The Ten Thousand

by Doug Felton

  Raisa twisted out of Elliot’s grip, and the two traded blows so fast that Raisa’s mind couldn’t keep up with her fist and feet. She was running on instinct and training. Cuts and bruises appeared and healed almost at the same time. She felt her whole body tingle with the now familiar feel of electrical ants, trying to keep up.

  “This . . . can . . . go on . . . all night,” Raisa said between blows. She followed with an unexpected uppercut that lifted Elliot off of her feet and put her on her back.

  Elliot was stunned, and blood poured out of her mouth where she had bitten her tongue. It would heal, but the momentary pain gave Raisa the chance she needed. She grabbed Elliot by her hair and dragged her to the edge of the building. With her hand closed around a fist full of hair, Raisa lifted Elliot over the edge, far enough above the street that a fall would kill her.

  Elliot grabbed Raisa’s wrist with both of her hands in panic, fear flashing in her eyes. “Please. Don’t do this.”

  “Don’t do this?” Raisa yelled. “You destroyed my life. You killed Alexander.”

  “That wasn’t me,” Elliot said through shaky breaths. “Please.”

  “You’re with them. That makes it you.”

  Raisa let go of Elliot’s hair, leaving her to hang by her own grip on Raisa’s wrist. Raisa grabbed Elliot’s fingers and began to pry them off.

  “I’m pregnant,” Elliot said through sobs.

  “What? You’re lying to me.”

  “No. I paid for the early detection test the second time we . . .”

  Raisa’s mind oscillated between “I can’t kill a pregnant woman” and “What if she’s lying to me?” But she couldn’t take the chance. She pulled Elliot up and dropped her on the roof. She lay in a heap, crying.

  “What are you doing, Sandra?” Raisa said.

  Elliot shook her head without looking up. “I don’t know.”

  “No, you don’t. But you’ve made your choice. Now you have to live with it.” Raisa walked to the edge of the roof and then looked back. “I have a message for Zeke. Tell him I am going to kill him. Tomorrow.”

  Raisa woke Josh when she got back to the room, and they left the hotel. She didn’t expect Zeke to show up, but she wasn’t comfortable with anyone in his circle knowing where they were. They found a quiet corner of yet another roof where they could wait till dawn. The still before the storm. Raisa pulled her jacket closed against the chill and closed her eyes. She needed rest, but, like before, sleep remained elusive. Her mind drifted back to the plan they’d made with Scott.

  “Zeke’s controlling ten thousand people with drugs,” Josh said. “Mayor Reeves doesn’t have the manpower to stop him, and Barrymore won’t try. So, what can we do?”

  “Until yesterday, I didn’t think we could do anything. But then it hit me; they’ve got nanobots in their bodies that are programmable. Zeke had me program them to affect mood and reason, but what if we programmed them to do something else?”

  “Like what?” Raisa asked.

  Despite the stress he was under, Scott smiled as he said, “We can knock them out.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You are conscious right now because of a constant transmission of chemical signals from the thalamus and brainstem to the cerebrum.” He tapped Raisa on the head. “This happens through neural pathways called the Reticular Activating System. Disrupt those, and a person will lose consciousness.”

  “You can push a button and cause the Ten Thousand to pass out?” Raisa asked.

  “It’s a little more complicated than that, but, essentially, yes.”

  “How do you know so much about the brain as a tech guy?” Josh asked, sounding skeptical.

  “Actually, that’s pretty basic stuff, but I’m also really, really smart,” Scott said.

  “And the drugs already loaded into the nanobots will do the job?”

  “Yes.”

  “So why haven’t you just knocked them all out already?” Josh continued to question him.

  Scott was growing impatient. “It takes time to write the program we’ll need, even for someone like me.”

  “That’s convenient,” Josh said.

  “Look, I’m risking my life to be here. If you don’t want my help, just say the word. But I’m telling you this, if I do help, I need your word that you will protect me.”

  “We want your help,” Raisa said, “and we will protect you.”

