by Judd Vowell
ΔΔΔ
The updates from Simone had ended at daybreak. Instead, ANTI‑’s Sector 1 headquarters in Philadelphia had been receiving transmissions from the Sector 3 directorship. The battle had shifted in favor of the rebels after a massive explosion, and the ANTs were forced to retreat. There were many casualties on both sides, and the rebels’ camp was virtually destroyed. But, according to the directors, neither opponent could claim victory. To Salvador, that was the same as defeat.
“Get me Simone now!” he demanded as he spoke to the Sector 3 directors through their video-conferencing feed.
“She’s unavailable, Salvador,” one director said.
“What do you mean, unavailable?”
The Sector 3 directors were silent for a moment, hesitating to describe what had happened to Simone, and why. Finally, one of the female directors spoke. “She’s been taken to the hospital, Salvador. She was injured. She’ll be ok, but she’s been hurt pretty bad.”
Salvador was curt. “How?”
The same director continued. “She was shot. In the face, but not directly. It was one of the children who did it, Salvador. The girl. Simone went after her and her brother.”
Simone had kept Salvador informed the entire time she and Jacob were in Sector 3. She had told him about the suspected rebels they had captured, the woman named Anna and her two teenage children. The same children that she planned to use as hapless guides back to the rebel base. So he knew who the girl was when the director mentioned her.
“And what of the sister and brother?” he asked.
There was more silence. Then the director who had spoken before answered. “The girl is here, badly wounded. She may not survive. There is no word on her brother.”
“And Jacob?” Salvador asked.
“At the hospital. He was not hurt, but he went straight there to see about Simone.”
Almost before the director had finished her sentence, Salvador instructed her. “I want to talk to him as soon as possible. Understand?”
“Yes, Salvador,” the director tried to answer, but the video link was severed before she could.
6.
J essica needed immediate surgery upon her arrival at the Sector 3 hospital. Jacob spoke to the doctors just before they began their work, and he instructed them to do all that they could to ensure her survival. “Make no mistake,” he told them, “she must live.”
Two bullets from Simone’s volley of gunfire had entered Jessica’s torso. Both had done damage to tissue, muscle, and bone. The first had ricocheted off of Jessica’s right shoulder blade and turned left, moving across the top of her chest cavity and just a centimeter above her heart. It tore through one of her lungs and caused it to collapse. A rib on her left side had stopped it, almost breaking in two by doing so. The second bullet had hit her lower, where her body was much more vulnerable. It had ripped through her liver and pancreas, and the internal bleeding it caused was nearly catastrophic. It had exited Jessica without changing course, leaving an opening in her skin an inch to the right of her belly button.
The doctors worked in shifts to save her during a surgery that took more than twelve hours. Locating and retrieving the first bullet was tedious, with precious but damaged tissue surrounding its resting spot. They repaired her lung before moving to her other organs. Then they removed her pancreas and worked on her liver. They eventually packed her insides with medical gauze to try and stop the incessant bleeding. She required multiple transfusions during the procedure, using donated blood from ANTs inside the grid. When they felt like they had done everything they could, they stitched her up.
One of the surgeons found Jacob when they had finished. He was waiting outside of Simone’s recovery room. Simone’s surgery had been much less complicated, but she was still sleeping. Jacob’s interest in both patients was equal.
“The girl’s still alive,” the doctor said as he approached Jacob. “But barely. The damage inside her is extreme, and we can’t stop her from bleeding internally.”
Jacob didn’t know why he cared so much about the young girl. His want for her survival was strange but powerful. Yet, he knew he should hide his feelings from any other ANTs, even the weary doctor who probably wouldn’t notice. “Will she live?” he asked without emotion.
“It’s hard to tell,” the doctor answered vaguely. “We did everything possible. It’s up to her now. She’s got youth on her side. And if she’s got the will, she just might make it.”
Something in the back of Jacob’s mind told him that Jessica’s will was strong. He knew she was going to live without knowing how he knew it. It was an inspiring feeling, and he guessed that it might be what people called faith. He didn’t question it further because he needed to focus on other things now that Jessica was somewhat stable. He entered Simone’s hospital room, and he waited.
ΔΔΔ
Jacob spent the quiet hours of the night before Simone woke up considering Salvador and his true motivation. A messenger had come for Jacob earlier that day, with a meeting request directly from the ANTI- leader. But he had brushed off the messenger, telling him that he would respond to Salvador in due time, that there were more urgent situations he must address first. But the real reason he had delayed was because of the growing conflict inside him.
The reality of the man behind the revolution would be the answer to Jacob’s struggle. He knew it, so he searched through his past experiences as he sat in Simone’s darkened hospital room. He thought back to conversations, meetings, insignificant gestures that may have gone unnoticed. If Salvador truly was the inspirational leader with good intentions that Jacob had believed him to be for so long, then Jacob might be able to reconcile all of the violence and death. But what if Salvador wasn’t that kind of leader at all?
7.
W hen Simone awoke from her recovery, Jacob was standing at her bedside. She could feel pressure around her head. She reached up with her right hand and touched the bandages that covered her face. The wrapping was tight, and her wounds underneath throbbed.
