“Put your hands up. Slowly,” the officer raised his gun.
The five of us did as he said. I had to find a way out of this.
My stomach churned. “There’s got to be some mistake. We haven’t done anything wrong!”
“Mistake?” the officer took out a clipboard and a tablet. “Is this you?”
He showed a picture of me from my Dreamer rescue in The Science Department. Underneath the image, I saw a bounty which read ‘Calista Knight: Wanted for Reward by Hugo Knight.’ I couldn’t deny it was me.
“You’ve been charged with treason, assault, dreaming, conspiracy, and kidnapping.” the officer handcuffed me.
“Kidnapping?” my lip quivered.
“Wait, no. That’s her.” the guard pushed me forward and approached Enya next.
“Is this you?” the officer asked.
Enya tried to hit the officer with a ball of flame. The officer dodged and put the flamethrower’s arm behind her back. She winced.
“Seven misdemeanors. Also, you’ve been charged with driving without a license. Death sentences suit your kind well, radical,” the officer sneered.
My facial features scrunched with confusion. “When did you drive without a license?”
“When I got caught. I wasn’t thinking straight,” Enya tried to summon fire to no avail. Sweat poured from her face as the guard placed her hands behind her back. “Crap… what a time to overextend my magic!”
My eyes widened. “Ambert learned how to drive!”
“Have I mentioned how lucky he is?” Enya smirked.
“That extremist’s top on our kill list. Why is none of your concern.” the officer pushed Enya forward, now handcuffed.
He grabbed Ivory, gripping onto her arm like some kind of trap. “Come here, brat.”
“Let go of her.” Ju-long closed his eyes.
“You want a bullet in your leg, scum?” the officer asked.
Ju-long concealed a smile on his face. “You… you can try.”
Ju-long held his hands together before lowering them to his sides. Then with a slow, calm movement, the waves of the shore lifted to meet him. They moved up and down in the breeze, flowing to the movements of Ju-long’s hands. He thrust forward toward the officer, drenching his face with heavy amounts of water. Eventually, the officer’s body fell limp on the pavement.
“Is he dead, Water-boy?” Enya asked.
“D-don’t call me that. I-I don’t think I s-should’ve done it in the first place!” Ju-long drew a deep breath with trembling hands. He placed his dripping fingers on the officer’s neck. “Come on, he’s unconscious.”
“Why didn’t you tell us you had magic?” Ivory’s jaw dropped.
“No one needed to know.” Ju-long released another quivered breath. “My father is a great teacher, but I was the only one out of my generation of Lius to bare a mark of a magic caster. I get it from my aunt… I think.”
“Totally awesome, even if you are a chicken.” Enya turned away from Ju-long.
“Great work.” a small smile formed on my face.
We took the guard and cuffed him to a telephone pole.
“Well, what do we do now?” Ivory tilted her head.
Enya scanned the horizon. “It’ll be a matter of time before more officers come.”
“... Enya, I’m sorry about before. I take back what I said.”
Enya placed her hands on her chubby hips. “What made you change your mind.”
“You’re right. Mai will check Weisheit as soon as she hears we’re missing.” I lowered my head. “I never realized how much I could be like Chief Starbright…”
“Just be you, Wallflower. I mean, there’s only one anyway, right?” Enya nudged my shoulder. “Besides, we’re already on The Regime’s radar.”
I spoke up. “Ambert’s number one on the kill list?”
“Because Mr. Knight hates Ambert, right?” Ivory asked.
“I mean, Ambert defied The Commander, but…” I clasped my hands together. “The Regime wanted Ambert to join the army. Anyone can wrap their arms around the guy. He would have died! After doctors proved that, Father made Ambert get a license to drive him around.”
Enya squinted her eyes. “At least he wouldn’t do any dirty work. Driving’s a useful skill.”
“It was a choice between driving my father or taking a job in The Information Department,” I argued.
Enya raised an eyebrow. “And he chose The Information Department?”