  Raisa opened her eyes to find Josh still awake, watching her. “Zeke’s not wrong, you know,” she said. “The Ten Thousand can’t be just like everyone else. They’ve got to make their own way, have their own space.”

  “I know. And they’ll need someone to lead them,” Josh said.

  Raisa closed her eyes again. That’s what she wanted more than anything. But after the last ten days, Raisa didn’t know if she had it in her anymore.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Protecting Scott meant getting him out of Zeke’s home, where he would control the nanobots, as soon as he threw the switch. Jimbo’s friend agreed to fly the rescue mission in his antique chopper once Jimbo promised him a handsome payoff. Timing was their biggest issue since Scott couldn’t say when he’d have the program ready. He would work through the night, but his best guess was it wouldn’t be until late in the morning, too late to stop the Ten Thousand from getting to Pittsburgh.

  Penly had organized the rescue team into two groups. She, Captain Deeson, Lieutenants Spikes and Ramirez, and Commander Song would form the extraction team. Alora would arrange for a safe place to take Scott with the help of Lieutenants, Ekua, Chi, and Holloway. On short notice, the safest place would have to be a hotel room in the city. Once they extracted him using the helicopter, they’d have to put down fast and transport him in a car, because a helicopter wasn’t the most inconspicuous getaway vehicle.

  It was hard for Raisa to do nothing but wait, but she trusted her team to do their jobs. She wouldn’t see them until it was over, which was also hard. Getting into the city would take some doing for Alora and her team, since so many people were trying to get out ahead of the expected conflict, and Pittsburgh security forces were on alert. Penly’s group would stay as far out as they could, waiting for the signal to go.

  Everything was set, and everyone waited on Scott.

  Josh paced as the sun peeked over the horizon. “We are putting a whole lot of trust in this guy,” he said. “I hope he comes through.”

  “What other choice do we have?” Raisa said. “It will work.”

  At the moment, trusting Scott was the least of her worries. She worried about what might happen if they succeeded with their plan. She’d still have to kill Zeke, and she’d still have to convince the Ten Thousand that he’d been behind all of this. Even if everything went as scheduled, Raisa would still have a mess she wasn’t sure she could manage.

  Scott left them with a secure tablet to communicate, and all morning he’d been updating his progress. Raisa held out hope that he would get it done before the Ten Thousand made it to the heart of the city where Pittsburgh security forces waited. Mayor Reeves had made I-579, which borders the Golden Triangle of downtown, the line of defense.

  Earlier in the morning, Josh and Raisa climbed the Gulf Tower, one of the older towers in Pittsburgh, to get a better view to the east. It wasn’t the tallest building downtown, but its art deco style made it easier to climb than some newer buildings. The top of the building featured a pyramid structure. Not smooth sloping sides, like the Egyptian pyramids, but terrace levels like the Aztec structures in South America. Josh and Raisa stood on one of those levels, nothing in front of them but open sky. Raisa missed the flat roofs they’d found themselves on since arriving. Having that wide-open roof in front of her beat the stadium-in-the-sky feeling she now had.

  In the distance to the east, a group of drones gathered and hovered.

  Josh pointed. “I’ll bet they’re following the Ten Thousand.”

  “Why the drones? I thought Zeke and Barrymore would
keep New World forces out of it,” Raisa said.

  “Yeah, but this way it looks they’re doing something. It’s a show.”

  Raisa’s tablet pinged with a notification. She touched it, and a news feed filled the screen. It was Zeke Wellington at a podium with Mayor Reeves standing next to him. “Here we go,” she said. Zeke looked tired as if he’d been up all night. Raisa wondered if it was part of the act.

  “Good morning,” he said. “As everyone knows, the Ten Thousand left Raven Rock yesterday morning and have been making their way to Pittsburgh. I had hoped that they would wait until Mayor Reeves and I had worked out an agreement but, having been treated the way they were, I understand their anger and impatience. I’ve been in contact with them throughout the night, and they are not willing to return to Raven Rock. Last night Mayor Reeves and I agreed that Pittsburgh needs to welcome the Ten Thousand.”

