Revolutionary Love (The Revolution Series Book 1) (5 page)

I slipped the pistol into the back of my pants and sprang to my feet. Sanchez dropped to his knees first, then face planted the floor. I ran over to him and flipped him over. His eyes were blank. He was gone. I pressed my fingers into his throat searching for a pulse.

"No!" I screamed. There was nothing there. I pressed my head on his chest hoping to hear some kind of heartbeat. "Save him!" I screamed, looking at Adam.

Adam just stared at me. He said nothing. He did nothing.

"Don't you get it? This is a life! This was not your life to take! Who gave you the power to steal him from someone? Someone out there loves him and now you took him away!" Tears were streaming down my face.

My words did not affect him. "Don't you get it? He is a part of the problem. He takes children away from their parents, puts them in a system, and executes their parents. He strips people of their dignity, searches their homes, steals their rations, and then laughs as they struggle. He has murdered. He takes away the freedom from the people. He is a part of the problem, not the solution. He had to go. We did not want to use violence, but we were left with no choice."

I shook my head back and forth. He was lying. The law protected people from that. The constitution was there to protect the people so the government never got too strong. Adam was just a cold, blooded murderer.

"You are a murderer. Do not try and justify taking a life!" I looked at him with hatred. My heart hurt for the dead body lying under my hands. I had never seen someone die before. There was no coming back from that. I did not even like Sanchez. I wanted nothing to do with him, yet here I was crying for him.

Adam appeared in front of me. His hands wrapped around my throat and he lifted me until I was pressed against the wall. I started coughing and scratching at his hands. He was too strong. "This innocent act you have going on is not going to fool me, Evelyn. I know you. I have seen the things you have done. What? Your head gets blasted in a bomb so you want to play stupid?" Rage filled his green eyes. "You cannot fool me. I should have shot you in the forest."

He lowered one arm to reach for the gun strapped to his pants. I closed my eyes. I seemed to be playing a game with death the past two weeks. I was going to lose this round. I saw the look in his eyes. He was going to pull the trigger. My tears were steady. I stopped attempting to breathe. His hand was too tight around my throat. He was too strong.

"Open your mouth." He instructed.

I pressed my lips together in defiance. That's when he made a stupid, stupid mistake. He let his anger overrule his common sense. Adam took his hand away from my throat and pressed his fingers on my jaw to get my mouth to open. My mouth opened and he aimed the run towards my mouth. I got the pistol out of the back of my pants and pressed it underneath his head. It was fair game. If he shot me, my finger may twitch, and I would blow his brains out. If I shot him, his finger may twitch, and he would blow my brains out.

Adam's gaze connected with mine. He would kill himself by killing me. He had a decision to make. I would not be the first one to pull the trigger. I may have threatened to take Dr. Lynn’s life, but it was one thing to say something, then one thing to actually do it.

"I should have taken that gun from you." He seethed.

I was still crying. Snot was coming out of my nose and I hiccupped around the gun. I was a mess. I remember when I used to never cry. I would especially not cry in front of people. I did not like appearing weak.

Adam thought for a few seconds, then sighed in defeat. "I am going to remove the gun from your mouth and at the same time you will lower yours. You will head back towards the house like you originally planned and I was head back to where I was going. If you follow me, I will shoot you. Deal?"

Some strange part of me trusted him. I nodded my head. At the same time, we lowered our weapons. Adam turned on his heel and walked away. He did not seem afraid that I would shoot him while his back was turned. I slid to the ground and stared at Sanchez's body. I started crying even harder. What did I do to deserve this?

That's the way Stephan found me. Blood all over me, a pistol gripped in my hand, and Sachez's dead body in front of me.

Stephan's gray eyes looked from me to the body on the floor. His face gave nothing away. He was wearing a business suit. It had splatters of blood and dirt on it. He watched me cry. I'm not sure for how long. I was like a damn that had too much water pressure and finally broke. Now the water wouldn't stop coming.

Eventually, I did stop crying. I sat there completely spent and exhausted. I do not remember the last time I had ever cried so hard. I wiped my nose with the back of my hand and dropped my head onto my knees.

Stephan sat down next to me. I was surprised. I would never think a man like him would sit down on a dirty floor. "Why are you crying?"

My head whipped up so fast it made me dizzy. "Did you really just ask me why I am crying? Look!" I pointed to the body on the floor, but not daring to look at it.

"Sanchez did not make a good soldier anyways." Stephan's voice held nonchalance. "I am assuming you did not mean to shoot him?"

Now I was confused. "Shot him...?" I realized now how it must have looked. I held a gun between my nimble fingers, Sanchez's blood was all over me, and his body lay right in front of me. "I did not shoot him."

Stephan stood, pulling me up with him. His hands felt like ice on my burning hot skin. "He was of no importance. We need to leave now. Where is Dr. Lynn? He should have led you to safety."

Everything was happening too fast. I kept my mouth shut about Dr. Lynn and how he pulled a gun on me. I did not say anything. Stephan was unfazed about everything that was going on around him. His movements were confident. I could tell he has walked this tunnel a million times. He moved with ease through the dark. I was too numb to grab the flashlight. I let his soft footsteps guide me.

