2634: Dalmore

Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

“You may not know me but you’ll know The AIC, your government, a group of corrupt power hungry folks. You and I both know it’s true, but we can stop them. End them and their cause because they’re The Enders, they carry their meaning. They let loose Mutants to do the dirty work for them but when The War was over they were unable to control their creation. There are people outside of here, outside the Safe Cities, they’re people who do the dirty work for The AIC. Killing the Mutants or they kill them. But we’ve decided to rebel, join The Alliance, our fight to freedom and to destroy the ones who wronged us!” Pearson’s voice rings through the projector.
"Thanks to Dr. Randoff's efforts, this film will be looped on every billboard and sign." It will continue to play till we reach the Safe Cities. When we get at the Safe Cities, the first thing we do is infiltrate their headquarters with the help of insiders, where we will find a group of people who are interested in joining our uprising. We'll then distribute weapons to everyone and launch an attack on The AIC. They'll probably be patrolling the cities, which will probably be under lockdown and curfew-" Alec interrupts Pearson's explanation.
"Your strategy has a lot of most ‘likely's and 'probably's. "Are you certain about the plan?"
"I'm sure, most likely," Pearson shrugs, "We've reached the moment when we'll split off. When we attack at The AIC, our guards will take anybody who isn't a member of the uprising, including casualties, to Acres Valley. The rest of us will fight The AIC,” Pearson concludes.
“So we’re not fighting The AIC?” Ares asks.
“No of course not, you lot are too innocent to murder people,” She responds, “We will...take care of them,” A good way to put it. At least I’m not the person killing people, I’d much rather save them. “Now if we're all done here, we don’t have time for any more chit-chat, let's go,” Pearson gets up from the table and makes her way to the door. We follow her out, but this time the hallways are quiet and the only sound I can hear is the scuffle of our footsteps. Where is everyone? But the thing that confuses me the most is that as the door of Headquarters opened, we aren’t in New Tyro. “After we were driven out of New Orleans, Dr. Randoff managed to turn Headquarters into an aerial vehicle, just in case we had to relocate again,” Pearson explains.
We are at the Safe Cities, well at least I think it is. The Alliance soldiers are in position in front of us, almost blocking the view of the Safe Cities. But even if they weren't here the towering concrete wall blocks anything beyond it. It looks just like the wall in Veritas but something tells me it is a lot stronger to break. “Any minute now,” Pearson murmurs and as if it is magic, the wall cracks in the middle, splitting in half and collapsing on the ground amongst rubble and grey dust. “The insiders have planted gas bombs, don't worry they don't do anything but they’ll blend in with the damage of the wall and by the time it all clears up we’ll be in the Safe Cities. A handful of soldiers will come with us, the remainder are waiting in the weapon and armoury room,” Pearson explains whilst slinging a gun over her shoulder and putting on a mask.
She passes us guns and masks which we too put on before she moves forwards, towards the Safe Cities. The soldiers make their way towards the wreckage and we follow, their pace quickens and we enter the Cities. I can't see anything but grey dust and the occasional black clothing of a soldier. “Press the side of your mask,” I hear her voice through the communicator. I feel a button like Pearson said and press it, almost instantly I can see through the fog. The city looks to be the perfect utopia, marble white domes and buildings; I have no idea that something this perfect can exist. The vegetation is vibrant and thrives, the grass beneath my feet feels freshly cut. This is possibly the most picturesque scene I’ve ever seen. But it is the signs that catch my attention, Pearson’s video is playing but it’s glitching. The AIC must be trying to take it down. My stomach lurches at the thought of ruining this perfect city.