  Mayor Reeves didn’t respond, but he didn’t look as if he agreed willingly. So, you’re your own man, after all.

  A message popped up on the tablet from Scott. Are you seeing this? He’s following the script.

  Raisa responded. Watching. How much longer?

  Getting close. Running simulations now.

  Zeke was still speaking. “I know Mayor Reeves joins me in cautioning the citizens of Pittsburgh against trying to interfere with their relocation. This will mean sacrifices for all of us, but we must allow it to happen.”

  He might as well beg them to interfere, Raisa thought.

  “This isn’t what any of us wanted,” he said, “but it is what we’ve been given, and now we need to deal with it the best we can.”

  Raisa felt her chest tighten with anger. Without his manipulation, none of this would be happening. But there he was, standing before the cameras, the recognized leader of the New World, while she hid like a criminal.

  Raisa made her way around the pyramid until she was facing Point State Park, where Zeke was holding his press conference. It was barely visible in the distance where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers came together. She screamed at the top of her lungs, channeling all of her furious energy into her voice, “I will kill you!” She could feel the damage to her vocal cords from the effort, and then the electric ants healing them.

  Josh watched her, empathy filling his eyes. If it was meant to calm her, he missed the mark. Instead, it infuriated her.

  “Don’t,” she said before he could speak. “Don’t try to calm me down. I need to destroy him.”

  “I know,” Josh said. “But I’m afraid you will destroy yourself right along with him.”

  “What difference does it make,” Raisa said. She could feel the anger ebbing at the sound of his kindness. She held onto it the best she could.

  “It makes a difference to me.” Josh looked down with an uncharacteristically evasive gaze. “I don’t want to see anything happen to you.”

  Raisa felt herself being pulled by the current of his compassion, and she had to stop it. “Well, you might have to,” she said with bitterness in her voice. “That’s what happens. People die. So, don’t get too attached.”

  The look on Josh’s face told her she had ended the conversation. As he turned away, movement on the streets below them caught her attention. Until then, the streets of downtown had been empty, people fearful of the horde coming their way. Now, hundreds of people moved east toward the coming invasion as Pittsburgh security forces followed orders and stood down, making way for the Ten Thousand.

  Josh moved around the pyramid, looking down at the street in every direction. “This can’t be spontaneous.”

  Beyond I-579 to the east, vehicles began pulling into the streets and stopping, creating a barrier at major intersections that appeared to span the five miles between the two rivers. Armed men and women stood next to their vehicles, ready to fight.

  “Where did these people come from?” Josh asked. “They were ready to move into place as soon as he made his announcement.”

  “This is what he’s been doing all along,” Raisa said. “Playing both sides against each other to create a conflict that will cast the Ten Thousand as victims and give them a reason to band together. Nothing forms an army faster than naming the enemy.”

  Raisa messaged Scott. Armed citizens moving into place.

  Part of the plan. He worked through bloggers to find people and bring them here to fight. Hang tight. Still working.

  Raisa stared at the response and wondered if Scott might be part of the plan too. If Zeke were so smart, that was the kind of thing he’d do; plant someone to redirect Raisa’s effort and feed her false information. She looked out at the crowd forming a barrier and back at the tablet. The plan was for her and Josh to wait until the Ten Thousand were neutralized and then to go after Zeke. But what if they waited until it was too late? What if Scott just kept stringing them along until Zeke got everything he wanted? When Zeke ambushed them, they were there to meet Scott. So, maybe the whole misinformation campaign was Plan B since Zeke hadn’t been able to kill them.

  Every step of the way, Zeke had been two steps ahead, always in control. Something told Raisa that he was still in control.

  “We need to go,” she said.

  “The plan is to wait for Scott to take the Ten Thousand down.”

  “We’ve got a new plan. We’re going after Zeke now. Scott’s a plant.”

  “How do you know?” Josh asked.

  “Because this whole setup has got Zeke’s fingerprints all over it. Look at us. We’re sitting here doing nothing while the Ten Thousand walk into a fight.”

