The Flare

The Rally

       The week that followed their meeting with the respective leaders of the Mutes and the raiders was one of the most physically laborious that Gerard had ever experienced. But it was also the most hopeful. He'd spent the majority of his life living… just to live. Now, with his brother and their friends, he was working towards something. Something real.

       They couldn't clean the air or make the sun come out again but they thought that, just maybe, they could make their little slice of the world a better place. All four of the young men were happy just to be doing something. It wasn't, however, without emotional turmoil.

       There was the little task of not only keeping the raiders and Mutes from murdering one another, but also convincing them to join forces as a united front to take down Capo and The Dreamers. Gerard had been struggling to think of how they should approach them, knowing they would likely be furious for having been duped into commiserating with their enemies. If they didn't say precisely the right things, they would have a blood bath on their hands.

        Frank was struggling with the inevitable revelation of the true identity of Gerard and Mikey's father. He kept waiting for the perfect to tell them the truth but days came and went and, still, he couldn't bring himself to tell them. How could he tell the man he was falling in love with that his father was a bloodthirsty predator?

       Despite their concerns, the young men awoke before dawn and headed into the city. They met at the Eastern edge of the city and for the first two and a half days, they spent their time searching for sturdy wood and nails, which was harder than any of them anticipated. They caught a lucky break and found a good amount of lumber in the wreckage of a hardware store but most of what they brought back were broken pieces of salvage.

       Once that task was completed, they faced an even more daunting chore; the actual raising of the stage. They had no blueprints or, really, any carpentry experience between them but Frank found a basic building manual in Billie's small library and they were determined. Frank assured them that it was necessary. He said that whenever leaders in the past needed to unite the masses, they always gave a grand proclamation on a magnificent stage. Gerard didn't have the heart to remind Frank that it was those so called leaders who had created the wasteland they lived in.

       So for those four days, they worked their fingers to the bone, day and night, building the stage which they hoped would bring positive change to their world. They fell into their beds, each night, exhausted beyond compare. They slept little and rose, having gotten little rest, to do it again the next day. But as physically trying as it was, nonetheless, they had fun.

        They got splinters and bruises, yes, but they also told jokes, shared stories and grew inevitably closer. Gerard was sure he learned to understand his brother better in those seven days than he had in the twenty-five years since his birth. It may have looked like a silly project to an outsider but, in that week, Gerard realized that he wouldn't hesitate to trust these men with his life.

       And with half a day to spare, the stage was finished. It was in no way grand or magnificent. The wood was cracked and unpolished. It was unleveled and taller than it should have been in some places. They were forced to substitute heavy, stacked pieces of rubble for stairs.

       That afternoon though, the young men stood several feet back, admiring their handy work. As Frank laced his through Gerard's, there was an intense feeling of pride amongst the companions.
“Let's test it out!” Mikey called and broke apart from the troop.

         The others looked at him as though the thought had never occurred to them and raced after him. They stepped one by one up the concrete stairs and stood along the length of the stage. It creaked underfoot but, thankfully, held their collective weight.
“Is it bad that I'm tempted to jump?” Frank asked, with his eyes aglow.
“DON'T!” the other men yelled out at once, much to Frank's amusement.