United, page 13
part #4 of Protectorate Series
Behind the cake of blood was just as broad face, flattened nose, and wide thick lips all set against the backdrop of midnight skin. His mother would have done well to name him John Henry instead by the looks of him. Like the folk hero of history, Tons could have set the world on its end with nothing more than some steel hammers and determination.
“You can stop with the ‘sir’ crap. I’m just Theo and trust me I will be the one honored if I am lucky enough to die with you at my side.”
I shook his hand once more before he returned to the cleanup processes, already having had his own wounds tended to.
Battles always seem to happen in an instant, I reflected. It’s the aftermath that seemed to drag on. That time when your adrenaline comes down and you have time to look and think.
I saw the face of every man and woman that stood in front of me as we marched forward to that wired barricade and now lay lifeless in a pool of their own blood waiting for burial. I carried the light forms of a women already stiff from death, hands clutching a small baby in her arms. I stood by the others as we dug in the rich soil just outside the settlement's boundaries. The sounds of cows chewing their cuds in the distance alone harmonized with the scraping of dirt to steel.
I have seen more of this war at its infancy than I ever wanted to see of war and death for the whole of my life. It was just the beginning, however.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
IT WAS MID-afternoon by the time I dragged myself to the shower house and washed the dirt and mud away. Roxy had given me strict orders to come to the infirmary once back but I hadn’t done so yet.
Most of the injured were taken to another headquarters, one much closer to the actual settlement, and so I knew that at the very least I wouldn’t be adding more work onto Ruby when I finally made my way down there.
Instead, I took a moment to stand in front of the sink mirror and study my reflection. It was half covered by the steam caused by my extra long, extra hot shower. It was a lot warmer not having any others to contend with in the middle of the day.
I would have liked to explain the unfamiliar reflection due to the haze of the mist, but I knew it wasn’t true. I had killed before but never had I murdered. Today I was sure, despite the rational mind telling me otherwise, I was looking at the face of a murderer.
I had killed the men and women who had covered me just as if I had pulled the trigger myself. That didn’t even include the Super Soldiers that had died at my hand. I hadn’t taken the time to look at them closely before they too were buried with the rest.
I couldn’t bring myself to do so. How many of those monsters had once been men and women I knew? Worse than that, there was a very good chance that I had fought alongside them against Defectives. Maybe even some of them were from my old Guardian unit.
I pulled my hand down the length of my face, wishing to scrub that new revelation from my mind. I could have once been those monsters’ leader. I could have leaned on them for help and asked for them to trust me with their lives. And all in one skirmish I had turned around, turned on them, and ripped their throats out.
“Hey, there you are,” DJ’s voice slightly echoed around the room as he entered.
For the most part, the caverns were void of echoes due to the soft walls and floors absorbing the vibrations, but the bathroom had tile floors and metal stalls and showers so the echo was more prominent.
“Yeah,” I said, not having much more beyond that to articulate as I shook out my razor in the milky water.
“You okay? I mean, Roxy told me that you got hurt or something?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Nothing that won't heal,” I said with a shrug.
I had been standing in front of the mirror with nothing but my pants on, but now having someone exposed to the patches covering my wounds made me self-conscious. I was far too deep in the self-hating pit to want someone to concern themselves with my well-being.
I slipped into my shirt, struggling over the still-damp sections of my torso. Turning around, I leaned against the sink to face DJ. I didn’t want to talk to him through the reflection. I almost feared he too might see the same thing I witnessed in the mirror.
“I know you're pretty tired, but…” DJ hesitated. “Ursula was getting pretty impatient. She wanted you to come and report to her in person. I think she just wants to know all the details of the attack. But you know, you do you first.”
“What she wants, actually, is to know why I didn’t bring her a living specimen to experiment on,” I spat out indignantly.
It was bad enough to have the knowledge that there was a good chance that I knew most of those Super Soldiers before they were turned into monsters. I didn’t think I could stand by and watch one of them twitch under DJ’s inquisitive mind.
“Yeah. There's more too,” DJ said, still shuffling his feet.
I didn’t doubt he could sense the inner turmoil I was going through at that moment. The worst thing for a brother was to see his sibling struggling with emotions. You felt that emotional tie to try and help, but at the same time, we were both guys so…
“I guess it happened the day before the attack. Dad sent out another broadcast, a pretty morbid one. Anyway, it's getting harder and harder to hack into the Protectorate systems so I didn’t catch wind of it in time.”
“Well spit it out, what was it?” I asked, wondering how things could get any worse despite the fact I was well aware that this was only the beginning.
“Just come on,” he said, motioning with his head for me to follow him out. “I moved my computers to Ursula's office. I’ll show you and then you can get all the reporting crap over with.”
