Revolutionary Love (The Revolution Series Book 1) (27 page)

I crouched behind bushes and waited. And waited. Eventually, the sun set and the animals came out. There was no movement. No cars. No nothing. Maybe he was going to come from another way. Maybe he wasn't even going to come for me. Maybe he didn't even know where I was.

When I heard the gravel crunch, I lifted my head and looked. There was nobody there. Next, I did something really stupid. Something you would see in a bad horror movie stupid.

"Hello?" I called out into the darkness.

Nothing. Nobody was there. I sighed in relief and stood up to stretch my muscles out. My body protested with every movement I made. I put my handgun in the back of my pants and walked out into the road. The moonlight casted a soft glow on the world, giving it a beautiful glow. I titled my head back to the moonlight and took a deep breath. I almost felt at peace.

"You're alive." An all too familiar voice breathed from behind me.

I didn't think about my actions. I just acted on impulse. I sprinted into Adam's arms and burst into tears. He held my fragile body as I openly cried. I was back in the safety of his arms. I knew I could trust him to keep me safe. To save me from myself. His warm, musky scent enveloped me. Heat radiated from his body and warmed me up.

Adam began to walk, forcing me to walk backwards. He was leading us off of the road. "Shh." He murmured, holding me a little tighter. I looked up into his green eye that shined in the dark.

"He killed Rugter." I choked out.

Adam squeezed his eyes shut, pain flashing across his face, then reopened them. "I heard your screams." He whispered, shaking his head back and forth like that could erase the memory.

Guilt consumed me. "I'm sorry."

Adam brushed the tears away from my eyes. "Don't be." He paused. "How are you alive?" He pushed my hair out of my eyes and frowned when he got a good look at my face.

"I managed to escape. I waited over here because I knew you would come for me." I gave him a faint smile. I was right. He was going to come for me. I buried my head in his chest, not caring about my over display of emotions. Adam attempted to let go, but I moved closer.

He put his hands on my shoulders and pried me off of him. "Look. I am not the only one who came to save you." Turning me around, he showed me the long line of people I had missed. I was so caught up in Adam, I missed the huge crowd of people behind him. Rebels. All of them wore rebellion attire. I could see Chantel slightly smiling. Maybe one day she and I could be friends. I was surprised when I saw Bret, Adam's and Seth's brother mixed in with the group of people.

I looked back at Adam. "What are they all doing here?"

Adam gave me a heavy look. "When I heard you over the radio and the message Stephan left for Seth, I knew where you would be. I rounded them all up. We are here to overtake Stephan's land and to kill him once and for all. The Unit has separated us and divided us until they had the upper hand. It's time we kill their leader and do the same for them. Without a leader, there will be chaos. They will be unorganized. We will bring our organization back and win this war once and for all."

I looked at all the people ready to go into battle. To fight for what they believed in. All those faces filled with hope and fear.

"Where is Seth?" I asked.

Adam placed his hand on the small of my back and led me to the group. "He left me a letter. He went on a mission and did not elaborate. He will be back. Eventually."

I felt like there was more to the letter, but I didn't push. It could wait. Right now we had a battle to fight and win. I could feel the hope blossoming in my heart and mind. I looked at Adam thankful for him. Once again when I was surrounded by darkness, he showed me the light.

As the group moved through the trees with stealth, Adam tried to convince me to stay behind. He stopped me when we could see the lights from the house in the distance.

"You can barely walk, Brianna. Remove your brave face and stay behind." Adam pulled me to a stop.

He was right. I could barely walk, but I needed to see Stephan go down. I needed to witness the life leave his eyes. After everything he has put me through, I needed this. I shrugged Adam's hand off of my shoulder and continued to limp with the group. Their steps were silent. My feet dragged on the ground making a lot of noise.

He walked in front of me this time to block my way. "I can't let you go. Remember what happened the last time you didn’t listen to me? I specifically told you to stay up on the roof and you came down anyways." His tone held a little bit of an accusation.

I took a deep breath in, only to have his musky scent surround me. When did he start smelling so good? I took one step back and crossed my arms. He was right. He did tell me to stay up there, but if I had not come down then we wouldn't have known where Stephan was.

I pushed him back a step, feeling every muscle in my body protest in pain. "You, my friend, are not the boss of me."

Adam touched my bruised cheek softly. "Is that what we are? Friends?"

I wasn't sure where that came from or even how to respond. My heart beat picked up a little bit and I broke eye contact. How did things even work here? The law said you couldn't date, stay out past dark, and you had to marry the person you had sex with. I gave him a curious look. Was he a virgin? Heat rose to my cheeks at my inappropriate thoughts. It's not like you could go on dates here. There were no movies and most people didn't have a car. What did people even do for fun?

