Revolutionary Love (The Revolution Series Book 1)

by Jessica Miller

  "Someone is killing rebels and people in the military?" Jewel sounded perplexed.

  Rugter sighed. "Just what we need. Another problem in this messed up country."

  I wondered why someone would do such a thing. The person was like me. They were on neither side. Except I didn't walk around bombing things and killing people.

  I stopped breathing when the truck came to a stop. I listened hard. Rugter opened my car door and led me out of the truck. Pine needles cracked under my feet.

  "Watch your step." Rugter cautioned, leading me up a few stairs.

  I heard a door creak open. It smelt clean in here, like pine soil. A soft fragrance filled the air. We were walking on hardwood floors. At least it wasn't stone from a dungeon. The only footsteps I could hear was mine and Rugter’s. I didn't know where Jewel went.

  Another creak of a door. Rugter led me inside and pushed my shoulders down. I was sitting on a soft chair. It felt like a leather one. It was cushiony. Comfortable.

  Rugter left the room and closed the door with a click. My heart was beating fast and my palms were sweaty. I bounced my sore legs up and down. Tapping my fingers on the armrest of the chair, I considered taking off the blindfold. I didn't know if I was allowed to, so I kept it on.

  The room smelt like leather and cologne. A man must frequent this room often. Maybe it was the man at the top. Idly, I wondered what his name was and why he went by that.

  I listened to a clock tick. I smiled to myself. It felt ironic. I viewed my life as a time clock and there was a clock ticking down my minutes.

  It was freezing in here. I could feel the air conditioner blowing cold air on me. It reminded me of a doctor’s office.

  I couldn't take it anymore. I ripped the blindfold off of my eyes. I blinked to adjust my eyes to the light streaming through the window.

  I jumped when I saw a man sitting at a chair across from me. The only thing separating us was an oak desk. It was polished and perfectly clean. I looked closer at the man and froze. My mouth began to feel dry.

  He had soft, brown hair. His eyes were a deep hazel. Grey hairs were at his temples. He wore a simple white tee shirt. His hands were folded on the desk.

  I bit my lip. Hard. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. The man sitting across from me was my father. I didn't understand what was going on. I didn't dare open my mouth and ask questions. Everything about him was different. His smell. The way he held himself.

  Eyes that used to glow at me with warmth were now cold. Ruthless. He reminded me of Stephan. I thought the man at the top was supposed to be good. All about freedom.

  My hands were shaking. He didn't recognize me. What if this was my father? He died when I was seven. What if he woke up here just like me? But then, what if he didn't wake up here and this was just a man with the same characteristics? I didn't know what to do. What to say. I was going to die at the hands of someone who looked just like my dad. I stiffened and held my posture straight. I would be strong.

  "Your patience is impeccable." His voice was soothing. Just like my dad’s.

  I couldn't look at him any longer. I stared out the window. I didn't know how much longer I would be able to hold myself together.

  "I see you recognize me, Evelyn. Your memory was lost, no?"

  I looked back into his eyes. He did not show any kind of emotion. He would be amazing at poker.

  "Why are you asking me questions?" I whispered. Pain filled my voice.

  The man leaned forward on his elbows, bringing us closer in range. "I haven't seen you in person since you were eight."

  It couldn't have been my father. He died when I was seven. My posture relaxed a little bit. I didn't even know if I wanted this man to be my father. He didn't seem like a good man.

  I began to tap my fingers again. "What do you mean?"

  The man smiled. It didn't reach his eyes. "You are either an extremely good liar or you truly don't remember. Stephan and I were once good friends. I was your bodyguard." The man continued to watch my face closely. "Stephan and I had a falling out. We disagreed on the rules he was setting. I couldn't bare to watch him strip the people of their humanity and so I left."

  "Why are you telling me this?" I wondered out loud.

  Hearing his voice was breaking my heart.

  "To see if your memory is truly gone. You recognize me on some level. I see the pain in your eyes. At one point in our life, you did love me. That changed, though."

