Release (The Alliance Chronicles Book 3)

by SF Benson

  Becky tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Can everyone take a seat, please? Shiloh has something he wants to share with us.”

  Shiloh, the neighborhood heartbreaker, had our father’s looks and our mother’s smile. Girls followed my brother home from school every day hoping for a chance with him. And my brother welcomed their attention. I’d always thought of Shiloh as confident and able to deal with anything. At that moment, however, he appeared nervous like a small, shy dog. He shoved his hands in his pockets and worried his bottom lip. Not once did he make eye contact with us.

  I sure hoped he wasn’t going to tell us he knocked up another girl. Grandpa and Bobby weren’t happy when it happened to Ruby. Mr. Miller, an old-fashioned man like my grandfather, went ballistic when he found out. Ruby had a full-ride scholarship to college with plans of being a doctor. All that changed overnight and abortion wasn’t an option for their devout Catholic family. The man blamed my parents, said they had loose morals. According to Grandpa, Shiloh did the right thing and proposed to Ruby. Reluctantly, the Millers agreed and planned a June wedding.

  Grandpa ran a hand through his cropped graying hair. “Spit it out, boy.”

  Shiloh tugged at his shirt collar. “Um…I…uh enlisted today.”

  Bobby’s face turned red, and he blurted out, “You did what?”

  “H-how could you?” Becky’s bright green eyes filled with tears.

  “Becky, please don’t cry.” Shiloh hated seeing our mother cry. It was the quickest way to get him to straighten up. All she had to do was shed a tear, and he’d stop whatever wrong he was doing. “The National Guard isn’t so bad. Our unit will only get called up if things get out of hand.”

  Grandpa clapped his hands together. “It’s about damn time a man stepped up in this family. Proud of you, Shiloh. Damn proud of you.”

  Grandma cringed at Grandpa’s use of cuss words. It didn’t matter that he was a retired U.S. Army major and his foul mouth was legendary.

  Bobby placed a hand on my mother’s shoulder. “He’s right, Becks. No one’s expecting anything bad. We’ll probably see no more than a few protests. Nothing the local police can’t handle.”

  Becky nodded. She dabbed at her eyes with a wrinkled tissue, blew her nose, and offered a weak smile to Shiloh. “And the wedding?”

  My brother answered, “It’ll be fine, Mom.”

  Uh-oh. He said “mom.” When Shiloh and I talked about our parents with each other, we’d say mom and dad. We never voiced it, however, to them. His slip felt wrong, like the precursor to something major happening.

  Our mother flinched. Concern colored her face for a moment. Then she cleared her throat and said, “Maybe we should push the date up just in case.”

  Planning spur of the moment events was Grandma’s specialty. “Rebecca, let me help you. We can pull together a nice little ceremony. I’ll talk to Father Flannery. We’ll get them married before the end of next week.”

  “Ya wanna be free or do ya wanna be caged?”

  —from “I Can Dream” by Ice Pimp, 2018

  After the bombshell Shiloh dropped, the family scattered to handle his affairs. While the women planned an impromptu wedding, the men argued. Bobby believed wars were a nonproductive way to solve issues. He was a “love and peace” type of guy. Grandpa supported all military efforts initiated by our country, right or wrong.

  I found Shiloh sulking in his room with the music turned down, another abnormality. If Grandpa hadn’t been there, the walls would have bounced to the strains of Three Doors Down or some other group.

  “Hey, Squirt.” It was a nickname between us.

  I dropped onto the bed next to him. “So, Shy, when do we start training for the Guard?”

  He turned to me and smiled. “We aren’t training. This is a solo gig.”

  Not only was my brother my best friend, but he was my idol. Whatever he did, I did. Well, I tried to do.

  “Why not?” I whined.

  He ruffled my hair. “You’re not old enough.”

  “I’m thirteen.”

  “Not. Old. Enough,” he pointed out. “This is a man thing.”

  I was old enough, and smart enough, to know age didn’t make you a man. I had friends who became the “man of the house” overnight when their fathers died. “This is about the baby, right?”

  His smile slipped. “Guilty.”

