“Everyone gets along here?” I whisper.
“Shh,” Baxley shushes me, “but yes, they do not fight, thieve, covet, anything… It is against Rae’s rules,” he whispers.
“I like this Rae already.”
“Shh,” the entire group shushes me simultaneously.
I smile.
It takes a while for us to reach the center of the city where the largest construction is. It is made from similar materials, however, part of the place is made from an existing building. The structure is three stories high, which is clearly taller than any other place in the whole town, and about ten sizes wider than any other dwelling around.
Baxley leads us into8 the building. He is well known in this place. Everyone acknowledges him and steps out of our way as we walk by. After all, Baxley was let out of the city to guard, which doesn’t appear to be common for all the members of this place. We all walk up to a huge wooden desk that sits outside double doors. One of the large doors have Rae written on it. That is all it says, no president, intelligence, nothing but Rae. There is an armed guard on both sides of the doors.
“She does not hold herself any higher than anyone else,” the woman at the desk says at seeing me look at the nameplate. “How may I help you, sir Baxley?” She ignores me and turns her attention to him.
“Yes, I request a meeting with Rae at her earliest.” He says the words diplomatically.
“Very well,” the woman says while sliding a small panel in the wall to the side. “Rae, you have sir Baxley here with…others…to see you.” She says the words others with a slight hint of annoyance.
“Send them in,” a very feminine voice calls out from the hole in the wall.
“Very well, Rae,” the woman at the desk answers back, sliding the panel back afterwards. “Rae is ready to see you now,” she announces.
The guards take the handles of the double doors and swing them open to let us in. When we enter, a very slender woman with long, red hair stands, looking out the window. She is wearing black cargo pants, an olive-green tank, black combat boots, and a black cotton sweater.
“Welcome to Wonder Shield,” she says with a smile on her face. “I’ve been expecting you.”
She doesn’t look at Baxley when she says it, she looks at each one of us, indicating she, in fact, had been waiting on us.
“With all respect ma’am,” Baxley begins, “would you please grant my sister and her friends permission to talk?”
“Your sister?” Rae raises a curious eyebrow. “This is Cara? You thought she was dead.”
“I did, Rae, but she is very much alive.” Baxley smiles. “I thought I saw her die the day I was taken by The Elected, but I was wrong. Jake, Liz, and their family,” he gestures at us, “took her in…made her a part of them.”
“How very exciting.” Rae grins. “I must say it has taken you much longer to get here than I thought it would.” Now she is looking straight at me. “You all have my permission to speak. Where are Leah and Dia?”
“Miss…” I begin.
“Wait a minute.” She holds up a long slender, yet callused hand. “It is not now, nor will ever be miss anything, I am Rae, please call me Rae.”
“I’m sorry, Rae,” I say. “Please explain to us how it is that you came to be expecting us, when we didn’t know that this place existed until a day ago?”
“You see,” she smiles, “I have been getting updates about you all since you were at The Force, and I knew you would be headed this way to get to The Elected headquarters.”
“Updates on us? How?” Eli asks.
Without answering my brother’s question directly, Rae walks over to the panel in the wall and slides it open.
“Monica,” Rae calls out to the woman at the desk. “Could you please send him in?
“Very well,” the woman at the desk we now know as Monica says.
Rae saunters back to her desk, and instead of sitting in the chair, she props herself on top of it.
“I must tell you before he comes in,” she smiles at me I think. “There mustn’t be any physical fighting in Wonder Shield, or your stay will come to an end, do you agree?”
We all state our verbal agreement in one way or another.
As she finishes her statement, the double doors open and in comes a man with the guards on either side of him.
The man accompanied by the guards is none other than Levi, one of our enemies at The Force. I had killed his best friend Malachi when he, Sampson, and Malachi attacked me, the day that we left the compound.
Chapter Thirty-Four
We all stand in disbelief at one of the people who had helped Malachi numerous times try to kill me. We had found out they had belonged to The Elected and were implanted as spies into The Force.
“What are you doing here?” I spit as I walk up to him and punch him square in the nose.
The guards grab me, pulling me away from Levi so I don’t come back for a second hit. He stands there, letting the blood drip from his nose. He doesn’t retaliate or say a word, just calmly stands and waits on one of us to speak first.
“Liz,” Rae begins, “no fighting, remember?” she says with a small smile to her voice.
“Sorry,” I say, shaking the pain out of my hand. “I wasn’t fighting, I was finishing something.” I smile back.
“See to it that you don’t… finish anything else during your stay here,” she says sarcastically. “Unless it is a war, of course. You can finish that.”
“Did you need something, Rae?” Levi asks, now holding his nose.
“Yes.” Rae smiles again. “Levi was not an implant into The Force by The Elected, he was an implant into The Elected by us. We just sent him in, pretending to be a transfer from The Facility, and they took the bait. Two weeks later, he was being shipped to The Force as an implant to act as spy for us.”
“Little did they know, I was scoping out anyone and everyone that could help our cause,” Levi speaks for the first time, directly to us.