  I still loved my father.

  "You do look familiar." I admitted. He looked more than familiar. He looked just like the man who raised me.

  He nodded his head, satisfied with the truth. "I need some information."

  "I don't have any answers that you will ask." I didn't know Evelyn's life at all.

  "You do have the answers I will ask. Why did you not shoot Adam in the back that night in the tunnels? He said he walked away first."

  I wasn't expecting that question. My mouth opened and closed a few times. "His back was turned. I'm not like that."

  "Oh, but you are." He said it like he knew me. Like he really, really knew me.

  I leaned back in the chair, relaxing my posture. I was annoyed. I was tired of people telling me who I was. What I'm like. None of them knew me. They all knew nothing about me. "But, actually I'm not." My tone held sass.

  The man copied my body language. "What makes you say that?"

  I quirked an eyebrow. "If I was like that, I would have shot him, now wouldn't I?"

  His hazel eyes darkened. He didn't like the idea of Adam getting shot. "You are only doing what is convenient for you. At the moment, you must have had a motive to keep him alive."

  I remembered Rugter said this man could predict people's moves. I stared into the eyes that were the same as my fathers. I badly wanted it to be him, but I knew it was impossible. What were the chances? I leaned forward a little bit and pulled out the gun that Rugter let me hold onto.

  The man stiffened when I pointed it at his face. "Did you predict that Rugter would give me a gun? Did you predict that I would pull it on you? You are acting as though I am the one playing a game, but I am not. I am surviving. Everything I have been doing since waking up from the bombing was surviving." It made me feel ill pointing a gun at the same face as my father. My stomach twisted. I wouldn't pull the trigger. I didn't have that kind of malice in me. "What game are you playing?" I asked him. When he moved, I slammed my left hand down on the desk. "Move and I will shoot."

  The man kept his hands on top of the desk. "This was Stephan's plan all along."

  I was confused now. "What was Stephan's plan?"

  "You get blasted by a bomb, survive, pretend to lose your memory, act like a good person who didn't want to kill, break Rugter out, knew the rebels would take you to me, gain some of their trust, get a gun, and shoot me." He was frowning. The wrinkles around his mouth deepened.

  The last time I saw my dad he didn't look so old. He was young and carefree. He had laugh lines around his eyes. He was a happy person. This man frowned more than he smiled. He was hard and cold. My father was warm. They were opposites.

  I slammed the gun on the desk. "I am not Stephan's puppet! I do not do as he says! I am my own person and I do what I say!"

  The man used my distraction to snag the gun and slam my face down on the desk. Pain shot up my entire head. I felt the barrel of the gun pressing against my temple. I closed my eyes. His hand was firm on my head, keeping it pressed against the desk. I didn't struggle. The clock was still ticking.

  "Predictability. You let your anger take control of your thinking. You slammed the gun down because of my accusations and now I have the upper hand."

  I breathed heavily through my nose. "Pull the trigger." I was surprised my voice didn't shake. It sounded calm and under control. I felt anything but under control. I was losing control of everything.

  "That's not how things work here." The man pulled the gun away and took his hand off the side of my head.

  I pushed
myself up. My hands were shaking. I put them behind my back to hide it from him. I didn't want him to see my fear.

  The clock was still ticking. It sounded extremely slow compared to the tempo of my heart.

  His eyes were like a hawk. He saw everything and missed nothing. It was so silent, I jumped when the door opened.

  "Should I take her now?" That was Jewel's voice.

  I felt relieved hearing it. The man watched the relief overtake my body language and facial expression. He gave a short nod of his head.

  Jewel's hand wrapped around my arm and she led me out of the office. My legs were shaking. She led me through doors that led into what would be the backyard, except it didn't have a fence. Trees swallowed us. I watched my breath fog in front of my face.

  "He is intense, huh?" Jewel asked.

  I didn't respond. I wanted his face out of my mind. He tarnished my last memories of my father. I bit my lower lip when it trembled.

  We stopped at an opening in the ground. It led down a hill and was made out of gray cement.

