Departure

by Ken Barrett

  “Liam!” A familiar voice shouted from behind him. His foster parents were standing outside the robotics lab waving to get his attention.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “The Socialists are mobilizing their army,” Mary stated. “It looks like they plan to attack.”

  “Oh no,” Karen uttered.

  Liam hesitated. “Where are Rose and Denise?”

  “They’re safe. They came over early and are with a group of children in the basement,” Mary replied.

  “Ok, I’ll be back as soon as I can; I need to get Karen back home.”

  “The university is the safest place to be if the army attacks,” John said.

  “No,” Karen replied. “I’m with the militia, just like my parents are; I need to collect my weapon and get to my post,”’ She turned away and trotted toward the exit.

  Liam looked over his shoulder at his foster parents. “Wait for me, I’ll be right back.”

  *****

  The usually peaceful avenues of Flatiron were filled with running people, but their movements were purposeful, not panicked. He and Karen threaded their way through the crowd as a light rain wet the streets. Dark clouds glowered low along the mountain tops, promising to bring a wet and miserable afternoon.

  They walked quickly and made good time by first heading west along the length of Pearl Street then turning north into an area of quaint older homes. They arrived at Karen’s house within a half hour of leaving the university and paused outside on the sidewalk. She glanced toward her front door, then turned back and wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him close.

  Liam could feel her shiver beneath her thick brown duster coat. “We’ll be ok,” he whispered, but was unsure whether he believed his own words. “Please stay safe.”

  Karen grabbed the lapels of his coat and pulled him down into a lingering kiss. She then stepped away and looked into his eyes for a long moment. “I love you Liam,” she said, then abruptly turned and ran across the front porch and into her house.

  He hesitated, wondering what to make of her revelation. He liked Karen a lot, but there was emptiness within him where love ought to be found. With a sigh he turned away and began to retrace his steps back to the university. He would mentally poke at his feelings once the crisis was over, maybe something for Karen would be discovered then.

  Puddles splashed beneath his feet as he trotted south then climbed the levee that ran beside the river. The trail wasn’t crowded, so he was able to jog toward the university.

  “Liam! Wait!”

  It was Rose’s voice, and he abruptly stopped and turned. “What’re you doing here? Mary said you were taking care of the kids at the university.”

  “I came looking for you,” she said as she joined him.

  He gave his sister a hug. “No matter what happens, we’ll be fine. We got through a mess like this before and we’ll do it again.”

  “I know, and I feel a lot better now that we’re together.”

  “Yeah, me too,” he said as the nightmare of Fort Collins floated through his memory. Back then they had found a place to hide and the army had overlooked them; could they manage that same trick again? But even if they could pull it off, there was no place to escape to. Flatiron was the last free city; there would be no place to seek refuge this time.

  *****

  Back at the university, they were reunited with Liam’s foster parents, along with Roxi, Denise, Bob, Keith, Becky, and Ron. They stood together, wondering what they should do. Those who worked at the university weren’t trained to fight, and even if they could help, the militia stood no chance against the army that waited beyond the city gates.

  “Who’s watching the kids?” Rose asked.

  “Most of their parents came by to get them while you were gone,” Mary said. “The few that are left are still in the Engineering Building’s basement; they should be safe there.”

  “The army wouldn’t hurt children, would they?” Becky asked.

  “No, of course not,” Ron answered.

  Liam shook his head. “In Fort Collins, they killed everyone, men, women, and children; then they burned the city to the ground.”

  “I don’t believe that!” Ron exclaimed.

  “We were there and saw it all,” Rose said, then glanced around worriedly, searching for her foster father. “Where’s Sam?”

  “He’s on his way to Nederland with a lot of the kids that were here and their parents.” Roxi looked west at the Flatiron mountains. “They’re hoping to find shelter with the Tribes.”

  “Why didn’t you go too?” Denise asked.

  “My place is here,” Roxi answered, then stepped forward to give her daughter a hug. “I wish you had gone with your father.”

  Denise quickly glanced at Liam and Rose. “No, I’m staying here with my friends.”

  A blast suddenly shook the city wall. Liam looked up and saw flame, then heard the clatter of the militia’s railguns as they answered the Socialist attack.

  “We have to surrender!” Ron insisted. “If we just let them in, there’ll be no reason for them to hurt anyone.”

  “People always find good reasons for murder,” Mary said.

  “The Tribes have to come down from Nederland to help us,” Denise said. “It was their meddling that started this.”

  “They won’t,” Keith shouted over the explosive power of the city wall defense. “If they help us it will lead to a larger war, and from what I hear they’re not prepared for that. There’re a lotta different tribes, and most of ‘em don’t like each other. Getting enough cooperation to form an army would be pretty tough.”

  Bob’s face was creased with worry as he gazed up at the wall. “My sister’s up there.”

  “Clare’s a tough lady,” Roxi stated. “She’ll be fine.”

  “I have to get to my lab and shutdown Lucy’s portal,” Liam said.

  “I’ll come with you,” Rose replied.

  As they hurried away, he heard John say that he intended to destroy all the engineering projects at the university. The Socialist Army would get nothing from their rape of Flatiron City.