I nodded once and began to follow behind him. Studying him for a moment I realized he looked almost just as worn as I did. His face was always pasty pale, owing to the fact that he almost never left the confines of his little fortress before and I doubted he did much sun time here either. Now there were dark purple circles under his eyes, and his black hair had grown out far longer than he usually allowed. It stuck out in some places and matted down in others, creating more of the mad scientist look he always went for.
It was a quiet and short trip through the weaving hallways and up to Ursula’s office. Ruby was there too along with a few others. Ursula sat down at the small table, shuffling through some papers she quickly stuffed away.
It piqued my interest. I knew only one reason to put something on paper: it was to have just a single copy of it. The fact that she quickly hid it away upon my entrance told me she didn’t want me to see it either.
“Alright, now that we are all finally here,” Ursula said, coming to a stand and letting her gaze float across me for just a second.
She didn’t have any malice in her tone, but then, she wasn’t the kind of person to wait around for someone else. I mumbled a half felt, barely spoken apology as I made my way up and took a seat at the table.
It was almost completely void of any others in their proper place. Those standing around the room knew better than to take a chair not proffered to them either.
“You know what this is about?” Ruby whispered, leaning down to me as I took my seat.
I just gave a shrug and a shake of my head. She looked more than anticipating the news but almost nervous about it. Looking at the other faces around the room I found most of them shared her unease or worse, had a terrified look of knowledge that they couldn’t bear to share.
“I know these last few days have just been one hit after another,” Ursula said with a slow huff. “I can’t promise things are going to get any better before they get worse. I do have some hope for us. I just recently received word from Jake. They left the far north settlement earlier this morning.”
“Having to take new precautions, their trip will be fairly slow and won't be arriving till tonight. As soon as we get word of their arrival I want every single member of leadership up in the room. I am told that the information they have is vital.”
“Any word as to what it pertains to?” Jorge chimed up in his seat next to me.
Normally I would have chatted happily with him before this meeting started. But even if I had been allotted the time to do so, I don’t think I could have mustered the strength.
“He said it wasn’t safe to say, even over the video com,” Ursula said, furrowing her brow in frustration.
I knew she was impatient to know if their trip actually paid off. I was getting the feeling that the stakes were getting higher than even I knew as of yet. It was probably best that Jake didn’t give information even on a video com. I was sure that if DJ was put to the task of intercepting such a thing, he would have found a way to do so. There was no reason to suspect our father wouldn’t also find someone to do the same for him.
“That’s why it is extremely important that we all assemble immediately once they arrive. Time is not on our side, people,” she added as a warning.
“Which brings me to our main topics. We need a debriefing of the skirmish first,” she said, motioning to me.
I nodded my understanding. I didn’t know if I was mentally ready to hash out the night's events yet, but I had been well-trained in the art of debriefing after an incident and had expected no less from her.
“Good,” she responded. “After that DJ will catch up all those who were away from headquarters when we finally intercepted the broadcast from Reynolds. Lastly, we have a,” she paused and shuffled through the folder of papers, taking care not to expose any of them. She found the one she wanted and read it, “A Mr. Black who will be giving us a first-hand account of the ramifications of the broadcast.”
With the detailed instructions of our meeting, Ursula sat back down ready to get straight to business. I only hesitated for a second before standing and walking around to her side of the table. Rarely did people sit on that side outside of herself. I always considered she wanted to make sure she could look at each and every one of us when the need arose.
Behind her were all of DJ’s screens with the mobile table and items below. I couldn’t help but wonder how they even hauled such a massive contraption up the narrow, rusted stairs.
I cleared my throat quickly. I felt ragged and exhausted and would have liked to get some sleep just so I could clear my mind and organize my thoughts, but that wasn’t going to be a possibility obviously.
I went through the events of the settlement attack as quickly and efficiently as I could muster. Mostly I just wanted to get this part over with. I knew all of this. What I didn’t know was the content of my father’s latest Broadcast. Clearly, it was what had shown such a look of terror on the others’ faces.
There were a few questions asked, wanting specific details about the unit of Super Soldiers that had attacked. But for the most part, the group was grim listening to my tale, and I was just as morose giving it.
“And the number of lives lost?” Ursula said, her eyes focused on typing on the tablet in front of her.
“Eighty-three civilians, Seventy-six of the three units of Fighters, and three of my own,” I added, trying to hide the husk in my voice as I said the last part.
“And how many Super Soldiers were there in total?” She continued her line of questioning without any remorse.
“I believe the final count was twenty-five. I can’t be certain without checking with the Fighter unit chief who oversaw the burials. Around five or six of them were armed with long rifles," I said as I did my best to recreate the mental image of the Super Soldiers along the barricade.
She simply nodded. I could see her jotting on her tablet. I could only guess she was tallying the number of Fighters we would need to combat larger forces and determining how many she was willing to sacrifice to the cause. It made my blood boil.
“And you are unaware of the other attacks, is my understanding,” she said, typing in her last bit of information before looking up at me and pushing her tablet forward slightly.
