Several of our gunners spent their time in the shooting range, practicing their aim. I also practiced with my own gun, though Mark told me I was not to be anywhere near the raid. I was going to be with him, on a hill, as he acted as sniper, taking out some of the people in the convoy when we raided.
We lined up on the road leading to the camp three hours before the convoy was to appear. We placed nail strips in the road to blow the tires out, but we were sure to only place a few small ones that would not make it immediately obvious we were attacking.
I stayed with Mark, who was laying on his belly, the large gun in front of him, propped up on some stones we had stacked to hide our location.
I waited impatiently.
The longer I stayed still, the more I thought about what had happened through the week. It made me nervous. I was a little surprised at my own feelings toward our revolution. Things were quickly becoming unsteady, but rather than panic, I had to sit back and think very carefully about what I was going to do next. More than anything, I had to admit that I was impressed with the stunt Dana had pulled. While I hated the lives it cost and the horrific image it gave us, I could not deny that it was a brilliant move.
My job now was trying to guess his next move before he made it.
When the trucks were heard rumbling over the dark road outside the camp, I saw many peek out from behind trees, waiting for the cars to hit the nails.
There were three vehicles—two smaller ones at the front and back of the larger truck with the supplies.
The first car spun out of control when it hit the nail beds, which caused the larger one to skid to a halt, not noticing their own tires being punctured as they tried to slow the big vehicle. The third car did not come in contact with the nails, so I watched Mark carefully take aim at the front tire of the last car.
Everyone was getting out of the halted cars. There were three men in each small car and two men in the larger vehicle. I could not hear their conversation, but I watched the driver of the last car move forward to ask what was wrong.
Mark adjusted his shot and I watched with little emotion as he shot one man and then the other.
Carefully, a group of our people moved to the back of the truck.
“Now!” a voice bellowed.
The back of the truck flew upward with loud, rhythmic clanking and twenty men jumped out of the back, their guns aimed at the revolutionaries.
Immediately, shots were fired. Mark remained where he was, taking careful aim at the people he could and shooting three before one of them yelled “Sniper!” and caused most of the men to turn their attention into the woods.
Mark grabbed my head and pulled me down behind the rocks, keeping me from seeing who was firing the shots. Amazingly, I was not worried about the people from our side. My only thought was figuring out how to get out of the situation.
Mark peeked over the top of the rocks, motioning for me to follow as he crept carefully along the side of the hill.
I was far too calm for that to be my current predicament. It was not a normal response.
“Up there!” a voice shouted. Mark pushed me down to the ground and then continued running ahead. The dark worked in my favor, concealing me while their shots were directed at Mark, the bullets buzzing over my head angrily, embedding in trees until they lost sight of their moving target.
I turned to look over my shoulder and saw several bodies on the ground. I could barely make out a burly figure I assumed to be Griffin violently banging one man’s head against the side of the truck before dropping him to the ground.
Seeing that the action was calming, I stood and made my way down to the mess.
“Griffin,” I whispered.
“Lily, what the hell are you doing down here?!” he snapped. “Others from the camp will be here any second! You need to get out of here!”
“Who’s ours?” I asked, determined to drag someone back.
“Lily,” a voice called near my feet that I immediately recognized as Cody’s. I got behind him and hooked my arms under his, pulling him backward into the darker forest, not bothering to watch where I was going.
As I was pulling him off the road, I spotted a group of people running toward the scuffle from the camp, yelling, some of them stopping to fire a shots before advancing again.
Everyone who was able was dragging one of our wounded comrades off the road, trying to retreat. I struggled to pull Cody over the uneven surface of the forest ground and soon had bullets soaring my direction.
Thankfully, someone jumped in front of me, returning shots at the two people pursuing me before grabbing Cody’s other arm and pulling him into the trees.
“Keep going, keep going…” Josh said over and over again as we retreated, trying to keep from tripping over roots and other shrouded obstacles.
Finally, unable to hear the sounds of the confrontation, I collapsed against a fallen tree, my legs shaking, breathing hard, unable to walk further. Josh was also trying to catch his breath.
“Are you alright?” he whispered.
“Yeah…” I assured. “Cody? Cody, where are you hurt?”
“My leg…”
It was impossible to see with the canopy of the trees keeping the moon’s rays from reaching the ground. I tried in vain to look around, not sure where we were or how we were going to get back to the fort.
“Josh, do you know where we are?”
“No,” he admitted. He took a deep breath and then grabbed Cody’s arm, pulling the younger experiment onto his back. “But we can’t stop moving. Someone must be around.”
Forcing my legs to move, I followed Josh into the woods, not sure if we would find anyone in the impenetrable black.
I thought over the events. It should have jumped out at me that there were so few people protecting the van considering the recent raids. It should have been obvious that we needed to stay away from this particular convoy and try to break into the camp instead, where we would have had more time to plan and see what we were up against in advance. And yet, I pushed to go after the convoy anyway.