I was about to walk into a battle and here I was contemplating the ways that people had fun. What was wrong with me? He was making my hormones shoot through the roof. Maybe I was about to start my period. I tilted my head slightly. I hadn't had my period in a while.

Adam placed both his hands on my shoulders and looked deep into my eyes. "This is why I can't let you go. You are not thinking straight. You just faced a traumatic experience and you appear slightly amused. You should be having a break down right now, not getting distracting thoughts. Your clothes are ripped, it's freezing out here, and you don't even appear cold. You are in shock."

Adams word rumbled around in my head. I couldn't keep up with what he was saying. What if I met him before? In my other life. Would we have gone on a normal date and did normal things? Maybe we would have gotten married, had two point five kids, and had a house with a white picket fence. Would he have wanted those things? What did he want out of life? Why was he such a good person? I placed my hand on his heart and felt the steady thud of it. My hands tingled where they came in contact with his skin. I felt his heart beat pick up.

His mouth was moving. He was still talking. He talked so much. If I was sexist and stereotypical, I would say he talked as much as a woman. My trance broke when I heard bullets fly past our head.

Adam covered my body and shoved me behind a tree. He was wearing all black. He easily blended into the dark. His body radiated heat onto my skin. Did he say I was cold? I felt cold now that I got a touch of his heat. Shouting surrounded us. I was lost in a daze. Adam's lips kept moving. He kept talking. I couldn't hear him. I just watched his mouth move. He had plump lips. I got a sudden urge to kiss him. He looked perfect. He looked like a warrior. A fighter. He was my fighter. Ever since I met him, he has been fighting.

Adam pulled away from me. I instantly missed the warmth from his body. My teeth began to chatter. Out of nowhere, I felt a sharp sting on my cheek. Noise flooded my ears. Overwhelming noise. Everything was clear now. I looked around. Lifting my hand to my cheek, I realized Adam had slapped me.

"Down! Get down!" Someone screamed in the distance.

Adam had a handgun out and ready. He looked all around, in battle mode. "Are you back?" He asked, giving me a fleeting look.

I nodded my head. I scooted closer to the tree when more bullets whizzed past us. Adam crouched down on one knee and leaned to the left and took a couple shots. His face was determined. He was in battle mode now.

I didn't have a weapon. I was marching in this field unarmed. Maybe I was in shock. Stephan was out there somewhere. He was out there shooting. Trying to kill us. I looked at the people blending into the dark. There were some bodies on the ground. There would always be bodies. The body count just got higher and higher. When would there be time to mourn all of these lost lives? Even the lives of The Unit deserved to be mourned. They were fighting for what they thought was right just like we were. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

When would it end?

Adam looked at me from his spot on the ground. "Can I trust you to stay here?" His voice was different, distant. He sounded like a robot. A killer. He was ready to march in there and take lives. I could lose him. He was all I had. He was the only person I had. My father left me easily. He knew who I was, yet he up and left. Seth didn't come to save me. I just had Adam and it made me want to hold onto him. I couldn't do this without him.

I nodded my head and watched as he slid between trees. I was here alone now. No weapon. The rebellion was pressing in on the house. The Unit did not expect to get caught here. Stephan got cocky. He basically broad cast to the country where he was. It wasn't like him to slip up like that.

I slid down the tree and sat on the wet grass. I was shaking from the cold. My body was beaten and bruised. The energy from earlier was fading. I listened to the gunshots, the shouting, and the screaming. A body thumped on the ground two feet away from me. I looked at the soldier. His eyes were blank, but his face was turned and staring at me.

I wanted to reach over and close his eyes. How many battles have I been to now? How many dead bodies have I seen? Why am I here? Of all things to happen to me when I died, how did I land here? What were the chances I would be reunited with my father? Is this where lost lives went?

Before I could think my actions through, I laid low on the ground and slid closer to the body. I felt guilty calling him that. 'The body'. He used to be a breathing man with feelings. Now he was just a corpse on the ground. He would be forgotten. In a hundred years nobody would remember him. Nobody would remember me. It was crazy how we all lived our lives wanting to make a difference just to be forgotten. Did these people even know who Barak Obama was? Did he ever make it into the history books? Did they know anything about Isis?

I grabbed his automatic gun and hid behind the tree again. It was now or never. I stood on shaky legs. I was going to be breaking my word with Adam. He would forgive me. He always did. I darted between all the trees pressing closer and closer to the house. Would a rebel accidently shoot me thinking I was a part of The Unit? Would the Unit shoot me knowing I wasn't on their side?

