by Cooper, DJ
“Liberation”
“There is prodigious strength in sorrow and despair.”
― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
The day of, they would be ready ...
Tomorrow was the day and they could only hope that Aaron had been able to accomplish his task on the inside. As the forces from each group began to gather in the staging area near Richmond, Ryan and Sam stood side by side amazed at the numbers represented there.
Sam looked over at Ryan nodding his head. “Not a bad turn out.”
“They're not military, but they’re fighters.”
“Should we consider who won this country in the Revolutionary War, fighters for the military are just what we need?”
Dez was furious that she was not permitted to come along.
“You’re gonna get yourself or someone else killed. Quit arguing with me.”
Dez stomped around the table. “These are my people too, you can’t shut me out of this.”
“I’m not trying to” He argued.
Ryan did allow her to remain at the rally point, here she could monitor what was going on and relay information as needed.
Dez folded her arms in silent protest. She knew it was not a good idea in her condition to be on the strike team but she couldn’t get over the need to help.
Ryan stepped closer and hip checked her. “Cheer up sunshine you’ll get to try and kill yourself at the next camp.”
She scowled at him and turned her back as though she were mad. Stifling a small giggle because he was right she cleared her throat. “I’m not trying to kill myself, I just want to be a part of the operation.”
“You are… We need someone cool and smart here to help coordinate. I suspect this is your forte anyway.”
Jeremy was standing in the doorway and snorted. She turned to him and angrily glared. “Got something to say there son o’ mine?”
Jeremy put both his hands in the air and shaking his head exited the tent. Ryan begged her to be reasonable. “C’mon Dez, I just don’t want you hurt again. Please, please just humor me this one time.”
She scowled at him again and reluctantly said, “Fine…”
Again, Jeremy snorted from just outside the tent.
Dez huffed and walked over to the radio, slouching into a chair she looked at Ryan side eyed and pretended to ignore them both.
Once he got outside the tent Jeremy matched his stride. Ryan looked to him saying, “Geeze what an impossible woman.”
“You shouldn’t try so hard, she kinda likes you too.”
Ryan stopped short, mouth open like he had something to say. Jeremy turned to him and laughed. “c’mon theah guy.” Nodding a sideways up and down nod he crossed his arms. “We all knew you were sweet on her since that first day you came up to the house.”
Tawny overheard him and chimed in. “You got fine for an answer, huh?”
He stood looking at the both of them. Shaking his head, he turned and walked off without a word. Tawny and Jeremy laughed hard as she asked him to tell her about what happened. Telling him she’d just come from Dez who she’d said was positively spitting fire. The two headed for their teams while still laughing about Ryan.
The teams prepared to leave. The forward team would be carrying out the attack on the convoy and would be the first to leave as they had to go around the city and come in from the far side. Tawny was part of that team and would be taking a sniper position from the hillside just before the strike point.
Those driving the buses would be carrying the teams who would be at the fence, they would ride the buses and then position them for the escape, leaving the drivers behind when they advanced to the camp to guard and keep watch. The small team that would infiltrate the school building branched off from the main team positioned at the fence. The team making the diversionary assault on the camp from the other side would wait around the reservoir that required a three hour walk to the far side. The hope was to convince them that they were a rogue gang after the supplies. The shots fired from team one when they took out the convoy would be the signal to begin the rest of the assault. In position, they all waited for night fall when the busses would arrive.
Aaron had been ready each day that was to have supplies delivered. Not knowing when the assault would come, he paced off areas of the camp or ran through the plan with the other two men to be sure they were in sync. It was too risky for him to return with a radio other than the one he’d been assigned. So they had to rely on what they observed on their own to know when to put the plan in motion.
His radio was used to determine the frequency of the camp communications allowing them to be monitored and information shared with the assault teams. On that day, he’d heard the signal he’d recognized as one they used. The guard in his tent had a handheld radio on his hip. That evening as he worked on their tent work, which was the work they were required to do after their day’s labors before lights out. Often times it would be simple things like sewing or sorting stuff taken. He’d heard the three clicks. He knew he’d heard it and went to sit next to his children. Whispering to the woman watching the children he asked, “Did you hear the clicks on ole’ Shultzie’s walkie?” They’d come to calling him that because of an old show about a POW camp from WWII.
Shaking her head, she said, “No, I didn’t hear anything.”
He thought he must have been hearing things. Aaron remained vigilant… his team was prepared. They worried about one guy who would not go along. He feared the wrath of the commander and threatened to expose them, but he was quickly silenced without mercy. Too much was at stake and they had no way to control him.
“There!” He looked to her.
She nodded, she’d heard it this time.
There were three clicks on the walkie and then nothing. They sat looking into their work listening hard. Again, they heard it, three clicks and a minute later the assault began with a loud bang!