I tensed when we left the tunnel. Would Dr. Lynn still be there falling into pieces? The air was wet with morning dew. Sunlight was peeking through the top of the trees. I shivered and my teeth started chattering. The soggy pine needles felt nice on my burning feet.

Stephan led me to an SUV. Just like the one Dr. Lynn took me too. It was parked next to a Honda Civic that was flipped upside down. I expected him to open the back door, but he led me to the front seat. The beeping from the car getting unlocked sounded a lot louder than it really was. Everything was still. The world had paused. No birds were chirping, no crickets singing, and no leaves rustling from the breeze.

I wanted to ask what happened, but I just found myself resting my head on the window as we drove down the destroyed highway. We passed so many cars. They were all in shambles. Bones. There were a lot of bones. I did not feel like I was in my world. I was somewhere completely different.

I closed my eyes. Peace. All I wanted was peace. I dreamed of a faraway place. A place where I was safe and loved. I imagined what it would be like if my parents were still alive. I imagined them hugging me and loving me unconditionally. I wanted to feel safe. Protected. Valued. I dreamed of happiness. Rain always made me feel joy. I dreamed of sitting on a beautiful front porch watching the sky cry. I was wrapped in a soft blanket, drinking comforting tea.

I imagined how crisp and beautiful the air would smell. I would burrow further into the blanket. After the huge storm, the sun would begin to peak out from the storm clouds.

Too soon, I was pulled out of my dream. Stephan shut the engine off. I kept my eyes closed, wanting to fall back into bliss. Reality was too cruel. I was too weak to handle it. Stephan opened his door. An ice, cold breeze slid into the car making me shiver. A foul smell was in the air. It smelt like sewage and garbage.

Plugging my nose, I opened my eyes. We were in a parking lot. It had trash all over it. Empty shopping carts littered the entire parking lot. Cars were all over here too. The vehicles had obviously not been driven for years.

I stepped out of the SUV. The road was deserted too. I looked all around at all the shopping stores. Every single one of them had broken glass like they were all broken into. Everything was in ruins. There were no animals. No signs of life except for Stephan and I. When the wind blew again, empty trash bags flew across the street. I looked up towards the sky. Not one bird in sight.

Stephan walked over to me, his eyes a steel gray color. He placed both of his hands on my shoulders and gave me a serious look. "This is the world we live in. I know you do not remember anything, but I wanted you to grasp onto what is going on around you. The people are far too weak to be making decisions for themselves. Once, many years ago, we lived in a country of freedom, and look at where it got us. America fell just like the Empire. A war broke out within the country. Each state became its own country and we all fought with each other. Diseases broke out, many people died. Our leader at the time, failed his job. He gave up and blew his brains out. We had no leader for many years. People from our country fled to other countries spreading disease. Soon, the entire world was in shambles." Stephan let go of my shoulder and started pacing. He was thinking. Eventually he looked at me again. "That's where I come into the story. I claimed a town as mine. Trained men to be soldiers. I had strict laws for people to abide if they wanted to join. I created The Unit. Brave men protecting the people in our town. Eventually it grew and soon, all of what used to be America united. There are no states, we are all one. All of our history textbooks are gone. It is against the law to own any kind of documentation from the past. People should not have ideas of 'freedom'. Freedom is just an idea. Something that doesn't really exist. People do not have the right to carry a weapon, people do not have freedom of speech, and nothing is the same as it was."

I looked at my dirty feet. Everything he was telling me scared me. Freedom. No freedom. No rights. No freedom of speech. People could not speak their mind. I looked back towards Stephan and suddenly everything made sense. I had died and gone to hell.

"Are you the president?" Of all the questions that I could have asked, I do not know why I picked that one.

Stephan stopped pacing and looked at me with a sharp stare. "Where do you know that word from?"

"I don't understand." I muttered, feeling like I just walked myself into a ditch.

Stephan masked his face into emptiness. "As I told you, all documentations of history is gone. Nobody knows of a president."

"The rebels said something about a president." I lied on the spot. The words left my lips easily as if they were the truth. Something told me the rebels would have something illegal like a history document.

Stephan's gaze didn't waver. "You came into contact with someone on the other side?"

"Yes." I kept my gaze level with his. I did nothing wrong. I did not break one of his so called laws. I had nothing to fear. He thought I was his daughter. Surely he would not kill me.

"Then why are you alive?" His tone chilled my heart.

I could not think of a lie this time, so I went with the truth. "One of them entered the tunnel and he pressed a gun into my mouth and I pressed a gun under his chin. It was a draw. We agreed that we would both walk."

Stephan was not pleased with my answer. He walked closer and looked down on my four foot eleven frame. "Who walked away first?"

"Ad- the rebel guy." I almost blurted his name.

Again I was playing chess with this dark man. I needed to learn the rules in this game because I was getting lost. Stephan's midnight black hair had strands that escaped from his low ponytail. The frown lines around his mouth seemed to have deepened. His face and body language gave away nothing, but I could feel the rage pulsing off of him in waves.

