The Gender Plan

by Bella Forrest

  “Logan, hold up. I’m detecting thermal signatures on the street ahead of you.”

  “Roger that. Could it be fires?”

  I listened idly to Logan and Thomas’ transmissions over the main channels, my attention completely on the intersection in front of me. My group was holding our position, our small force pressed into every nook and cranny of the front face of a brick building we were using to conceal ourselves as we moved deeper into the city. The shadows on this lane were deep, dark, and ominous, and a periodic red glow flickered through, marking the next small fire like a beacon.

  “Viggo, I need you to wait one more minute—I got some screwy thermals on the screen here.”

  This time, it was my drone scout on the line. I acknowledged Violet’s transmission, trying to ignore the tension twisting my guts in knots. I felt exposed and vulnerable out on the street like this. Especially if all the streets looked like this one did.

  It stood deserted, but trash and cars were littered across what once had been a picturesque little lane. The cars were everywhere, all of them wrecked—some of them burned-out frames, others wrapped around trees, and still others strewn about, making it look like a small war had taken place here.

  Then again, maybe it had. I reached up and touched a jagged bullet hole in the staggered brick pattern of the building next to me, then slowly pulled away, unsettled, as I realized the hole was wide enough for me to put my entire middle finger into, with a little bit of space still left on the sides.

  “Thomas, something is really messed up here,” said Violet in my ear. “I don’t think the drones are powerful enough to read deeper into the building.”

  “I’m experiencing similar problems—they may not be,” came his reply, as I sighed and kept my eyes flicking over the scene, searching for any sign of movement around us.

  The sound of running feet behind us, punctuated by rapid gunfire, caused me to snap around, the hair on my neck rising in alarm. It took me a minute to realize the footsteps were running away from us, as was the intermittent gunfire, and I shook myself. Even then, it was hard to relax. I threw a significant look at Mags, who was situated right behind me, and she returned it as though she shared my sentiment.

  “I knew things would get bad. I just didn’t think they’d go this bad this fast.” Guilt churned through me as I looked around the street, my eyes taking in the carnage. “What happened here?”

  Mags pushed some of her heavy brown hair off her face, sighing. “All the info we have to go on is rumors, but it looks like the Matrians tore through here as they were retreating. Some people tried to stop them, but…” She trailed off, her bright blue eyes drifting down. She shifted slightly, and then looked up. “It’s easy to believe, because there were so many other places like this. People slaughtered.”

  “Who’s cleaning up the bodies?”

  Mags nodded up to the apartment buildings surrounding us, and then shrugged. “It’s safer in the day, and there are a lot of little areas like this, where the neighbors work together instead of fighting each other. It won’t last for long, though. The gangs are getting bigger, and food, weapons, and ammo are in short supply. Most people have improvised melee weapons, but the bigger gangs, they’re armed to the teeth. If they need something, they’ll take it, and they won’t care who they have to kill to get it.”

  “This is our fault.”

  She blinked in surprise and turned to face me, shifting a little closer. “You mean because of the video at the stadiums?”

  I nodded and sucked a big breath into my lungs, trying to press down the guilty feeling in my stomach. While it had been a group decision, it was hard not to feel deep personal responsibility. That video had been the catalyst for the chaos the city had fallen into, and now there were people—most of the population of Patrus—trapped inside with no laws, and no protection from the Matrians or from each other. We had known what the ramifications would be, had known there would be fallout… but this destruction, and violence on this level… It was jarring, and hard to push away the guilt. “Yeah.”

  Mags gaped at me and then a chuckle escaped her, her head shaking ruefully. “No offense, Viggo, but are you always this arrogant?”

  Surprised by her censure, I shook my head, certain I hadn’t heard her correctly. “Excuse me?”

  “You think that—”

  “Viggo?” Mags’ lecture was cut short as Violet’s voice buzzed in both of our earbuds.

  I looked at Mags. “Hold that thought,” I said, and pressed my fingers together. “Yeah?”