  Josh held up his hands, “Alright, but let me just play devil’s advocate for a minute. We can’t stop them without Scott, even if we go after Zeke.”

  Raisa sighed. Josh was right, but she couldn’t stay there and do nothing. “Maybe we can’t stop them, but I can stop him,” she pointed to the park.

  “Okay, then. Let’s go.”

  On the ground level, Raisa and Josh didn’t have to worry about being noticed. Everyone’s focus on the street was to the east, waiting for the horde, so they moved with anonymity. Raisa’s sword was unusual, but in a crowd of armed people, it didn’t draw too much attention. She let the jacket she’d picked up at the apartment cover most of it on her back. Only the handle stuck out.

  As they moved toward Point State Park, the crowd thinned out. Scott told them that Zeke implanted leaders among the Ten Thousand who would guide them to the park. So, that’s where they headed.

  The few shop owners who hadn’t left the area, stood in the doorways of their shops as they passed, watching and waiting. Raisa put the medical mask over her face, just in case. It’d be her luck that some random person would recognize her, if not as the queen, then as the wanted criminal who’s been all over the news, especially since she and Josh were among only a few on the streets, the closer they got.

  They took Seventh Avenue to Liberty, which led to the park. As they approached, Josh stopped, holding his hand out to stop Raisa. Before them were the three hundred people who left Raven Rock with Zeke. They were spaced about five feet apart across the park entrance from the Allegheny River to the Monongahela.

  “It looks as if they don’t want just anybody wandering into the park,” Josh said. “We’ll need to find another way in.”

  Raisa looked up at the building next to them. It was grey and shaped like a giant cross about twenty stories high. “Let’s get a better look before we do anything,” she said.

  Both of them leaped as high as they could, clutching to the side of the building, and climbed the rest of the way to the top. Raisa wondered if climbing buildings was all their superpower was good for.

  From the roof, they could see most of the park, which appeared to be empty except for the people on the stage near the point of the triangle. A fountain had occupied that spot at one time, but as long as Raisa could remember, there had been an open-air amphitheater in that spot. The theater was designed so that the Ohio River provided a backdrop for the stage. The sea
ts were arranged in tiers bordered by a semicircle wall that appeared to be stone and reminded Raisa of the Colosseum in Rome. From their vantage point on top of the building, they could see over the edge of the wall, down into the theater. On the stage was a single camera on a tripod.

  “Where’s the media?” Josh asked. “No one’s there.”

  Raisa put the pieces together in her head. “It was a show, not a press conference. It looks like Zeke gave them the live feed, but kept them out. He doesn’t want anyone around to hear what he has to say once the Ten Thousand get here.”

  Behind the stage were two large white event-style tents. Since the stage was open, there was no backstage. Raisa guessed that they erected these tents for concerts and shows to provide dressing rooms for actors and musicians. The tents were partially hidden behind the stage, which was elevated. Stairs on the back side allowed performers access from the tents. Coming up those stairs as they watched was Zeke Wellington and his father. Micah’s hand was bandaged, and he didn’t look happy to be there. He trailed Zeke like a lost puppy, accompanied by someone from Zeke’s security team.

  Raisa put her hand on her sword, wishing at that moment that she had a sniper’s rifle. Where’s my guardian angel when I need him?

  “This is our chance,” Josh said. “We need to get down there.”

  “I’m open to suggestions,” she said with a touch of desperation in her voice. If she’d been afraid of losing the drive to kill Zeke, she wasn’t any longer. Every bit of emotion that had passed through her soul since Alexander’s death reignited in her as if it had been stored in a safe place for that very moment.

  Josh paced the roof, running his hands through his hair. “What if we split up and I try to breach the barrier they’ve set up at the front of the park? That will draw their attention to me and give you a shot at getting in. Can you handle his guards if you get that close?”

  “That’s not acceptable,” Raisa said, even though she was desperate enough to try it. “If they catch you, they’ll kill you.”