The Valuable

Chapter 12

I drag my exhausted body into a standing position at Rupert's waking call in the morning. Rubbing my eyes, I realize that I've only been sleeping for thirty minutes. Sighing, I ignore the nagging ache to close my eyes and go back to sleep and I follow Rupert to the edge of the hospital's roof.
"We need to take action today.", Rupert says, obviously distracted by his own thoughts.
I begin pacing back and forth as I try to come up with a grand scheme to overthrow The Leader and get a hold of the electronic chip.
"An army.", I mutter to myself, not realizing that I spoke aloud.
"Huh? An army?", Rupert asks curiously.
I look up at him with a twinkle in my eye.
"An army! It would be impossible to overthrow The Leader on our own, but if we have triple the people that she does, I think that we can do it!", I exclaim.
"You do have a point. Do you have any idea of where we can look to find people who our on our side and will fight for Joel with us?", Rupert asks.
Without saying a word, I motion for Rupert to follow me with an obnoxiously large grin on my face as I descend down the hospital's ladder to the street below.

I pull back on the gearshift in the disposal truck that Joel uses to rid the streets of rotten bodies. I thought that it would be best if we drove to find people for our cause so that we didn't use up all of our energy. Who knows how much running we'll have to do once The Leader knows what we are planning to do. Rupert groans in the passenger seat, obviously impatient.
"Calm down calm, we're almost there.", I sigh.
We eventually pull up to the disposal cliff, and as I expected, there is still a very long line of people winding around the small field. I push the driver-side door open and hop onto the burnt out grass. Smirking with satisfaction, I look towards Rupert expecting to see the same energetic smile on his face. Instead, I'm greeted with a small frown.
"This is your idea of an 'army'? A bunch of suicidal nobodies?", Rupert huffs angrily.
I'm taken aback.
"Suicidal nobodies? Do you even understand what these people are doing? They're killing themselves in protest of The Leader. They're on our side!", I yell.
After the sentence is out of my mouth I realize that it does sound a little crazy, but it's the best chance we've got as there is over one hundred people here now.
"Somehow I can't see the "sweet girl" that Joel always talks about in you.", Rupert mutters to himself.
Rolling my eyes, I decide to take this matter into my hands without his approval.
"Hey!", I yell as loud as I can. I suppose the crowd didn't hear me, because nobody reacts. After multiple more attempts to get their attention, I shrug, figuring that Rupert was probably right about these people. As I'm sulking back to the car, Rupert's voice booms loudly over the sound of the crowd.
"Hey, everybody! My friend here has something to say", he screams.
I perk up and turn around confidently. Stepping up on a nearby rock, I collect my thoughts and begin our proposal.
"Hello everyone. My name is Anastasia and I need your help. It's obvious that you don't agree with The Leader's decision, and you should be happy to know that we don't either.", I exclaim.
"Why would we be happy about that?", a person towards the back of the line yells, annoyed.
I gnaw on my thumb nail, feeling embarrassed and small. Squeezing my eyes shut, I gain the confidence to speak again.
"Well, I think that together, we can make a stand against her. For Joel.", I squeak.
The crowd goes completely silent and those at the front of the line stop the process of hurling themselves off of the cliff. It feels like hours before some speaks, but when they do, relief washes over me.
"For Joel!", a woman close to me chants. After a few awkward seconds, more people join in the chanting until the whole field is bellowing in the uproar. I smile hopefully at Rupert, and he tips his head slowly as if approving. Unable to help myself, I jump up and squeal in excitement as a plan forms in my mind. For the first time in weeks, I actually have hope that things will work out.