Rise Against the Faultless (17 page)

“You’re all coming with me.
Right now,” Terra Sharp looked angry. I put my hand on the knife I had stashed
in my holster, ready to slit her throat and secure her silence, but instead I
stopped. The only thing that would secure would be that I never saw Dale again.
Terra was alone. How had she found out? The others looked to me and I nodded,
giving them my consent to follow her. We only had twenty minutes left to get
back to our beds.

Terra quickly led us back to a
large office. It was clean and organized, just like Terra. There was plenty of
room in it for all of us. Then, when she shut the door, I saw Frank standing
behind it. “Traitor!” I growled out at him. I started for him, but Shane
grabbed me by my arms to stop me.

“Stop. Sit. Please,” Terra
demanded in her cool calm tone. Then, she did something curious. She reached
below her desk and hit something. Did she also have something that could
scramble signals like my mother had?

“You have exactly three minutes
to explain yourselves or I will bring you directly to Master Chief Brutus,”
Terra looked at me waiting, but I remained silent. Opening my mouth now could
seal all of our fates.

I glared at Frank until he
spoke up, “Tell her, Raily. It’s fine.” I glanced at Shane and then Cyril. I
figured I had nothing to lose. She’d already caught us leaving, which was a
crime. I could just imagine Larry Northcott now, reporting the news, “Raily Stone,
earlier chosen for Command just this year, has committed the first crime in the
United States in fifteen years.”

I took the seat, “Fine. My
brother was taken. Kidnapped from our home four nights ago. I’m going to get
him back.” I said it with all the confidence I could muster. I kept my hand on
my knife so that Terra knew that if she planned on detaining us, that I would
kill her to get to him. I felt the sting of betrayal from Frank. Why had I
trusted him so easily?

Terra glanced down at my hand
on my knife. I did not waver. I was all in now. She raised her eyebrows at me,
“And it seems as if you’re willing to do anything to get him back. Am I correct
in my assumption?”

“Yes. I will do anything.
Whatever it takes,” I slowly got back up to my feet, “That includes leaving you
and Frank dead on this very floor.” At that, Jubal, Lo, and Shane all put their
hands on their weapons, ready to draw with me. It was at this moment that I was
sure of their dedication.

Neither Frank nor Terra
flinched at my remark. Then Frank started to smile, “I told you, she’s exactly
who we need.”

“Very good,” Terra said, “We
will help you, Raily. There’s no need to murder us. We’re on your side. I’ve
seen the courage you display and the way the others rally behind you, the loyalty
that you inspire. They will follow you. But this is bigger than you or your
brother. I can see now that you are ready for this. The Defectors are larger
than we realized, they outnumber us, but we’ve grown in number as well. There
are others out there, who are ready to fight. We’ll do everything we can to get
your brother back, but understand this, that it’s just the beginning. I assume
you know not to say anything here, they’re listening. We’re out of time. You
all need to get back. Go out again tomorrow. Continue with your mission, no one
will disturb you. We’ll meet later.” She reached under her desk again to push
the button.

I looked her in the eye without
moving my hand from my weapon. If what she said was true, I felt like our
chances were getting better and better. If she was lying, we’d be dead before
we got back to our rooms.

We left, all but running back
to our beds. We only had five minutes left to get there, and after what we’d
been through so far, it’d be a shame to be caught on a technicality. I got back
to my room, and Adrian was still there, waiting in my bed. He was wide awake
and looked like a nervous wreck.

I slipped into the bed beside
him, “You know, you didn’t have to stay here. You’re not the one leaving
campus.”

“Actually, I’ve been also
including myself. I didn’t want them to rush in and check me because my heart
rate has been so out of whack.”

“You’ve really been worried,
haven’t you?”

 “Rai, I’ve cared about you for
a long time, longer than I care to admit really. If anything happened to you, I
don’t know what I’d do.”

“I care about you, too, and
thanks. For everything. We couldn’t do this without you.”

“Oh you mean you couldn’t
reprogram everyone’s PID? I thought you were really into technology? Is that
not true, cuz then I don’t think we are really gonna work out,” then laughed at
me and gave me a quick peck on the lips.

“Very funny, smart guy. Now, we
have to get some rest.”

“Darn, I had that whole speech
and everything.”

“Ha ha ha, “I feigned laughter,
“Go to sleep.” He wrapped both arms around me and the next thing I remembered
was waking up just in time to throw on my clothes and get to the Training Room
without breakfast.

 I walked in to see Shane and
Ann waiting for me. They were chatting together, but stopped when I got in
there. I started to worry again. I knew that Cyril thought it was ok to trust
him, and the way he lunged at Jubal the night before when he thought Jubal was
going to attack me had brought me closer to believing in him, but I still
wasn’t completely sure. I then looked down at my PID and realized that Cyril
wasn’t there. Cyril had never been late. She had only come close to being late
on that first day when she was lost. My heart sank down into my stomach. I
hadn’t seen her since I sent her back to the Training Compound alone last
night. She was supposed to rally more people, but what if she’d run into
trouble? What if one of them ratted us out?