  I’d overheard a few conversations between Bobby and him to know the new responsibility worried my brother.

  “Like, get a job, dude,” I advised with the naivety inherent of a thirteen-year-old.

  “Not so easy, Ash. I got few skills and a high school diploma. Nobody’s gonna pay me enough to take care of Ruby and the kid. The Guard provides a good, steady check so we won’t have to depend on anybody’s help. I won’t raise my kid under our parents’ roof.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” I shuffled my feet and rubbed my hands down my pants legs. The last thing I wanted to discuss was Shiloh’s leaving.

  He leaned forward. “I’m not a kid anymore, Squirt. It’s time for me to stand up and be a man. Pure and simple.”

  “Aren’t you doing that by marrying Ruby?”

  “Yeah, but a man takes responsibility. That means finding a way to support my family. I have to pay the price.”

  He was referring to Griffin Carter, the neighborhood troublemaker. They hung out together during Shiloh’s senior year, committing petty crimes, drinking, and getting high. Thanks to the dude, Shiloh came close to not graduating.

  Somehow, Shiloh managed to sidestep the law, but he missed his shot at college. While everyone else took campus tours, my all-American football brother was on personal lockdown. If Bobby hadn’t pulled some strings, my brother would be in a jail cell instead of enlisting.

  “Like, how’d you get in the Guard?”

  “Grandpa,” he muttered.

  I frowned. “Wait a minute. He knew?”

  “He didn’t. I used his contacts, and they got me in.”

  Okay, fine. He needed to take care of Ruby and the baby. But why enlist when the country seemed poised for destruction? I wasn’t a little kid. I listened to the news, heard people talking. The state of the country was bad and getting worse. People were reconsidering their beliefs, looking for a sign of hope. It wasn’t the time to join the military.

  “Ash, Cindy’s here,” Becky called from downstairs.

  “In a minute,” I answered, jumping to my feet.

  No one would have believed it, but Cindy had the soul of a rebel. Mr. Miller didn’t want her spending time with me. Neither of us cared. She’d either sneak over to see me, or I’d sneak out to meet up with her.

  “Wait a minute, Squirt.” Shiloh reached out his hand. He held onto my pants leg.

  I glanced down. “What gives, Shy?”

  “I know about you and Cindy sneaking around, but are you being careful?”

  I gawked at my big brother. Was I supposed to tell him what Cindy and I did, or didn’t do, in private?

  He stared back at me and raised his voice, “Are you?”

  “Shy…” I scraped a hand through my hair and kept my eye on the door.

  “I’m serious. I don’t want you following in my footsteps. You’re smart. You can be anything you want, but fatherhood… Don’t do it, Asher. Understand?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Can I go?”

  He broke his grip on my pants. “One more thing. I leave next week for camp.”

  “So soon?”

  “Yeah. While I’m gone, I need you to keep an eye out for Ruby. And stay away from the Carters.”

  It was more like Griffin needed to stay away from us. Dude still drove by the house looking for Shiloh. Grandpa threatened to beat the living shit out of him if he came back. Didn’t stop him, though.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

  “And stay away from Mark. He’s trouble, too.” Mark was Griffin’s cousin. He was a year ahead of me and already in high school.

 
I nodded. Mark was good for the occasional joint. We didn’t hang out…much.

  “Can I go now?” I tapped my leg repeatedly. “Cindy’s waiting.”

  “Go on. Just remember what I said.” He waved a hand in the air. “I’m hanging out with Ruby tonight anyway.”

  I backpedaled to the door. “Does she know you, like, signed up?”

  Shiloh twisted his mouth. “Yeah. She’s pissed. She understands why I did it, but she’s still pissed.”

  “Can you blame her? The baby’s on the way and—”

  “Exactly. I’m doing what’s best for all of us. She’ll see it when the checks start rolling in. Grandma has a friend with a house for us to rent. I met a man with a gun shop over in Westland. He’s giving me a part-time job for when I’m not on assignment. It’ll work out.”

  Shiloh’s decision baffled me. He found someone to give him a job. If he worked hard enough, couldn’t he take care of Ruby and the kid?

