The Hunger Rebellion

by G F Cusack

  Their intelligence from the resistance was that Will would be close to Brand. Frank had studied the picture of Will until the image was burned into his memory.

  River’s two troopers managed to take out two of the advancing rebels before they too were dispatched. River himself managed to hit a rebel in the thigh with his last round. Then, deciding that he wasn’t ready to die after all, he threw out his weapon. “I’m unarmed, I surrender,” he shouted out. “Don’t shoot.”

  Frank had seen the Company man continue firing until he ran out of bullets and then attempt to surrender. He was in no mood for leniency but he recognised the rank slides of an officer and decided to see if he had any useful information. “Where’s Will?” he shouted.

  River saw an opportunity to be useful. “I can help you. They aren’t here but I can help you.”

  Frank fired a bullet into River’s right thigh, causing him to collapse to the floor, writhing in pain. “I am not in the mood to mess around. Where is Will?”

  “I think they went upstairs, I think they went up,” River said through clenched teeth.

  By now more rebels had reached the top of the stairs and Frank tasked them. “Pepper, I’ll take these two upstairs, and you and the rest search this floor for anything or anyone you think will be useful.”

  Pepper nodded and, holding his pistol in front, led the other rebels through the open doors into the big office.

  Frank bounded up the steps flanked by his chosen rebels.

  Frank and his fighters were cautious as they climbed the steps but not cautious enough. They had only climbed for around five minutes when a hand from above fired two rounds into the rebel to Frank’s right.

  Frank and the remaining rebel flattened themselves against the wall. “Stay where you are for a minute,” Frank said. He eased his head out so that it was still mostly covered by the bannister and tried to see what was above.

  Not being able to identify a target, he decided they had to move forward. “Keep as close to the wall as you can. I’m going to lead but if you see a target above, don’t hesitate, just fire twice in its general direction.”

  As soon as they started edging upwards, there was a loud crack and a round from above bounced off the wall nearby. Without any hesitation, both he and his fighter fired two rounds in the direction of their assailant.

  A pause in shooting was followed by the sound of a gun clattering to the floor. Frank was suspicious but they had to keep moving upwards.

  Looking up, Frank saw an exposed leg behind a pillar. He held up his hand for the remaining rebel to hold off and, taking aim, he fired twice into the exposed calf.

  When the trooper above crumpled, Frank finished him with a bullet to the head.

  They encountered no further resistance until they came to a steel door labelled “Roof access only”. Lying next to the door was a dead trooper, taken out by the chance ricochet.

  Why would someone run to the roof? Frank wondered. Surely they were retreating to a corner with nowhere left to run.

  Motioning to his escort to cover him, Frank grabbed the handle and threw the door open, ready for anything. The rebel with him wasn’t as prepared and immediately fell forward with a hole in his forehead. Before the waiting assailant could fire again, Frank launched himself through the gap, diving for the little cover the bannister provided, while loosing off two more rounds in the general direction of their assailant.

  Crouching behind the handrail for cover, he spotted a man above. It was only a short glance but he couldn’t mistake the face – Will. They began to exchange bullets.

  As he closed the distance between them, Frank saw a steel door not far above. He assumed that the door led to the roof. At the moment he was facing only one enemy but, not knowing what was beyond the door, he decided he had to act fast.

  There was the click of an empty chamber as Will fired his last round into the stairwell. Frank was also out of bullets so he took this opportunity to attack.

  Pounding up the stairs, he avoided a boot aimed at his head and managed to get Will in a bear hug. Will suddenly used the back of his head to smash Frank’s nose.

  This would have stunned a lesser man but Frank had withstood much harder hits during his tough upbringing and managed to keep hold of his prey. Will wasn’t a small man though and, through a combination of strength and squirming, he levered one of his feet briefly against the railings in order to push Frank backwards. In no time, they were tumbling down the metal stairs, collapsing into a heap at the bottom.

  During the fall, their positions reversed on several occasions. Although Frank landed on top of Will, his arm ended up underneath. Not only had his arms taken the brunt but the fall had dislocated his left shoulder.

  Frank’s right arm was still free but both men were moving sluggishly.

  As the two men were struggling to gain some composure, Eric came into view. Since Zap had told him that Will was the man responsible for the deaths of his family on the Farm, he too had memorised his image and he too was out for revenge.

  He knew that Will had controlled the attack remotely but his hatred for the Company only further fanned his rage. Seeing red, he charged forward without even waiting for Frank and Will to become untangled.

  Eric began beating Will’s exposed head, pounding him with punch after punch. Will’s nose broke with a crunch but Eric continued until his whole face looked like a piece of raw meat.

  The movement jarred Frank back to reality and he managed to extricate himself from the tangle of bodies. Although he still had one good arm, his attempts to pull Eric away from Will were unsuccessful.

  Pepper came into view next and he immediately set to work helping Frank restrain Eric. Even though they were bigger, it took all of their combined might to get him off. Eric’s commitment to killing Will had brought out the animal in him and they had managed to get him off just in time.

