Clouds of Tyranny (6 page)

“You must be Terra!” said
the girl gleefully. Her voice was bouncy and bubbly like she was a
four year old being pushed on a swing. She had the kind of voice
that you couldn’t help but smile when she spoke, which is exactly
what Terra did. “Yeah, that’s me,” said Terra happily,
Wow, her happiness is contagious,
Terra thought. “I’m Ruth, but call me Ruthie…it’s
way cuter,” giggled Ruthie. “Okay, I have to go give my report.
Ruthie, can you issue her a bed, give her a snack and show her to
Smith’s room in about thirty?” chimed in Locke. “O-ffimative!”
saluted Ruthie. Locke nodded at Terra and walked towards the door
and exited the room. “Handsome, mean Locke. You think he’s cute?”
giggled Ruthie. “Yeah, I guess,” shrugged Terra trying to pretend
like she wasn’t attracted to him. “Anyways,” said Ruthie, “This
will be your bed. Right across from me and don’t worry I cleaned
the sheets and blanket. Do you have any possessions?” Terra
frowned, “No, Locke saved me in the middle of the forest and he
thought it would be safer to get me here right away. So, I didn’t
bother to ask if we could stop at my cabin to pick up a few things.
All I have is this!” she said as she reached to the back of her
dress and retrieved the .45 and pulled the magazines from her skirt
pocket on the side. “Hmmm,” pondered Ruthie. “Well, we have tons of
books, blank journals, and clothes. So…” “Okay,” answered Terra as
she placed her .45 and the two refills beneath her pillow. Ruthie
lifted her mattress and retrieved a brown bag, “Here,” she offered
shoving the bag towards Terra. Terra looked inside, it was some
kind of dried meat that smelled very potent. “Its like a steak you
can eat with your hands. Very chewy,” explained Ruthie dipping her
hand inside to retrieve a piece for herself. Terra took out a small
piece and bit down. She had to pull hard to get it to break in her
mouth, but enjoyed. “Mmm, that’s very good,” said Terra. “Hey!”
said Ruthie loudly, “Check out what else I made.” Ruthie modeled
her gloves for Terra; she clapped her hands together a single time
and three sharp two inch studs popped out. She flipped her hands
over and banged her wrists together and they retracted. “Wow,” said
Terra as she chewed the dried meat, “You make that for a soldier?”
Ruthie looked at her seriously, “Yeah. Me!” Terra swallowed hard,
‘You’re…a soldier? Your so young,” she said surprised. Ruthie
seemed a little offended; “I’ve got seniority over half the
soldiers here! I’ve been fighting since I was six.” She said this
like it was a good thing. Terra looked deeply into her eyes and saw
an innocent little child with a happy and pure heart, “Have…you
ever killed anyone?” she asked not wanting the negative answer. “Of
course. I’m a soldier! But, don’t worry, they were all imperials so
I’m not a murderer.” She began laughing hysterically. Terra didn’t
understand, but then again she didn’t know what the Empire’s
purpose even was. After all, Terra had been in seclusion for as
long as she could remember. “So,” said Ruthie, “Can I see it?”
“What?” “You know…the power? Or will it destroy this room.” Terra
slumped down on the bed, “Why does everyone think I have powers?”
“Cuz you do, honey.” “Ruthie? Can you tell me all the rumors you’ve
heard about me?”

CHAPTER 5: THE
EMPIRE

Locke stood in the corner of the large room as Smith
spoke; it aggravated him that Smith had such a nice place to sleep
and think while everyone else had to squeeze side by side in the
dorms just because he was friends with the founder of the
Returners. Smith’s room had mahogany floor, shiny freshly painted
walls, walls lined with books, and hand stitched linens on his bed
over in the corner. Smith sat at his desk, which was in the center
of the room while Locke pretended to listen. To Locke, the real
Returners were the ones who risked their lives everyday to learn
new information, fight battles against the Empire, and leave HQ to
get necessities like food, clothing, and weapons. Locke nodded at
the unimportant air protruding from Smith’s mouth like a waterfall
of redundancies.

“I understand you’re a man,” lectured Smith,
“Men have needs, I know this. But, she is a nurse and when she has
other things on her mind, like you, she can’t be the best medical
personnel member she can be.” Locke was waiting for a break in
Smith’s ranting to get a word in, “Am I being whined to because I
dated her or because I separated myself from her?” “Both. I have a
new rule within these walls starting today. No dating of any kind.”
“What about the couples with children we’re protecting? Separate
em?” “Of course not. That’s pre-existing so it’s not breaking any
of my rules. Speaking of which; you explained all the rules of
headquarters to Terra, yes?” “No.” “Why not?” “Hmm, lets think. Cuz
in the last twenty-four hours eight men have tried to capture her,
she has seen more blood shed since dawn than most people see in a
lifetime. I was almost killed and she was forced to leave her home,
which was a very peaceful place; we are both a little fucking
tired!” Locke screamed at Smith, as he slammed open the door
against the wall, “Prick,” mumbled Locke as he went through the
doorway, not shutting the door behind because he knew that Smith
hated it when his door was left open, so he always did it.

