“Rebecca!” Aidan leaps up next to me and I see Sofia wringing her hands just to the left of the SUV. “Where’s Alex?”
“They’re taking him to the Sanctuary.” I sag in relief. Aidan will protect Alex. “Go,” I instruct, “find him. Protect him. Please.” He jumps down and grabs Sofia’s hand, pulling her up the street behind him.
“Okay, everyone!” I yell, and the Legion falls quiet below me. “There is a NUSA convoy heading right for us. According to our estimates we outnumber them, but they are trained and deadly. Some of you are new to the Legion, your training is minimal. I need those of you who have had less than six months training to pair up. Do not take on any opponent alone, you will lose. We don’t need any heroes out there. Understood?” A few of the men nod their assent.
I see Archer fighting his way through the crowd, Morgan right behind him. David is also near the front, awaiting further instructions.
“Archer, I need you to find a vantage point on higher ground. It’s going to be hard shooting when the fighting begins, but do what you can. Just don’t shoot any of ours,” I add, and he smiles grimly as he turns and makes his way back through the crowd. “Okay, I’m not waiting for them to come through the pass and into our city, so we’re going to go out and meet them.” The Legion roars, their blood up. “I want experienced fighters at the front, new recruits to the back. Kwan, Jethro, you’re with me.”
As I jump down, I catch sight of the General muscling his way towards me.
“General, what are you doing here? You need to get to the Sanctuary.”
“You want the experienced fighters up front?” he snaps and I nod, wondering where on earth he is going with this. He’s not exactly fighting fit.
“Well, forgive the assumption, but these two are probably the most experienced fighters we have.” He gestures at Smith and Wakeford and my question dies on my lips. Smith and Wakeford are never far from the General’s side, they shadow his every move. Judging by the looks on their faces they are not at all happy about the General’s implied suggestion that they should fight with the Legion and leave him unattended.
“Sir, with all due respect . . .” Smith begins to voice his objections but the General cuts him short.
“Shut up, Smith. Your duty is to protect our community, me included. So best you don’t let any of those bastards get past you.”
“Sir . . .” the loyal bodyguard tries once more and the General rounds on him furiously.
“That’s an order, Smith! You will follow Miss Davis’s instructions. Do you hear me?”
“Yes, sir!” the younger man salutes and the General turns back to me.
“Good luck, Miss Davis,” he inclines his head and then strides back up the High Street towards the Sanctuary. There is no time to question the General’s motives, or the sudden change in his usually self-serving behaviour; we have an army to contend with.
Chapter 36
We make our way to the southernmost part of the city and then file out through the mountain corridor. As we emerge on the other side, even though I am prepared for it, I am still intimidated by the size of the convoy.
I stand still watching their approach with Kwan and Jethro on either side of me. David, Morgan, Smith and Wakeford are just beyond them, and the rest of the Legion files out of the corridor to fan out behind us.
“I’d feel a whole lot better if he were here,” Jethro murmurs without thinking, and I know who he is referring to – I am thinking exactly the same thing.
With perfect precision the convoy comes to a halt about 50 yards away, clouds of dust rising up behind them. There is a moment of complete and utter silence and then, all at once, doors are flung wide open and the NUSA army disembarks. There are too many to count but I am confident that we have the numbers. They are all wearing the blue NUSA uniform which makes them easy to identify. One man steps forward and I am gratified to see a flicker of surprise cross his face when he realises the sheer size of our forces. His gaze runs left to right and back again, assessing us. He raises his hand and with military precision, a smaller group detaches from the rest to form a V behind him. As we watch, a soldier on his left hands him a loudspeaker. He raises it to his mouth.
“We do not want to fight you,” he begins, and I hear Morgan’s sarcastic snigger behind me as he continues, “that is not why we’re here.”
“Why are you here, then?” I yell back.
“Our instructions are to return to the New United States with Rebecca Dane,” he speaks slowly and clearly.
“What do you want with her?” Jethro calls across the space between us.
“Mrs Dane is wanted for high treason and acts of terrorism, punishable by law.”
“And what if I say no?” I shout across the space between us.