  But, you know, if Shiloh said he could guarantee a sunny day, I would have believed him. He was my big brother, and his job was to make everything right.

  “Religion and science have no place in gover’ment.

  People wonder how I got here, my life is a miracle.

  Yo’ opinion is inconsequential.

  I’m here taking my place in history.”

  —from “I Can Dream” by Ice Pimp, 2018

  I lionized my brother, but I didn’t listen to him. If I had, I wouldn’t have ended up on the exact same path. Guess I had a bit of a rebellious side.

  “What’s up, Ash?” I held Cindy’s hand as we walked down the sidewalk.

  “You hear about Shiloh?”

  “Yeah. Ruby told me. She hasn’t stopped crying.”

  “He said he’s doing it so he can, like, take care of them.”

  “I know.” Her eyes glistened. “That’s really admirable, don’t you think?”

  “Doesn’t matter what I think. What if this thing with the Hybrids gets worse?”

  “You can’t think about it. Most likely, nothing will happen. It’ll die down like everything always does.”

  “You’re probably right, but what if it doesn’t?” We stopped walking and I faced Cindy. “What if things escalate?”

  Ever since Shiloh told me he enlisted, I couldn’t get thoughts of war out of my head. If war came, my grandparents would side with the Millers, and my parents would try to avoid the crossfire.

  “You’re being ridiculous.” Her rosebud mouth curved up, and she slid her arms around my neck. “There won’t be a war. Stop worrying.”

  “I’m not being ridiculous. Things could change overnight.”

  “Is there anything I can do to take your mind off this nonsense?”

  “Maybe a little something.” I leaned in and kissed her right in the middle of Syracuse Street, not caring who saw us.

  Rufus, our five-year-old English black lab, waited at the front door when I got home. His furious bark greeted me as I came up the stairs.

  “Hey boy, hungry?” I patted his head.

  My parents weren’t home. They left a note on the fridge for me.

  Asher,

  Shiloh is at the Millers. He wants to spend time with Ruby before he leaves for camp. Please feed Rufus. There’s dinner in the fridge. We’re at your grandparents. Will be home late. No company!

  I grinned like a kid at Christmas time.

  Perfect.

  I had the house to myself. Time to call Cindy.

  My bedroom door opened and in walked Cindy. She let her hair hang down over her shoulders, the way I liked it, and she wore a short denim skirt. Something else I liked.

  “How’d you get past Ruby and Shy?”

  “They were in the basement. I told Mom I was going to Amy’s house to watch a movie. A two-hour movie.”

  I wiggled my finger, and she joined me on the bed.

  “You sure about this?” I asked. Shiloh told me you should always ask a girl to make sure she hadn’t changed her mind.

  “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to.” She sat beside me. “Are you having second thoughts?”

  Of course, I was having second thoughts. I didn’t want to wuss-out, but my mind kept thinking of Shiloh and Ruby. Maybe it wasn’t the best time to trade in my status.

  “Tell you what”—Cindy intertwined her fingers with mine—“why don’t we just watch a movie? If anything happens…”

  I smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”

  After Cindy went home, my phone buzzed with a message from Mark Carter. He wanted to hang out for a bit. My parents weren’t home and neither was Shiloh. What harm could it cause?

  “My brother, my sister ya stressed out, scared

  Don’t let them take ya down.

  Check yo’ passport

  We all Americans.”

  —from “I Can Dream” by Ice Pimp, 2018

  Our mother and grandmother pulled together a nice ceremony at St. Cecelia’s, a small Catholic church in the neighborhood. Normally, it took six months to get a church wedding there, but Grandma and Grandpa had been members of the parish for years.

  Ruby and Shiloh made a good-looking couple. She wore a simple white lace gown. Grandpa went all out and made sure Shiloh had a proper tux for the event. After the exchange of vows, we met in the church’s basement for a small reception.

  Tension filled the air with the Millers occupying one side of the room and my family on the other. I would have thought the wedding would have satisfied Mr. Miller but I was wrong. He complained to his wife, saying this wouldn’t have been necessary if my parents were more responsible. Turning back time would be the only way to make him happy.