Everyone moves surreptitiously around the city but a yell goes off right next to me. An AIC soldier is right next to me, swiping his hands around. I hold my gun up before remembering he can’t see me but as I move away from him, I realize I have been stepping on his foot. As I continue, The Alliance soldiers slip into a subway entrance. I follow them down the steps but the bottom of the entrance is blocked with a durable stainless steel door. I thought these people were broke. One of the soldiers knocks on the door and says “Mallard and Mellisa Merrick,” Like it is open sesame, the door swings open and a familiar face peeks through a gap before opening it to us. It is the last person I could have least expected. Angrove. When I step into the subway train station and take off my mask. I notice that the space looks more like a clandestine laboratory than a subway, in fact there are no train tracks. The room is packed with crowds of scrawny people dressed in rags, the obvious poor. It's unfathomable that people and facilities could be this bad in a location like this, and I shudder at the prospect of these individuals battling more equipped and experienced opponents. They look like they’d be blown to the ground in the wind. Angrove looks at me, and I have a million questions for her, but I'm not sure where to begin. There is another knock at the door and I follow Angorve to the door, I can see Pearson’s face through the gap and about two hundred or so soldiers and Acres Valley children. Maybe we might just have a chance of winning. She enters the room with about ten giant crates carried on a crate cart.
“Let's get started, shall we?” Pearson says and on that note the whole room falls silent. “Whilst we hand out weapons and armour, I want you to pay close attention. This is not a drill, we are having our Rebellion in memory of Mallard and Mellisa Merrick who started the first rebellion,”
“So that means-” Someone in the crowd calls out.
“Yes, Mathew Feyrer is dead,”  Pearson responds whilst looking us in the eye. “But we have still yet to come, be prepared for the worst. The government has used the working class and their children as slaves. We will not tolerate this behaviour, it does not do good to dwell on the past and even though we may never forgive The Enders, we cannot carry out their evil. This is what the government is doing, manipulating and exploiting us to do the things they are too afraid to do,” Her voice booms out every word in malice. “We have lost enough loved ones to them, tonight we strike back!” The whole room erupts in deafening applause. “Now welcome the daughter of our martyrs, Adria Merrick,” The first applause is nothing compared to the applause I’m hearing now.
I fumble to the front, no one told me I had to make a speech. “Um-I,” I almost knock the microphone down, “I just wanted to say that I applaud you for all your efforts in this rebellion. It is people like us who face the worst and who have to take a stand. I recently learnt that people who are not what they seem. There are people in this world who dwell on greed and power. Feyrer is one of those people, The AIC are one of those people,” I finish, a sense of spiritual power holds over me. Just maybe we’ll take them down. I hear applause crash down on me.
“I guess I should also bring up that this year’s Last Sector will be helping you gather up victims and we’ve also spared a couple of Bulks to get you from there to Acres Valley. And as for me joining Feyrer’s side, I hope this changes your mind,” Angrove whispers behind me, I notice that she looks tired and drained closer up. “Well I guess we should split up now, the gas bombs might already be fading but we can blow up another batch,” Angrove speaks into the microphone, pushing past me. With that she pulls out a small grenade looking object and walks out the door. A group of people follow her out. We wait in silence for a few minutes before I hear gunshots being fired and screams before all goes back to quiet.
“Lets go,” Pearson says to the room, “Acres Valley and Veritas people will go on my signal,” I place a finger on the communicator subconsciously before Pearson and over half of the remainder of the room leave. Which leaves about fifty people left in the room.
“Quite a place they’ve got here,” Alec mumbles.
“Well they aren't the richest people around here,” I reply back. “I guess that's part of the reason why they’re rebelling,”
“I should have eaten more food,” Ares moans next to me whilst rubbing his stomach.
“Hey, anyone smuggled in any food?” He asks the room, only to be received with strange glares.
“So that’s it? We’re just saving people?” Reeve asks in disbelief.
“Yeah pretty much, well I wouldn’t want to die out there,” Soren says and as if on command, a screech of agony comes through the door.
“You are cleared to go now. Gather people outside the Safe Cities, the Bulks are over there,” Pearson instructs through the communicator. Looking towards the door, there are people already pulling it open and running out. I pull on a mask and run out the door, Ares and Reeve right behind me. The fighting is audible but it is coming from further away. We sprint along the pavement, searching for an apartment building or a house. Although I don’t think they have houses here, or if they do, they must millionaires to own a whole building.
A siren goes off from the unseen city speakers. An announcement, Angrove’s voice is speaking, “Stay indoors, you are under lockdown. When you hear a knock on the door, you open it and calmly follow the knocker out,” 
“Wait, who are the knockers?” I hear Ares ask next to me.
“They’re us, idiot,” Reeve spits.
