Democracy vs Corporatocracy

Chapter Thirteen: New Recruits

March 20th 2041

Operation Gunboat was a huge success. The Freedom Democracy League now had over 200 firearms! Almost ten times the number of people they were! A little party was being held in the Freedom Nest to celebrate and all the kids were having a great time. They were dancing a bit while Rachel and Ryan banged on some drums. Eivor was serving drinks of water and Marcus was looking at good places to set up new bases on the map. Marcus saw the others celebrating and decided to do a little celebration himself. He got up on a chair and said "Attention, may I have your attention please?" The other kids all looked at him as he got out his water bottle, raised it high and said "To our greatest success yet!" The kids all chanted the same and took drinks from their water bottles as well. Marcus then got down and began talking. Marcus proudly said "As you all know, we now have enough guns for a small army and we can soon take the fight to the Corpos". The kids applauded this and started saluting Marcus. Marcus then said to the League "But we however are undermanned, we need some new recruits". Samuel realised he was right and said "That's true, but we're going to need provisions for them". Ryan nodded and said "Why don't we grab a few live fish, put em in a tank and farm our own fish?" Eivor agreed and said "That's a great idea, we can use one of the old water barrels". Marcus then said "Of course I know where we can get some new recruits". Marcus pointed at the map of New York on the wall and the kids all looked at it.

Eivor jumped to her feet from the small drink stall and asked "Where exactly?" Marcus walked up to the map and pointed at a road in the downtown area. Marcus pointed specifically at an alleyway and said "Homeless kids usually sleep in that alleyway during the night and look for food in the day. We can head their in that abandoned school bus at the old high school, that way people will think it's a field trip or something". All the kids started nodding and voting in favour. Eivor was a but sceptical and said "We do have enough beds, but will we be able to make enough food?" Marcus nodded and said "With the fish farm we will make, we'll be able to feed a lot of people". Eivor finally agreed and said "Ok, but we have got to be careful when we head to New York. Ya never know what could happen".

March 21st 2041

Marcus Libertad, Eivor Conditor and Codes were driving across the same bridge Marcus had gone out of New York on that bus. They were using the abandoned bus at the Boston city High School and had made it look like a New York bus. The bus had an electric engine like the van and had enough power to last them the trip. Marcus saw the massive field where families were living in tents and working themselves close to death whenever they went to work. While the Corpos fattened themselves up with food and drink, the common worker slaved away in factories owned by the Corpos. As they got further into the city, Marcus saw that they were passing through a community with a mostly African American population and said "Harlem". Eivor was driving and asked "This is your old neighbourhood?" Marcus nodded and said "Yup, one day we're gonna renovate it". Codes was reading a book about computers and asked "What do you mean by that?" Marcus smiled and said "Harlem had suffered enough, the Corpos ruined it, but we're gonna fix it". Over the next twenty minutes, they drove through Manhattan and searched for the alleyway Marcus had mentioned. Eivor had only been to New York once, to set up the runaway tags, so Marcus had to give them directions. As they drove through the city, Marcus saw people walking of to work, they would be slaving away for hours and the Corpos would get all the money. Marcus hated the Corpos with a passion. They had destroyed everything America stood for: the rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. The only ones who got them now were the Corpos and Marcus hated them for it. That's when Marcus saw the last thing he ever wanted to see: His old school. The one run by Corpos and filled with spoilt kids who harassed him because of his origin. It was of very good condition, while the others weren't. There were limos outside and spoilt Corpo kids coming out. Marcus coldly said "The alleys this way". Eivor turned left and they started going down the road.

After five minutes, they came across a billboard on an office building that was broadcasting the news and the news anchor said "Last night a group of thieves broke into the Providence docks and stole over 200 firearms and thousands of bullets. All of them worth tens of thousands of dollars. ArmTech is yet to comment, though it is believed that they are devastated at the loss of their property". Marcus smirked and said "Would ya look at that, we're famous". Eivor chuckled and said "They don't know it was us....yet". After ten minutes they arrived and saw about 25 kids in the alleyway. All of them homeless and having to work for food. They had either run away from troubled homes, or had lost their families to poverty and starvation. Marcus saw how hungry they all were and opened the bus door. He came out and had a crate full of apples; freshly picked from the Boston apple trees. Marcus placed the crate on the ground and the kids came over and started eating them.

Marcus calmly said to them "One for each of you so that it's fair". Although the kids were hungry, they understood and cared about each other. When they were done, Marcus told them "Get on the bus and I'll explain everything". The kids all started getting on the bus and sitting down in the seats. Marcus got to the front and started speaking. Marcus said to all of them with certainty "My name is Marcus, leader of the F.D.L and we seek to overthrow the Corpos who have ruined out country. We are a group of kids, operating out of a secret lair and have sworn to overthrow the Corpos when we are of age". The kids all looked at Marcus with hope, as they hoped he was telling the truth. Marcus then said to them all "There are twenty two of us, but we need more help, so I'm asking you to join us". Marcus finally won them over with "You can stay here and be homeless, or you can come with us and be part of something greater". The kids started nodding and saying "We're with you" and "I'll follow you Marcus". Marcus finally said "Then lets get back to the Freedom Nest". That was when they heard a knock on the right window and all froze. Marcus then heard a familiar voice that said "Good to see you again kid". Marcus turned to his left and couldn't believe it. It was Jim, the guard who he gave the money to but three weeks earlier.