  *****

  “Lucy, can you hear me?” Liam grabbed an armful of papers from his reference desk and began feeding them into a shredder.

  “Hi Liam. Yes I’m here, what’s going on?”

  He noted her change in vocabulary and smiled. “It sounds like you’ve uploaded your new OS protocols.”

  “Yes I have, and thank you. But now you and Rose are in danger.”

  “Yeah we are,” Liam said as he disposed of the rest of his notes.

  “Lucy, how did you know that I was here?” Rose asked.

  “Liam’s voice changes when you’re near,” Lucy said. “It’s softer and kinder.”

  Rose looked at him and smiled. “Oh, I’m glad. I love my brother.”

  “I know,” Lucy replied. “Love is important, and it’s something I’ll feel one day.”

  “That’s wonderful. My brother has succeeded with you then.”

  “Will you be safe?“ Lucy asked.

  “We don’t know,” Liam answered. “I need to shut down your portal and lock it away so it’s protected. It may be a while before we talk again.”

  “I understand Liam. I’m worried about you and Rose and will hold you both in my thoughts until I hear from you.”

  “If we survive, I’ll find a way to let you know,” Liam said. “Even if it’s a slow lightspeed signal, I’ll find a way.”

  “I understand. You and Rose are my family… my parents. We will find each other again someday.”

  Liam’s eyes widened. Lucy’s response was far beyond what he had hoped for, and he guessed that she had already improved the programming code he had sent her. “Ok Lucy, I’m shutting everything down. We have to go.”

  “Goodbye Father and goodbye Mother,” were Lucy’s final words.

  *****

  Outside, the battle for Flatiron City continued. The deadly fire o
f railguns thundered down upon the invaders, while the army answered with bursts of high energy weaponry that beat against the reflective city walls and shook the ground beneath their feet.

  Liam stood on the soggy lawn in front of the Engineering Building with his sister and Denise; they all silently watched what seemed to be the end of their world. From his vantage point, the fight appeared to be a stalemate, and he began to hope that some sort of truce could be negotiated. Still though, he didn’t want to take the chance that things would go wrong. “I wonder if we should try to get to Nederland too,” he said.

  “The more people that run, the more likely the army is to follow,” Keith said as he arrived.

  Becky stood anxiously beside her boyfriend, her head turned as she searched the university lawns. “I can’t find Ron,” she said at last.

  “He’s not inside with John and Mary,” Roxi said, as she and Bob joined their group. “They’re busy shredding every engineering project we did for the Tribes.”

  Liam recalled the little robot dogs that were built at the university which were then weaponized by their customer. If that project in particular was found, things would be very bad for the people of Flatiron. Had someone at the university known about the explosives being added? Bob hated the Socialists, and he had the skills to make the necessary changes. Keith was probably complicit in the act as well. John might have known too, because it seemed unlikely that a modification to his work would get past his notice. So maybe the Socialists were at least somewhat justified in their reprisal.

  Fear clenched at his heart, and he fervently hoped that a diplomatic solution could be found. Rose and Denise stood close with their arms around his waist; he needed to find a way to protect them. It would be foolish to just stay at the university and hope that things would work out. “Let’s get the last of the kids out here and head west into the mountains,” he said.

  “The army will catch us on our way to Nederland,” Keith stated.

  “We can avoid the canyon. There’s a trail through the Flatirons that will take us to the southwest,” Liam said.

  “That might work,” Keith replied.

  “What about Ron?” Becky asked. “I can’t leave without him.”

  “I might have seen your brother heading toward downtown,” Roxi said. “Let’s get the kids and head into the mountains; we’ll look for Ron along the way.” She took Rose and Denise back inside to retrieve the children.

  “Are you sure you know the way?” Keith asked.

  “Yeah,” Liam replied. “There’s an old trail that’s not much more than a wide space through the woods; I think we can sneak out that way.”

  “You say that you’ve been through this shit before,” Keith stated.

  “Yeah. Rose and I escaped Fort Collins when we were kids. We really don’t want to be here if the army gets through the city wall.”

  Keith seemed confused for a moment, but then let it pass. “Where do we go if we can’t get to Nederland?”

  Liam thought a moment. “There’s a really old road that leads west through the mountains. It was pretty much destroyed during the War of the States, and it’s impassable unless you’re on foot; that should keep the army from following.”

  “But the Tribes might think we’re with the Socialists and attack us,” Keith warned.

  “Most of the time there aren’t any good solutions,” Liam replied. “All we can do is choose the best from a lot of bad options.”

  *****

  The rain had started to fall in earnest by the time they collected the remaining kids from the basement and set out on their way. It was going to be a hard and miserable walk, but there was nothing else they could do. John and Mary had remained behind to further destroy all the work done for the Tribes; they were intent on denying any benefit to the Socialist’s that sprung from their aggression.

  “We’re heading the wrong way,” Becky complained. “We’re going too far south.”

  “It’s the shortest way to the trail,” Liam said while continuing to lead the group toward the triangular granite cliffs.

  “But I need to find Ron, and Roxi said he went downtown.”

  “I know honey,” Keith said. “But we gotta get these kids to someplace safe. Ron can take care of himself.”