  Will was still breathing but with only shallow breaths.

  Pepper decided that as a prisoner Will could be useful. Once he’d determined that his injuries weren’t life threatening, he turned him over and tied his hands behind his back.

  “What’s up there?” Pepper asked motioning up the stairway.

  “I don’t know, but this guy seemed keen to get there so perhaps it’s some kind of escape route,” Frank replied.

  “You stay here,” Pepper said. “You’re not going to be able to do much with that shoulder.”

  “Then put it back in.”

  With a slight grin, Pepper said, “If that’s what you want?”

  He placed his left leg on Frank’s ribs and took a firm grip on his left arm.

  “We are doing this on five, one, two three.” Pepper suddenly tugged on the arm and the shoulder popped back into its socket.

  After the initial pain and a gasp, Frank managed to regain his composure. “What happened to five?”

  If he hadn’t just had his shoulder relocated, Pepper would have thought Frank was smiling. “If I’d waited until the count of five, you’d have been tense. I find it helps a shoulder pop in easier if the patient is more relaxed.”

  “So you’ve done this before?”

  “Let’s just say I’ve had it done to me a few times so you could class me as an expert. I still think I better lead until you get back to full fitness.”

  “Okay but we can’t leave these two together. The prisoner isn’t going anywhere so we take Eric with us.”

  Eric was still staring at Will on the floor. “Do as you’re told and stay between us,” Frank ordered.

  All three of them carried silenced pistols, Frank’s now restocked with a full magazine of bullets from Pepper, as they ascended the stairs. When they came to the steel door that led to the roof, Pepper turned to Eric. “When I open this door, we have no idea what’s on the other side. I want you to stay low because you are shorter than me and that will make you a smaller target. Don’t shoot me! If you see anything that looks like a threat, shoot first. Our survival is the most important
thing. Do you understand?”

  Eric nodded and crouched in anticipation.

  “Is your safety catch off?”

  “Yes,” Eric almost whispered.

  “I’m going to open this door now and if I identify any cover I will point and you need to run to it as fast as possible. I’ll lay down covering fire while you move and, once you are there, cover me. One last thing, don’t shoot me! Did you get that?”

  Eric nodded.

  “Did you get that, I said?”

  “Yes I got it,” Eric replied, his anger from his encounter with Will seeming to resurface.

  Pepper could see Frank smiling broadly, almost laughing on the steps below them. He realised that he sounded more like a father talking to his young son but Eric wasn’t as experienced at this kind of action and all their lives could depend on his movements.

  He grabbed the door handle and yanked open the door, catching the people on the roof off-guard. Pepper motioned to Eric to run to a small brick structure while he opened fire on the roofs occupants. Continuing to fire, he managed to blurt out to Eric, “Quick, get behind that wall.”

  Eric sprinted for the cover as rounds seemed to ricochet off every hard surface.

  With Eric gone, Frank filled the lower position in the doorway, firing two round bursts at their prey.

  Pepper and Frank had already dropped three of the roof guards before they had a chance to react. Suddenly the rebels had the superior numbers and the three of them quickly disposed of the remaining two sentries.

  Cautiously Pepper shouted, “Eric, can you see any other people on the roof?”

  “No I think we got them all,” came a hesitant reply.

  “Okay, we’re coming out, do not shoot us!”

  “I understand.”

  As Pepper and Frank emerged out into the open, Eric continued to scan the roof for potential threats, glancing back at them every so often.

  Nobody else was there. A large letter H was painted on the roof but there was no sign of an aircraft.

  It was clear that these troops had been guarding something but, with nothing of value present now, whatever they’d been guarding had left before the rebels had arrived.

  They checked the bodies and relieved them of any weapons as a precaution. These five soldiers were dead and no longer posed a threat but neither Frank nor Pepper was about to give up the habits that had kept them alive to this point.

  “It appears that Brand has somehow slipped through our net,” Frank shouted to Pepper across the open rooftop.

  “But we do have his right-hand man trussed up downstairs and we’ve also managed to take out the last of the resistance targets,” Pepper replied.

  “Let’s hope the resistance council were right that when we cut the head off the snake, the remaining Company troops stand down.”

  “And now comes the fun bit of rebuilding the system and trying to feed the starving masses while we do so.”

  “I’m glad you are such an optimist Pepper,” Frank said sarcastically. “Now let’s get off this roof before we are blown off and then we can learn to make peace instead of war.”

  Epilogue

  10 January 2206

  It had been three years since Zap and Flo had discovered that they were siblings. Even though they were constantly busy, they tried to meet up at least once a week for breakfast.

  In the last 12 months, the twins had instigated a programme to identify other telepaths and to corral them into a centre for education and training. It had reaped some promising results.

  The centre had become the safe haven for the scared individuals with strange abilities. Most of them were young and the help they received to develop their skills without being treated as freaks had borne fruit.

  Zap was key to the infrastructure of the Sanctuary now and his technical skills had been used extensively. Flo was becoming an influential young woman. The skills she had developed in the last few years and her blossoming friendship with Frank had made her a key resource in the new government.