  “The road ahead is clear, but be cautious with the buildings. Our sensors can’t seem to get much deeper than about fifteen to twenty feet into them, so anybody could be hiding in there. I know for sure there are people in some of the buildings, but they are farther back, probably trying to keep out of view. Just be careful and keep your eyes open.”

  “Roger that. Keep the drone in front of us until the next turn, and keep an eye out. I don’t like all these fires on the street.”

  “Neither do I. They’re also messing with our thermal scans.”

  “Roger. Switching back to team channel.” I quickly changed the channel and gave everyone the lowdown. “Cruz, you and the people behind you break left on the street to the intersection. Let’s get around the corner—keep an eye on the windows.”

  “Roger,” said Cruz, and he peeled off across the street, weaving through the vehicles. The men and women behind him followed closely, using whatever they could as cover to keep their advance into the intersection unnoticed. I gave them fifteen seconds, and then stood up.

  “My side—go,” I transmitted to the men and women behind me, and crept into motion myself.

  Once we had gotten around the corner without anyone taking potshots at us from the questionable buildings, I motioned for everyone to relax a bit, and we began to creep less and walk more, a few people shaking legs out and breathing in slight relief.

  “Pair off and stay close to the buildings,” I ordered. “I want one person in each pair watching the windows above, and another one checking the alleys. Call out anything you see. Mags, you’re with me.”

  Mags lifted a dark eyebrow, the corners of her lips turning up and then down as she fought off a smile. She gave a nod and followed me up onto the curb, her footsteps light behind me. “Ready to finish that talk?” she asked.

  “Windows or alleys?” I asked, adjusting the rifle strap on my shoulder. This area was mostly residential, with both wide and narrow buildings lining the streets, nestled tightly together. The tallest building had five floors, but most were only four. Like several residential areas, the bricks on the building bore similar shades of color, but the patterning on them was so varied and different. It had definitely been a beautiful street before.

  “Windows,” she said, her head tilting up to peer at the line of them above the street. “And don’t try to dodge the question.”

  “Of course I want to know what you meant. No offense, Mags, but you haven’t seen me in over ten years. Not to mention, you saying that around our soldiers kind of undermines my authority. It makes it hard to execute a plan if my soldiers are looking to you instead of me.”

  Mags made an irritated tutting sound, and then sighed heavily. “You know what, you’re right, and I’m sorry. I just don’t like it when people try to take responsibility for stuff that wasn’t in their control. It’s a waste of energy.”

  I pulled to a stop just short of the alley I was approaching. Mags must not have noticed, because she bumped into me, making a startled sound. I turned, steadying her, and gave her a frown. “It’s my energy to waste. Besides, the things that make me feel guilty are the things driving me forward, making me do something to right these wrongs and help these people.”

  Mags gave an indelicate snort as she took a step away from me. “You sound just like my papa. He also tried to take responsibility for things that were out of his control. Look, if you hadn’t done something, someone else would’ve, and we�
��d be right back here. Different faces but same scenery.”

  “You can’t know that for sure.”

  “Sure I can. This place was a powder keg even before your video, Viggo. It was about to blow.”

  I considered her information carefully. “We had two people embedded in the city. They seemed to think most people were happy with the status quo. That’s why we chose to show the video.”

  This time, Mags’ chin trembled slightly as she shook her head. “Then your people were missing out on a lot. There were already small resistance pockets forming—Tío Alejandro was very involved with one, and I got sort of dragged into it after my papa got taken for one of Elena’s little… workgroup trainings. Tío tried to warn Papa, but… Papa’s anger was too great. He wouldn’t listen. They came and dragged him away from me.” Her voice was ragged and harsh in her whisper, and I could tell she wanted to scream out her anger and rage at her father’s loss. “He’s an arthritic old man! What could he have to learn?”