Each team did its part and without any hiccups those on the incoming buses were taken. Without complaint or even resistance the busses surrendered. As the team approached the busses it became obvious that it was men like Aaron and his two companions that were driving. The refugees, still on their buses were brought to the militia quarantine area in Richmond. The men driving were swiftly questioned and sent with the busses to the command tent for further interrogation. The supply trucks in the rear were guarded by gang members and each had a military pair in the driver area. It swiftly became apparent that they would not go so easily. Tawny fired into the cab of the first truck taking the hat off the driver but not injuring him. His companion spotted the red dot on his forehead. Looking down to his own chest, two other red dots quivered in the center. The driver stopped the truck abruptly knocking two of the guards in back off the side.
The gang members that were guarding the supplies began to fire into the woods wildly, they’d had no idea what caused the truck to halt but instinctively just fired. Not even close to hitting the militia that now surrounded them. They’d exhausted much of their ammo and now stood reloading when the order for attack was given and they descended. Both supply trucks were guarded by these ruthless men who would not surrender and again began firing in all directions after the order to surrender was shouted. Tawny took aim on one that was barking out orders from the back of the lead truck. She sucked in a breath of air and held it as she slowly pulled the trigger. Thwap, the round struck him dead center of his throat, ending his orders abruptly. The man next to him watched wide eyed as he slumped into a heap on the ground beside the truck. The next round silently struck his chest before he could move to escape. It only took a few more rounds before the others retreated, the supplies were confiscated. Still on the same trucks they were taken to the staging area. The convoy was haphazardly guarded and easily overwhelmed even as the gang fired back at them in their retreat. The rounds falling short of any target.
The assault on the far side of the camp worked to draw the guards away and kept their attention firing on the
fence line. They called in one reinforcement cry after another to ward off the assault. Aaron and his men were able to easily overpower the single guard left in each refugee tent. Listening on ole Shultzie’s radio they could hear the men at the fence line calling for more men and knew they were in the clear to make a run for the fence. They quickly shuffled the inhabitants of the tents out a hole they’d made on the back of each of the tents. Sending them a few at a time they made for the fence where the rescue team was waiting and hurriedly shuffling them off to the busses. The plan was to get the refugees to safety before the firing on the other side of the compound was to be ended.
Those on the recon mission became cornered and could not get out of the building. Ryan gave the order to intensify the firing on the fence line to maintain the distraction. Word came that the men were caught in a crossfire just inside the building. Ryan, Sam, and Dickie moved in to get them out.
Ryan could be heard over the radio with gunfire ordering the others to circle around to gain more perspective. A momentary buzzing blocked the airwaves and a single word interrupted the communications in a strange robotic voice. “… reset.”
Dez was listening to the fight and barely registered the interruption or the word, she stood looking stressed staring at the radio. A woman from the Richmond militia family stepped over and touched her shoulder. “Not to worry missy, Ryan is a shrewd fighter, they’ll be ok.”
Dez looked at her shocked and almost indignant, but softened her look when Ryan came back on telling Sam and Dickie to take up positions across the lawn and she knew they were all ok.
He could see from a place of cover that this allowed them a clear shot to take out the man at the door. Clearing the way for the escape of their friends. Each team made its way back to the rally point the losses and injuries were minimal.
The busses began to arrive, and with them the fighters. Dez ran to Jeremy hugging him before the others. When she got to Ryan she began to reach out for a hug but stopped short offering him her hand. “You, I’m still mad at.”
“Awww c’mon Dez, you’re not fully recovered yet.”
Smiling at him she punched his arm saying, “I’m just being bitchy. I know and I’m sorry for being a bitch earlier. It was hard to watch my son and friends fight without me.” Looking at him with a tear. “Thanks for all you do to help us.”
“Awww shucks ma’am, twert nothin’.” Ryan grinned as he stood still holding Dez’s hand.
Jeremy rolled his eyes and scoffed as he hugged his mom again and headed for the processing tent to fetch Aaron.
Ryan and Dez laughed and headed to the command center for debriefing. Cory came across the ham radio asking if anyone else had heard the strange voice. Dez nodded as did the radio operator, looking at Ryan who looked confused. “You heard it here?”
“Yea, we did. I didn’t think much of it. I thought it was part of the static.”
The radio operator called out to Cory acknowledging they had, but not just on the hams, even the walkies.
Cory asked Ryan to meet him when they returned and to bring Arthur. Ryan nodded to the radio operator who relayed the message.
Dez looked at him pleadingly, she wanted to know what was going on but didn’t want to fight with him again today.
Ryan smiled a little, “You will be coming along? Won’t you?”
Dez grinned, “Indeed.”
Chapter 14
“Community”
While we can remember the past, we cannot write the future. Only our children, the future of our community, can do that.
-Jonathan Sacks
When they’d gone to meet with Cory and Arthur about the strange signal Arthur said it was almost as if their own communications had been jammed for that brief few seconds. They were all perplexed and thought maybe it was a glitch or that they’d picked up a rogue transmission from a satellite. It was not considered anything of concern and they moved on to other topics. Arthur managed to pick up some intel from China that said there were missiles fired on them causing widespread devastation. Cory reported similar things from Russian and UK hams. Ryan asked, “Are we in some kind of world war?”
