by Keegan Long
“We’ll always find each other,” I told her. “We’re family.”
“I’m sorry,” she spoke directly to me as she coughed up some blood, which would usually phase me but this time it did not.
“Sorry?” I asked confused. “What for?”
“I’m sorry I never told you,” she replied. “About the prophecy.”
“No, it’s ok,” I comforted her. “It’s ok. I forgive you.”
“I’m so proud of both of you,” she said as she looked up at the both of us. “I’m glad I got to spend my final moments with you.”
“No,” I interrupted as I cried even harder. “Don’t say that. “We’re going to save you.”
“You already have,” she replied with one last smile that used the last remaining strength she had. “I would not trade this moment for anything else. I love you.”
And with her final breath, my mother’s breathing and heart came to a stop as her eyes slowly closed and the spirit of her body left her. My mother was gone.
12
Hope
Three Weeks Later
It’s been three weeks since my mother’s death on that terrible day when Cerberus revealed herself. The confrontation with her and the passing of my mother had really shocked and impacted the group in a hard way. My sister and I mourned for my mother for the past several days but everyone was right there beside us which made it a little less painful.
Susan was even put it a little shock as she had grown very close with my mother and had made her the inspired person she is today. Jill continuously apologized and told me how she had let me down but I knew that was not the truth. There was nothing she could have done.
After my message had went out the city had been caught in a massive uprising for the last three weeks. People were taking to the streets and starting to fight back. Floods of people went to join Makenzie’s resistance, which I think caught her off guard as more and more people showed up every day. Cerberus had to continuously deploy more troops and Centaurs to try and maintain order but their enemies continued to grow every day.
In result, Cerberus has started to transport the rich and government officials out of the city and to the Capital. People were working together like I have never seen before and Jill said if this effort continues we should be able to create a force large enough to start doing some serious damage but we were still a long way from victory and I knew the road ahead was not going to be easy.
Due to all the revolts and uprisings going through the city we haven’t had a chance to leave, until today. The plan was to sneak out of the city and fly Liberty back to our Nebraska base and start mobilizing from there. There was still no contact or words about Keegan’s whereabouts but Jill assured me he got the message and that we just have to give him more time.
We were all in Makenzie’s underground resistance base as we got our things ready for our journey ahead.
“I can’t wait to get back to Nebraska,” McKenna told me as we got our backpacks ready. “I have to admit I’m not really a city girl.”
“I’m right there with you,” I replied. “I miss the comfort of my bed back at home.”
“And it’s getting really crowded here,” McKenna acknowledged as we looked around and noticed that the amount of people in the base now had more than tripled by the previous amount.
“And they will need even more if they want to take back the city,” Jill said as she joined us with all her things packed and ready to go. “It’s a great sight though.”
“It is indeed,” I agreed as I smiled as I took in my surroundings.
“All because of you,” Jill added. “You did this and you should be proud.”
“We’re all proud,” McKenna added. “And Mom would be too.”
“Thanks, everyone,” I replied as I finished packing the last things into my bag. “Let’s go home.”
We met up with Makenzie in her office to say our last goodbyes as we were ready to head out and go back home.
“Thank you for everything,” she told me as she gave me a big friendly hug. “You have given this city hope again and a chance at winning back our home to rebuild our lives.”
“You’re very welcome,” I told her. “And I look forward to visiting this city again one day when Cerberus is gone.”
“My resistance is with you,” she said with a determined look as she put her hand on my shoulder. “We have a long and difficult road ahead of us. The final battle is upon us and we will be there with you when that time comes.”
“Thank you,” I responded. “We’ll need it.”
With our last departing goodbyes, we left the base and walked towards the exit of the city. John accompanied us to our ship outside the city as he wanted to make sure we got out safe and without any troubles.
We took our time walking through the city. The city was quiet and dead. The streets that had been packed just weeks ago were now silent and empty. Most people had found shelter and had gone into hiding when the fighting broke out. Bullet shells and pieces of debris now littered the streets. Occasionally you could see a dead body in one of the alleys or corners of the streets but for the most part Cerberus was making sure the streets stayed clean so their troops and vehicles could move across the city.
We had finally made it to our ship after walking through the city for about a half hour. Lee and Frank had the ship all prepped and ready for when we were ready to depart.
“Nice ride,” John said as the ship uncloaked and revealed itself for everyone to see. “I bet that comes in handy.”