“Then we will have no choice but to take you by force, Mrs Dane.” Oh, like I haven’t heard that one before. I meet his cold, militant eyes and then I shake my head, feeling the old familiar surge, the adrenalin of the fight fuelling my body.
“Well, I’m right here, asshole. Why don’t you put on your big boy pants and come and get me?”
Recovering quickly, he signals to his men and they start to approach, crossing the distance between us quickly and purposefully.
“Remember what I said,” I caution my soldiers, “nobody needs to be a hero.” The front runners of the NUSA horde are almost upon us and I lunge forward, hitting one man with a vicious uppercut. Dropping to the ground, I sweep the floor in a low spinning kick and at least five men surrounding me drop to the ground, unbalanced. Before I can even stand up, the Legion are upon them, showing no mercy – they are fighting to the death. I scan the crowd trying to find the man who had been holding the loudspeaker. He is obviously the leader and the only way to kill a snake is to cut off its head. I spot him briefly through the chaos of the fighting, duelling Wakeford, but they are quickly swallowed up in the crowd and I lose sight of them. I leap on to the shoulders of another NUSA soldier and squeeze my thighs around his neck, depriving him of oxygen, and I use the higher vantage point to search again. They are a few yards to my left. I jerk my knees together, the force snapping the man’s neck, but before he even hits the ground, I am already fighting my next opponent. I dodge under the arm of another soldier, his intention obviously to connect with my face, and then I deflect another blow that comes from my right. Striking back, I swivel around, swinging my own arm in an arc, the speed with which I do it emitting a hissing sound as the air is displaced. My new attacker does not have enough time to sidestep the blow and I catch him full in the face with the lower part of my arm. I grab the shoulders of the man beside him and use his weight to stabilise myself as I kick back at another soldier who is approaching me from behind.
The battle is building and I try to focus only on my next opponent, but there are so many people falling to the ground that it is impossible to ignore. Far too many are Legion soldiers. An arrow whizzes past my ear, so close that it misses me by less than an inch, impaling a NUSA soldier through the neck. I grab hold of the shaft and pull, freeing it and I plunge it immediately into another challenger’s chest. I keep fighting, not able to inflict as much damage as I would like as I favour my belly, trying to dodge any blows to my stomach.
I find myself on the perimeter of the massive crowd, and out of the corner of my eye I see a movement to the left, towards the entrance to the mountain pass. I can’t afford for any NUSA soldiers to get through and into the city. I turn and immediately let out a howl of frustration. Instead of NUSA fighters, I see familiar faces and I let out a stream of choice words. A few of Adam’s men, including Aidan, are pulling injured Legion soldiers from the fray, dragging them into the relative safety of the corridor to tend to their wounds. With a sinking heart I see Henry leaning over one of them, his hands pressing down on the fallen man’s chest, performing chest compressions. As I watch in horror, I see Hope running towards the mob,
a wicked-looking scimitar in her right hand. She drops onto her knees only a yard away, sliding through the dirt and bringing the curved blade sweeping in an arc, slicing through a NUSA soldier’s calves. The man lets out a scream and collapses onto his knees and one of his companions spins around to find the source of his agony.
Hope scrabbles backwards, her feet kicking out in the dirt, but she is not quick enough to evade the speed-Gifted soldier, and he grabs her by the ear and pulls her to her feet. This all happens in a matter of seconds. I shake off the man who is trying to restrain me and fly forward, running straight at them. At the last minute, I launch myself into the air, bending my arm at the elbow and landing with incredible force on the back of his neck. I land heavily on top of him as he falls limply to the ground, but I am up again in a second, pulling Hope out of the way just as another soldier raises his arm to strike her down.
“What the hell are you doing?” I yell, racing her back to safety. “What are all of you doing?” I repeat, staring down at the others.