  "What is this?" My voice was barely above a whisper.

  Jewel pushed me forward. "It's where we keep our prisoners."

  I was a prisoner now. We walked inside. It looked almost like the jail cells where they kept Rugter. It was freezing in here. Jewel motioned for me to get into one.

  I got in and she locked it with a click. Her green eyes stared at me with pity.

  "What is the point of keeping me in here? Why not just kill me?" I pressed my face against the bars and watched her.

  "It's just not how things are done here unless in the line of battle." Jewel left.

  It was quiet in there. I looked behind me to see wool blankets on the floor and a pillow. They were in good condition. The sun was beginning to set. Once it went all the way down, I would have no light and the temperature would drop. I snuggled into the blankets and closed my eyes.

  I used this time to mourn my father's death. Nobody was watching. Nobody could hear me. My shoulders shook beneath the blanket. This was a cruel world. It ripped my father away from me, then put him back in front of me. It wasn't him, though. It could not have been him.

  He was a completely different man. I wiped my face on the back of my hand.

  "Are you okay?"

  I jumped. That was Adams' voice. Sitting up, I looked through the bars but didn't see anybody. It was completely dark now.

  A flashlight turn on and I could see Adam. He looked exhausted. Bags were under his eyes.

  I scooted closer to the bars. "What are you doing here?"

  "I followed you guys. I had to." Adams green eyes glowed in the dark. They held so much life in them.

  "No, you didn't have to. All of this was because of choices I made." I was taking Evelyn's blame.

  Adam disagreed. "No. You don't remember. You're different now. They are being unfair."

  I held the blanket tighter around me when a sharp breeze gushed in. "It doesn't matter." My voice was defeated.

  "It matters to me."

  I was quiet for a couple of seconds. "Will you get in trouble for being here?"

  "No. The man at the top is all about freedom. I have the freedom to make my choices and go where I want. I had to make sure you were safe." An emotion filled Adams' eyes. I couldn't put my finger on it.

  I broke eye contact and looked down. "Why do you care so much?"

  Adam reached his hand through the bars and laced his fingers with mine. They were strong. Warm. "Because I love you Evelyn. I've always loved you. Ever since we were little kids, I always knew you were the one for me. Things changed, but your back now. You're you now. You're the girl I fell in love with."

  Ice slid around my heart. I froze. I couldn't form any words. The first time a man confessed his love for me, I never expected him to call me by the wrong name. I gave a feeble attempt to get my hand back but his grip was strong. My stomach sank.

  Every time he looked at me he saw Evelyn. I hated her for doing this to him, for doing this to me. She was a life ruiner.

  "You don't know me." I whispered. My eyes pleaded with him to understand.

  That didn't deter him. "I do know you. Better than you think."

  I finally got the strength to rip my hand away. "I shot Seth." The truth was out now. My voice wobbled. There was no going back. He knew. They all would know. I shot and killed his brother. This was all my fault and I would have to live with it.

  "What?" Adam looked confused like I was no longer speaking English.

  Maybe I wasn’t with the way the words fumbled out of my mouth. I wasn’t speaking English. I was speaking the language of a murderer.

  "Seth. Your brother. Remember? I shot him." My voice broke when I saw the pain ignite in his eyes.

  Adam stood with grace. He looked at me for a long time. I knew he believed me when he saw the guilt in my eyes. His brother was dead because of me.

  The muscles on Adams arms tensed. He pulled a gun from the back of his pants and aimed it right at my head.

  I closed my eyes.

  "Stop." It was Rugter’s voice.

  He had heard everything. I could hear it in his tone. Disappoint. He was disappointed. He had hoped I was different.

  I didn't bother telling them that Seth made me do it. It was irrelevant. It wouldn't change the fact that he was dead and they probably wouldn't believe me.

  Hate colored Adam's eyes. His hand shook. Long minutes passed before he lowered his gun. Without another word, he slipped out as quietly as he came in.

  Rugter followed shortly behind him.