  I looked over to her, and saw tears running down her cheeks. Her eyes continued to scan the windows, and I felt a rush of approval for her maintaining control like that. I reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, and she blinked in surprise, then gave me an appreciative smile. Alejandro and Tim gave us curious looks as they passed by, and I just shook my head. Mags sniffed loudly, and then let out a chuckle. “Dios mío, what a mess I am.”

  “From what I hear, you are quite a formidable leader. I liked that idea of cross-training people you started implementing. It’s smart.”

  Mags sniffed and smiled, finally looking up at me, her eyes sparkling. She nodded a few times and then emitted a small chuckle, wiping her eyes. “Did they see?” she asked, nodding ahead to the other members of the team.

  “What?”

  She smiled, her eyes finally dry. “You were worried that no one would follow your orders,” she said dryly. “Me crying on you ought to have restored your image.” She reached up and patted my cheek affectionately, then moved past me.

  A small chuckle of surprise escaped me. She’d made her point—that I was arrogant—but she’d also explained why releasing the video wasn’t the whole reason things had gotten so bad. The people in the city had known something bad was going on. They had been planning to stop it. Our video had just been a catalyst to accelerate their plans. And it had been arrogant of me to assume we were the only ones who had thought of resisting.

  I moved to catch up with her, stepping over an overturned mailbox. “So when did you become so scary?” I teased.

  She flashed me a sardonic look and rolled her eyes. “You think only Matrian women are capable of being badass?”

  My eyes flicked up the street to where Margot and Cad were moving. They were clearly chatting, and I saw a smile creep across Cad’s face as he tipped his cap at her. “Not at all,” I said to Mags, recalling the times Violet, Tim, and I had come to have dinner with Margot, only to be put to work, her tone brusque and commanding. She reminded me of my training officers when I had been a cadet: no nonsense, no disobedience, and everything would go along great. And then I thought of Amber, her fearlessness and resolve, and shook my head. “Not at all. Not even remotely.”

  “I always knew you were a more evolved male.”

  I smirked. “Thanks.”

  “Viggo, one of those fires I thought was stationary just started moving.”

  The alarm in Violet’s voice stopped me short, and I pressed my fingertips together to activate my mic. “Where?”

  “They’re on a perpendicular street, heading toward the same intersection you’re aiming for. They’re spreading out now. I count… maybe fifty people? They’re carrying things as well—weapons, most likely, but I can’t tell what kind. The torches are messing with my night vision.”

  I looked around at the various alleys between the mangled apartment buildings on the street, not certain where each one led. “Give me options, Violet.”

  “Silence Lane, fifty feet up from your position. Follow it to the cul-de-sac with the big building at the end. That offers the best strategic position if the mob approaches you.”

  “Roger. Find me that alley, people.” I deactivated the link and moved forward, checking the alleys quickly.

  Seconds later, Alejandro transmitted, “I’ve reached it.” I searched the street for him, spotting him waving a slow arm up ahead of me. Mags and I made a beeline for his position.

  It was a small road, only wide enough for one vehicle at a time, and it had no sidewalks, the only border the tall twin walls of the building curving around to the right. I thinned my lips, whistling a high-pitched note. The pairs of people up ahead stopped and turned, and I pointed toward the lane, flashing the hand signal to move fast.

  They began to move toward us. “Mags, Alejandro, get them inside and in position. I’ll make sure everyone gets off the road.”

  Mags nodded and jogged ahead, moving deeper down the cobblestone lane, disappearing from my sight as it slowly curved around. I kept an eye on the intersection we’d been heading for, and began to notice the shadows start to move against the buildings, a soft red glow chasing them away.

  23

  Viggo

  “Hurry,” I hissed, waving on two stragglers—Alicia, a refugee woman, and one of Mags’ men. They raced by me just as the red glow grew brighter still, and I saw the first person carrying a torch step out from behind the building at the corner into the intersection. I slowly stepped back into the small curve of the road, not wanting to risk catching the torchbearer’s attention, and then turned and trotted away more quickly. The walls of the buildings on either side of the lane were smoothly built and curved, continuing on for fifty feet. I kept my back pressed to the wall and moved silently as I began to hear the sound of feet, the crunching of incautious steps almost drowning out the low hum of talking.