Ares shrugs in response, “Also can I take my mask off, I can feel a big booger up my nose,” We ignore him and break down the door of a four-storey apartment block. Guns raised for any incoming AIC soldiers, we wander the hallways. It looks just as clean on the inside as the rest of the city and white. It is suspiciously quiet, is this a set up? I see a set of stairs and begin climbing, we’re on the second floor now. “Hey, anyone going to answer me?” Again we ignore him and approach our first door.
Just as I am about to knock, someone on the other side yells out, “Go away terrorist, take your monsters back along the way!”
“Actually, you're going to have to come with us. I don’t know if you know or not, but there’s a war. And along with war there is also death, so if you want to die today, feel free to do so!” Reeve shouts at the voice.
“You think you can convince me with your death threats?” The same voice hisses back out.
Reeve sighs and pulls out a grenade. Activating it, he throws it at the right wall, next to us. It blows up and Reeve curses, “The damn government, they almost killed me. See what they did, they could have killed us! Your government could have killed us! Now they’re going to kill you,” This somehow works and the door opens by a crack. An eye pops through, looking at our faces carefully before opening the door and stepping out. A man, a woman and three children come out.
“Well you got us, where do you want to take us?” The man spits. Even though there may have been a better way to handle this, the important thing was that it worked.
“A safe place,” I respond in the most soothing voice I can muster to make up for Reeve’s hostility. “Everyone else on this floor please follow us,” I call out. Doors nervously creak open, quick are exchanged by some, others rush over to us. “You two, go get everyone else in the other floors,” I tell the two boys before facing the small cluster of people, “I’m not going to lie, we aren’t OK here, there’s a war. We started it, I won’t lie about that either, but that just means it’s our responsibility to get you to safety. I’m not sure if you know what a Bulk is but-”
“Yeah we know, get on with it!” The man who’s door I knocked on first answers as if he has better things to do than listen to me.
“OK, well there is a place not far from here, it’s called Acres Valley. I promise you it’s safe over there. You’ll stay over there until the war is over, after that, we’ll see,”
“So you're sending us to a concentration camp?” The same man speaks.
“No, not a concentration camp. A safe place-”
“That’s what the Germans said when they put the Jews in those camps. Don’t fool me missy, I know what you want. Another war, another genecide. As if we haven’t suffered enough,”
“OK, fine! Stay here, die here as well. We can explain more along the way but I’m not risking everyone else’s life by staying here longer,” Reeve says walking down the stairs, a group of scared looking people behind him. I can spot Ares at the top of the stairs, a couple of people behind him too. “C’mon,” He proceeds to climb down the set of stairs next to me, leading to the reception. I follow him down, surprisingly the man follows the rest of us down too. At the bottom of the stairs, I can see through the doors that the gas has mostly cleared. Only a grey mist remains wafting through the city. Minus the fires, yelling and gunshots, the city looks abandoned, just like New Orleans. Only half an hour ago, the city was immaculate, a marble grandeur, now given into damage, rubble and dust, it looks unrecognisable. We walk out, I raise the handgun in my hand for any incoming dangers. Thankfully none come our way and we reach the edges of the Safe Cities.
From where we are standing I can see a wide open Bulk which is almost full in the distance. A group of people are making gestures to go with them, we do as they say and rush up the ramp, into the Bulk. The last people clamber inside and the door closes behind us. Some people give up seats for the newcomers as I make my way to the cockpit to see who’s driving. I slide open the door, I can see dark tufts of hair over the headrest of the seat. I move closer to the figure, two pale hands are fixed on the wheel. The person looks not much older than I, slim facial features and broad shoulders.
“Can I help you?” He asks. I was expecting someone I know. But the strange thing is that I know him from somewhere, or at least his voice.
“Do I know you? I don’t think I’ve seen you around Veritas,”
“That’s because I’ve never been there,” He says before thoughtfully adding, “I live in the Safe Cities,” I lean against the wall, trying to figure out who the stranger flying the Bulk is. I get the feeling that you get when you know the answer but you don’t know what it is at the same time.
“Well? Do you have a name?”