The Regime wanted to make Ambert exactly like my father: cruel, heartless, and a killer. If he drove Father around, he’d witness countless murders each day and get used to them. Ambert didn’t want that. So he chose to work in The Information Department, with an unpredictable, stressful work schedule. He chose to do the same thing every day instead of watching different innocent people die.
“You know why he chose The Information Department.” I clenched my fists. “Ambert hates bloodshed from innocent people.”
She lowered her head. “I didn’t…”
Everything was quiet.
Ivory cleared her throat. “Hey, has it gotten quieter to you?”
I tilted my head. “Weren’t there people acting before?”
As I looked to the city, it was now silent, a ghost town. The buildings and theaters used for government functions like propaganda were vacant as well. No one was there but fire, ash, and distant noise. Every spot where a Dreamer once stood was replaced with nothingness, like The Regime itself erased their presence from existence. But they weren’t completely destroyed yet.
Faint screams echoed in the distance as if their world were being ripped apart. Some were death-curling, others full of remorse and anger or fear and sadness. The "Don't take them" pleas, "Too young." arguments, and "How could you do this?" accusations. People didn't mumble words but yelled cries for family members or screams declaring their end. The agony echoed throughout the city, filling it with a sense of dread.
“What’s that noise coming from?” Ivory covered her eyes.
“Screams… Horrible Screams...” Ju-long’s face paled.
We headed further up the hill to see people being taken away in three lines. One line ended with people getting shot. Guards shoved people into a van handcuffed, and another group put others into a van freely. A helicopter carried people who appeared willing to cooperate. Moms and fathers were separated from children. Some smiled as their loved ones were taken away before going into the helicopters. My hands trembled. Wes told me not to think ‘What If’, but how couldn't I?
The officers hadn’t come for us. They’d come for the city.
NINETEEN
Calista
I had finally lost it, but who wouldn't have? I couldn’t believe what was going on. I couldn’t help but think that everything going on in Goldcrest was my fault. There were innocent people who had no idea about our resistance. They had no idea about what was going on in the world around them.
Ivory hugged onto Ju-long as tears fell from her eyes. “No! Not again...”
I wept. “This is our fault.”
Enya slapped my arm. “Focus! Not everything is our fault. If we’re going to save them, we need a plan.”
I looked up, my face red and eyes puffy. “We can’t do anything…”
Enya raised an eyebrow and laughed. “You’ve got to believe in yourself. Do you want these families torn apart?”
I wiped the tears from my eyes. “No.”
“Then we’ll fight back. Bring The Dreamers something they can have even if we die.” Enya clenched her jaw and looked at the horrors below us.
“And what would that be?”
“Something to hold onto.”
Enya crouched and wiped tears from my face. A small smile crept onto my face. A small one, but still, it calmed me down.
“Hope… we’re giving them hope." my smile widened.
“How are we saving these people?” Enya ask
ed.
A lightning bolt struck in my brain. Not just a normal light bulb, but a raging plan that refused to go unnoticed, even if it sounded risky or stupid. I took a deep breath in and clutched the rosary on my chest. If there was any time to think like Chief Starbright, it was now. Now was the time to prove myself to her. To all The Dreamers.
“I… I might have an idea.”
After I carefully gave out instructions, we snuck to where the guards were and hid in the bushes. I walked over to them, and they noticed instantly, glancing at me. I gulped. What in my right mind made me think distraction duty was a good idea?
“We must’ve missed one. Come here, girl.” the signature black helmet covered his face.
I gulped. “You’ll have to catch me first.”
The officers’ jaws dropped either amazed by my bravery or by how foolish I was.
They picked up their guns and pointed them toward me.
"I’ll kill the radical." a third officer held up his gun. It’d put a bullet straight through me once fired.
The officer closest to me scanned me from head to toe. “It’d be a waste of bullets.”
“Kill her if you find anything suspicious,” the five-patched officer commanded.
“Hugo Knight ordered us to keep Dreamers under eighteen alive,” the officer said.