“So, what?” I yell “You were going to just let Malachi kill me?”
“That was never my plan,” he says, looking at the floor. “I had a gun on me the whole time, and was going to kill Malachi, but you beat me to it.” He smiles viciously.
“What about Sampson?” Jake asks.
“I made him disappear during the bombing,” he answers with a look of sadness.
“So, he is dead?” Zac asks.
Levi nods at Zac and then looks back up at us.
“I came back here as quick as I could and reported my findings to Rae.”
“Which were?” Samantha asks.
“That you guys were the only hope we had for winning this thing. Your group is perhaps the only one at The Force that genuinely wants to see the peace and see these corridors restored back into one nation.”
I relax enough to show Rae that I don’t plan on inflicting any more pain on Levi. At least not yet, anyway.
“Dismissed.” Rae waves the guards off. as they release their grip on my arm all together, closing the door behind them.
Levi walks further in the room and closer to the group of us, taking his chances that I will follow Rae’s rules and not punch him again.
“I don’t have record of you, though,” Levi says to Cara.
“I’m new.” Cara blushes.
“She’s my sister.” Baxley beams.
Levi walks around Cara, looking back and forth from Baxley to Cara.
“So, she is. Same nose and mouth.”
Cara covers her mouth to stifle a giggle and grin.
“What do you need from us?” Jake brings things back to the present point. “We plan on rescuing two young girls from The Elected before the war begins.”
“Not possible,” Levi says, letting his smile quickly fade into a frown.
“Why do you say that?” Samantha asks.
“They have the place locked tight,” Rae answers. “We had been able to penetrate headquarters to help hostages escape, but as of the past
few months, there seems to be no way in…”
“Or out,” Levi finishes.
“What do we do?” Mar asks.
“I say you wait until things begin and get them out then.” Levi says the words I have been dreading to hear. “Until then, you can be training alongside us.”
“And we can be working on trying to find a way in, in the meantime,” Rae finishes.
“Are you sure there is no way in?” Eli asks.
“Positive,” Rae says. “It is nearly impossible to get within a mile of the place, but if you feel the need to check things out for yourselves, we would understand.”
“We would be willing to send a team out with you,” Levi offers.
“What about Dia and Leah?” Zac asks.
“You could send a few members of your group back with Baxley to retrieve them,” Rae answers. “The rest of you could take a couple of our all-terrain vehicles and go to The Elected headquarters to check things out.”
“I will insert myself into the group that goes with you to The Elected, if that’s okay?” Levi asks.
“When can we leave?” Jake asks.
“Right away,” Levi answers. “Let’s get you out of those ridiculous clothes though and get you into something more… you…”
We are dismissed from Rae’s office and put into the hands of Levi and Baxley, both of which I am not sure can be trusted yet. Baxley a bit more than Levi, though. He and Cara stick close to one another, excited that after almost half of his life, he is getting to be with his sister again.
Levi leads us into a large shower room and hands us all towels, a set of clothing like what Rae and the rest of the community are wearing, including precious combat boots.
I have missed combat boots.
We are all given a bag with a bar of soap, shampoo, and a rag, and let loose in the shower room. The stalls are divided by a short wall in the middle of the room, much like the baths in The Force were cut down the middle by a curtain.
I let the water pour down over me for the longest time, lathering my hair and body three times for good measure. Afterwards, I hop out, dry off, and begin to get dressed.
Mar, Magi, Samantha, and Cara are already dressed when I sit down on the bench next to them.
“I missed these things,” Mar says as she picks up one of her boots, hugging it to her chest.
I do the same thing, letting myself be silly for a moment.
“I never thought I would love these clunky things.” I smile.
“When I first started wearing them,” Samantha says, “I was six. I thought I would never get use to them, but now, anything else feels weird.”
“Come on girls,” Jake yells in with a small laugh to his voice. “Stop cuddling your boots, and let’s go.”
The five of us roll our eyes and finish lacing up our boots, then we leave the bathroom. When we are outside the room, Levi hands me a brush, and each one of us girls an elastic to tie our hair back if we want to.
“How thoughtful,” Cara says to Levi.
“It’s my pleasure,” Levi responds.
“What is up with Cara and Levi?” I whisper to Mar.
“I don’t know,” Mar whispers back. “Weird…”
After we are all back together, cleaned up, and feel somewhat back to normal, we must decide who will go with Levi and his group to The Elected, and who will go back with Baxley to get Leah and Dia.
After great deliberation, we have decided that Zac, Shawn, and Cara will go back for the girls. That leaves Jake, Samantha, Magi, Eli, Mar, and me to go with Levi.
We all reluctantly say goodbye to Shawn, Zac, Baxley, and Cara as we watch them fight their way back through the makeshift village to find the cabin at the bottom of the hill. Somehow, yet again, I have a horrendous gut feeling that something bad is going to happen.
Levi leaves the remainder of us on the steps of the largest building in the enclosed city to acquire the help of a few other citizens of Wonder Shield to make the journey with us. He assured us that who he chooses to go with us would be skilled in both combat and excellent marksmen.
