“Thank God you’re okay,” I whispered.
“Lily, we better go,” Tori said, setting the iron cover aside and motioning for others who were living in the fort to climb down the iron rungs into the tunnels below the streets.
“Go,” Becca assured. “Call me tomorrow and I will tell you what the news says.”
“Thank you, Becca,” I hissed, hugging her before joining everyone else in the dark tunnels.
According to what Becca had heard, the news was reporting forty-seven injured, five in critical condition, and twelve dead.
The people lost while fighting for our cause had officially become statistics.
Chapter Sixty-Five
It was possibly the worst thing that could have happened.
Griffin was trying not to panic when he got me out of bed Tuesday morning, but I could see from the frantic look in his eyes that something was horribly wrong.
“Come quickly,” he hissed.
I scrambled out of bed and walked past the Eight Group standing guard in front of the bunk room, being sure that Mykail—who was sleeping on the opposite end of the room from me—did not try to escape. There were a few people in the main bunker that watched us pass with tired eyes, but most were too asleep, or thinking too much about the way things had occurred during our demonstration to pay much attention to my hurried pace.
Griffin brought me into the communication room where there was live footage on the news of buildings with plumes of smoke rising into the air. It was around downtown Central, and the commentary over the helicopter’s blades was trying not to be frantic.
“What you are seeing now is the helicopter’s view of the different fires that have broken out as a result of the bombing. Our news crews are steering clear because of the military helicopters that are trying to catch the weapon that is still flying around the buildings of Central. If you are just tuning in now, this is the result of the winged man that is known as part of the Central Angels group, who was seen flying around downtown early this morning, during rush hour, yelling about avenging his comrades before he dropped several bombs into the streets.”
“Where is Mykail?” I gasped.
“He’s here…” Tori told me with a serious look.
“Then how—” I stopped abruptly, my eyes going wide as my brain clicked into gear. “That mother fucker…” I growled, grinding my teeth together. I turned to Griffin. “Get Mykail in here.”
He left as I moved next to Mark, who had his arms crossed over his chest, one hand on his face as he watched the news footage with hard eyes. My eyes were also glued to the screen. I watched the helicopter circle as the anchor continued to babble about what we were seeing, saying that they were waiting for their correspondent on the ground to get to the scene and report on what was happening.
The door opened again and we turned to Mykail, who looked confused and worried.
“What is it?”
“That,” I snarled, pointing at the screen. “Dana let your brother loose on the city. Everyone thinks it’s you.”
Mykail’s eyes shot wide and he stepped closer, listening to the anchor.
“Chris?” he breathed, scouring the screen for any sign of his older brother. I was so furious I was chewing the insides of my mouth to keep from throwing a tantrum. After the horrific events of the previous Thursday, where we were once again made out to be a violent revolution hell-bent on bringing down the government, having someone who so closely resembled our symbol attacking the city would surely cause the people to turn against us.
“We just got word from our correspondent Nancy Trakin on the ground. Tracy, can you hear me?”
The camera cut to a young woman with blonde hair and green eyes standing in front of a row of police cars keeping people at a safe distance.
“Yes, I can, John.”
“Can you tell us what’s going on?”
“Right now, the streets leading into downtown Central have been blocked to allow medical crews and firefighters into the core of the city to tend to the injured and the fires.”
“Is there any word yet on the number injured?”
“No, not yet. I have seen dozens of people who have been led away with injuries to be treated away from what the police are calling the danger area. It was rush hour and there were a lot of cars that have significantly hindered the access and, with the creature still at large, it is impossible to tell if there will be more attacks today.”
“Nancy, stay safe, and we will come back to you in a moment. We’re going to go back to our helicopter unit,” John said, the picture cutting again to the shot of the tops of the buildings of Central. It was possible to see many military helicopters making their way around the city, trying to spot the experiment of the Commission of the People.
“This is really bad…” I murmured over the news anchor’s continuous babbling.
“It’s a really bold move from Dana,” Tori sighed. “He knows that swaying public opinion against us won’t be easy, so he willingly put Chris out there.” She rubbed her face. “We can try and deny it as much as possible, but it will be hard to prove that he came from the Commission of the People rather than from us.”
“Because the Commission can just as easily say that they have stated before they had no knowledge of this technology and, therefore, could not have had another one just like Mykail,” Griffin added. “We would become the liars.”
I watched as the military helicopters continued around the city, trying very hard to think of how we could smartly counter this.
“What you are seeing now is live footage, and if you look around the bottom of the shot, you can see the military choppers are quickly turning, which means they have spotted the man flying, and…Terry, can you zoom in to see what they are doing?”
The camera followed the choppers as they quickly pursued a much smaller object flying toward the east side of the city.