“I’m a doctor, I took an oath.” Henry’s is the only answer I get and there is no time for anything else. Three of the NUSA men have followed me and I spin to face them, curling my lip in rage. They are too close to the helpless helpers behind me. Grabbing Hope’s blade from her hand, I lunge forward, sweeping the blade and severing the closest soldier’s neck. A spray of blood spurts over my upper body, but I am already onto my next target. I kick him in the groin, and as he bends over holding the injured area, I spin so that my back is against him, plunging the wide head of the blade into the third man’s stomach. He too doubles over, trying in vain to hold on to the organs that are spilling from his gut. Without a moment’s hesitation, I turn back to the groaning man still clutching his groin and punch him full in the mouth, his teeth cutting my knuckles badly, and then I clench my fingers in a knife strike and jab forward, landing a sharp blow to his Adam’s apple. I do not give him a second thought as he slowly asphyxiates.
I survey the battle taking place in front of me. It’s too much to bear, nothing but blood and death and chaos. As if on cue, the loudspeaker booms over us and everyone stops fighting and turns to face the speaker on the other side of the crowd.
“Rebecca Dane?”
The silence after such violence is deafening. I have no idea what is going on.
“Get back to town, now!” I hiss, and the small group behind me does not argue, sensing something is up. Crouched low to avoid detection they start to creep back towards the city.
I walk forward steadily placing one foot in front of the other. Nobody stops me, and the crowd slowly parts, letting me through. As I emerge on the other side I close my eyes in despair. Checkmate.
Standing beside the NUSA leader, who is still holding the loudspeaker at his side, is another soldier. He has Vice-President Kenneth Williams in a stronghold around the neck. The frail, elderly man cannot even struggle, his lip and his nose are bleeding and he has a nasty gash on his forehead.
I rack my brain trying to come up with a plan but I am too far away; his neck will be snapped before I even get close.
“You think one man’s life is more important to me than all the others?” I yell.
“No,” he yells back, “but if you come with us now my men will not harm another person here.”
“Your men are outnumbered!” I counter. “You have far more to lose than I do.”
“I don’t think so.” A nasty sneer crosses his face and he looks to my left. I turn to see what has his attention and my heart drops into my stomach.
Aidan, Henry, Hope and the others are all being dragged forward, each restrained by a NUSA soldier. They didn’t make it back. Dammit! Why did I leave them unattended? Aidan and Crackerjack are struggling, and Hope is desperately trying to twist herself out of her captor’s grip but they are no match for the strength of the Gifted soldiers. As I watch, Aidan earns himself a punishing blow to the kidney and he doubles over in agony, coughing violently.
“Don’t do it, Rebecca,” Kwan has made his way to my side.
“We can win this,” Jethro agrees, appearing beside him.
“They’ll die,” I glance back at the hostages, “and he’ll die.” Kenneth Williams stares at me hollowly, acceptance in his kind eyes. He is prepared to die for our cause; he wouldn’t want me to surrender.
“Every war has casualties,” Kwan sounds pained, but certain. I stare at the NUSA leader wondering how far he will go.
“Go to hell!” I shout, calling his bluff. He does not reply. Instead, he nods ever so slightly at the men to my left and, in the time it takes me to focus on the group, one of his soldiers snaps Hope’s neck as easily as a matchstick. In the second that it takes her lifeless body to slump to the ground, the Legion gives a collective bellow of rage and start to fight with more anger and hatred than ever before. I hear a howl of fury that could only be Morgan, and while a part of me is relieved that she is alive, another feels all her pain. She has lost a friend, while her brother, who has known so little love in his young life, has lost the first good thing ever to happen to him. I stand, frozen, gazing at the young girl’s lifeless body and something inside me snaps. A blind fury rises like bile in my throat and I turn towards the men holding our civilians hostage.
“I wouldn’t,” their leader issues an ominous warning. My eyes find Aidan, who is fighting for all he is worth, his eyes never leaving Hope’s body. I pause, trying to clear my head. Aidan could be next. My chest heaving with unbridled rage, my head pounding with bloodlust, I turn back to the speaker.
“Call your men to heel,” he smiles evilly. Using every ounce of restraint I possess I call upon the Legion to cease their onslaught. The loudspeaker crackles again, “Oh, and did I mention,” he adds sadistically, “some of my men managed to squeeze through your poorly executed defences.” He raises a walkie-talkie and presses the transmitter button, holding it down.