Arthur told him nothing was clear, they weren’t picking up anything from their own government. Roger stood by silently listening, only watching. Ryan turned to him and asked him his thoughts.
“I can’t be sure of anything, all we have are the papers we brought and those from Rita and Rich. I’m sure that while these offer some idea of what is going on within our own country they don’t say anything about the rest of the world.”
Dez nodded and asked, “Do you think that it’s just gotten out of control?”
“Frankly, none of this makes any sense.”
“How do you mean?” She asked.
“Think about it, if you wanted to take over the financial system of a country or even the government itself, would you destroy that country or even risk annihilation by attacking major nuclear superpowers?” The others stood by staring blankly at him. “Something just isn’t right in this whole situation. We really need to find out what’s going on. There’s a great possibly we need to start making some preparations for what may come next.”
Ryan tilted his head looking at him. “Whatcha thinking?”
“Ray and I have some contacts in Texas, it’s likely they might have some info but would never be caught on the airwaves. I think we need to go meet up with them.”
Dez nodded in agreement putting her finger up to make a point. “You do, however, need to remain in contact with us.”
“Agreed.”
They left Arthur’s place and headed back to town.
Aaron and his two children returned to the farm with Dez and the others. His wife had been sent to the quarantine tent and could not be rescued. Two days after Aaron returned she was hauled off to what they called the death tent. She’d refused to work or cooperate and was becoming an itch the guards no longer wanted to scratch. Aaron knew, the day she was sent there that he would never see her again. While they’d struggled before and were planning on a divorce, a lot had changed since then. Aaron was sad inside, but he knew he had to be strong for his children.
The next day he had to return to the infirmary to have the tattoo removed. They were up in the air as how to do it because they were very limited with their facilities. Due to the radioactive nature of the tattoo it was making its bearer sick. Causing radiation sickness, many were very ill. When he went in for the removal he was lucky because his was on his forearm. Others were not as fortunate, theirs were positioned on their neck causing far more problems faster. Not all of the refugees were tattooed. It was only for those that left the confines of the camp. The doctor asked Aaron to be the first one to have the removal done, as his was on his arm and presumably less dangerous. He numbed the area and simply shaved off the skin as one would the peel of a carrot. A thin layer of skin and the tattoo rolled off his arm. It was bandaged, and he was sent back to the farm to return in five days’ time. They had radiation detectors and used them to determine if there was any residual radioactivity associated with the area. In every case they were still showing minute particles with residual traces of radioactivity. Again, the area was numbed and this time the scab was removed, pulling out the last of the tattoo with it. 5 days later the checks revealed no residual radioactivity and the bearers were already beginning to show signs of improvement.
The doctor approached Ryan, “ I really can't understand why they would use such materials. They had to know it would eventually make all who bore it ill and would even cause death.”
“These people were deemed expendable.” He turned to look at the doctor. “They were planning to kill them off as well, so this would… presumably in a relatively brief time make them too weak to rise up.”
“I'm going to guess that most of the gang members who were first tattooed have already begun to lose their hair and are showing signs of advanced radiation sickness.”
“This could work in our favor.”
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“How do you mean?”
“These are the people they’re using to do their dirty work, and while they’re deemed expendable, the life expectancy is short. I don't think that they're planning on a prolonged battle or a war .”
“I'd have to agree there.”
Ryan stood looking around at all those who’d had tattoos removed. Some were still weak and sickly. Looking back to the doctor he questioned. “Are they gonna be OK?”
“Oh… I'd say most of them will recover. There are a couple of them that I’m a little concerned about, but the biggest concern is the long-term effects of the radiation poisoning.”
“Long-term effects?”
“Yes, there's a chance that a few years down the road some develop cancer.”
Ryan stood with his hand on his chin looking about the room at the men and women who’d had the tattoos removed. “Have you told them?”
“No. They've been through enough, I didn't see the need to bring up something that may, or may not, be an issue in years to come. We’ll cross that bridge when it arrives.”
The refugees on the incoming buses bound for the camp that was stopped with the supply convoy were housed in Richmond for quarantine. After their quarantine period was over they were to be found living spaces in the community if they chose to stay. Those they rescued from the camp who went to London with Ryan were housed in town. They found space in vacant houses and the school gymnasium. Only Aaron and the children went on to the farm.
Roger and Ray had left for Texas only five days ago and had already reached their destination. They promised to return when they got the information sorted out. With them they took both sets of papers, but only after Ryan had made copies of them. There was no way they were letting go of the information just in case they didn’t make it to Texas or worse, were captured.
Dez moved from the loft in the barn to an enclosed area off the kitchen section because of her injuries. Charleigh, Connor and Ariel joined her to help with her needs. Jeremy and Toni decided it would be best to stay near the family as well, so they too moved down below, opening the entire loft for others. Loel, Rebecca, their three kids, along with Aaron and his two took their places in the loft area. The new accommodations put many of the younger children in the loft area with the exception of Matty and Ariel allowing for more adult time in the evening when the children were sent to bed. Joseph and Georgia were a little older at twelve, but they were still to watch over Matty and Ariel in the evenings.