“We don’t have any room on the vans. Regime policy says kill stragglers,” another officer said.
“Are you sure?” the officer beside me asked.
The five-patched officer’s voice hardened. “Defying my orders again, Officer 257?”
Officer 257 searched my pockets. “Wait a second…” he scanned me with an identifier—a tablet-like device with a DNA scanner like my military school used at its front gates. “This is Mr. Knight’s daughter Calista.”
“Show me the photo.” the five patched officer grabbed the scanner from Officer 257. “Well looky here: the DNA matches too.”
Officer 257 didn’t speak a word back to his superior.
Another officer squeezed my cheeks like I was a rag doll. “Where’re your friends, Calista?”
I twisted my watch and let the high pitch chimes ring in the officer’s ears. He yowled. I ran from the officers while they were stunned, but Officer 257, with four patches gleaming from his shoulder, grabbed my arm. His gloved hand felt firm, yet cold.
“You aren’t going anywhere!” he yanked on my arm.
Enya emerged from a bush and carried flames in her hands. She fired at the soldiers with hatred behind her eyes.
“Over here! Shoot him!” I screeched, jolting away from the guard. But I couldn’t get away. His cold grip was strong and I was just a fourteen-year-old girl. These weren’t the guards at The Science Department. These were fully-fledged Regime officers. The butterfly had been caught by a bird.
“Don’t worry. I will,” Officer 257 said from behind me.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” I spat in his face. It didn't do much good since he was wearing a helmet, but he groaned like I had hit his actual face with saliva.
Enya threw flames at his left hand, but he didn’t wince. His once cold arm, now steamed like something left out in the sun. She’d have to try a new strategy. I crossed my fingers and gulped. Hopefully, this wouldn’t cost me my life.
Enya put a gun on his head and spoke with a firm voice. “Let her go. I'll shoot.”
“You won’t shoot me.” Officer 257 put a gun to my head. His tone was firm, untouchable.
My heart thumped. One wrong move and I’d be dead. One shot would end it all.
“Want me to blow your brains out?” Enya cocked her eyebrow and firmed her grip on the gun. With a clenched jaw and rigid stance, Enya was an exact replica of Chief Starbright: dedicated to the cause, smart, just as untouchable as Officer 257. Her eyes narrowed, almost as if to say, “If you kill Calista I swear I’ll make your fate far worse.”
He laughed, but it wasn't evil or arrogant. He was scared. The quivered breaths in his lungs filled with worry. His blank tone showed doubt in his mind. Was he as dedicated to The Regime as I thought?
He didn’t drop his weapon, but his head lowered like talking with a superior officer. “If you kill me, you’d feel guilty for the rest of your life. Put the gun down.”
“Just try me,” Enya pulled back the hammer.
“If I die, Calista’s going with me,” Officer 257 threatened.
“I know.” Enya kicked the officer in the leg causing him to lose his grip on me.
I ran from Officer 257 and got to Enya’s right side.
He sighed. “Are you going to kill me?”
Enya pointed the gun back at him. “If you don’t answer my questions.”
“Well? Ask away!” he laughed like he was trying to keep his sanity.
“Know anything about an Aurelia Peterson?” I inquired.
“Peterson? My father said that surname’s snuffed out. They were all killed.” the officer said.
“Not all of them. I know one, and he’s looking for his sister, Aurelia. She’s locked up in Base Darkguard,” I argued.
“Not even soldiers leave that place if they go back after training. If she’s there, I’d feel pretty bad for her.” Officer 257 clenched his fist.
Enya crossed her arms. “How did you avoid my fire blast? None of the others did that.”
Officer 257 removed his glove to reveal a silver, metallic hand underneath. “Metal prosthetic arm.”
“I’d close my eyes if I were you.” Enya pointed the gun at his chest.
