by E S Richards
Later that night when Jorge was finally alone, he found himself reflecting on everything that had happened to him recently. It had felt like a whirlwind since arriving at the fracking site and uncovering the truth, falling out with Mia and leaving her behind, to then arriving in Phoenix and being kept prisoner and finally, finally being saved by a group of like-minded individuals and given a chance to do what he felt was right.
Jorge knew he hadn’t gotten to that point in the best or most straightforward manner. He did feel guilty about the way he had left things with Mia and truly hoped that she had found a way back to her family. Nonetheless, when he weighed everything up, he honestly believed that the ends justified the means. He had both suffered himself and caused others to suffer too, but at the end of it he was now able to do something which would make a difference to the world and which would hopefully guarantee a better future for everyone.
Not only that, but people would also know that he was integral in creating that future. He would be brushing shoulders with the country’s best and brightest—the A-listers; the people who mattered. When Jorge considered everything, he knew what was important to him and if he had to do everything all over again and make the same decisions, he knew he would happily do it. After everything, he was going to be a success, and as Jorge drifted off to sleep in a comfortable bed that night, that was the thought that left him with a smile on his face.
Chapter 19
Jackson couldn’t quite believe his luck, wanting to be absolutely certain what he was hearing was correct before he got overly excited. The days since leaving the office facility had been going well, their new location completely hidden from the Authority and their plans coming together for what would hopefully be the final assault. But in order for that final act to be a success, they needed a lot of firepower and their access to that was what was holding them back. Now, it sounded like Jackson might finally be getting his wish.
“You’re positive it’s them?” he asked feverishly, grilling the scout in front of him. “One hundred percent?”
“Yep,” Ollie nodded, “no doubt about it.”
“Well, let’s get out there!” Jackson was on the move before Ollie could even react, rushing out of his new makeshift office and heading to the nearest exit, grabbing supplies along the way. “Quick. Before we lose them!” He was over the moon with the report, the sighting of Vic and Blake the piece of good fortune he’d been waiting for. Vic’s store held rows upon rows of weaponry, just what he needed to take down the Authority once and for all. They had all the other plans in place, they knew the schedules and routines and where to strike. All they needed now was the ammunition, and Vic was a man who could provide that for them and then some.
Yanking a full-face filtration mask over his head, Jackson quickly got himself ready to leave the underground facility. He hadn’t been outside since they arrived there three days ago, his work keeping him hunched over a desk at most hours of the day, painstakingly trying to plan how to overthrow the Authority with pen and paper. As soon as Ollie was ready, he tugged open the airlock doors that were designed to keep the equipment at a certain temperature and hurried through, the scout following closely behind him. After the thirty-second countdown that the doors took, the two of them were outside, the chill almost knocking Jackson off of his feet.
“Jesus Christ!” the father exclaimed, wrapping his arms around his body and rubbing his hands up and down his arms. “This has dropped.”
Ollie looked at him as if he was stating the obvious. The young scout was out in the city every day, so the low temperatures didn’t come as quite a shock to him. “We’re lucky it’s not snowing,” he commented. “Means we can still see a ways.”
Jackson narrowed his eyes. His visibility was barely a few yards ahead of him; he dreaded to think what sort of low visibility Ollie was referring to. Very quickly he decided that he couldn’t stay cooped up inside for so long again. He’d received reports of low visibility, but he hadn’t known the extreme degree of it. If Jackson was going to be a good leader and his plan successful, he needed to experience more things for himself rather than living life behind his desk.
“Which way?” he asked, cutting the chatter short and swiveling his head around, peering into the gloom ahead of him. Blake and Vic had surely gained even more ground on them by now, and the last thing Jackson wanted was to lose them.
“Follow me,” Ollie replied, taking off at a jog. “If we keep a decent pace up, we should catch them. It looked like one of them was injured. Couldn’t tell if it was Blake or someone else.”
“It’s not just the two of them?”
“No,” Ollie called back, already running off ahead of Jackson. “Someone else with them. Didn’t see a face.”
Jackson picked up his pace so he was able to keep up with the scout, taking a few seconds to manage his footing so he didn’t slip over on the icy ground. The layer of ash that coated everything from the eruption had sort of frozen to an extent, and then become a sludge that was both tacky and untrustworthy underfoot. He kept his eyes trained on Ollie’s heels ahead of him, knowing there was no point in trying to map their route and trusting his scout entirely.
As they ran, Jackson couldn’t help feeling worried about who the third person was accompanying Blake and Vic. They had left the city with three of the children who were rescued from the pit, and he thought it unlikely that any of them would have returned, as they left to reunite with their family. That made Jackson feel slightly suspicious. If Blake was injured, then there was a chance they would have to rely on someone’s help and that someone might not necessarily be a friend.
Once they located the trio, Jackson decided they would have to approach carefully. He was armed with a pistol that was always at his waist, but other than that he and Ollie were not prepared for an altercation. The last thing they needed was a run-in with the Authority. Leaving the underground facility in such haste had probably already been unwise of Jackson, he realized—if anyone had spotted them, he could’ve very easily given away their location by mistake.