  I was alone now. Just as alone as I was when I first woke up. I tarnished any small bond I made with both of them. I now had no chance of survival.

  Chapter Thirteen

  My back was stiff the next morning. I sat up and popped the sore bones. The cement floor was anything but comfortable. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I almost screamed when I saw Mare.

  "What are you doing here?" Was everyone just popping through?

  Mare smiled at me. "My mama is here for a trial."

  "A trial?" I asked, trailing off.

  "Yes. She has to make a vote about you. They are voting if you go to heaven or stay here." Mare's blue eyes twinkled in the sunlight filtering through the opening.

  A trial. They were going to vote on whether or not to kill me. I could hear a lot of voices outside.

  "Who all is here?" I attempted to peer through the bars.

  "My mama says it's everybody you ever did wrong." Mare pressed her face against the bar and watched me. "We waited for you guys at Louisville. You didn't come."

  I didn't know what to say to her. She just watched me with those trusting eyes. Her pink lips were in a smile.

  She looked left when we heard footsteps coming in our direction. The man at the top was standing there. His eyes took in the situation.

  "Does Susan know you are down here?" He asked Mare.

  Mare gave him an innocent smile. "David, I have the freedom to do as I please."

  His name was the same as my father's. I looked at him. What are the chances of that? What are the chances of all of this?

  David smiled. It did not reach his eyes. "Go to Susan."

  Mare winked at me and ran out. David walked over and unlocked the cell. He motioned for me to go to him. On shaky legs, I stood. Was he leading me to my trial? What kind of a trial would it be? David handcuffed my hands behind my back and led me out. A lot of people were standing around. They were all watching me. I could feel all of their hate. I kept my gaze lowered.

  David guided me with his hands. Nobody spoke a word. It was tense. We walked down a small hill. A building sat at the bottom of it. It was a church. A huge cross stood outside of it. Vines grew all around the building giving it a creepy feel.

  David opened the doors and ushered me inside. Some people were sitting at the long seats. They turned around and watched me. Chantel was one of those people. Her eyes blazed. She knew what I had done. I lowered my eyes.
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  David placed me in front of the big cross holding Jesus's body. The chair was hard and wooden. He tied my feet to the legs of the chair and tied my torso. Whispers echoed around the church once people started filling in. I tuned it all out. I felt like a criminal awaiting my death sentence.

  After everyone took their seats, David walked behind the podium. Instantly, the church got quiet. David stared out at everybody. "We gather you here today for the trial of Evelyn Marie Victorino. Evelyn is being charged on the count of theft, arson, hate crimes, and third-degree murder." David stopped talking to let those words sink in.

  Arson? Theft? I attempted to bounce my leg, forgetting that they were tied to the wooden chair.

  "Evelyn." David turned and looked at me. He was in a business suit. He reminded me of Stephan. A more complex version of Stephan. "How do you plead?"

  I looked at all the faces in the room. Some of the people were crying. Evelyn had truly hurt these people. Murdered someone in their family. Stole something from them. She had caused them unbearable pain. My eyes landed on Adam's. His face was blank. He didn't look away. I did.

  "I plead guilty." My voice rang out over the church.

  Everyone started talking at once. It was getting louder and louder. I wanted to cover my eyes and ears until this was all over. It felt like it would never be over. I was stuck in a never ending nightmare.

  "May we have a vote? All those who wish her to be sentenced in prison for life, please stand." Nobody stood. David nodded his head. "All those who wish her to be punished by execution, please stand." Everybody stood. There were maybe forty-five people in here and every single one of them stood.

  I never knew what it felt like to be truly hated by so many people. Adam stood straight and tall. Chantel was standing by his side and took his hand. Bret openly glared at me. Mr. Walker's hands shook in anger.

  "You may take a seat." It was graceful, the way everyone sat at once. "We all know the procedure. Nobody gets to leave the room. If you have the stomach to vote a person to death, you have the stomach to witness it." David pulled something out from behind the huge cross. It was a shotgun. I pressed my lips together.