“Sir, are there life jackets?” Aurora asked the pilot.
“Under everyone’s seats,” He answered.
“Everyone put your life jackets on!” Aurora demanded. She threw one to the pilot. “You too.”
“Mrs. Franch, he has missiles!” Jaxon shouted.
Aurora turned to look at Albert’s helicopter. He had activated his missiles. Now all he needed to do was fire.
“Everybody braces yourselves!” Aurora yelled.
“Can’t you shoot him with your gun?” Olivia asked.
Aurora looked at Zoe, who was sitting on Olivia’s lap. She considered throwing Zoe out of the helicopter, into the water below. Because when those missiles hit the helicopter, there was almost no chance of survival.
“No,” Aurora answered. “No. It wouldn’t do anything. All I have is a pistol.” Aurora paused, calculating things in her mind. “There is a way to save ourselves.”
“What is it?” Jaxon leaned forward to hear better.
“There’s a little green light that will light up a second before the missiles launch. Once the button is pressed, the missile cannot be stopped from being launched. It’s a major design flaw. But if we see those lights light up, that will be our chance to jump.”
“Jump where? Into the water?” Olivia cried.
Aurora nodded. “It’s our only chance at survival.”
Olivia looked at Jaxon, who nodded in reassurance.
A few minutes later, Albert’s helicopter got closer to theirs.
Aurora nodded at the Ribelles. This is what they had been waiting for.
Jaxon and Olivia grabbed each other’s hands and kissed each other.
Aurora hoped that when all this was over, she might be able to find someone to share a love like that with.
Olivia tightened her grip on Zoe with her free hand. Jaxon used his free hand to wrap his fingers around the straps of Zoe’s life jacket. They lived as a family, and if they died, it would be as a family.
Aurora envied them.
The light lit up on Albert’s missiles.
“Jump!” Aurora yelled.
They all jumped a moment before the missiles hit the helicopter. Aurora could hear the explosion above her just as she hit the water.
When Aurora bobbed back up, she saw Jaxon and Olivia holding Zoe. She smiled to herself. They were all alive.
She started swimming over to them when a piece of metal landed in the water behind her. She felt a tug on her life jacket as she was pulled underwater. Aurora twisted and opened her eyes to find that a loose strap had gotten stuck in a part of the helicopter.
Aurora, who had been fortunate enough to be trained to hold her breath for long periods of time, spent a long time struggling to get free. Eventually, her lungs began to feel like they were going to burst. She knew that even if she managed to get free, she wouldn’t be able to make it back up to the surface in time. She was sinking too fast.
Coming to terms with her fate, Aurora let herself relax, and allowed herself to be taken by the darkness.
Chapter 14
Albert
“To victory!” Albert cried, raising his champagne flute.
Everyone around him cheered loudly.
It had been a week since Albert had shot down the helicopter carrying his wife and the Ribelles over the ocean. It had been a week since the Ribelles, with absolutely nowhere to go, climbed the rope ladder into Albert’s helicopter and had become his prisoners.
And now it was the morning of the executions. The executions of Jaxon and Olivia Ribelle were to be the only executions of the day. It was a celebration of sorts. Albert had decided against executing their daughter. He wasn’t a complete monster.
Albert’s new girlfriend, Ariel, hung off Albert’s arm. “I’m so proud of you,” She said, kissing him.
Albert grinned as he smacked Ariel’s ass. That was something Aurora had never allowed him to do in public. “Thank you, sweetie. Now, run along. The men and I have something important to talk about.”
Ariel giggled as she walked away. Albert watched her walk away in her short, tight dress. He was sure she was only interested in his money and power, but he didn’t care. She was a perfect ten, and she listened to his every command. That was all he wanted.
“What do we have to discuss, Mr. President?” The men around him asked.
“We have to discuss the matters of the daughter. We could send her to Hawaii with her relatives, but I think it’s only fair that she is punished for her parent’s actions.”
“But you already said we wouldn’t execute her,” Someone said carefully. Everyone seemed to be extra careful around Albert lately.
“We won’t. But I think she should be put in an orphanage.”
“That seems fair,” Someone else said.
Albert smiled. He knew this would go well. Most of his colleagues either didn’t know or didn’t care about how bad orphanages were.
“Then it’s settled,” Albert said, getting up and walking away before anyone could say anything else.
Jaxon
One week. Seven days. That’s how long they had been trapped in a cell. That’s how long they had been awaiting execution.
Jaxon sighed with frustration as he turned to Olivia.
“It looks like we aren’t getting saved,” He said sadly.
Olivia nodded, holding Zoe to her.