  Mrs. Miller spent the entire evening with a fake-ass smile on her face. She wouldn’t say a word to my mother. Grandma carried herself with all the dignity of a 1950s first lady. Out of earshot, she called Mrs. Miller a cow who had “poor taste” wearing a dress that revealed “an outrageous amount of cleavage for a woman her age.”

  Cindy didn’t dare come near me. She was the family’s last hope for a good girl. It didn’t bother me…much. I pulled at my collar wanting to ditch the monkey suit. All I could do was bide my time on the edge of the room.

  Hours later, Shiloh and Ruby called it a night. Grandpa gifted them with a night in a honeymoon suite in a fancy Southfield hotel. Cindy winked at me as our families vacated the premises.

  My brother stopped me at the car. “Asher, let’s talk.”

  Ruby kissed his cheek and went to speak to her parents.

  “Shouldn’t you be, like, with your bride, bro?”

  “This will only take a minute.” He grabbed my collar and dragged me over to the side of the church.

  I jerked away from him. “What the hell?”

  Shiloh stuck his finger in my face. “I thought I told you to stay away from the Carters.”

  How did he know I hung out with Mark last night? When I got home, Shiloh was still at the Millers. Mark wanted to get bent, that’s all. He hated getting high alone, that’s all. We smoked a joint and watched some music videos. No big deal.

  “We didn’t do anything,” I said.

  Shiloh ran his hand through his hair. “I’ve told you he’s trouble. You’re too young to be getting wasted.”

  I did a double-take.

  “You can’t do weed and not smell like it, little brother,” he pointed out. “Stay the hell away from Mark. You keep it up, and you’re going to be following the same path I’m on.”

  “Like I don’t need another parent.” I turned my back.

  He grabbed my arm. “You need something. Why? I just want to know why you’re hanging with him.”

  I puffed out my cheeks. “It’s not like I’ve got any other friends here.”

  “Make some.” He sighed heavily and dropped his hand.

  It wasn’t the time nor the place for this argument. I knew Shiloh was looking out for me, but I had everything under control. Next thing you know, he’d be telling me what to do wi
th Cindy.

  I clenched my fists tight, fingernails biting into my palms. What did I plan on doing? We’d never fought, and we weren’t about to start. I exhaled and relaxed my hands. “We finished?”

  “Almost. Cindy needs to stop sneaking over, too.”

  I face palmed. After the first time Shiloh mentioned it, I lied and told him we wouldn’t sneak around anymore. “How the hell did you know?”

  “Like I said, you’re walking in my shoes. Ruby and I did the same thing, but you’re too young for all this.”

  “Nothing happened.”

  “One day, it will. If you don’t prepare for it… Listen, Asher, you’ve got to be smarter than me.”

  Would following in my brother’s footsteps really be such a bad thing? Shiloh had a girl he loved and a baby on the way. He mended a bad situation. I’d be lucky if I ended up like him.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I said.

  Bobby chose that moment to show up. His eyes darted from Shiloh to me like he knew something was going on. “Everything okay?”

  Shiloh glared at me. “Yeah. Everything’s fine. Going over some things with Ash. You know I ship out the day after tomorrow. Wanted to make sure he’ll look out for Ruby.”

  Our father’s eyes narrowed, suspicion lingering in his gaze as he said to Shiloh, “Asher will be fine and so will Ruby. We’ll keep an eye on her. Right now, your wife is waiting for you.”

  The two of them embraced. Shiloh’s childhood was officially over.

  “America the beautiful…

  The dream was never mine.

  Only thing real is death and taxes.

  Work my fingers to the bone, Hybrids can’t relax.”

  —from “I Can Dream” by Ice Pimp, 2018

  August 2019

  Shiloh Junior and I shared the same birthday. I knew what I wanted for my present, but it had to wait until all the festivities were over for the day.

  The heat was unbearable for August, humidity so dense it had a pulse. Crime went unchecked—robberies, drive-by shootings, strangers fighting for no apparent reason. The police increased their regular street patrols. It wasn’t unusual to see teams of four or more officers walking the streets with squad cars trailing them.