"You should have shot him in the back."

I pressed my lips together. I was starting to feel hate for this man. I was not a murderer. I did not kill. I would not kill. I especially would not shoot someone whose back was facing me. Adam trusted me not to shoot him and for some reason that made me feel good. Like maybe he could sense the good in me. I was nothing like Evelyn. I could not betray someone.

Stephan lifted my chin with his hand. "Evelyn, before the bombing you had no problem taking a life. What is going on in that head of yours?" His voice was softer now.

I squeezed my hands into fists. Was this even my body? Did I have the hands of a cold, blooded murderer? My skin began to crawl. Realistically speaking, this could not be my body could it? The changes were too much. I was not even in the same time zone as before. What if Dr. Lynn was right? What if I died and woke up in her body. I knew many emotions were crossing my face, but I was too tired to try and hide them. "Maybe I am just tired." I whispered, looking away.

"Then rest." He led me back to the car and we drove away leaving the abandoned town.

I did not rest. I sat there, spine straight. If I ran away, I would probably get caught by people who hated Stephan. That was a sure bet. If I stayed with Stephan, I had a better chance of survival. I looked over at him. He was leaning back in his seat steering the wheel with his knees. His persona was relaxed. He did not have a care in the world. He was almost too calm. The rebel's just blew up his house, murdered his soldiers, yet here he was going about his daily life.

I picked at a hangnail on my finger and watched signs fly by. Every sign seemed different. I was trying to get an estimate of what state we were in. Or would have been in if the world didn't basically end. I wanted to ask. I don't think Stephan would like it very much if I asked.

I blurted out a random question. "Where is my mom? I mean I do not remember her or anything, but I have not once heard someone mention her."

I watched him put his hands on the steering wheel and grip it tight. Veins stuck out in his hands. If I thought what he felt was rage before, it was nothing compared to his emotions now. I seem have asked the wrong question. I have never seen him physically lose his cool before. Blow up one of his towers? Oh, that's fine. Murder his soldiers? Oh, that's fine too. Take his home away? Who cares? Bring up Evelyn's mom? The incredible hulk came out.

He spoke between clenched teeth. "Where is Dr. Lynn?"

Touché. I asked him a question he would not answer and he asked me a question I would not answer. I looked back out the window.

A few minutes went by before I talked again. "Where are we going?"

"To see your brother." His tone was curt.

Brother? Nobody said anything about Evelyn having a brother. I felt like I just dived head first into a trap. I did not ask about my so called brother.

We drove for five hours. No more stops after that empty town. We passed many abandoned cities. I never traveled much, so I still couldn't get a grasp on where we were. I looked around in astonishment when we reached a city that had population. People quickly scattered off the roads as we entered the populated streets. Everyone was so thin and frail. People were wearing rags for clothing. Beggars were on their knees praying. The stores appeared empty. I saw a couple of overturned shelves in some of them. I wondered what Stephan's plan was for these people.

They were miserable. I knew some of them must have been freezing. It was barely even fifty degrees outside. I got cold just by looking at them. I looked at my cotton shorts and shirt. It was messy and ripped, but I was still in better shape than them. Sorrow filled me. I had to close my eyes. I wanted to give every person a meal and a warm place to stay for the night.

After ten minutes of driving, there started to be less and less people on the road. The houses got nicer and some of the stores seemed to actually be up and running. The atmosphere quickly changed. People were even driving cars. The ones walking the street appeared to be in nice clothing. We drove by a park and I saw children playing, laughing, and crying. Mom's stood off to the side gossiping and watching their children with love.

My heart only warmed slightly at the sight. At least some people in this world still felt joy. I did not remember the last time I saw someone truly, genuinely laugh. I missed the sound. We pulled up to iron gates.

Stephan rolled down his window. A little red camera blinked at him. The black, iron gates slowly opened and we drove inside. This place looked like a mansion. I could tell it was not a home though. We were in a parking lot. Stephan parked outside the steps leading to the glass front doors and left the vehicle. I went to open my door and follow, but it was already being opened before I had time to get my seat belt off. A soldier stood there. His name tag read Kyle. I gave him a faint smile and pulled myself out of the car.

I watched Kyle attempt to focus on my face and not look at the blood covering my body. It made my lips twitch. The strength of a soldier. I thanked him and followed Stephan up the steps. Before we reached the doors, they were already being opened for us. More soldiers. Maybe we were in a military base. My feet slapped against the marble floors. A young lady was at a desk writing furiously on a piece of paper. Stephan quietly watched her.

She gasped, blue eyes wide once she noticed Stephan. Her cheeks turned bright pink and she immediately stood up. "I am so sorry, sir! I did not see you there!" She smoothed her hair back, making her tight, yellow bun look neat. Her name tag read Danielle. Danielle pushed her glasses further up her nose, not once acknowledging me.

Stephan gave her a warm smile. "It is quite all right. I need you to lead Evelyn to her suite for the evening. After she is done showering and getting dressed, bring her to the basement."