TYRANT: The Rise (4 page)

“I’ll do it,” Todd volunteered.

Surprised by the offer, Nathan asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, you guys are good shots and trained to work under pressure. I’ll go out there and act belligerent. When they come out, snipe ’em,” Todd suggested.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Denny said.

Nathan agreed.

Todd crawled backwards to the river side of the train cars and stood up, dusted himself off, and then walked around the corner of the train car. He picked up a few rocks and started throwing them at the bus. It wasn’t long until two men exited the bus, both in black BDUs and wearing blue helmets. They ran at Todd with their weapons trained on him.

“Say when,” Denny said as he followed the moving target through his iron sights.

Nathan said, “When they get up to Todd, they’ll give him commands and probably throw him down. When that happens, one will shoulder his weapon while the other one secures him. I’ll take out the guy with the trained weapon and you shoot the guy with the shouldered weapon.”

“Roger that,” Denny said.

Everything went as Nathan said it would. When they threw Todd to the ground, one of them trained his weapon on Todd and the other shouldered his. Denny could hear Nathan focus on his breathing. A shot rang out and the UN troop dropped like a wet noodle. Denny took his shot and killed the second man. Todd stood up as Nathan and Denny came out from under the cover of the train cars. Nathan gave Todd a thumbs-up and heard a loud crack come from the direction of the bus. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as they saw Todd drop.

“Take cover,” Nathan shouted as they jumped between cars and returned fire. There was a soldier peeking from a hatch in the top of the bus. He was armed with an AK and had it aimed in the direction of Nathan and Denny. Amidst the shower of bullets, there was a distinct and familiar
pop
from the tree line. It was Ash, and he had dealt the kill shot to the UN soldier in the bus hatch.

Nathan and Denny ran to Todd now bleeding out on Kaskaskia Street. Nathan got to Todd first, knelt beside him, and propped him up on his lap. Nathan said, “You’re going to be all right, man. There’s got to be medical supplies in the prison.”

Denny took off in a sprint towards the prison, taking note that he heard yells for help coming from the train cars. He did not falter or hesitate. He ran the hardest he had ever run until he reached the prison and followed signs to the infirmary. It was locked tight behind solid steel gates that he couldn’t open. He also saw a cache of weapons. Denny scurried through every possible office and washroom until he found a first aid kit. He took it and returned to Todd, but it was too late. The expressions on Nathan’s and Ash’s faces said it all.

Denny ran up to Ash and punched him square in the face. Ash fell limp to the ground and two dogs came running out of the tree line. Ash came to his senses and commanded the dogs to heel. There was no more talk. There was no moving about. They sat quietly for a few moments, if nothing else, just to let the surreal moment take hold.

The door-locking bar creaked as it was being opened. A flood of light came pouring into the shipping container. Jess, James, and the others were all vexed by the brightness of the sunlight as it streamed through the now-open doors. Nathan, Denny, and Ash stood in silence as they soaked in all that was happening and all that had already transpired.

“We’re not here to hurt you,” Nathan said, breaking the silence. “We’re here to help. We may not have much time; you need to get out now.”

Jess jumped out of the prison box and onto the ground. Her first sight was three men, a horse, and two dogs. She studied them quickly, taking note that they were decently groomed, armed with ARs, knives, and a sense of authority. She believed them that they weren’t a threat. Not to them anyway.

“Spread out and find your weapons,” she shouted, and the group of freed prisoners began their search for rifles, knives, and ammunition.

“We need to hurry. If any more of those goons heard those shots, they’ll be coming for us,” Denny said. Then he remembered the cache of weapons he saw in the prison. “Hey,” he said as he looked at Jess. Catching her gaze, he said, “I saw a cache of weapons in the old prison. Behind a gate, down the main hall, to the right.”

“I know that joint well,” she said. “I worked there twelve years and I’m positive that is not the armory.” Jess pointed at the tugboat’s cargo and shouted, “Help them open all the containers and get those people out of those dank cells,” as she headed toward the bus.