“I thought we'd already been introduced but for reference it's Kyle. Kyle Verlice,” He says holding out a hand.. “Yeah, I’m a person,” He adds, noticing my shock. I don’t respond, “Are you going to say something? You know your not as chatty in real life than through telepathy,”
“Well I never thought I’d see you in real life. Well when you said you’d do some research, did you find anything else?”  
“Well I learnt that my ma joined The Alliance years ago and I must have heard it from her,”
“So when did you join?” I ask. He takes a moment to answer. I avert my gaze from him to the windshield, it looks darker than the time we left. It looks like it's about one in the morning. I didn't think time could fly that fast.
“A few weeks ago,”
“Why didn't you tell me?” I ask, in shock.
“You can’t go around telling people that you're going to overtake the government. There are patriots to The AIC, more than you know. Anyone can tip off the government, besides we don't know what kind of tech they have; they could be listening into one of our conversations. I was supposed to chat you up and see whether or not you’d be up to rebelling,” He says the last part in an apologetic tone whilst trying to figure out my expression.
“Well, you know an awful lot about me. What’s your life story?”
He is taken aback and after a particularly long pause he answers, “Well my pa worked for The GCI, the Government City Institute. It wasn’t a big job nor did it pay so well, it was just managing the minor weaponry. My ma was a nurse, a good one too, life was better than it is now back then. Then the stock market crashed a few years back, pa lost his job. Our rent went up and we had to move downtown, it was bad there, I got beaten up a lot. One day pa went uptown to see if there was any work for him to do. Of course something had to happen then, it always does, everything seems to squeeze us out. Anyways, like I was saying, pa went back  to the GCI. The GCI is the government building. They issued a poster for a free position. But that day, the bloody government decided to go around with guns, shooting anyone that they thought didn't belong there, rebels of course. And of course my pa in his shaggy ripped clothes got mistaken for some rebel and shot ten times after he got tortured for information regarding The Alliance. It was in the newspapers,” Kyle reaches for a pocket inside his jacket, pulling out a crumpled up paper. “Here,” He passes it over to me, a bald spotted man, who looks just about in his mid 50’s looks up to the camera. His eyes wide open, like a crazy person’s. I pass the paper back to Kyle, “A friend of ma’s, she was part of The Alliance, she managed to hook us up with Pearson. I wanted to help and after a lifetime of banter with ma, she let me join. Pearson found me a role, to check on you. She had a spy inside Veritas, during one of your tests, he implanted the communication system in you,” 
“Well...Thank you for your help,” I tell him.
“Don't thank me. I’m just here to avenge my pa,” I take the seat next to Kyle and silence evades everything. “You know if I had a chance to go up against them, I’d take every shot I could,” He adds. Is knowing your father before he died worse than never knowing your dad? Whilst I sit drowned in my own thoughts, my eyes grow heavy. I fight to keep them open but it is all futile. Darkness seeps in before finally consuming me in deep sleep. I dream of violence, raging fires and wars. It is vivid enough to be real, but it is something that will soon become reality. The nightmare goes on for what feels like hours on hours, a non stopping punishment. Thankfully a thud wakes me up from my nightmare, we have landed. Kyle has already left, I scramble out of my seat and open the door to the compartment block. People are scrambling out of the Bulk but I stay behind, I’m going back there after all. All I hear is screams, cries and wails. They’ll be safe here. I know it.
“Boo!” Ares screams behind me, making me jump in fright.
“What do you want?” I ask, skeptical of what Ares wants to say.
“Look here, this is our fight just as much as it is Pearson’s. So Alec, Soren and I have decided that we’re going to team up, just like the old times before Veritas. We leave and fight the AIC,” He says in one breath as I struggle to keep up with him. “We’re catching a jet over to the Safe Cities. So are you in or not?”
“I don't know Ares-”
“Great! The jet is in the Hangar. So if you want to join, we’re leaving in 10 minutes,” He plasters on his boyish grin and pushes past the crowd to get outside. An hour ago I would have called Ares crazy for daring to go against The AIC, but now I’m doubting it. What Kyle said sticks to me, like ice-cream residue stuck to you on a hot summer's day. What if fighting could cause more change than lurking around, rounding up people to bring to Veritas. I know what to do.
“So the little saviour has decided to join the fight!” Alec crackles, five minutes later.