While they hadn’t been expecting anything, they had at least been hoping that someone would try to save them.
Suddenly, a voice said, “It looks like anyone who had helped you has suddenly wisened up.”
Jaxon turned toward the voice. It was President Franch.
“You will bow to me. Now!” President Franch shouted.
“We will not,” Olivia said. She smirked. “What are you going to do if we don’t? Execute us?”
Jaxon noticed President Franch clench his fists, but the President didn’t say anything. He knew Olivia was right.
After a few seconds, President Franch regained his composure. “I am here to escort you to your execution. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, please hand your daughter over to this nice woman from the orphanage.” A young woman with white-blonde hair came into view.
Olivia held Zoe against her. “No!” She shouted.
A guard unlocked the cell door, and the woman stepped into the cell.
“Your daughter is going to be alright.” Her gray eyes bore into Jaxon’s as she said, “Trust me.”
Olivia, for the first time since Jaxon had known her, was hysterical as the woman took Zoe from Olivia’s arms.
“Please, can I say goodbye?” Jaxon asked.
The woman nodded.
“I love you,” Jaxon said with his forehead against Zoe’s. “Mommy loves you too. Always remember that. Be strong, ‘kay?”
Zoe nodded. She didn’t seem sure of what was going on.
The woman took Zoe away. Jaxon grabbed Olivia’s hand.
“Liv, we have to go now. It’s going to be over soon. It’s all going to be over.”
Olivia nodded. She dried her eyes. She stood up, and she and Jaxon followed President Franch to their deaths.
Chapter 15
Jaxon
Jaxon had been kept in a car, far away from the guillotine while they executed Olivia. He hadn’t gotten to say goodbye or hear her final words. They hadn’t even been given a chance to say anything to each other. Olivia was pulled out of the car while Jaxon was held back. Olivia had barely been able to say, “Thank you for an amazing life.” before the door closed. Jaxon hadn’t been able to thank her for making his life amazing as well.
Once they had cleared Olivia’s body and head out of the way, they lead Jaxon up onto the stand. Jaxon stared at the guillotine.
From somewhere in the crowd Zoe yelled, “Daddy, no!”
“I love you, hunny!” Jaxon yelled to his daughter.
The man forced him down to his knees and laid his head under the blade.
The crowd was going crazy. �
��Kill! Kill! Kill!” They chanted.
President Franch smiled to himself. Things were finally going his way again. He nodded at the man in charge of the guillotine. He made a quick chopping motion with his hand.
The man nodded back. He had his hand ready, but a bullet went right through his hand.
The crowd gasped.
President Franch stood up. “Who did that?” He demanded. “Show yourself. Right now!’
The crowd parted as a hooded, leather-clad figure came to the front of the crowd. “I did it,” A woman’s voice spoke.
Jaxon, who was still positioned at the guillotine, had his mouth open in shock. Had someone saved him?
This hooded figure’s face was hidden. The only visible part was her mouth. And it was moving in a silent command. “Run.”
Jaxon got up and started running. Where to? He didn’t know. He jumped off the platform and ran toward the gates. All he knew was that he had to get away from the White House.
There was suddenly a hand on his arm. “Faster,” The hooded figure told him.
“What about my daughter, Zoe?” He panted.
“She’s with my people. They’ll meet us at the docks.”
He trusted this woman. She had shot someone for him. A complete stranger had saved his life.
Men in black cars were driving after them now.
Jaxon didn’t look back. He was worried he’d run into something if he did.
The woman looked back, though. She swore before saying, “This way.” She took a sharp turn into an alley. She jumped up on top of a dumpster and pulled down a rope ladder from the fire escape. Jaxon noted that the fire escape didn’t have the standard ladder.
Jaxon looked back. The men were getting out of their cars now. “Hurry,” He begged.
The woman started climbing the ladder. “Come on,” She told Jaxon.
He started climbing up behind her. Once he was at the top, the woman cut the ropes to the ladder.
The men on the ground started yelling as they headed back toward their cars.
The woman threw off her hood to reveal her white-blonde hair. She looked a lot like the woman who had taken Zoe, but that woman had to be around ten years younger than this woman. Perhaps they were sisters? “We have about ten minutes before they get the helicopters out here. So, you better rest while you can. My people have your daughter and we’re meeting them at the dock. You’re going across the pond.”
As Jaxon tried to catch his breath, he couldn’t help but notice that this woman wasn’t out of breath at all. It was almost like she was trained for this sort of thing. “Who are you?” He asked.
She smiled. “Call me Smoke.”
“Smoke? Where the hell did you get a name like that?”