“What have we gotten ourselves into?” I whisper.
“I hate that Zac isn’t with me,” Mar sighs. “Things are better this way, though.”
“What if we don’t like what we find?” Magi asks.
“I don’t think we will,” Jake answers. “How can we?”
We all sit in silence, taking in the sights of the city. We watch all its people readying themselves for a war. Even though the children run around playing, each one seems to know they aren’t quite safe where they are. If only they knew that there isn’t anything or anywhere safe for them in this world.
“Let’s head out,” Levi says as he walks up with two muscular men and an equally as buff woman. “This is Tim and Tom, the combat brothers, and this is Tina, their sister.”
“Look at the muscles on that one,” Samantha says, while scoping out Tim… Or Tom… Whichever it is that she is looking at.
“Are these guys good?” Jake asks.
“We are,” Tina says while crossing her arms across her chest. Her own automatic gun hangs across her shoulders, making her look even tougher than she did before. Tim and Tom have their own guns with special self-modifications. They all three have two-foot long swords hanging down their thighs in sheaths.
“Shall we?” Levi asks.
Without waiting for an answer, he walks us around the building and through the city to the other side of the fence. This gives us the chance to see the rest of the town on the way out. Levi motions for the guards to open the gate to allow us through.
As soon as we all cross the doorway, the gate slams closed again as to not allow a single second to let someone in that isn’t meant to be here.
“Didn’t Rae say something about all-terrain vehicles?” Samantha asks.
“She did.” Levi grins as he stops just short of a small guarded building. “Side by side ten, eleven, and twelve.” He says to the guard while handing him a piece of paper.
The guard motions for a group of men standing off to the side of the small building. The group walks up to the guard as he whispers his commands to them. One by one, the men go into the building through a large open part in the wall, and they drive a small four passenger vehicle out in front of us.
Excited, we climb in.
“They are small but fast, and can take us most anywhere,” Levi says. “Now let’s get to The Elected before we give them the chance to find us first.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
All together we have three of the small vehicles. The muscle triplets are in one, being driven by Tim or Tom. Jake drives the one with Eli, Mar, and I in it, while Levi operates the one with Magi and Samantha as his ride alongs.
Together, we cruise off road, cutting a quicker path to The Elected. According to Levi, what would have taken one-hundred miles and about four hours by truck to get to, will only take around sixty or so and will only take a little over two.
The closer we get to The Elected headquarters, the more my stomach grows sick. Is it possible that we will be that close to Syl and Shae for the first time in months?
“What if Rae is right and there is no way in?” I ask.
“Well, at the very least, we are finding things out for ourselves,” Mar assures me.
“You’re right, I suppose.”
“Of course, I am.”
We have gone many miles in a very short amount of time just as Levi had promised us.
Ahead of us, Levi slows his vehicle down, eventually coming to a complete stop. He jumps out of the side by side and runs over to Tim, Tom, and Tina’s already stopped vehicle.
“I wonder what’s going on?” Eli asks no one in particular.
“Don’t know,” Jake says absentmindedly.
Jake jumps out and runs over to where the men are congregating. They appear to be trying to figure out our next move. From where we are, I can’t see what is in front of the triplet’s vehicle to even guess wh
at the delay might be.
After several minutes, Jake runs back over to us and hops into the driver’s seat.
“We have to go around or go back,” he grunts.
“Around what?” Mar asks.
“From where we are, it looks like The Elected have laced the road and field with planted explosives. We don’t need to take our chances. We will go around if we have to.”
I swallow, trying to steady my nerves. If we are that close to The Elected that they feel the need to plant mines, then there may not be a way in.
“Rae is right,” I say.
“What do you mean?” My brother asks me.
“They are prepared for an attack. There won’t be any way in, even if we tried.” I feel defeated even while I am saying the words. “Our best bet will be waiting for the war to start to save Syl and Shae, and that’s only if they send them out, we find them, or if they are sent out in our area.”
“What do you want to do now?” Mar asks me.
“I say we recharge, then head back.”
Jake nods his head and motions for the others to come over.
We all toss water bottles back and forth, allowing everyone to get a refreshing drink. A few snack bars are divided and given to each of us to give us a bit of nutrition. We all allow a few moments to take in the fresh air before we decide to head back to Wonder Shield.
“So,” Eli says through a half-chewed piece of protein bar, “how far are we from headquarters exactly?”
“Ten miles,” Levi answers around his own food. “Maybe eight.”
“Why would they begin taking precautions this far out?” Mar asks.
“I was wondering the same thing,” Magi says. “Even The Force had our own protection from outside forces, but only about a mile out.”
“Wild dogs?” I smile.
“Wild dogs.” Jake smiles back.
I think about the first time Jake and I had spent alone. He was taking me to The Force Field to explain some things about The Force and his family. Outside their fences, there were several wild dogs. He and I ran so fast that night.
That was the first time I felt freedom in a while, and the thought of it makes me feel so happy right now. That was the night I fell in love with Jake.
THE ELECTED (Fighting Freedom Book 2) Page 16