The bus was still running when she stepped onboard and headed toward the dead guy in the hatch. She pulled his slumped body down into the bus and didn’t have to search long before she found the keys to the personnel area of the prison. She easily identified the key she needed, turned the bus around, and drove to the prison. Once there, she headed directly to the door that was described to her and unlocked it, giving access to a large cache of confiscated rifles, pistols, and knives.

Jess wasn’t alone in the building. She heard what sounded like a crowd of people coming from the courtyard. She headed in that direction and saw hundreds of inmates. She looked skyward towards the guard towers and saw a man with a shouldered rifle. He was staring directly at Jessica through a pair of binoculars. This time Jess checked her six before launching backwards and heading back to the room with the cache of weapons. She made two trips and was joined by several strangers, each shouldering rifles and placing pistols in pockets and waistbands. Only a couple people took off into the distance, the majority was following Jess’s lead by loading the weapons onto the bus.

Once all the guns and ammo were loaded, Jess got in the driver’s seat and was accompanied by several women and men, one of which was James.

“Decided to stick around rather than run?” Jess said.

“Yeah, I figure this is my shot to honor my oath.”

“Your oath?” she questioned.

“Yeah, I was a VA nurse in Marion before they flipped the script on us.”

“A nurse, huh. Interesting.”

“What’s so interesting about that?” James asked.

“You seem more like a pencil pusher.”

James laughed and asked, “Why’s that?”

“Because you can’t shoot,” she quipped. “Have a seat,” she said. “Those troops are heading north, so I’m heading south.”

Nathan, Ash, and Denny were walking down the road with a multitude of followers. Jess was driving up on them when she saw they had a horse with a fallen comrade over the saddle. She pulled up next to the men and offered her assistance.

“Hey, fellas, I have room in here for four.”

Nathan looked in the bus and studied the people now following his lead.

“I have four horses and a hundred men. If it’s all the same, I’ll walk with these people.”

“Well, can I honor your friend by taking him off the saddle of a horse?” she asked.

Nathan thought a moment, then looked at Ash.

“What you did was wrong. There’s no way this can ever be fixed, there’s no going back, there’s no forgetting, but the past is the past. Did you learn anything from your little excursion?”

“I know I messed up. I messed up. I messed up bad. Let me take Todd’s body back home on the bus and I’ll explain to everybody what I did and how it was wrong.”

Denny looked at Nathan and waited for a reply. Nathan just looked at Ash for a moment before he nodded his head, as if to say “go on, get out of here.”

Ash took the reins of the horse from Nathan’s hands and led the horse to the back of the bus. The people in the bus assisted Ash in placing Todd’s body into the aisleway. Ash returned the horse to Nathan and returned to the back of the bus, where he was assisted in by the people they had freed. Ash looked at his dogs and yelled, “Up,” and they jumped into the back of the bus.

Jess looked at Nathan and said, “Just where am I headed?”

Nathan stepped into the bus and began giving instructions to Jess. Everybody on the bus was somber, especially Ash. He chose to sit on the floor with his friend Todd, supporting his lifeless body.

The bus arrived in Gorham a few minutes later. Zig raced to a defensive position, along with a few family members. Each had guns trained on the bus, which could not pass the multiple barriers that had previously been set up. Jess stopped the bus at one such barrier and remained motionless while Ash stood up and said, “I’ll take care of this.” He exited the back of the bus and looked into the defensive perimeter that Zig had set up. Once Zig saw Ash, he lowered his weapon and looked over his shoulder at everybody in the camp. They were waiting on Zig to make a decision. He then peered back at Ash and trained his gun on him once again.

Ash raised his hands and shouted, “It’s me, Zig. You can lower your rifles.”

Zig hesitated then asked, “What’s with the United Nations bus?”

“We stole it from them. It’s full of prisoners we rescued and weapons we managed to acquire.”

Still concerned, Zig continued to question him. “Where’s the others?”

“They’re not far behind, Zig. Todd was shot and killed by a UN soldier. His body is here in the bus.”

A flood of emotions began to run through Zig’s head. He didn’t like being left in charge, and to hear that one of his friends was dead made things worse.

“Tell the occupants to exit the vehicle one at a time with their hands on their heads, no weapons!”

