Republic of Tactics

Republic of Tactics: Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Mother and I are transported to sector twenty on our chariot. The outskirt people's only transportation.

Once inside, I look at my mother in the elevator. My anxiety reflects back from her eyes. We rush to room 442 as soon as the elevator doors open. A hospital guard escorting us from behind us. A nurse opens the door to the room, which lies ahead.

"Sweetie! O my-" my mother gasped at the sight of Derlie on the gurney.

Derlie had a long but thin scar on her arm and some bruises on her face and neck.

"What happened to her?" I ask the nurse who was replacing the bandages on a burn on her leg.

"She had an encounter with a melon bomb." The nurse said. I knew right away what she meant.

The main arsenal facility in the country always hides explosives in ordinary things. They are only used as a sign of warning to rebellious cities or defiant organizations.

My throat feels dry. We haven't had a warning attack since I was ten. That was when Dertus wanted to secede from the country.

I begin to feel panicked and even a little frightened of this situation. I then remembered Gavin.

"Where's her boyfriend... Gavin Tul-?" I say, but the nurse interrupts.

"Tully Gavin, is in extreme care." The nurse reads from a transparent neon board.

"What!" Shrieks Derlie in surprise.

"Asherman Derlie. No no, lay down!" The nurse warns Derlie sounding stentorian. She takes her board and rushes to Derlie. The room seems to spin and I feel severely uncomfortable.

There's a loud explosion sound that echoes throughout the hospital room. A hologram screen appears out of nowhere. Right next to the door. We immediately see a broadcast of President Dorothea.

"Do not panic fellow Dertusians. Yes, we are under attack," she swallows hard, "please shut in your chamber."

Every home or building has a chamber. It's just another name for a basement. I stare into the President's eyes. There is no way you cannot view the dishonesty in them.

"All access to the outside premises are not accessible. Please take cover and do not-" the broadcast is shut off with a diminuendo whoosh sound. Static replaces the President on the screen. The room begins to rumble. The entire screen defuncts and is no longer visible. Suddenly the door opens violently. A few seeping lights flicker on and off.

"Ashermans, hurry! We must evacuate!" There is a man standing in the doorway. He's tall and I can tell he's a chancer type of guy right away. Wait, who is he?

"No no, it's okay. I'm fine." Derlie tells the nurse,who insists her to stay in bed.

"The window's glass begins to crack. It galvanizes us to skedaddle from the room.

We take the flight of stairs up to the roof, as the man told us. We shouldn't be trusting him, but I mean, what else can we do.

"Can I ask for your name?" I say between breaths from all the running up the stairs.

"It's Wolace." He says.

"What about Gavin! Where is he?" Derlie is becoming angry.

"I'm pretty sure they all exited the building." Wolace tells her.

We have stopped at a set of large metal doors. There's a dial pad asking for five digits. Wolace pins it.

"Seven three- zero-seven three." I chuckle. He winces at me. Then grins. There's another boom that shakes what felt like the entire structure.

The twin doors open and we emerge out onto the roof. Which is now a landing pad with a hover plane waiting for our departure. We have all exited and we are making our way to the planes' entrance. Wolace enters first, then Mother, followed by Derlie and the nurse. I board last.

I hear the engines of the military planes overhead, fueled with bombs, when I place my foot on a step bar. I grab onto a handle wrapped in silicone when my other free foot fells like it's in mid air. It is. I look down to see the concrete roof crack to bits. It takes me one second to realize that the entire hospital structure has just collapsed right under me. And I boarded right in the nick of time. My heart rate increases tremendously when Wolace pulls me up. I have trouble speaking. I can see though the large oval window that the complete thirty story erected building collapsed to the ground in millions of pieces. Pillars of smoke scattered replaces skyscrapers downtown. I sit back into my cold metal chair beside Wolace.

"Wolace, what's going on?" I ask him, sounding sincere but honest.

"It's actually Sargent Wolace," he glances out the window then at me, "your grandfather was prosecuted about fifteen years ago. On this same day. Since you are an Asherman too, the city wants you to know the least as possible."

"Like what? I thought everything was back to normal." I tell him. Leaning forward in my seat.

"Exactly, you thought. To make things worse, Dertus is not just a city," Sgt. Wolace struggles to speak, "Dertus is the Capitol, of the country." He finally affirms.

Confusion replaces the shock in my head. Trying to acknowledge this unexpected information. I realize I increased my breath inhales and I try to slow it down.

"But how? Did all the civilians know this?" I ask. I feel betrayed.

"Only the ones that were against your grandfather's rebellion." He answers quickly, he's looking straight into my eyes and I can sense that he can see my pity. I am totally bewildered. What did actually happen?

"Where's my friend Koppe? Is he okay?" I begin to worry. The last past minutes have been striking, I forgot about him.

"If sector thirty four didn't get bombarded, he must fine." Sgt. Wolace replies. He stands up and walks over to the cockpit window and speaks to the pilot. This is crazy.

"Who are the attackers? Please don't tell me the enemies." I ask Sgt. Wolace.

He returns from the cockpit but doesn't sit down.

"Dorothea's soldiers, the Alphas." He responds. I nod in recognition. I look at Mother and Derlie including the nurse, who haven't spoken during the flight. Their look reads fear and vague from these circumstances.

"Where are we going?" I ask a little too rude. Sgt. Wolace looks out my window.

"Sector thirty four." He says.