  “I can’t just leave him!”

  “Ron’s always been for the Socialists,” Bob said from his position near the rear of their group. “He’ll be fine.”

  The rapid cadence of battle abruptly faded into silence. “The fighting’s stopped.” Becky turned to look back toward the main city gate. “What’s going on?”

  “CITIZENS OF FLATIRON, SURRENDER!” an agonizingly amplified voice shouted. “SURRENDER OR BE DESTROYED! OPEN THE CITY GATES, THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!”

  “We should turn back and give up!” Becky said.

  “Flatiron will never surrender,” Bob replied, but then he abruptly stopped and stared back toward the city. Compelled by his sudden silence, everyone else turned to follow Bob’s gaze, and they all watched in horror as the city gates eased open.

  “What the fuck!” Keith said at last.

  They found a place higher on the hill to watch what would happen next. If Flatiron surrendered and if the Socialists kept their word, returning to the city would be a good option. Suddenly the rail guns atop the wall flared and began to rain death on the invading army as they charged through the open city gates. The attackers returned fire, and the war began again.

  “Someone opened the gate for them.” Bob glared at Becky. “Probably your brother.”

  “Ron wouldn’t do that!”

  “I wouldn’t count on it,” Denise said. “Nothing’s more dangerous than a true believer.”

  Becky slowly closed her eyes and shuddered. “No. Oh no. He probably did. He believes in the socialist government of Pike City and would think that he was doing the right thing.”

  Gunfire from the city militia rang out from the tops of buildings along the route the Socialists were taking toward downtown, and the invaders aimed their energy weapons and systematically began blowing up everything in their path. Liam thought of Karen and hoped that she was safe.

  “So, if this is the reward for opening the gates, it seems like a pretty bad bargain to me.” Rose observed.

  “Ok, we can’t stand around and wait,” Liam said. “We have about a kilometer to go before we get to the old road, after that it will be another two or three kilometers before we’re completely out of view.”

  “We won’t make it,” Becky observed. “We’re going into the mountains, so it’s all uphill; I don’t think the kids can walk that far.”

  “If we don’t start we’ll never get there.” Liam pointed toward the triangular cliffs. “There’s a park just a little further up the hill. Once we’re off the road we stand a better chance of not getting caught.”

  “If we wait here too long we’ll be captured,” Denise said. “Come on, let’s go!”

  A block farther up the hill they left the tarmac behind and entered the old city park. It was a dilapidated and forgotten place, and Liam hoped that would work in their favor.

  “Look,” Becky said as she pointed to the Socialists pouring through the gates. “The army is only defending itself. They’re just firing back at the ones that are shooting at them. We can go back, it’ll be safe.”

  Keith appeared to be torn about what to do, and Liam sympathized. Keith was working for the Tribes, and yet his girlfriend and future partner wanted to return to the Socialists. Her brother was helping them, so her position was understandable, but what would Keith do in response?

  As Liam watched the drama unfold, he became aware that everyone was staring at him. “What?” he asked. “I don’t have any answers other than I think we need to get outta here. People who have power will always abuse it, that’s just human nature. Once Flatiron is defenseless the army will start murdering people and destroying the city.

  “Maybe I’m paranoid because I’ve been through this before,
so you guys should do what you want. My priority is to get these kids along with my sister and Denise, to somewhere that they’ll be safe. That’s all I care about.” Liam hurried up the hill, hoping that the others were following behind.

  “But the army won’t hurt us!” Becky protested. “They have what they want, I say let them take it with them when they go. After that we can rebuild, and then try not to make the same mistakes that brought this down on us in the first place.”

  Liam looked back at their group and sighed. “Ok, so we have two bad choices, or at least risky ones. We can go back to the university, and hope the army will show us mercy, or we can head into the mountains and try to get by on our own. If we choose to leave, we need to keep going. The army hasn’t noticed us yet, but that won’t last for long.”

  Keith looked forlornly at his future partner. “I’m sorry Becky, but I think we should take our chances in the mountains, that way our fate is in our own hands. If we go back, all we have is hope that the soldiers will show us mercy. Everything will be out of our control and they can do whatever they want.”

  Rose nodded. “Yes, that’s what it boils down to; will we take charge and trust ourselves to find a way to survive, or do we put ourselves at the mercy of the army?

  “I remember what happened in Fort Collins,” Rose said as they all continued to march up the grassy slope. “My brother carried me through the city after the army had gone. All that was left were ashes and bodies so badly burned they seemed to be made of charcoal. I think it’s safer to trust ourselves.”

  Thunder abruptly sounded in the distance, and everyone turned and saw that the invading army was shelling the university. Roxi went to Rose and Denise and held them as they all started to cry; all those they had left behind were either already dead or dying as they watched.

  Liam thought of John and Mary, the kind and wonderful people who had taken him in when he arrived from Fort Collins. He recalled the communal dinners with Rose’s foster family. That serenity had seemed so ordinary then, but maybe it was peace, friendship, love, and community that were uncommon, and the greedy, destructive nature of human kind that was the normal state of the world. “We gotta keep going,” he stated.