Ash looked at the occupants and again at Jess. “He’s asking us to come out one at a time without weapons and with our hands raised.”

“You know this guy pretty good, then?” Jess asked.

“Yes. I’ve known him since before the Flip.”

“I barely know you. I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Jess said stressfully.

Jess took the lead, as usual, and disarmed herself. She placed her hands over her head and walked through the bus and out onto the ground.

“That’s far enough,” Zig commanded. “Now down on the ground.”

Jess didn’t appreciate the treatment but understood it all too well. She did what she was commanded and the rest of the bus followed suit.

Zig stood up with his entourage and walked toward the bus. Several members of the Home Guard kept their weapons trained on the strangers. The only one not lying down was Ash. Ash told the Home Guard members to grab all the weapons from the bus and secure them in the guard shack. Ash took one for himself and pointed it at Jess.

Jess said, “What are you doing, Ash?”

“Proving a point to Zig,” he said. “If I, myself, was a prisoner of this woman and these people, I would now have the upper hand and shoot her while she is defenseless.” Instead, Ash extended his hand to Jess and helped her up. He then handed her the rifle.

She said, “Didn’t anybody teach you not to point your weapon at anything you’re not willing to destroy?”

Ash looked at Jess and said, “In case you haven’t heard, I’m dangerous.”

Jess didn’t know what he was talking about, but followed Ash back to the bus, where she helped him collect Todd’s body. That night she would learn what had transpired and how Todd died trying to save Ash.

Gorham, Illinois, October 24

The morning was somber, unlike any other. There were new faces all over the camp, but one was missing and everybody’s hearts were on him. Last night, the camp sat around the fire and shared stories about Todd. Everybody that knew him took a moment to share a memory. Those who didn’t, listened and paid their respects. Some picked fall flowers late in the night and placed them on Todd’s grave by morning. The Home Guard had never lost a member before. This was all new to them. Ash spent most of the morning in his shack, choosing to be alone.

Ash was awakened by a rapping on his door late in the morning. He took his time opening it, but when he did, he saw that it was Jess.

“Do you have a minute?” she asked.

“Sure. C’mon in,” Ash said.

Jess stepped into the shack and said, “Listen, what happened yesterday, it wasn’t your fault. Could it have been avoided? Yes, but it wasn’t your fault. He was shot and killed by a foreign invader.”

“Todd was killed because I made a juvenile decision to leave alone.”

“No,” Jess said. “Todd was killed because he
chose
to look after you. Just like you
chose
to look after the camp. Bad things happen all the time and there’s nothing that can be done to make it stop. You made a decision; he made a decision. We all make decisions and eventually it catches up with us all. The way I see it, you can stay in here and mope and feel sorry for yourself, or you can get over it, suck it up, and be a man. Own it, dude!” Jess stood up and walked out. She left Ash there pondering her comments.

“Thor,” Ash called. His dog Thor came to him and sat at his feet. Ash sat and roughed Thor’s head and under his jawline. “What would dad have done?” Ash reached into his pocket and pulled out an old picture of him and his father. He remembered the moment the picture was taken. He was with his father at Barnes Hospital in St Louis as he was dying of cancer. He never gave up hope and he never quit fighting it. Sometimes he had some really bad days, but the nationalized healthcare system denied him treatment because they weighed him as being a burden to society and of no further use. Ash’s dad went home and lived like he was fine, until one day he was gone. Somehow, Ash found strength in his father. He stood up and walked out the door and met the day.

Nathan stood at the blackboard and detailed what he and Todd had seen the day before. As he was talking to the group, Ash walked in.

“Welcome back,” Nathan said as Ash took a seat in the back of the room. Nathan continued. “There were dozens of tugboats labeled UN and hundreds of shipping containers just like the ones many of you were being held in. Each one of the containers were labeled with a capital V. I spent most of the night trying to figure out what the V stands for, but I’m still not completely sure.”

The word “five” was shouted from the middle of the room.

“Excuse me,” Nathan said.

James stood up and said, “It’s the Roman numeral five.” Everybody in the group began to look around at each other, with everybody’s eyes resting on James.