”
Albert resisted the urge to start yelling. Aurora had been doing things like this ever since she got out of The Dungeon. She had been defying him. In small ways, at first, but now her defiance was growing.
“It’s a lovely dress,” He said. “But it’s not an appropriate dress for the First Lady to be wearing to dinner with a group of senators and their wives.”
Aurora strode past Albert, and out of the bedroom. “Well, I look good and I feel good. So, our guests will just have to deal with it.”
Albert sighed to himself as he followed his wife. “Strike one,” He whispered.
“What was that, dear?” Aurora turned around.
Albert smiled and put his arm around her as he caught up to her. “Nothing. I was just thinking about something.”
Despite the manner of Aurora’s dress, dinner went well, until the subject of the Ribelles came up.
“So, do you think they’re dead?” Vice President Tucker asked.
“Oh yeah,” Albert nodded. “They have to be. They can’t be this good at hiding. In a hundred years or so, some poor bastard is going to be lost in the desert, and he’s going to come across their bones.”
“Why can’t they be that good at hiding?” Aurora asked suddenly.
Everyone grew quiet as they all turned to Aurora.
“What was that?” Albert asked.
“Well, why is it so hard to believe that they are alive?” Aurora asked, sitting taller in her chair. She knew a storm was coming and was prepared.
Vice President Tucker laughed. “Because that would mean the United States government failed, of course! And we never fail!”
“Don’t laugh at me,” Aurora said sharply. “The government has failed at many things before, and it’s quite possible you have failed this time.”
One of the senator’s wives leaned over and put her hand on Aurora’s arm. “Sweetie, it isn’t a woman’s place to discuss something as serious as this. Let’s leave things like politics and the law to the men, alright?” She smiled at Aurora. She clearly thought that she was helping.
Aurora pushed her chair back and stood up with such force, that her chair toppled over. “Do you hear yourself, Nancy?” She cried. “Do you hear how insane that sounds? You’re older than me, so surely you must remember better than I do how things used to be. Women used to have a voice! Women used to be politicians and cops, even! Women used to be equals! I’m not going to silence myself. You know what? The government has failed! They failed the moment they started conducting these fucking executions!”
The moment Aurora cussed, Albert was also out of his seat. He decided to skip strike two and go straight to strike three.
“Arrest her!” He yelled.
A group of Secret Service men appeared and grabbed Aurora by the arms.
“Albert!” Aurora cried.
“You failed at being my wife,” He told her. “You will be executed along with the next batch of people.”
“Albert!” Aurora yelled. She looked around the room as the Secret Service men tried to drag her out. “Please, somebody! You all know this is wrong!”
As her yelling and pleading faded away, Albert straightened his jacket and sat back down. “I’m sorry about that,” He said calmly. “Now, where were we?”
After the dinner party was over, Albert went down to The Dungeon. Aurora was sitting in a cell. Although she had been crying, she didn’t seem afraid.
Albert scoffed to himself. Stupid woman. Didn’t she know what was coming to her?
“Albert, let me go,” Aurora said. She asked, but she did not beg. Albert knew that Aurora would never beg for anything. She considered begging weak.
“Why?” He asked calmly.
“You know this is wrong. I believe that you do, deep down. You could change things.”
“Things don’t need changing. There’s only one thing that needs change.”
Aurora cocked her head to the side. Albe
rt could tell she wasn’t expecting him to want anything to change. “What’s that?”
“I need to find a way to keep me in charge forever.”
Aurora laughed. “You are crazy. You are going to be the death of this world. This country is already dead, but the rest of the world? You’re going to get them all killed too.”
Albert shrugged. “It’s not my problem.” He turned to the guards. “Don’t let her talk to the other prisoners. I don’t need her filling their heads with any crazy ideas.” And with that, he walked out of The Dungeon.
Chapter 10
Jaxon
Olivia rode the horse away from the campsite, with Zoe sitting in front of her. She had to find Jaxon. She had to tell him the news. She considered shouting for him, but ultimately decided against it. They were trying to stay hidden, after all.
However, when Jaxon came into view, Olivia couldn’t help calling him.
“Jaxon!” She shouted.
Jaxon slowed his horse down and turned around.
“Liv? What’s wrong?”
“Look what I found!”
Jaxon glanced at the piece of paper in her hands. He saw a few numbers and then the words ‘Woodlark Lane’.
“What is that?”
“It’s Travis’ girlfriend’s sister’s address. You know, in Texas? We could go there! She’ll keep us safe, remember?”
“Liv, I don’t know,” Jaxon said carefully. “We’ve caused his family enough trouble, don’t you think?”
“No one will know who we are, though. We’ve been out here for weeks, everyone probably thinks we’re dead!” Jaxon still looked unsure, so Olivia added, “Come on, Jaxon. Please. It’s our last chance.”
Jaxon sighed. “But we don’t have money. Or a way to get there.”
Olivia grinned. “I have it all figured out.”
The next day, Jaxon, Olivia, and Zoe were boarding a bus to Texas. They had sold their horses to someone outside the bus station for just enough money to buy tickets. Jaxon and Olivia were wearing hats and sunglasses, and Zoe was wearing a hat. She had refused to keep the sunglasses on.
Once they were situated in the back of the bus, away from everyone else, Olivia asked Jaxon what they were going to do once they got to Texas.
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