Thankfully, it wasn’t long before Ollie started to slow, dropping into a quick walk rather than a jog in order to make their footsteps quieter. Jackson looked around now, trying to get his bearings on the city again.
“I think I know where we are,” he murmured, peering up at a road sign above his head. “Yeah,” he nodded. “Vic’s store is just around the corner. That must’ve been where they were heading.”
“Well, all right then,” Ollie approved, “let’s go and get ’em.”
Before Jackson could stop the enthusiastic scout, Ollie was striding through the dirty sludge toward the corner store, no regard for who might be watching or what could be lying within. He opened his mouth to stop him except Ollie was already rapping on the front door, alerting whoever was inside to their arrival. Unsurprisingly, there was no response.
“Vic!” Jackson shouted as he jogged over to stand beside Ollie, shooting the younger man a vaguely disappointed look. He couldn’t be too upset by how the scout had acted considering he’d managed to find the two men in the first place and track them to the store, but he had expected better from the young man. “Blake!” Jackson continued, banging on the door again for good measure. People knew they were there now; it couldn’t hurt to get everything over as quickly as possible. “Let us in, will you? It’s Jackson. We need your help.”
The response was exactly what Jackson himself would’ve done if the roles were reversed. Instead of a friendly welcome and a warm embrace, the door to Vic’s store swung open to reveal the Ukrainian man pointing a rifle in their faces. It was only there for a second, Vic’s lightning reflexes realizing that there was no threat waiting for him and lowering the weapon immediately. “Inside, quick,” he ushered them. “Did anyone see you?”
“No,” Jackson replied as he moved past the store owner, respecting the protocol that Vic carried out. The two men were very similar in their ways, Vic just preferring to keep to himself
more than Jackson did, hence which one of them had found themselves in charge of the rebel faction. “It’s good to see you, though. When did you get back?”
“Couple hours ago,” Vic replied simply. “Through here,” he directed them to the back room. “Blake had a bit of a crash when we arrived.”
Leading Jackson and Ollie through into the back room of his store where Blake was slowly getting his bearings again while Leo plied him with sugary drinks and made sure he wasn’t concussed, Vic explained what had happened to the rebel leader. He kept things short and sweet, reporting a successful mission back to the farmhouse but leaving out the details of what had happened there. Vic was more interested in getting information from Jackson about how Houston was surviving, the city he had returned to save seeming darker and more closed off than it had been before.
As Jackson explained his plan, Vic nodded along, asking questions where appropriate. They brushed over the matter of the office building being compromised and the truck later crashing into it. As both men were well versed in that sort of affair, they didn’t nitpick the details and waste time talking. Both were aware there was a lot still to be done and they didn’t want to sit on their heels and just pass time. They were ready to act, so they planned to act immediately.
“Let’s clear these walls then, my friend,” Vic announced, indicating to his store and the hordes of weaponry that filled the store. “We’ve got a city to liberate.”
Over the next two days, the five men worked painstakingly alongside countless others from the rebel faction to empty Vic’s store of everything they could use and prepare for the final assault on the Authority. Like they had done for the first raid on the pit, people worked in different teams all with different goals and tasks to accomplish. Jackson got word from his son, Mike, that things were going well inside and that they should be ready for the breaking point very soon. He was relieved to receive such positive news from inside, a weight lifting from him to discover his eldest son was safe and surviving on his own.
By the time the two days came to an end, Jackson was confident things were going to go his way. He crouched behind a low wall with his hands clutching a remote detonator, his youngest son next to him as they counted down. Vic, Blake, and Leo were with them as well, alongside Ollie and several others from the rebel faction. The groups had split up and spread themselves throughout the city, focusing on the key areas: the theater district where most of the Authority still congregated, and the checkpoints they had recently set up in and out of the city.
The weather was suitably dark and dreary for the challenge ahead of them. The phrase pathetic fallacy screamed through Jackson’s head as he checked his watch again, waiting for the moment when he would set off the explosives. It was something his wife had uttered every time it rained on a bad day, or bad weather ruined their plans. Apparently, it had something to do with the weather reflecting the mood of the day and that was an incredibly accurate representation for the day ahead of Jackson. It was early and the sun should be rising soon, but he knew that wouldn’t happen. He hadn’t seen sunlight for weeks now and he wasn’t expecting it back any time soon.
Houston was a changed city. The winds howled and whistled through the streets like a derailed train, constantly turning corners and searching for its final destination. The freeze that it brought with it was monumental, too. Every time a gust caught Jackson by surprise he shivered right down to his bones. Despite the many layers he wore and the full-face mask that was suctioned to his skin, the wind still managed to find a way in and turn his blood cold.