I looked at Shane, and saw that
he had just noticed Cyril’s absence. I had barely made it under the wire. I glanced
at Ann. I didn’t want to bring up Cyril in case Ann didn’t know if she was late
or not, but as if reading my mind, Ann spoke up, “Cyril is under the weather
today and will not be joining us. She should be back in tip top shape by
tomorrow. I’m sure you’re concerned, I’ve noticed you two have become close.”

I didn’t want to feel relieved
too quickly, it could be a ploy, “Well, I don’t think it would be very wise to
anger someone who so often handles my drinking water, so I let her believe we
are friends.” Ann would probably like that since she thinks so little of those
in Service.

She let out a little chuckle of
appreciation, “I see. You two can be on your way.”

Shane and I left for training.
He didn’t speak at first then let out, “I trust you and Adrian rested well.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to
him, “I’m fine.”

We didn’t speak for the rest of
the walk over. He helped me train, but did not flirt with me. It was an awkward
time. At lunch, I went to Cyril’s room to check on her, but she wasn’t there. If
she was truly sick, maybe she was in the infirmary. I didn’t have enough time
to go see, so I went to the dining hall and ate as much as quickly as possible
before heading back to training.

As the day wore on, I got more
and more worried about Cyril. Had they taken her? Was she ok? Was the baby ok?

 I could barely concentrate and
kept making mistakes. Shane chided me and told me to get my head in the game.
He may not need sleep or worry, but I do. I kept checking the time, waiting to
be released so I could go find Cyril. The day was finally over, so I rushed to
the infirmary to look for her, but she wasn’t there either. I decided to go
take a much needed shower and continue my search afterwards.  She had to be
here somewhere. I was right, she was waiting outside of my door when I walked
back to my room. She looked terrible. She was white as a ghost. Her eyes had
dark circles under them and her nose was red. Her shoulders were shaking up and
down from crying. I let her in and sat her on the bed.

“Cyril! Thank goodness, are you
ok?”

“No, I’m not, Raily. They took
her.”

“Who? They took who?”

“They took my baby. It was a
girl, Raily. They took my baby girl from me.”

Cyril was an absolute mess and
I could tell that she was still in shock over it. She sat on my bed, staring at
the wall and sobbing. I sat next to her and put my arm around her. We sat there
for a long time. The longer we sat, the angrier I got. All the people we had
already lost to the Defectors kept swimming through my mind. I looked at what
they had taken from me, from us, and felt the rage growing inside of me. Cyril
was right. Terra was right. This couldn’t just end with Dale. It wasn’t just
about the Defectors. This wasn’t the Defectors at all, it was our corrupt,
controlling government. They were just as much to blame for our heartaches as
the Defectors were. Our society was broken and would only get worse until we
stood for what was right. I couldn’t be so short sighted anymore, not if we
were going to have any sort of future at all. I brought Cyril out to the
turbines.

“Tell me what happened.”

“I did like you asked. Last
night, I went to get others, people who would fight. We came out here. I told
them about Dale, and about Ambree. Some of the others have lost people, too.
These were people we can trust Raily, and they’re ready. Some of their parents
have lost children,” she choked on the last word at the thought of losing her
child, the lost opportunity of being a parent. “I’d just made it back to my
room and was beginning to fall asleep when they came for me. It was two men,
they said I had to come with them and wouldn’t tell me why. I was scared they
had figured us out, but then they brought me to a back room in the infirmary. A
man and woman came in wearing gloves.  The woman looked so… uneasy. It must
have been her first time. The man was explaining to the woman how this was
standard procedure. How the pill they give us has a failure rate of .001% and
that this happened from time to time. He never looked me in the eye, but she
did. That’s when I realized they were going to take her.” Cyril stopped talking
for a moment, “I thought for a minute the woman might help me, but she just
watched. I fought the two men holding me down. One of them will never be able
to see out of his left eye again, but they were too strong, I couldn’t stop
it,” Cyril was openly weeping again, “I tried to, but I couldn’t. I begged and
pleaded. I kept saying, ‘Please I’ll do anything,’ but they just ignored me.
After I attacked the two men holding me, they injected me with something that
paralyzed me. I couldn’t speak or move, but I was awake for the entire thing. I
just laid there crying, unable to save my child.” I was crying with Cyril now,
“The woman cried too, but she didn’t stop it. She just watched. The man patted
her shoulder and told her this was all part of the guidelines of the government
and it would become routine for her one day, just as it had for him. It would
just take time and that she would get used to it just like everyone else.”

“I thought for a minute, when
it was all over that they would kill me, but they didn’t. I hoped they would,
but they didn’t. They just said I could leave when I was able to walk again. If
I am going to see a darker day on this earth, I can’t imagine it.”

“I’m so sorry, Cyril.”

“Me, too. And I’m glad they
didn’t kill me, because then I couldn’t do what we’re about to do, I couldn’t
get my revenge.”