“You son of a bitch!” I scream, the sound echoing through the mountains around us as I hear the screaming of the women and children in the Sanctuary. I clench my jaw, my right leg twitching uncontrollably as I fight the urge to run at him and rip his throat out. I am dangerously close to losing it; on the verge of pure hysteria.
“I’m waiting, Mrs Dane,” he taunts.
“I have to go,” I turn back to Kwan and Jethro helplessly and this time they don’t argue. We will not risk our children, not for anything.
“We’ll find you,” Kwan utters, his voice low and deadly. “You know we’ll find you.”
“I know,” I smile weakly, my mind refusing to believe that it is over so quickly.
“Get your men out of here!” I roar. “Once they have retreated to a safe distance I’ll come to you.”
“We’ll go,” he indicates the soldiers amongst us, “but the men within your city will only depart, unharmed,” he adds clearly, “once you are in my custody.”
“Fair enough,” I tilt my chin defiantly, refusing to show fear.
One by one the men around us make their way back to the NUSA vehicles. The moment his captor releases him Aidan sprints over to us.
“No!” he yells, skidding to a halt in front of me. “You can’t, Rebecca, don’t be stupid!”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“They’ll kill you!” he hisses through clenched teeth.
“They have the children,” I answer simply. “They have Alex.”
“We can fight, we can . . .”
“We can’t, Aidan.” I touch his arm. “There is nothing we can do.”
I watch as the military vehicles retreat to a safe distance and then I take a deep breath.
“The raids,” I murmur, meeting Kwan’s eyes. “The flash raids, you need to make sure they’re successful. Make sure you get the numbers down.” He nods grimly.
“Look after Alex,” I tell Aidan, and he stares at me bleakly, the muscle in his
jaw twitching in raw frustration as he tries to curb his emotions. I walk away towards the convoy.
“And Kwan,” I add, glancing at him over my shoulder, “find Reed. You’re going to need him.”
Chapter 37
The NUSA leader has his men cuff my hands and fasten my legs with heavy, reinforced metal chains before he opens the back door of the Humvee, gesturing me inside and sitting down opposite me. The Vice-President has been loaded into another vehicle although I have no idea which.
“My name is Lieutenant General Logan,” he introduces himself casually and I avert my gaze, turning my head to face the front of the familiar-looking vehicle. It is almost identical to the Humvees that we confiscated in Flagstaff.
Surprisingly, I am not hurt or treated at all badly during the three-day journey back to the States. I am given water, but no food – not that I would eat it, anyway. I am confined to the Humvee most of the time, only being let out to use the bathroom every few hours. The worst part is the not knowing. I have no idea who survived the battle and who was injured. I had not seen Archer or David after the fighting started, nor Smith or Wakeford. I don’t know if any of our civilians at the Sanctuary were injured in the raid – my father, Michael, the General, Adam. I am fairly certain that the helpless women and children would not have been harmed, but if any of the men had tried to stop the soldiers they may have retaliated with force. Hope’s death haunts me, the scene playing over and over in my head. The brave, feckless girl didn’t deserve to die. If I had never found her – found the Ordinary – she would still be alive, somewhere out in the Rebeldom, saving people. I obsess over this constantly as I sit quietly in the back of the Humvee, not uttering a word.
We enter the States through the Nebraska-Iowa border and I feel the tension building in my body as we leave the Rebeldom. It is amazing how I felt more at home outside the fences from the moment I set foot there, than I ever felt living in the States. I can only hope that the others are safe and will follow my instructions. I have tried not to think about Alex, it is too painful, but I cannot ignore the other child that is growing inside me, my only companion on this awful journey. It is agony to think that if something happens to me the child will not survive, and I find myself wishing I had had more time, that they had captured me after the birth, so that both my children could be safe in Las Vegas right now. Lieutenant General Logan kept his word and we left Vegas without any further bloodshed, but I do not trust him. There is a strong possibility that once I am safely ensconced in the Capital they will return to finish what they started. I am certain that the Council will be making preparations to evacuate the Nevada base now that NUSA knows its location. They will know that we are no longer safe there. The loss of our safe haven, of our home, is a devastating blow, but hopefully Adam will know somewhere else where we can settle temporarily. They, I correct myself, not we. The chances that I will make it back to my people are slim to none.
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