Like his wife would’ve said, it was pathetic fallacy. The sights of Houston weren’t much better, either. Remembering how the city had been no more than a couple of months ago, it was hard to believe how much it had changed. Nothing was the same. Even the buildings that had originally been unaffected by the eruption were damaged now. Disuse coupled with the damning weather gave them all a slightly crumpled look, a number of them toppling at random intervals due to the density of the ash that had built up on their structures. On top of that, everything was a horrible black color. Like charred coal, the city was a stain on the environment, high-rise buildings that poked out of the ground like burnt-out matchsticks just waiting to be tossed to the side and disposed of forever.
Unless Jackson did something about it. He knew he couldn’t clean up the city’s buildings or fill the streets with flowers, but he could do something about the people within it and the sort of lives they lived. He could make sure that people walked the streets without fear and that children were able to be with their families, not trapped in cells like animals and forced to do unthinkable things.
Jackson thought of Mike, his very own son that he had sent back into those cells. Even if everything else failed, he had to at least get his boy back. Rylan watched on with bated breath as he too knew this could make or break his family. It was about more than just the city itself. It was about people’s futures; people’s lives.
“Here goes nothing,” Jackson whispered to whoever was listening when the countdown finally reached zero. Jackson flicked up the cover on the remote detonator and looked at his son. This was it. This was the moment Houston was either saved or ruined. It was either the start of their new lives or the end of their current ones. There was no way of guessing what it would be. Unable to wait any longer, Jackson simply closed his eyes and pressed the button, the city reacting immediately as a massive boom rocked Houston to its foundations and changed everything forever.
Chapter 20
The drive had been long and arduous. Jadon, Marcus, and Jesse had been traveling across the country for days, different things slowing them down and causing them to take detours on their route home. The latest had been a massive roadblock just before Washington, DC that had forced them up and into Pennsylvania an alternative way. And finally, they were in their home state and Marcus was tearing down Route 76 on their way back to Philadelphia.
“Man, I can’t wait to see the look on their faces when we rock back up,” Jesse smiled as they passed the final exit for Harrisburg, meaning they were only a couple of hours away from home. “Mom is not going to believe everything we’ve been through.”
“It is nuts,” Jadon agreed from the backseat, leaning forward with his arms resting on both of the front seats. “Like, they probably all just assumed we’ve been dead this whole time.”
“Yeah,” Jesse shook his head. “We’re basically being reincarnated.”
Jadon laughed, appreciating his friend’s humor, but Marcus was slightly more solemn. He knew the others only meant it in a lighthearted manner—both excited about getting back home—whereas he imagined what it would’ve been like for him to be in Harper’s position and he didn’t see the funny side of things. Imagining his girlfriend and family dead was the worst thing Marcus could think of. As incredible as it was going to be to see their faces again, he knew they would’ve all been through an equally hard time as the three of them. They couldn’t just expect things to return to normal and everything to be fine again. There was going to be a grieving process that needed to be overturned and he knew it wouldn’t be easy.
The landscape was familiar now, at least. Marcus had family in Harrisburg, so he had done the drive between there and Philly on many occasions. He was familiar with these roads and knew that if he floored it, he would be home before too long. Once he saw Harper again, he would know exactly what to do and what to say to make everything better. Once he saw her again, they could start planning how to become a family. His son or daughter was waiting for him and he was determined to be the father that child deserved, disaster or not.
“You okay, dude?” Jesse asked, noticing that Marcus wasn’t joining in with the banter in the car. They had been forced to leave the Jeep behind in Atlanta, the engine giving out but thankfully leaving them in a place that seemed to have many working replacement vehicles. Atlanta was doing surprisingly well, all things considered. The city was badly damaged from fires, although people were sur
viving and trying to rebuild as best they could. The freeze was also diminishing the farther east they drove, so a huge effort in Atlanta was being made to dig deep into the ground, searching for a clean and reliable water source. Seeing the city surviving like that gave the boys hope for Philadelphia. They had asked around, but no one had known what it was like farther east; still, they remained hopeful and refused to let negative thoughts ruin their journey.
“Yeah,” Marcus replied, wiping a hand across his face and rubbing his eyes. “Just tired, I guess. I can’t wait for all of this to be over.”
“Me neither,” Jesse agreed. “It’s been an adventure.”
Now Marcus laughed. “You can say that again, bro. It’s been crazy.”
“Insane,” Jadon echoed again from the backseat. “It’ll be worth it, though. When we get home and see their faces. That’s going to be incredible.”
Marcus sighed and nodded. Jadon was right. He needed to keep his chin up. They were nearly home now. Soon it was going to be all worth it. “Hang on a sec,” he slowed the car and narrowed his eyes, peering forward at the road ahead of them. “What is that?”
Jesse and Jadon stopped talking and focused forward as well, both noticing what Marcus had seen and concentrating hard as they tried to figure it out. Something had happened to the road ahead, and beyond that the landscape looked different somewhat. None of them could figure out exactly what had happened just yet, though they were all certain of one thing. It didn’t look good.