“Let me get this straight: supposedly people think I
can gather elements in my ‘INO’, as you call it, and can use them
later to burn, freeze, wet, or blow things with my mind? There has
to be a mistake, maybe it’s someone else. I can’t do those things,”
Terra explained to Ruthie. “If it wasn’t true, Smith wouldn’t have
let you enter our home. He can sense these things; he was known as
a prophet long ago. You sure you can’t do anything extraordinary?”
Terra looked around and saw a dried out rose on the floor; she
stood and went over to where it was laying and picked it up. She
held the blackish, faded rose in her left hand as she ran her
fingers over the petal and before Ruthie’s eyes it flourished; the
dark green stem brightened into a moist lime color and the petals
were being reborn in seconds, wetting themselves with life and
becoming a shiny crimson as the petals regained their state of
beauty from its first moments of maturity. “See? That’s it,” said
Terra as she handed it to Ruthie. “Wow,” exclaimed Ruthie, “Its
like it was just picked a second ago.” “Well, that’s all I can do.
Except…” “What?” said Ruthie moving her eyes from the rose to
Terra. “Today, I pushed a man as hard as I could when he was gonna
shoot Locke. And…he fell back a long way. Could it have been an
adrenaline soaked feat of strength or a miracle? You know, like I
was meant to save Locke?” “I don’t think so. Here,” said Ruthie as
she handed her book to Terra. Terra took the book and gazed at it,
“’Good or Evil: the curse of the mutated’… what?” “It’s a book
about the ancient peoples with elemental powers and special
abilities back when the world had ‘power plants’. Apparently they
were able to make human beings like we make soup and these ‘clones’
as they call em had powers as well. I started reading it when I
heard you were coming so I would know more about you. But, now it
appears you need the book more than I do.” Ruthie let out a soft
giggle in an attempt to break the sadness. Terra slipped the book
under her pillow. “Come on,” said Ruthie as she rose to her feet,
“Time to go see Smith.” “Okay,” said Terra as she started walking
along side of Ruthie. “Tell me, why does Locke hate him so much?”
asked Terra. “I don’t think he hates you,” said Ruthie rolling her
eyes at Terra, “He’s just a very cold person when you first meet
him, he’s terrible at sensitivity and friendliness.” “Oh, I guess I
don’t know much about boys, even less about men,” said Terra
realizing that she was being judgmental of Locke, “By the way,
what’s that foreign language on his sword?” Ruthie began walking
Terra toward the door leading out of the dorm while she talked,
“It’s Italian for ‘For my son’.”

Locke sat at a dining table with a chunk of
crusty bread, a lit cigarette, and a glass bottle filled with a
light brown liquid. Next to Locke was a man around the same age;
spiky brown hair, three days of growth on his jaw and neck, a plain
black T-shirt underneath a faded gray trench coat that draped over
the bench he sat on. “Locke, come on. You know we’re the reasons
why these people are alive and have food to eat, who cares if Smith
realizes it? If it weren’t for us, they’d be dead; one way or
another.” “No shit. Ray, he just pisses me off. Why is he allowed
to survive when Alisa isn’t? It’s not fair; God is such a-“ “Whoa!
Whoa! I’m not gonna talk to you if your gonna blaspheme again. You
know how I feel about my religion and I know how you feel about
yours, lets just drop it.” “Sorry, it’s the anger talking, not the
heart.” Locke took a deep puff on the rolled cigarette and swigged
on the alcohol in the unmarked bottle. When the bottle left Locke’s
lips, Ray put his hand out for a pass off at which Locke obliged
him and Ray took a big drink himself. “Dammit! I have to talk to
him again to get my next mission.” “I got the info already,” said
Ray passing the bottle back to Locke. “Good. What is it? Partners?”
“Sorry, you by yourself again and I’m with Pearl and Clyde.” “Damn,
is he trying to get me killed. My last five missions have been
solo…what’s the job?” asked Locke taking the second to last drink
still left in the bottle. “Your doing reconnaissance in Pan’dier
for information on the Empire’s next target, but no rescuing or
getting involved with the town.,, you know, stealth. He wants you
to be a ghost basically. Apparently, it’s crawling with imperials
including a couple lieutenants and a general maybe. Sound good?”
“Not really.” “You have to enter through the sewers.” “Come on!!!
Geez. I hate that man so much.” “But fear not, you don’t have to
sneak in till after sun up, so…bottoms up!” said Ray dumping the
bottle upside down into his mouth. Locke smiled; Ray was one of his
oldest friends and good at cheering him up. Locke watched as he saw
Terra and Ruthie walked through the dining room into the closed
door marked ‘Returners’ on the other end of the room leading to
Smith.