“Oh my God, he is heading toward the Leading District…there is no way to tell if he plans to attack any of the buildings. What you are seeing is the chase of the person, who is known as part of the Central Angels, flying toward the Leading District, flying very quickly toward Central Hall with the military in pursuit.”
Without realizing it, my heart was in my throat, horror gripping me as I watched the other winged experiment soar toward the beautifully constructed Central Hall and Chamber of Regions buildings. He stopped and as the news helicopter tried to move closer to the action, I saw a large blast emanate from the side of the Chamber of Regions building.
Everyone in the room gasped, mimicking the reaction of the people in the news room.
“Oh my God, he has just attacked the Chamber of Regions. This is a live broadcast. He appeared to throw something at the building and a large explosion just erupted from the Chamber of Regions.”
“There is no way he could throw a bomb that powerful…” I breathed.
“You might be surprised…” Griffin hissed. “There are weapons that the military has with that kind of power. They’re heavy as hell, but with him being an experiment, it’s entirely possible.”
My attention was brought back to the screen as the anchor began talking again.
“The military choppers have surrounded the creature and the gunner on the side has been trying to take aim at him. If you look closely, you can see people running away from the Chamber of Regions below and—oh, God…”
My eyes were wide as well as Chris launched to the helicopter and climbed into the aircraft, pulling the gunner out and throwing him to the ground.
“Oh my God,” John gasped off camera. There were gasps all over the news studio as the footage was captured.
Chris climbed into the helicopter and violently pulled the pilot out of his seat, gaining control of the helicopter and tilting the aircraft to the side, tipping the pilot out.
“The creature has just hijacked one of the helicopters, this is something that he has done before if you remember the Rhodes Parade…and he seems to be grabbing
something and, what did he just throw at the other heli—oh my God!”
The other helicopter, which had been aiming their gun at the cockpit of the hijacked aircraft, suddenly burst into flame.
“Oh my God…Oh my God…”
The fiery helicopter plummeted to the ground where the people were running from the Chamber of Regions building, which was being engulfed in flame.
The mangled metal smashed into the front fountain of Central Hall’s gardens just as Chris turned the other helicopter’s nose to the ground. He jumped free three seconds before the second helicopter collided with Central Hall, causing an immense explosion of flame, smoke, and shattered glass.
There was nothing but panic in the studio for several minutes, even as the helicopter moved the camera to follow the other angel as he flew rapidly away, disappearing after the catastrophe.
Everyone in the communication room was silent, staring at the carnage in the Leading District.
We were in a state of disbelief.
“Do we tell the others?” I whispered.
“They’re going to hear about it at some point…” Tori hissed. “We better tell them so they don’t think we’re keeping secrets.”
Griffin sighed and stood straight.
“I’ll tell them. Mykail, you better come with me,” he said, motioning for the angel to follow.
We did not let anyone else in to watch the news for a long time, waiting to hear what new developments would come, but we eventually let them in, knowing that they were just as worried as we were about what the attack meant for the revolution.
Everyone packed into the room to hear the statement of the Commission of the People. I felt a sick ache in the pit of my stomach as the time drew closer for the government to say something about the attack. I was surprised that the Commission was the chosen representative for what the government wanted to say.
I felt even more nauseous when I saw my father step up to the podium.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” my father started, his face worn, “I have been called upon to come before you and make a statement about the horrors our capital faced today.” He looked at the podium and shook his head. “The truth is…there are no words to describe the horror of what happened today. For the first time in nearly a century, our country has seen a deliberate, hateful attack on the citizens of this nation. Only this did not come from an outside force…this did not come from other countries who were trying to undermine us…this came from within our own people…within our own family.” My father sighed heavily and took a moment before he continued. “I come before you, not representing the Commission of the People, but as a proud American, who is horrified at what has happened to our great country. This morning, we were attacked by something that was celebrated as a symbol of revolution, of change, and most importantly, a symbol of a revolution to dismantle the Commission of the People. The group known as Central Angels has given many rationalizations about the reasons they want the Commission of the People to be taken down. So I ask them, now, what is your reason for attacking every government building except the Commission of the People?”
He closed his eyes and shook his head.
“There are over one hundred people from the Chamber of Regions that have been taken to the hospital. Almost all of them are in critical condition. I want to be sure that we thank and show our appreciation for the medical teams that rushed to their aid…to the people who came forward to help even in the face of such danger…and to the international community who has called to show their support through this terrifying time. As was shown on live television, Central Hall has been destroyed. Four hundred employees work in Central Hall, and of those four hundred, seventy-seven have been identified as alive. Leader Simon has been taken to the hospital for third degree burns and is in critical condition.
“When we were sure that it was safe, I rode with Mr. Dana Christenson to the hospital and asked him why our building had not been hit. Why? If we were the target of the Central Angels, why did they not attack as they claimed they would? Why did they involve the other branches of government, to which they raised no complaint? Why?” He looked down at his hands and shook his head. “Mr. Christenson holds himself responsible for what happened today. The only reason I am standing here before you and not him is because he is staying at the hospital with Leader Simon to be sure of his health.”
