“I’m glad you got out, sir,” Kenneth said to Dominski. “You too, Ava.”
Ava returned the comment and gave Kenneth a hug.
“I looked all over for you,” Kenneth lied. “There’s water filling the entire bunker. What happened?”
Kenneth was trying to be obnoxiously loud so Marcus, Will, and Lea could hear them approach easily. He was relaying his made up harrowing story of escape from the mountain with excruciatingly too much detail. However, he was still beginning to worry. He thought they had walked too far and should have come across them by now. He was running out of material for his fake story. He wasn’t as good on his feet as Marcus was with story telling.
“What was that?” Dominski said.
“What was what?” Kenneth answered quickly. “I didn’t hear anything.” He had heard something too but was trying to get them to keep moving. He was fairly certain they were in the bushes off to the right.
“Check in there,” Dominski said as he pointed to the bush.
Two of the guards immediately walked to both sides of the bush with pistols drawn. Kenneth was wondering what happened to their plan. What were they doing? The guards pulled Lea from behind the bush. Now Kenneth was really confused and beginning to panic. Would he have to figure out a way to stop Dominski on his own? Maybe he would have to crash the helicopter they were heading to. He would be willing to sacrifice himself to stop this madman.
Lea had tears filling her eyes as they brought her to Dominski.
“I don’t know how you got out and how you got down here but I don’t care at this point,” Dominski said. “Shoot her.”
Marcus and Will lunged from the other side of the trail. They held small boulders and brought them down on the heads of the two guards that held Lea’s arms. The third guard fumbled to get his pistol from his holster. Kenneth thrust a fist at the man. He struck him square in his temple, sending him falling to the ground. Dominski dove for the guard’s pistol. Ava screamed and tripped backward onto the ground.
Kenneth struggled with Dominski to get the pistol. Will and Marcus secured the pistols from the two guards they had brought down. Kenneth landed a punch squarely into Dominski’s jaw. He was temporarily stunned long enough for Kenneth to grab the pistol. A shot rang out, piercing everyone’s ears.
Silence ensued. Marcus stumbled back, clutching the hole in his upper chest. He dropped to his knees. Lea noticed and screamed. Blood rushed out of the opening and he dropped all the way to the ground. They all looked over and saw Ava holding a small pistol. She must have had it hidden on her. Lea, who stood to the side of Ava, jumped at her. Lea had picked up a rock. She swung the rock at Ava and bashed it across her forehead. Ava flew back. The pistol dropped to the ground. Will trained the pistol he retrieved from the guard on Dominski who now was laying on the ground.
Kenneth rushed to his lifelong friend. Marcus’s face was turning a ghostly white.
“Hang on, Marcus,” Kenneth said frantically. He lifted Marcus’s top half above the ground, letting him rest against him. He placed his hand over the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
“Thank you, my friend,” Marcus struggled as he spoke. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly. “We stopped him.” His eyes shut and he let out a long breath as he slumped against Kenneth.
Chapter Forty-Four
WWNL Evening Broadcast
May 2037
“Hello everyone and thank you for joining me. I’m Marcus Braden. It was reported last month, by this network, that I had died in a tragic accident. A plane crash. The truth is that the Central Management Authority had made an attempt to kill me. I was, indeed, in a plane crash. However, as you can see now, I survived.”
Marcus had sweat forming on his forehead. It wasn’t from nervousness. He was still recovering from his wounds. His professionally tailored pin-striped suit hid the bandages that covered his bullet wound. His chest was still wrapped, now done by a doctor, as his cracked ribs were still healing. Kenneth stood beside the camera that was aimed at Marcus. He was worried for his friend. Marcus, however, was stubborn and wanted to be the one to tell the nation the story. Kenneth had eventually given in to the stubbornness.
Marcus relayed the story of the CMA and Marek Dominski and their long time planning and then the ultimate speedy takeover of the nation. He told of Mr. Dominski’s capture and now of the life-long imprisonment he faces. He concluded with a ‘Moment with Marcus.’
“My fellow citizens, our future is now in all of our hands. We will now have to decide how we will move forward. Are we to be like the end of the ancient Roman empire? Will we divide into smaller countries? Will our states become reunited? Whatever we decide as a people, we must always remember what we went through over this past year. We should also take into account the history of our world. More centralized and more powerful governments will always attract people like Marek Dominski. Those are the people that are bound and determined to rise to the top and will do it at whatever cost it may bring. As we all know, Mr. Dominski did it at the cost of millions of American lives. What about the rest of us? Why aren’t we bound and determined to protect our freedom and liberty? Will we rebuild this country under the thumb of a powerful and overbearing government? Or, will we rebuild this country under the power of the people? A free people. I challenge everyone to consider these things. I also challenge everyone to take up your shovels and hammers and work together to clear the destruction. Take up your tools to work together to rebuild this country. We should all claim our part in rebuilding this land. Will we create a system of governance like our founders? Will we limit their powers and empower the people? How will we prevent what happened over the last decade from happening again? This is now our challenge. These are the tasks we must complete. I’m Marcus Braden with the Worldwide News Link and this has been ‘A Moment With Marcus.’”
Chapter Forty-Five
One month earlier.
The helicopter droned on as it climbed up into the mountains. Will and Lea held hands as they watched the trees pass below them. They had spent a long day waiting to hitch a ride on a flight back to California. Thomas arranged for a flight to Fresno. From there, Thomas told them they could get a helicopter ride up to their property. They were fatigued and anxious to get back to their families.
The pilot occasionally turned back to Will to make sure they were still on the right course to get to their property. Figuring the roads from the air was a new experience for Will, but he was managing. He spotted their road from the air and pointed out Lewis’s for the landing sight. Lea had told Will they had moved back to the property and then told of her experience of being taken. She wondered what her parents had thought of it.
They could see Alejandro, Juana, Beth, and Lewis come piling out of the house as the helicopter descended. Lea turned to Will with a smile growing on her face.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” she said. “What was it that you said to me through the mirror when you were tied up?”
Will smiled and leaned in and kissed Lea. “I love you.”
###
From The Author
Thank you for purchasing and reading my novel! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please rate this title from your favorite retailer and any other website or app you use to keep track of books you’ve read.
The idea for this book was born several years before publishing. I had dreamt of writing a book starting sometime in college. I have no idea where that desire came from. My degree and the field I work in is aviation. I heard a quote once that everyone has at least one book in them in their lifetime. I don’t recall who to credit for that.
I took that quote seriously and began writing ‘From Within’ in the Fall of 2013. I wrote on and off for a few years. I had outlined my whole story, it was just a matter of getting it all down on paper (computer in the modern world). In early 2016, I decided to change directions slightly. I removed a few chapters and re-outlined the last half of the book
. After removing the chapters, I was back down to about thirty pages. It was a bit depressing and discouraging, but now with a new goal at hand, I took to action. I completed writing by mid-July of the same year.
Again, I hope you enjoyed this adventure of a story. I currently have about a dozen or so other ideas in the works and seem to add more all of the time. Most are still rough ideas, but some are outlined and I’ve started a couple of them. I plan to keep up my new rate of writing and hopefully will be able to publish at least one book a year for you all to enjoy.
Thanks Again,
Brian Delaney
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From Within Page 27