“Wow, if I was Locke I’d hate him too,” said
Terra as they walked past the dining tables talking of Smith and
Locke’s history. “Yeah, but he is in charge, right?” Said Ruthie
rhetorically. After opening the door, Terra saw yet another long
hallway with four doors on the left and three doors on the right as
well as a door that stood alone at the end of the hallway before
the corridor took a right turn. They walked to the door and Ruthie
looked at Terra, “Here ya go,” she said patting her on the back,
“See ya later.” Ruthie walked back down the hall and through the
door from whence they came leading back to the dining area. Terra
took a deep breath and entered Smith’s chambers expecting the
worst.

She closed the door behind
her and saw the old man sitting to the desk in the center of the
room; on the desk was a clean, brand new blue bandana folded in a
triangle. “Have a seat miss Terra,” he said motioning to the wooden
chair with no padding that sat across from him. She humored him and
sat down atop the back of her skirt, crossing her legs. Both of
them were quiet for several seconds before Smith spoke the first
word. “Tell me, what do you know of the Empire and the Returners?”
asked Smith. She sat there thinking; she didn’t know much about
either of them seeing as how she spent half of her life on the
southern part of the continent before it was overrun by imperials
and the other half of her life alone in a cabin by the pond away
from all civilization. “Umm, well, the Empire is this continent’s
government, right? They handle bandits and lawbreakers and collect
money for the taxes and various debts. And, uh, well…” she paused,
everything she had heard about the Returners was negative and
insulting so she had to make it sound like hearsay, “I have
heard…um, rumors…that the Returners are kinda…vigilantes…rebels
that want to bring down the government and revert us back to the
Stone Age. Their against the advancement of civilization.” “Wow,”
exhaled Smith, “Sounds like an imperial flier. The truth is; they
break the laws at their pleasure, accuse people of being bandits so
they have someone to blame, and they don’t ‘collect’ money, they
take it whenever they please. As for our group: the Returners seek
the liberalization of the communities from the Empire. We want this
to be a peaceful land once again, like when I was a child, by
ridding it of the tyranny of the imperials. What you have heard is
propaganda to cover the truth; go to any town on this continent and
you’ll see the truth for yourself. Rapes, murders, towns being
stripped of all their resources to feed the fascists. Children
being abducted at a very young age to be trained as an imperial
soldier. If it weren’t for propaganda, there would be no Empire.
The people of this land are told what to believe and how to think
and feel. And if something isn’t done; the entire western continent
will have the same fate and the entire planet will be at their
mercy. That is when we will all become their slaves.” Terra sat
there letting everything he was saying sink in. “What does that
have to do with me? I’m no soldier. I can’t see myself helping
either of you. Can’t I just go home?” “It’s your power Terra.” When
he spoke the word ‘power’ his jaw tightened and she could see that
he was not unlike the Empire in the sense that he craved it as
well; for good or evil? She did not know. “Listen, I have heard of
this ‘power’ a few times now, I don’t have it. The only things I
can do are heal minor injuries and increase the growth and
resurrection of plants, that’s all. I can’t hurl fireballs or
create tidal waves or whatever it is you think I’m capable of. That
being said; I hope you will still allow me to stay here till the
Empire realizes I am not who their looking for.” Smith sat there
looking into here eyes, as Terra looked into his, he didn’t believe
a word. “Of course you may stay, this is a sanctuary for those in
need. Here,” he handed her the blue bandana. She hesitated for a
moment then finally took it in her hand and looked at it. “You put
that on when you’re ready. I just assumed you knew of your powers;
your mother must have kept that to herself. The power was been
known to pass down from mother to daughter and just the fact that
you can heal is proof you have it to at least a small degree. The
only question here is when you realize it’s true potential.” Terra
looked up from the new article she held and looked into Smith’s
eyes, “How did you know my mother? Or me for that matter?” Smith
smiled at Terra, “I named you. Though you never saw me, I watched
over you and your mother for many years.” She stood from her
gripping the cloth tight in her fist and walked to the door. As she
placed her hand on the steel knob she said, “How did you meet her?”
“We met up when she was pregnant with you and I offered my help. I
promised to help you as well.” Terra exhaled depressingly; she
wanted to more know but she remembered something her mother taught
her,
Never ask questions, just wait for
the answers you seek for they shall come if you are patient and you
pay attention.