Even upon reflection, I felt numb to the situation.
The statistics were taking over my brain. I needed to find a way to sustain my numbers safely while devising a way to counter Dana. It was my turn to move a piece onto the board, and I had chosen poorly.
Chapter Sixty-Six
It took three hours wandering in the dark before Josh and I finally found someone else from our revolution. A few experiments had been sent to find people still lost in the woods. Candice was very thankful to find her brother, though she was terrified about his injuries. As we walked, Josh still carrying Cody on his back, I asked her how many people were hurt. She told me that two were dead, and eleven came away with minor injuries. Three were in more serious condition.
I was not sure which category Cody was going to fall into.
My mind remained numb as I turned over the cruel irony of our attempt to get medical supplies only to come away with more injured.
Dana was making moves to eliminate us. It was not possible for us to trust anyone or any event as being safe. The realization made my mind spin. I had always known that Dana had enough force waiting in the wings to tear us apart, but I really did not think that he would use that against us. It was hard to explain my reasoning, but I knew that he felt it would be cheating.
Thinking about our encounter in the park, remembering how Mark shot Dana in the leg, thus allowing our escape, I started to understand that Dana was still playing the game, still dancing, allowing the public to think that this was a war between a domestic terrorist group and the Commission of the People. Even I was pretty sure it was no longer that type of war.
Instead, it was seeing who could wait out more, seeing if we could hold out with our limited supplies while the Commission tried to keep the people from turning against either side too quickly and tearing the nation asunder.
I needed one decisive move on my side to swing the people back to me, and Dana onl
y needed one well-placed act to turn us into public enemy number one.
Something had to give. Soon.
The fort was a mess. With the medical room out of commission, Peter and his team were treating everyone in the main bunker on sheets around the floor. There were two bodies that had been wrapped in makeshift shrouds and moved to the side, though no one was paying attention to them, focused entirely on the wounded. There were at least three people around each of the injured, taking instructions from Peter or Griffin as they worked hastily on those most in need of help.
Josh brought Cody to another group of people who spread a sheet over the ground for him. I watched the bloody chaos with little emotion, still wrapped in thoughts about how we were going to counter Dana.
This was a key moment in our revolution. To step carelessly again would mean the end of all of us.
For some reason, the thought that we could all be killed and that I would be brought into the Commission as an experiment did not seem realistic. It was a looming threat over my head, a dark thought that I pushed away and ignored because I did not want to see how close it was. Even as I looked around the bunker, there was only the thought of how we were going to be effective as fighters with so many injured and so few supplies.
I glanced around the bunker to find Josh, seeing him with Mark, both of them looking over the others who were running at Peter’s or Griffin’s command to get more alcohol, or more sheets for incoming wounded, or to wrap wounds. A few people were on a drip being held by one person near their heads as they cringed and cried out in pain during their treatment.
I thought back to Tara as she convulsed on the table, the way she fought so hard against her own pain that her arm broke, the way she screamed…Her pain sounded like the combined pain of all the people lying on the floor of Fort Daniels.
I walked around, weaving through the injured, observing how badly most were hurt. There were a few with bullets that had been close to vital organs, but only one had a wound that could quickly become fatal. Two had broken bones. Five had multiple gunshot wounds.
But no shots had been made center-mass. As I started to realize this, I began to understand that Dana did not have the intension of destroying us. He wanted to make us destroy ourselves, strain our supplies, and force us into desperate action. That way, when we did fall, he would regain some of the people in the Commission.
I had to leave.
I went into the bunk room where a few of the younger humans who could not handle the carnage were also hiding. I sat heavily on one of the beds and ran my hands through my knotted hair, trying to get my brain into gear.
Not long after I had disappeared, Josh joined me, sitting on the bunk and looking me over. I stared at the floor, unable to make eye contact.
“Are you going to be okay?” he whispered.
I nodded slowly, though I did not entirely understand what he meant by the question.
“Lily…listen,” Josh said. “This is part of what happens. We’re lucky we got away with as many as we did.”
“We weren’t lucky,” I hissed. “Dana is playing us. He’s trying to starve us out. It was my stupid idea to steal from the truck. Now we’ve got injured with no medical help.”
“We’re managing,” he assured gently. “We’ll lay low for a while.”
“Oh, Josh…” I groaned, putting my hands around my nose and mouth as I heaved a sigh. “I just can’t think right now…”
“Don’t think, then,” he murmured, putting an arm around my shoulders and rubbing my arm comfortingly. “You don’t have to think. Feel whatever you’re feeling. This is not a time to be rational.”
“I have to be rational,” I hissed. “If I get hysterical, so will everyone else.”
“Do we need to go back to the store room?” Josh asked with a smile. I barked a quiet laugh, but shook my head, turning to him pleadingly.
