The Insurrection

Chapter Five

 "None of us is as smart as all of us." ~ Ken Blanchard

We started calling some of the Liberators but of course, no one answered. Their addresses did not look current either according to Leon, who was checking whether some of these streets still exist. None of us thought this was going to be easy, but we have to get some of the Liberators' help if we want to do this. They have experience and age that we do not have.

"Why don't you try some of the addresses, they might be current," Taika says.

"They are not, trust me on this one. These streets are not home to houses anymore, they have not been for over thirty years now since the nuclear plants exploded. They must have put down fake leads to throw off UniFed if they ever got their hands on this." Leon says.

"But how do you know that for sure?" Taika asks.

He shows us the Commu screen and on it is what looks like a landmine that might have been a neighborhood, once upon a time. Leon says, "UniFed has surveillance everywhere, I just hacked into them."

"Then what are we going to do?" She exasperates.

"Maybe they have secret headquarters somewhere just like superheroes do," Alex says.

We all look at Alex in surprise.

"Alex, you might actually be right," Leon says.

I start looking through the safe box again and find a single piece of folded notebook paper. Unfolding it, I look down and find a single street name.

"Guys I think I found something," I say. They look down at the paper in my hand and Leon takes it from me to search up the street.

We wait for him until he says, "It is not something I can search up, which means it either does not exist or someone took great care in covering up the location."

I smile and say, "I think we got a lead. We need to prepare ourselves; wear suitable clothing and get some weapons and food."

"Where are we getting all that from?" Taika asks.

"If my parents started all this in the first place then they had to have their resources around somewhere," I say.

"Are we going back home to look for them?" Alex asks.

I look at him, "Yeah, I think we are."

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It is a risky call to go back there when UniFed might still be looking around for us, but there is no other option.

Being back in the place I called home for the longest time is bittersweet. I have so many memories in this house. These walls carried so much laughter and tears. So much love and warmth. They heard all the sweet, comforting conversations, and the long, serious ones. They saw all the hugs and affection and all the screams and fights. They protected a family of four from the storms and droughts, from the gunshots and bombs, from the never-ending hatred that the World keeps serving us.

Memory after memory assaults me as I lead them through the house, but after everything that has happened, it is hard to imagine living here anymore. It is too dangerous. I walk down the hallway that leads to the basement. When we used to live here, it would always be locked. I knew it had to have something that my parents did not want us to see. I was right too. Leon and I finally kicked open the door after a few failed attempts and the motion lights came on.

Leon whistles at all the technology in the house, "You have got a sweet house here, why did you move to the middle of nowhere in the woods again?"

"Courtesy of UniFed," I answered him quietly.

"Come on, we have to hurry up to get back to your brother, Alan," Taika reminds me.

We start looking through the basement, and to our amazement, there are all kinds of equipment here. From various types of weapons to black or camouflage clothing to heavy protective armor. We found backpacks to put as much of everything that we could. Taika found medical kits and stocked on those too. There was a carton of canned and packaged foods that were probably for the longer missions and tried to fit in as many as we could into our bags. Leon spotted earpieces and pocketed them as well.

"Alright is that everyth-" I start saying when we hear a gun's safety lock being knocked off.

We all freeze and look at each other wide-eyed. I start breaking into a cold sweat, as I hold a finger to my mouth and point to the door behind Leon. As quietly as possible we start heading to what used to be my dad's study.

But it might have been too late.