“People call me that because of my eyes.”
Smoke’s eyes did look like smoke. They were a gray color like nothing he had ever seen. At first, Jaxon agreed that they looked like smoke, but then he thought that maybe they looked like a storm. He could tell that this woman was a storm, and she had the eyes to match.
“Why did you save me?”
“I worked for a President a long time ago. Things were bad then, but this was before everything horrible happened. The executions, the government playing games with us, the sheer hate that flows through everyone. I was depressed for a really long time. But then I heard your story. It inspired me. So, I started a little revolution. People want change, they just don’t know how to get it. But I worked on the inside for years. I know what to do. We’re going to change things, Jaxon. And someday you’ll be able to come home. But for now, we have to hide you.”
“My wife is dead,” Jaxon said as if he was just realizing it. It was the first moment he had to think about it.
“Yeah, that was my bad,” Smoke said. “They started the execution early. We weren’t planning on arriving until the last minute. We were too late. I’m sorry.”
“I can’t do anything without my wife,” Jaxon said quietly. “She did everything.”
Smoke knelt in front of Jaxon. “You have to go on,” She told him. “Your wife would want you to. You are the symbol of a revolution. The number one priority is keeping you safe.”
“You want to use me?” Jaxon cried.
Smoke nodded unapologetically.
“Forget it,” Jaxon said, standing up. “I just want to go home.”
“There is no home anymore, Jaxon. You are the most wanted person in the country. You are wanted dead or alive,” Smoke said, examining her nails. Jaxon noted that she was wearing nail polish. Most women these days didn’t wear nail polish, and hadn’t for a long time. It was too expensive. “We need to send you overseas. Or, across the pond, as they call it.
Jaxon didn’t say anything. She was right. He turned back to her. “If I go to England or wherever you’re sending me-”
“Scotland.”
“What?”
“We’re sending you to Scotland. England is the first place they’ll look. But who the fuck runs away to Scotland?”
“Fine. If I go to Scotland, will you provide for my daughter and me? Because I have lost everything. I have nothing.”
“We already have a house ready for you. We will be sending one of our people with you to protect you at all times.”
“Ok, I’ll do it,” Jaxon said.
Smoke grinned and shook his hand. “So, we have a deal. We better get moving.” She ran across the roof and jumped onto the one next door.
“What are you doing?” Jaxon cried.
“Come on!” She called, still grinning. She looked like she was having the time of her life.
“I can’t do it.”
“You have to if you want to get to the docks.”
Jaxon sighed and walked to the edge of the roof, on the side they had climbed up from. He ran across the roof and leaped onto the next one.
“Good,” Smoke said, patting him on the back. “Now we just have to do two more.”
After they had jumped across the next two rooftops, they went down the fire escape. Then they ran to the docks.
At the docks, Jaxon was reunited with Zoe.
“Daddy!” She cried, holding out her arms when she saw him approaching.
The woman holding Zoe handed her to Jaxon. It was the same woman who had taken Zoe from Olivia in the dungeon.
“Thanks, K,” Smoke said. “Is everything ready to go?”
The woman nodded. “Yeah.” She gave Jaxon a piece of paper. “Here’s the address. But don’t worry, Jo is going with you. She’s already on the boat. She’ll be posing as your wife.”
Jaxon nodded. This was a lot to take in.
A ship’s horn sounded.
“That’s you,” Smoke told Jaxon.
Jaxon looked at her. “Thank you,” He said.
She shrugged. “I’m just doing what I can to make the world a better place.”
Jaxon boarded the ship. When he noticed that Smoke wasn’t following him, he asked, “You’re not coming?”
Smoke grinned. “I can’t. I have a government to overthrow.” There was a storm brewing in her, Jaxon could see it in her eyes.
Jaxon smiled as he turned to walk away. He didn’t know if it would be possible, but Smoke seemed like the perfect person for the task. Maybe someday he’d be able to return home, but for now, he was off to a new land. A land that was civil. A land where he hoped there were still some decent people left.
“Where are we going?” Zoe asked as they got on the boat.
Jaxon kissed the top of her head as he said, “On an adventure.”
About the Author
Sunshine G. Bruno is the young author of Election Year 2050. She was inspired to write Election Year 2050 after the 2016 Presidential election. She has also released Kill the DJ and Beauty’s Only Skin Deep. Sunshine G. Bruno lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she spends her time with her family and two dogs. When she’s not writing books, of course.
Go to her website sunshinegbruno.com for all kinds of informati
on about her books.
Follow Sunshine G. Bruno on social media:
Twitter: @sunshinegbruno
Instagram: @sunshinegbruno
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