My eyes widened in surprise. Other attacks? How many settlements had been attacked? I had run to the aid of one but how many others had been wiped out in the process?
She registered my response and nodded that her assumption was right.
“We are still waiting for intel back on those, but my understanding was no survivors so I think we can assume that the information I had on residents and the Fighter units dispatched is the number of casualties,” she continued, looking around the room.
“DJ if you would please come forward. I am assuming you have completed the calculations I asked of you?”
“Yes,” he said gravely, shuffling to the front of the room as I again took my seat.
Our eyes met for just a second. Mine were daggers. How could he have not told me such information right away, the moment he found me? A million questions were running through my head in that instant. On DJ’s facade, I saw only the reflection of my own face this morning. He was riddled with defeat and guilt.
He felt the weight of this blow on his shoulders and I didn’t know why. It explained why he hadn’t put it into words, even to me, before he was actually forced to. My frustration at him melted in an instant and was instead replaced with brotherly concern. How could he possibly blame himself for this?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
DJ SHUFFLED HIS feet at the front and only cleared his throat once. He reached into his uniform pants pocket and pulled out his remote. Without looking behind him he pointed the remote and woke up all the screens.
Each one had a different picture on it. One was a freeze frame of my father standing at his Protectorate Podium, the black and gold flag waving at his back. I knew it was some kind of broadcast without even having to see or hear more than the frozen image. The other screen had various images of statistics, maps of the land labeling Communities, Settlements, Freedom Fighter bases, and known hoard locations. Another screen had genetic information and chemical elements.
I was glad to see that he had at least found some information on the serum that was creating these Super Soldiers. He also had a detailed battle analysis that I only briefly looked over before he started to talk.
“For those of you who haven’t heard President Reynolds’s latest broadcast, I am going to just summarize it as it was a lengthy one.”
DJ let out a deep, long sigh. I could hear murmurings behind me that told me I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t seen or heard the full details of my father’s latest announcement.
“Essentially, he recognizes the existence of Natural Born Defectives. It is a naturally-evolving trait that he claims can be traced back to those in the outskirts. The theory he gives is that those in the outskirts, because they don’t necessarily follow the Protectorate regulations, have been using and drinking toxic water as well as eating food grown on toxic grounds as well as having unauthorized exposure to the elements. The result has been genetic mutations in their bodies.”
I did my best to hide the fist that I was balling under the table. My mind went completely on Ella. All I had hoped for was that my father would never catch wind of her abilities. The knowledge of Naturals, in general, I knew he already had information on to some extent. Outwardly acknowledging them was not good for people like Ella.
“He claims that this group of natural born defectives are the cause of the attacks on the settlement a few weeks ago. He is telling people that a Guardian unit was dispatched after the attack. Their report was that no one survived. Another testament that citizens should listen to him and stay inside the safety of the Communities.”
“Obviously there are falsehoods to his statement and we know that, but please remember outside those here in this room, and Freedom Fighter leadership, as well as those who experienced it, of course, citizens know nothing outside of his own words.”
“In his broadcast, he also officially announced that he will be now closing all Community borders due to the Freedom Fighter resistance. There will no longer be a Chosen program. Those inside the Community will stay inside and those outside the Community will never be allowed in again.”
I swallowed hard. The Chosen program wasn't the best but it was also a way to get safe food and water to those in the outskirts. Even more than that, I couldn’t believe that my own father would make such a policy after all the tales he had spewed to me. He knew well enough as I did that without the Chosen manpower, those who had lived lives of luxury would soon have to get their hands dirty. I couldn’t believe that was something any of the High Chairmen would get behind.
“He claims they will have a one-time process where any from the outskirts may be allowed into the Communities after undergoing a simple blood test to verify that they are not carrying that Natural Born mutation.”
“That’s not even possible,” a woman’s voice chimed in from behind me somewhere. “It would be far more people than any one Community can hold.”
“We’ll get to that,” DJ said gravely. “It is no surprise, however, that he would close down the program after announcing a cure for infertility, if such a cure exists,” he half scoffed.
“President Reynolds ends his broadcast with first a plea that any known Natural Born citizens be reported to the authorities as they can be a threat to the Protectorate and Communities as a whole. He had images taken during the first settlement attack somehow, or perhaps doctored images, to show what he claims would be the result of a natural born let loose.”
“He does go into great detail on what a natural born is and how to recognize one among you, but I don’t think that is really important to go into. I have the list of facts on figure six,” he motioned to one of the screens behind him.
“The remainder of his final words are a warning. He said in one week’s time the walls of the Communities will be closed permanently. Anyone not inside by this time will be exiled. He claims Defectives are no longer needed, now that they have the way to cure infertility. The remaining Defective experiments will be released into the outskirts and be left to their own devices and eventually die out.”