“But will you sit with me for a while?”
“Of course,” he whispered, pulling me over to rest my head on his shoulder as I continued to take deep, measured breaths.
* *** *
Josh had been right. We came away relatively unscathed from the incident Thursday night. The two that had been dead when brought to the fort were the only two we lost. We had one person who was still in need of constant care, even two days later, but she was alive.
Only three experiments had been hurt, which was a blessing in many ways, since they were the strongest fighters. The experiments who had been injured walked away with minor wounds and were able to help the wounded humans by the next day.
Griffin was working with Peter on treatments while Tori worked with Clark, Josh, Mark, and me to discuss our course of action.
Mykail, no longer trusted by the main strategy group, was unable to stay with us, and since most of the revolutionaries did not trust him either, he remained away from both groups, trying to help with the distribution of meals.
Clark and Tori were talking about other ways to get supplies, mostly medical and ammo, since we were dangerously low on both. The ammunition had gone quickly with the constant target practice and the two instances where handguns had been used. We had some assault rifles, but carrying those around in our type of warfare was impractical, so we had little use for them.
I was not interested in doing another raid. I was looking over at Josh and Mark, who were sitting quietly at the strategy table, both pensive.
It was obvious that they understood what I had realized about Dana’s intensions. I could see it written on their faces. Mark looked at me for a moment, our eyes conversing the concern we shared in the five seconds we held eye contact.
Josh and I went for a walk in the dark along the river. Mark wanted to join me when I insisted I was going out, but Josh told him to get some sleep and that he would accompany and protect me. Mark was hesitant, but he agreed.
It was nice to have Josh with me, since we could have a conversation if we wanted, whereas Mark would get flustered when he could not articulate what he wanted to say.
However, the walk did not need conversation for the first stretch along the river. I crossed a bridge that I had always liked looking at, but had never been on, when I was downtown. It was arched over the growing spring waters, and the red paint was more chipped up close than I had noticed from far away.
I stopped at the top of the arched bridge and looked over the river, watching it bubble over the rocks as it moved between the banks, swelling every day from the melting snow as the middle of April brought warmer weather.
“Do you ever realize how spring is seen as the season where good things happen?” I murmured before I could stop myself. Josh, who had been leaning on the bridge beside me, turned to face me. “But the weather is the most turbulent in the spring, it seems like…”
Josh sighed and looked at the river as well.
“Change isn’t easy,” he told me, his voice quiet, deeper than I had ever heard it before.
“What if I’m the one changing?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think we can actually win against Dana?” I asked, my voice tight. “He turned everyone against us so easily…”
“I wouldn’t say it was easy,” Josh said. “To change the people’s thoughts he had to crash a helicopter into a building. He had to kill a lot of people…”
I sighed and closed my eyes, bowing my head against the recollection of the number dead from the attack.
“You know, I still think about the pain on the table,” he told me, running his thumb nail over the chipping paint of the bridge, not looking me in the eye. “I remember watching Hyunwoo being tortured…and in those moments…I thought we would die. It’s been years and I still think about it. When someone as powerful as Dana does something good, it’s seen as expected and then quickly passed over. But when someone as powerful as Dana does something horrible, people remember. People become afraid.” He sighed and shook his head. “You can’t expect people to always do the right thing,” he hissed. “Surv
ival is no longer man versus nature, as it was where Hyunwoo and I lived. Survival is now man versus man…and that brings a lot of bad out of people.” He smiled at me gently. “What you are doing is trying to change things with good, and it’s a lot easier to destroy good with evil than for evil to be destroyed by good. Just don’t give up. Eventually, it will happen.”
I looked at Josh’s gentle smile and felt a ball rise in my throat. I sniffed and swallowed it down, nodding as I averted my eyes to my feet.
Josh’s smile widened and he stepped closer, putting an arm around my shoulders.
“It’s okay to doubt yourself,” he assured, hugging me. “It’s okay to be scared. But do you believe in taking down the Commission?”
I nodded, closing my eyes against the tears.
“Then that’s all that matters.”
Once again, I leaned my head on his shoulder.
We stayed in the cold for an indeterminable amount of time. I decided that I needed to try one more avenue to get supplies. With our symbol now associated with terror and death, we were in danger of being lynched if we were spotted. While I had no intension of demonstrating in the near future, I felt that it was important to have the means to defend ourselves.
So, going to another outside payphone, I called Becca.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me again.”
“Oh, hi,” Becca hissed, nervous. “Is everything alright?”
“Not really…” I admitted. “Listen, I could really use some help. You said your father was friends with Kirk Sterling?”
“Yeah.”
“Would it be possible for us to get ammunition from him? We can pay,” I added. She was silent before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.
“Well, Kirk is really conservative, and I doubt he supports the revolution…” she told me slowly. “Maybe his son, though…”
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