  Frank had become one of the main leaders in this new regime. He was ideally suited to deal with the influx of immigrants into the Sanctuary. With his knowledge of the outside world and his previous management of a resistance stronghold, he was able to deal not just with the influx but also with the distribution of resources to other parts of the country.

  In working towards the goal of weaning people off the gel packs, his previous experience in building an infrastructure with the farm that had supported his stronghold was invaluable in organising the supply and distribution of resources and assets, as well as the workforces supporting them.

  Initially he had rejected the mantle of leader but it was obvious to the other council members that he was the best choice.

  Although the twins only talked in person once a week, they talked in their heads all the time.

  Over the last few weeks, it had become increasingly obvious to them that something was coming. Their conversations had felt strange. It was as though someone was mentally blocking them.

  They had decided to tell Pepper first and he had informed the other members of the council that something strange was happening. They trusted his instincts and instructed him to take whatever actions he deemed necessary to identify and combat the threat.

  Sanctuary Series Book Two Preview

  14 February 2206 – Assault on the Sanctuary

  Barry was out of his comfort zone. He had served the Kompaniya for seven years now but this was the first time he had left his homeland.

  Ever since the Kompaniya had received its new leader, Barry and his comrades had been preparing for this mission. Their previous jobs contained nowhere near this much risk. They had always had the upper hand. They had always had superior firepower when they faced the masses.

  Of course, they had been at risk of a minor chance of injury on their previous missions. Most missions, though, had consisted of facing down lightly armed civilians and sometimes the enemy were even unarmed. Either way, the result was more of a massacre than a battle.

  When Barry got off of the boat in this strange land, he had felt wary, almost scared. Having mind readers for companions didn’t help. They were supposed to be there to mask his thoughts of destruction but they also made him feel that everything he did was being second-guessed.

  The security people at the docks had their own telepaths. He imagined them searching his mind and knowing what he intended. He tried not to focus on being a bomb technician whose sole reason for visiting this Sanctuary was to kill and dismember people.

  Barry didn’t have a conscience about killing. He remembered his first kill like it was yesterday. At the age of sixteen, he had shot a rebel in the distance. The boy had been running away from their raid and Barry took him down at a distance of eight hundred metres. The rest of the squad had shouted and screamed and called him “Hot Shot”. That nickname had stuck with him for several years, even after he became a bomb technician.

  After the vehicle crash had damaged his shoulder, he could still kill someone at a short distance but his days of taking out a distant target were over. Their society had little use for damaged soldiers but he was fortunate that his bosses respected him for his previous shooting successes. His companions in the truck had not been as lucky, as all but one had died in the crash.

  Malik, the driver, had lost his leg and had supposedly been given a medical discharge to spend time with his family. Yet Malik had never contacted Barry or any other members of the squad, fuelling suspicions that injured Kompaniya soldiers ended up in the liquidation plants.

  If injured soldiers could be discarded like everybody else, this could ruin discipline in the military. The illusion of injured soldiers being cared for was part of the story that the Kompaniya perpetuated, as they could do by keeping someone like Barry on.

  On this mission, Barry’s task was pretty simple. He had four devices to place around the capital of this Sanctuary. Two of his bombs would create damage to the physical infrastr
ucture – one was for the power plant and the other for the water plant. The remaining devices were targeted at the political infrastructure. It was hoped that killing or maiming as many of the leaders as possible at once would cause maximum disruption.

  It had been a challenge to smuggle the devices into the Sanctuary without detection. This Sanctuary was littered with spies just like his own. When life was worthless and resources were scarce, loyalties could easily be bought. People would inform on their own family members for even a small reward.

  The smallest of suspicions could inspire people to raise an alarm, alerting either the authorities or criminals. The returns from black marketers or local hoods tended to be more beneficial than anybody in any type of government. Smuggling of anything was thus difficult no matter what the size of the cargo.

  Conventional wisdom would dictate that transporting explosives not already assembled would be safer. Barry had decided that shipping components separately increased the chances of a crucial component being intercepted, which would leave him with no bombs at all. He chose to ship each bomb separately but each with all of its components.

  Of the ten bombs that they had started with, only four had made it. Barry had calculated that a minimum of three bombs would be required for the mission and felt lucky to have four.

  Shortly after exiting the boat, Barry had been reunited with the bombs and in only a short time they were ready to go.

  Since then, the two bombs at the utility plants had been installed by other team members with no issues. As expected, the security for the council buildings was a lot tighter.

  Anya and Gabe were here to stop anyone from scanning his mind and to act as lookouts. He had already placed one of the bombs in the council buildings. With only one left, he was ecstatic, he was achieving the impossible. Just this last boom and he might actually succeed.

  Barry had always included an escape strategy as part of his planning but no matter what the odds, he had no choice but to try to complete the assignment. Deploying on this mission guaranteed that his family would receive extra rations and supplies. Failing to deploy would leave his family to the same fate as any other criminals or traitors to the realm. They would end up in the liquidation plants.