“You have no idea,” I told him. “And her name is Liberty.”
“Suits it,” he said. “She’ll be perfect for the you to use to travel around the country and build up your forces.”
“And maybe next time I’ll have to just bring you along,” I joked as we exchanged our last farewells.
“Until next time,” he smiled as I boarded the plane with the cargo ramp closing behind me.
The plane made its take off into the air and we were soon later flying above the clouds again. Nebraska here we come.
We were expected to get back to the base within an hour. For the most part, the trip was silent. Everybody kept to themselves and stayed in their quarters collecting their thoughts like me. We had all experienced a lot over the past few weeks and had plenished our energy. It was time we took a moment to catch our breath and get a good night’s sleep.
I must have dozed off because the next thing I remember is waking up from the knocking on my door. I slowly got myself up from my bed and made my way over and opened the door to find McKenna standing with her backpack on.
She smiled as I opened the door but I could also see the hurt she was still feeling from the passing of our mother.
“We’ll be landing in five minutes,” she told me. “Let’s get down to the cargo bay. Everyone else is waiting for us.”
I quickly grabbed my bag from the corner of the room and followed McKenna down the hallway and to the stairs. As I made my way down the stairs I saw that everyone was standing and facing the stairwell waiting for me. They all smiled brightly as I showed myself as I walked towards them.
“Wheels just touched down,” Jill informed me as I joined the group. “We’re home.”
“No place like home,” I added.
“I say we all take the day off tomorrow,” Joe joked to the group. “Even leaders get days off.”
“I second that,” Susan said. “A nice rest is in need for all of us.”
“With that being said let’s get going then,” I said.
“We’ll follow your lead,” Jill said as she had Frank lower the plane’s ramp. “We’re right behind you.”
I gracefully nodded at Jill as I took the lead and made my way outside. As I walked down the ramp I noticed it was dark out but could see with the few lights and fires that we had around the base. As I got closer to the bottom of the ramp I saw that Greg was standing there waiting for us with a big smile.
“Welcome back,
Delaney,” he said as I approached him. “You sure know how to give one hell of a speech.”
“Thanks, Greg.”
Jill emerged next to me moments later to greet Greg as well. “Any problems while I was gone?”
“None at all, Madam President.” Greg replied. “I was able to work on our communications network so we should be able to reply to messages and send our transmissions now.”
“That’s great news,” Jill congratulated him. “Well done, Greg.”
I gave a glance over at Greg but could tell there was something else that was on his mind. His eyes were narrow and had something important to tell us.
“And that’s not all,” I said. “Is it?”
“We have a visitor,” Greg came forward. “I have no idea how they knew or found out about this place. They wouldn’t give me their name. They just arrived today. They insisted on waiting for you in the conference room.”
“We best get going then,” Joe said.
As we walked through the base I could tell people were looking at me a lot more than usual. As I passed by most of them would stand up as I passed or even gave a short little gesture to show their appreciation. I was really caught off guard when some of them even saluted when I walked past them. Jill was right. I truly have inspired people around the world.
When we reached the conference room and walked in I noticed the room was silent and empty besides one individual. The person sat in Jill’s main chair that was positioned at the end of the table but had the back of the chair facing us.
“You requested to see us,” Jill announced herself as well all entered the room.
“I believe it was the other way around,” the person spoke to reveal the voice of a man but still had his back facing us.
“Who are you?” I asked the man.
The man turned the chair around to reveal himself. When he revealed himself, he got out of the chair and looked at us all very carefully with his dark brown eyes. I looked over at Jill and saw her face drop in shock. The first thing I noticed was a necklace he had around his neck. But at the end of the silver chain was a flash drive connected to it.
“My god,” Jill gasped as the man revealed himself. “Keegan.”
“I heard you’ve been looking for me old friend,” Keegan replied.
“The Creator,” I also gasped as I realized who the man was.
“You started a revolution, Delaney,” he said to me as he looked straight into my eyes. “And now it’s time we end it.”
We all smiled as we realized we had a fighting chance now. He got my message and was now standing in front of us with the means to destroy Cerberus once and for all. We had hope.
Keegan opened his mouth to speak to us all again with much determination and spirit as he grinned at all of us.
“Shall we begin.”
To Be Continued
A New Revolution Series
Book 3
Coming 2018
The End is Here