  Nearing the end of the cul-de-sac, the lane widened into a slab of pavement made for parking, but there were no cars—only wide, empty spaces before a simple gray building with white trim and a stylish glass front. A few feet beyond, a handful of steps led up into the concrete block structure, and I ran toward them, moving up and through the double glass doors into the hall inside. I moved deeper, slightly relieved to see Mags sitting on the right a few feet away, her back to an inner doorframe and her gun angled toward the street.

  “We have line of sight to the street from this room,” she whispered, and I drew closer to her, peeking around the first doorframe in the hall to see members of our team kneeling or lying on the floor, their guns drawn and ready. My eyes did a double sweep of the room. It was an L-shaped reception area, with wide, cushioned furniture and coffee tables, a few desks pushed together to form a counter in the back. The entire building face was composed of glass looking into the street beyond. The room was upended, however, furniture displaced and scattered across the floor. I didn’t care how it had happened at this point. It provided many hiding positions for my team.

  “All lights off, people,” I ordered softly into the gloom. “That will be the first thing that gives us away.” The room dimmed as the remaining flashlights clicked off. Then I moved to the other side of the door, deeper into the building, and stood over where Mags was sitting, her back against the frame. “Has anyone cleared the floor?”

  Mags shook her head, and I pressed my fingers together. “Cad, Cruz?”

  Cad, who was kneeling behind a chair, looked up at me and then scrambled over. Mags laid her legs flat while he crawled over her. Cruz was right behind him, abandoning his desk and sliding over on his elbows before crawling over to Mags. He didn’t say anything to her, something that, knowing Cruz, I was grateful for.

  “Viggo, it’s hard to tell how many,” said Violet through the line, “but some of the group with the torches broke off and are heading toward you. It might just be two.”

  I acknowledged and turned to Cad and Cruz.

  “I need you two to start checking this floor. I’d hate for someone trapped behind
us to get caught in the crossfire. Or try to kill us.”

  “We’re on it,” Cruz whispered, moving toward the T-shaped junction at the end of the hall. Cad followed him, but I didn’t have time to watch him, as my eyes were trained on the orange flicker growing on the building wall across from us, under the light of the moon.

  I went down to one knee, swinging the stock of my rifle up to my shoulder and sighting down at the lane beyond, where the people carrying torches would emerge. When they did, I moved my finger slightly away from the trigger, waiting, watching as a man and a woman came down the alley, torches held high, as if they were exploring rather than hunting. They were carrying weapons—the man had a bat dangling from one hand, while the woman brandished a kitchen knife.

  They drew closer to the glass, the red glow lighting up more and more of the parking lot in front of our position, and I gritted my teeth. “Don’t shoot unless you absolutely have to,” I whispered loudly to the team.

  “We aren’t equipped to take people captive,” whispered Mags more softly, and I knew her comment was directed at me.

  I didn’t answer—it was a moot point anyway. As the two explorers drew nearer to us, the man stopped and put his hand on the woman’s forearm, drawing her attention away from the building. The two exchanged a few words, and then, simple as that, they were leaving, hurrying back the way we had come. I let out a breath of relief and relaxed against the wall for a second.

  As soon as the flicker from their torches had disappeared, I straightened. “All right, everyone,” I said to the room, keeping my voice low. “They’re gone. You can get up.”

  “They joined up with the main group and are continuing down the street,” reported Violet, confirming that the explorers weren’t coming back. “I recommend waiting for them to clear out before proceeding.”

  I considered her suggestion as I watched everyone slowly climb to their feet, reaching down to help Mags to hers. She straightened up, shaking her legs out a little, and looked up at me. “We’ve got a bit of time. You want to give our people a few minutes?” she asked.