I wondered how much of this was true.
“Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Commission of the People and Dana Christenson, I want to apologize for the horrors witnessed today. The Commission agreed to let the group known as the Central Angels protest and voice their opinions because we were trying to understand what it was that they were advocating. We wanted to change things peacefully, but in the last week alone, that has proven to be a tactic they do not agree with.
“As I speak, the Commission of the People is working with the Domestic Defense Force, the American Military, and the Central Intelligence Administration to track down the winged man who attacked our city and bring him to justice. Our medical teams and doctors are working without rest to help those who have been devastated by this horrible tragedy. We will not fall under such scare tactics and underhanded attacks on innocent people, nor bow to the will of this terrorist group. We will stand strong against them. War is no longer acceptable, it is no longer needed in today’s civilized world. And we will not let them make this a war.”
The Commission agreed to let people know by the beginning of next week what their course of action would be.
My group, on the other hand, had no idea what our next move even could be.
“We can’t jump up and deny that it wasn’t us,” Tori murmured. “There’s no proof, and with how tender everyone is now, it would immediately be ignored and make us look worse.”
“I wonder how much of what my father said is true…” I hissed. “I don’t believe anything he says about Dana, but about the casualties…about the numbers…” I looked around the table of the strategy room. “Do you think it’s accurate?”
“Hard to say,” Griffin sighed. “Statistics change quickly.”
“What should we do, then?” Clark pressed.
“I would say keep a low profile,” Griffin whispered. “We need to keep everything as calm as possible, stay in the shadows, don’t make a scene. We can maybe post a video or two telling the people that we did not orchestrate the attack and see what kind of response we get.”
“Dana is playing with loaded dice at this point,” I growled. “An attack like that, on live television, there’s no way the people won’t support him.”
“We just need to lay low,” Tori assured. “We’ll figure out the best thing to do if we just clear our heads.”
* *** *
People were against us. That was the common sentiment. There were no protests about what happened, but people were flying the flag at half-staff, helping crews clean up the city and giving interviews about how furious they were, saying they always knew that the Central Angels were nothing more than a violent domestic terrorist group and should be eliminated as soon as possible.
Dana had managed to turn the tables so quickly that if we made one careless move, the entire country would be upon us.
From all over the regions people were voicing their anger at what happened in Central. They were relating it to earlier attacks against America, calling it an act of terror and explaining that it was a step backward, rather than a progressive move to the future.
However, a lot of people were also angry at the Commission of the People. They were sick of the back and forth we were having with one another and told the Commission to take decisive action one way or another, wanting the conflict to be over before things escalated even further.
I called Becca on Wednesday. School had remained open, so I had to wait for her to get out of classes before I called her from the bus station payphone.
“Hello?” she answered, her voice strained.
“Hey,” I murmured, keeping my
voice low even though I was locked in the secure glass of the phone booth.
“You shouldn’t be calling me,” she gasped. “Do you realize how much the city is in panic? What were you thinking?!”
“It wasn’t us!” I snapped. “Listen, it wasn’t us. There is another experiment like Mykail—his older brother. I swear to you, Dana set him loose and tried to pin the whole thing on us.”
There was a heavy silence on the other end of the phone.
“There’s another one like Mykail?” she said skeptically.
“Yes,” I said. “Do you think anyone would believe me if I told them that?”
“Is it the truth?” she asked. I was offended by the tone in her voice, but chose to ignore it.
“Yes.”
“Then why not come out and say it?”
“I just asked you, do you think anyone would believe us?”
She fell silent.
“I don’t know,” she sighed. “There has been a lot of heated debate about what happened yesterday. After some of the students were killed last week…it only makes sense that they’re getting nervous…”
“Yeah, things are spiraling out of control…” I admitted dejectedly. I glanced around once more. “Listen, we’re going to raid a convoy bringing food to one of the camps tomorrow night, can you make it?”
“Sorry, no,” she said. “I’m grounded after my mother saw me on TV at the protest. And especially after yesterday, Mom’s being super protective and keeping me in the house. I better not chance sneaking out in the middle of the night. She’s been doing bed checks.”
The news made my heart fall, but I understood the parent factor, so I assured her it was alright and then told her I would call her another time.
The raid had to be very precise. Due to the military involvement that came with the knowledge of our attacks on camps, we were in danger of being found out and apprehended.
But we were in need of food and medical supplies. Peter had used up most of the salvaged medicine and bandages treating those who had been shot during the protest. There were a few who had also been trampled in the rush to get away and had needed more extensive treatment. Therefore, we needed more supplies. We knew that food was coming in the transport vehicle, but we were also hoping that there would be medical supplies.
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