He closed his eyes, or at least we assumed from the shallow breathing. He had a helmet on, and there was no way to see through the black void. Who knew what thoughts were going through his mind? Probably similar thoughts to what I had when he held me hostage: fear and regret definitely. Was this feeling why Ambert hated killing Regime soldiers?
Enya looked at me and winked. She took the gun and pointed it upward. She fired the shot and put the gun away in her backpack. Officer 257 released a deep breath of air and relaxed his posture.
“Why’d you change your mind?” the officer tone was curious.
“Sometimes lives need to be spared,” Enya spoke like a robot deprived of emotion.
“Where did you hear that?” I asked.
Enya raised her eyebrow. “Who do you think told me that?”
I smiled. By the phrase, I pictured Ambert. He must’ve told her that during one of their chats. Maybe something good came out of that after all.
This was a great victory for all of us. Ju-long took on the task of untying prisoners. Soon, several others joined in with him. If we were supposed to spark hope, this definitely did the trick… if it weren’t for the officers who got away with the vans. In the hostage scuffle, the four vans promptly disappeared. Were they more concerned about that than our resistance? Was there more to it? Officer 257 had to have more information on that, right?
“What are we doing with him?” Ivory pointed at the officer.
“We can’t trust him,” Enya argued.
“Well… he did stand up to the five patch officer.” I twiddled my fingers. Giving The Regime’s soldiers second chances was a dangerous game and I knew it. Just something in my gut told me to do it. Something in my curiosity begged me to keep him around as a potential ally.
“Take off your helmet.” Enya kept the gun ready in her hand.
What did that have to do with anything? Either way, the officer did as she asked.
He was around Enya’s age with untamed inky-black hair and hazel eyes, a perfect balance between green and brown. Hazel was rare in Fortress, rarer than blue or green, though brown was the dominant shade. Even Mother and Gran had brown eyes. He had a strong jaw and broad nose, on top of his beige skin.
Enya looked at him with disgust and rolled her eyes.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Dustin. Dustin Moreno,” he said.
“Whoah! Whoah! Yo
u’re Dr. Moreno’s son?” Ivory’s jaw dropped to the floor.
My mind was met by a mental roadblock as I asked, “Who are we talking about now?”
“Dr. Moreno. Best spy of The Blaze… that’s where I lived. He’s on The Regime’s High Council and finds out all kinds of secrets from The Science Department.” Ivory released a deep breath. “Stella said he has a son in The Regime’s army.”
“That’s amazing,” I said.
Ivory grinned from ear to ear and looked at Dustin. “You should come with us!”
“You can't be serious! Just because I didn't blow his brains out doesn't mean I wouldn't mind blood spewing out of his leg!” Enya pointed her gun back at him.
I placed myself between her and Dustin. “Most of us don't know secret Regime intel. We have no clue about what the other cities are like.”
Enya cleared her throat. “Why did you even work for The Regime?”
“I was forced to. That’s why people were taken away in the vans. To start training. They go through a month of initiation in the wasteland and then gain ranks.” Dustin clenched his prosthetic fist. “Living in that ash-forsaken training ground is like Hell. No outside food, water, or resources except the ones they give you. All to teach us The Regime’s extraordinary — brainwashing you until nothing’s left.”
Enya placed her hands on her wide hips. “Interesting coming from a conditioned soldier…”
“I got a hold of contraband from my papá. Pieces of literature — plays and novels — gave me new worlds The Regime never wanted me to see,” Dustin said. “Changed everything like magic.”
His teeth flashed a white, charismatic smile. It was like he could run for office with his charm. No one would think him to be a heartless soldier as much as a politician or an actor.
“Enya, maybe your talent for lying is a talent of acting,” I chuckled.
Enya’s face reddened like a tomato. “Quit while you’re ahead, Wallflower.”
I looked away from everyone and stared into Goldcrest’s road. Was this what Chief Starbright wanted me to do? Free Dreamers from The Regime’s control? I had so much pressure being a leader and an Oracle, especially with older adults and teens around.
Splintering Reality (Breaking Order Series Book 2) Page 12