“You’ll get it.”

“Tonight, I’m staying again.
I’ll be here, gathering more people, that’s what I’m best at anyway, besides
now you have Shane.”

I brought Cyril back to her
room and left her there. She needed time to herself and I needed rest. First, I
needed to relax. I was a complete ball of nerves. I went to the dining hall and
swallowed my food whole without chewing. Then I went straight for the lounge.
If I was going to sleep at all I’d need help. I drank my limit and then headed
back to my room. The alcohol did its duty and I was asleep a few minutes later.
My dream was vivid, as if it were really happening. I was at the camp. Ann was
there, and when she saw me, she wasn’t mad. She smiled and waved me over, as if
I were an old friend she hadn’t seen in a long time. Mom, Dad, Ari and Dale
were there too. They asked me to sit next to them, so that we could watch the
next fight. They were pitting the teenagers against one another again. I
cheered alongside them as we watched, one after the other fall to the brutal
display. I woke up disturbed and still exhausted, but it was time to go out
again.

When we were outside of the
Compound, I made the others put their clothes on over their suits, “We’re not
going to be able to take this place by storm, there’s too many of them. But
we’ll use it to our advantage. We’re not so old that we can’t blend in and they
can’t all know each other. I still don’t understand it, but for some reason
they have the freedom to be able to walk around, unimprisoned. Stealth is our
tactic. We get in and out as quickly as possible. If we’re seen, we act as if
we’re supposed to be there.”

“But our PID’s what if they see
them?” Lo asked.

“Cover them up with your
sleeves. We’ll do a perimeter check first and find the weakest point for entry.
Then we go in, find Dale, and get out. Let’s go.”

We arrived back at the camp at
the same point as before, but we didn’t go near that spot. If anyone was
looking for the man Jubal killed, they’d start where he was last seen. We rode
to the west of the camp and closed the distance on foot. The first spot we
checked was no good. There were at least five guards walking around, looking
like ants on discarded food. They were more alert tonight. We went back to our
bikes and kept riding round until we saw a tall chain link fence surrounding an
office building of sorts. It was dark and we couldn’t see any guards around.
They figured they’d let the fence be what kept intruders out, but, if we could
get over it without being seen, it could be our way in. The apartment buildings
were only a few blocks away. One by one, we helped each other over the fence
and into the office building’s yard. Shane broke into the building and we made
our way out through the front door and into the street. As we got closer, we
could hear drunken shouts from the way of the apartments. We hid behind a large
brick building, before we spotted a large group of kids. They were obviously
wasted. Most were stumbling around. They were being loud and obnoxious. They
were our way in.

There was only one guard, not
far from the large group of kids. He was standing watch at the end of the
street. We just had to wait until he was distracted long enough for us to
approach the group. We waited patiently, until the guard heard another group
down the street. Just another group of kids, fighting. He yelled at them to cut
it out and we took our opportunity. We got close enough to them to see their
faces, none of them were Dale. We spread out enough that we blended in. Soon
they were speaking to us and offering us beers. I had the urge to grab all of
them up and bring them with me. They couldn’t know what was going on. I spotted
Shane and nodded my head towards the building. He joined me and we walked into
the first apartment, Lo and Jubal joined us not long after. “We need to split
up, but only Lo and I know what Dale looks like. Shane and I will take the top
two floors, you guys take the bottom.”

The first apartment we tried
was unlocked. We walked in and two girls stood, looking at us, “Sorry, wrong
apartment.” They thought nothing of it. We went door to door. Some, Shane had
to break into, others were open, others were empty. One, there was a sleeping
boy with light brown hair about Dale’s height. My heart skipped a beat as I
raced to the boy to wake him up, but when I turned him around, it wasn’t Dale.
I didn’t even explain myself to the surprised kid, I just left. We went
downstairs to find Lo and Jubal, who’d had no luck either.  So we went to the
second apartment.

As Shane and I were walking
into the next building, I literally ran into a guard, “Hey! Watch where you’re
going.” He looked me in the eye. I averted my gaze to the ground and mumbled an
apology, not wanting to make an impression, but I kept my hand near my hip wear
I had the scorpion stashed. The guard just kept walking without a second look.
Shane and I exchanged glances, grateful of our luck.

The second apartment yielded no
better results than the first.  We were running out of time. We’d be lucky to
get back in time as it was, we had to get back. I went back to the door we had
come in to wait for Lo and Jubal. I glanced out of the window to see what
obstacles we’d be facing before leaving and just within my eyesight I spotted
four people, standing close together and talking. Three grown men, two I
assumed were guards because they were standing next to one of them, the other
looked to be a captain of sorts and I couldn’t see the fourth that the two men
were guarding.  I was about to look away when one of them stepped to the side
and I could see the last person. I reached out to grab Shane’s arm for support.
I blinked hard to make sure that what I was seeing was real. There, standing
and talking to an officer of the Defectors was my brother, Dale.