Eliot Strange and the Prince of the Resistance

48) Too Little, Too Late

I wipe my mouth and display my best table manners by blowing my nose in my napkin and then burping my satisfaction.

You are not the boss of me.

My mom ignores my poor choices and speaks calmly and softly like she is trying to persuade a child to do her bidding.

"Eliot, we need to go. Leave this place. It is not safe. I need to take you to a safe place."

"I've been doing fine on my own," I say with an emphasis on the "on my own" part, though I have had a lot of help from friends and my new family. She can't possibly know that because she has not been here.

"Yes, yes you have. You've done remarkably well on your own," she says, "and I am proud of you."

Like I care.

"But," she continues, "the army is here now and there will be a battle." She pauses here like she doesn't know what to say next but then repeats herself, "It is not safe."

"So, where will we go to be safe?" I ask because I am curious if she can even say aloud how she has betrayed us all. "Are we going back to your professor, your boss, back to the man who ended the whole damn world?"

She nods and then tries to explain, "It's not like you think, Eliot. You don't understand."

"You're right. I don't."

"He didn't end the world. He was not the leader of the group who started the fires or the group with the EMP."

"So, who did then? Who ended it all?"

She shrugs her shoulders like - does it really matter- and says, "Maybe foreign influences, maybe domestic?" She shrugs her shoulders again.

Unbelievable. She is defending a monster. "So, General Kerry One Nation was just in the right place at the right time. Just waiting for an opportunity for chaos, so he could take it all over?"

She nods. "He is a survivalist, like your dad. Only, he is not hiding, waiting for whatever happens to happen. Kerry is a man of action. He decides his fate."

I am so mad I can barely respond. "My dad is not hiding. He came looking for you. Did you see him?"

"Yes, I sent him home. He wasn't safe there. Despite what you may think, Eliot, I don't want anything to happen to him."

"Or Mr. Thomas?" I ask, "because he was in your little army of treasonous, baby-killers at one time? Following you around like a love-sick puppy, right?"

"Clementine is a good friend to both me and your dad," is her explanation. "He was a follower of the professor at one time, but he too strayed from the path, just like your dad."

"What path?" I ask. "The baby killing, innocent child murdering path? How about old people and disabled who are lined up and executed? Is that the path you are talking about?"

"War is a terrible thing, Eliot." My mama talks to me like she is trying to explain something complicated to a child. "If you just come with me, listen to what the general has to say, you will understand."

I won't have it. I will not listen to one more word from my mama. She is the worst kind of traitor because she not only betrayed her country, she turned her back on her family. That takes someone cold and unfeeling. Someone I don't want as my mama anymore. I am done wishing her home again. I am divorcing my mom.

"I am not going with you. When your general is blowing up this town, our town, and he is killing people for a show, and he is murdering Steven's nana, and he is mowing down children with a machine gun, I'll be on this side. On the side of what is right, and what is good, and what is worth dying for."

It is a good speech and I feel proud. It is a speech that says that I will die fighting for what is right. I could rally the troops with that speech.

But, I don't get the chance because Gus Lancaster steps out of the hallway where he must have been hiding and listening the whole time. Trailing close behind him are two One Nation soldiers. From the medals on their chests and the stripes on their sleeves, they must be officers. 

Gus is clapping. Clap, clap, clap. He is such an asshole. "Wow, Elie, I did not know you had it in you. Nice speech. So passionate," he emphasizes the last word, and I feel dirty all of a sudden, like I have done something shameful. "Now, that you have had your breakfast, little girl, it is time you come with your mother," Gus says.

"Never, you will have to drag me there." I reach behind me and put my hand on my gun. I am not a little girl. I will put a bullet in your beautiful face.

Gus walks to the living room and parts the curtains, and I see several military vehicles parked outside. Then he says:

"Eliot, you are irresistible when you put up a fight. I most certainly could drag you there even without help, but it won't be necessary."

I pull my gun out and aim it at Gus, "I mean it. I'll blow your head off before I go with you. I will."

Neither of the soldiers moves an inch. They seem to have no fear, or maybe they don't care if I shoot Gus. He is a loud mouth who tends to brag a lot. Nobody likes that type, unless he is pouring you too much wine, or kissing your neck, or calling you beautiful.

Man, I hate Gus so bad right now. I square my shoulders just like my dad taught me. I am laser focused.

Loud mouth continues his loud mouth: "Don't you want to see your prince first? He's back at our camp. Funny, I think he tried to save you earlier when he insisted you not come with us, or maybe, he really just wanted to be rid of you for good. I guess you are too stupid to take the hint. You do tend to be a little.... Clingy. Clingy, yes that's the word. Some men don't like that, but I myself have always fancied a clingy girl."

Gus is enjoying himself. He smiles at me like we have a secret. I want to puke. He further disgusts me:

"I do like the clingy girls who like to kiss me all night and then tease me and gaze at me while I sleep." He continues to droll on like he is enjoying this slow torture of words. "I told your prince about our escapades. He didn't take it well. Though by that point, it was difficult to read his expression. He was in a lot of pain."

I am going to blow his brains out. I cock the gun. I see a split second of fear in Gus's eyes. Only a split second, then he laughs and says, "By the God's, Eliot, I may be in love with you. Clingy, impressionable, not so innocent, beautiful, fiery, impulsive. You are the perfect girl for me."

I am definitely going to shoot him. My laser focus is broken by my mother:

"Hand me the gun, Eliot. We really need to go."

I shake my head. I'm not giving up this gun.

The standoff comes to an end when my mom says, "Prince Torin needs you, Eliot. He asked me to come get you."

I give Gus Lancaster the meanest look I can muster that says - I will kill you when I get the chance or at least hurt you really bad - then I hand my mom the gun.

Gus Lancaster rubs salt in the wound. He does not know when to shut up. "Yes, we must be away, Eliot. Your prince desires an audience with one of his many admirers."

"Shut up," I say. I feel like I am in a children's argument because I am. I say it one more time just so I get the last word. "Shut up."

"Certainly, my lady," says the pompous buffoon who will always have the last word because he talks too damn much.