I wasn't here to kill The Unit. I was here to kill Stephan. I wanted him to die by my hands. He did this to me. He hardened my nice soft heart. He hung me from a ceiling and beat me senseless. He ripped every single finger nail I had off. He whipped me. He made me scream and made everyone listen to it. He took away lives form innocent people. He destroyed families. He was a power tripping asshole and I wanted to strip him from his power. I wanted him to hurt the way I did. I wanted him to feel everything I felt.

I made it to the house safely. My back was pressed against the wall. I stared out into the dark forest. Anyone could be behind those trees watching me. I slid along the wall until I made it to a window. I could see soldiers behind furniture aiming their guns to the windows. They were surrounded. There was no way out.

How would Stephan react? What would he do next? I thought for a few seconds. In the distance, I could hear a helicopter and it clicked in my brain. He was on the roof. He was going to escape! I looked around for a way up. There was a tree right by the house. All I needed to do was safely make it up the tree and onto the roof.

Looking around, I quickly ran to the tree. Strapping the automatic gun onto my back, I began my climb. The branches felt unsteady beneath me. I had a fear of falling and paralyzing myself. I climbed higher and higher until I made it to the second story. I was right. Something shifted in my stomach at the sight of Stephan standing with his back turned to me. He was looking out into the distance. The helicopter was getting closer and closer. This was my chance. There was a two feet jump from the tree branch to the roof.

I took the chance and jumped. My feet landed on the roof with a soft thud. Stephan didn't turn to face me. I think he knew it was me. He just continued to watch. The sky broke out into red as the sun began to rise. Shouts and screams still surrounded us.

"You are as intelligent as your father." Stephan's dark voice made chills crawl across my skin.

I didn't respond. The smart thing to do was to shoot him now. I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger. He may not have been my father by soul, but he was my father by blood. My hand shook as I watched him. All my rage from earlier disappeared into thin air. My imaginations of killing him left my mind.

Stephan looked behind him and made eye contact with me. "You predicted my next move. Just like I predicted yours." He turned back to the approaching helicopter. "I knew you would come back. I knew Seth wouldn't come to save you. He is out on a mission of his own. He's been trying to fulfill his mission since he was sixteen."

I knew Stephan wanted me to ask. I tried not to, but the question escaped my lips. "What mission?" What was more important to him?

"I can't answer that. I knew Adam would come to save you. I knew he would bring an army. What I did not predict was you escaping. Silly of me to leave the keys. I underestimated you."

If he knew Adam would bring an army, why wait? Why all this bloodshed? Nothing he was saying was adding up. It didn't make sense. I watched his posture. He was relaxed. He almost appeared content. He looked like a man with no regrets.

I looked back at the approaching helicopter, then back at Stephan. Stephan was unarmed. Although it was cold, he wore a fitted long sleeve shirt and fitted jeans. Why would he be up here with no weapon? Unless he expected to die. Maybe he knew his death was inevitable.

No. It still didn't make sense. Stephan was winning at this mind game. I couldn't keep up. He had an ulterior motive. Bright light broke out across the sky. The sun had officially risen. It was a new day. The helicopter was now a couple of minutes away.

It made sense. It finally made sense. Stephan wasn't up here to be saved. He was up here to kill us all. His soldiers, the rebellion, me, and himself. The helicopter had a bomb.

I gasped.

"It's too late, Brianna. The blast will be too big. There is no chance of survival." Stephan's voice was calm and steady.

I dropped my gun. "Stephan?"

He turned around. He sensed something odd in my voice. I was going to die and I knew it. He knew it. This was it. It was over.. I couldn't evacuate everyone fast enough. I couldn't save myself. I couldn't save Adam. There was no chance of survival. Tears blurred my vision. It was over. It was going to be over.

A part of my felt relieved, then I had that other part of me that couldn't give up. I had to keep trying. I didn't give up before and I could not give up now.

I walked to Stephan with slow and steady steps. He looked a little puzzled. I was unarmed just as he was. He looked at the gun behind me. He knew I had no intention of hurting him. I couldn't lose the good in my heart. I couldn't die angry and bitter. By now the tears were constant. I wrapped my arms around him and I hugged him. He stood there stiff as a board.

"I forgive you." I choked out.

I didn't know why he did the things he did. I didn't know why he was the way he was but everyone deserved forgiveness. He was a monster, but something had to have happened to him to make him this way. I took lives. I was just as guilty as he was. I couldn't go out this way, not with all this hate filling my heart. Stephan wrapped his arms around me tight. It hurt. I was surprised he did. He didn't seem like a man in touch with his emotions.