“Good morning, Simone,” Jacob said. “Welcome back.”
Her brain worked to get its bearings. It had been morning when she arrived at the hospital, but certainly some time had passed. She had been through surgery, and she remembered the doctor telling her he would need to put her to sleep. “Too much damage for local anesthesia,” she could hear him saying. So it must have been the next day. She must have slept for almost twenty-four hours. She began to say something, but realized her throat was too dry to make a sound. She mouthed the word “Water” to Jacob, and pointed to the opening in the bandages where her mouth was exposed.
“Oh, of course,” he said, a bit surprised that he wasn’t more prepared for her awakening. He walked quickly to the bathroom, and she could hear him turn the faucet on, then fill a cup from it. It made her mouth feel more parched than it had a moment before. He came back to her bed, full cup of water in hand with a bent straw dangling over its edge. She sucked down as much as her belly would stand. She felt nauseous almost immediately, but she withstood the urge to vomit. “Better?” Jacob asked.
She nodded twice. “Much,” she answered quietly. She realized she could only muster a strained whisper. “How long have I been out?”
“Since yesterday,” Jacob told her. “The doctor worked on you for hours. He said you had some pretty nasty wounds.”
“And?”
“And, you should be fine. Maybe some scarring, and they don’t know about your eye yet. You’re one lucky woman, Simone.”
She put her fingers on the thick gauze taped over her left eye. She didn’t feel lucky at all. In fact, the emotion that seemed to be consuming her was disappointment. She had let her spite for Anna get the best of her, and she had failed, only wounding the young girl and not finding the boy at all. She knew that Salvador would be upset with her for losing focus on the battle, but at least she had the victory at Camp Overlord to assuage his consternation. Or so she thought.
“I
guess that means I slept through the celebration,” she said.
Jacob thought for a few seconds before he spoke again. He had been anticipating this moment ever since news of the battle’s disastrous end had come with the retreating ANTs the day before. It was one of the reasons he had waited at Simone’s bedside. He wanted to be there when she found out, to see her reaction.
“There was no celebration, Simone,” he said, walking to the end of her bed. “Because there was nothing to celebrate.”
She sat up. “What are you talking about, Jacob?”
“We lost, Simone. They blew us into bits and pieces. A bomb or something like it. Nobody knows. But it was enough to turn the tide of the battle. Our soldiers who survived were forced to retreat. So like I said, we lost.”
He could see her one opened eye light up with rage as he told her. Her lips began to quiver. But she didn’t have the strength to do much more than seethe. She lay back down and turned her head toward the hospital room’s window. “We need to get ready,” she said matter-of-factly.
Jacob thought it was a strange thing to say. “Ready for what?” he asked.
Without breaking her stare from the distant outside, she said, “For Salvador. He’s going to want our heads on a stick for this.”
Simone’s prediction, sarcastic as it may have been, seemed odd to Jacob in that moment. Maybe his perception of Salvador had been an illusion all along. And in the end, to justify his creation of the computer virus that destroyed the civilized world, maybe Jacob had needed it to be.
8.
A nna remained locked away in isolation in the Sector 3 jail during ANTI‑’s attack on Camp Overlord. After his hospital conversation with Simone, Jacob went to the jail where the captured Lefty leader was being held. His head was muddled, his soul teetering. He didn’t know what he would say to the formidable Lefty rebel, but he was impelled to talk to her anyway.
His opinion of Anna had been formed with very little interaction. He had seen her risk her life to get into the grid, then watched as she refused to back down from Simone under extreme duress. But that was all he knew of her. She was brave, no doubt, driven by something intangible. Jacob didn’t think it was hatred or anger. He hoped it was something better than that. And there was only one way to find out.
The ANTs had moved Anna to another building after Simone’s interrogations. They had taken her to the city’s jail, where she could be held behind bars in a cell with 24-hour surveillance. The jail was a one-floor expanse in the basement of what used to be Nashville’s courthouse. As large as the area was, Anna was the lone prisoner. Disruptive ANTs were never imprisoned in the grids; banishment to the darkness was a much more effective punishment.
Jacob found two ANTs inside the courthouse at the entrance to the basement stairs. They weren’t Omega XT, and Jacob was thankful. He would be able to manipulate these lower-level soldiers much easier. They stood behind a desk that held a bank of small monitors, each showing a different angle of the jail below. Jacob approached them with an easy attitude and a grin on his face.
“Hello, boys,” he said as he approached the desk. “How’s it hangin’?”
The guards recognized Jacob immediately. He and Simone had become something like celebrities inside ANTI- military circles since arriving in Sector 3. “Yes, sir,” one of them answered, fumbling over his words. “Hanging fine, sir. I mean, we’re fine, sir.”
“Settle down, soldier,” Jacob said, leaning on his forearms against the desk. “I don’t bite.”
“No, sir, of course you don’t. Sorry. You just caught us by surprise. Didn’t expect to see you after what happened.”
“Yeah, I understand,” Jacob said, feigning disappointment. News of the battle had spread quickly. “What happened out there was rough. Never saw it coming from those damn rebels. But that’s why I’m here. I need to see the prisoner.”
The guards didn’t respond, looking at each other in confusion. Finally, one of them spoke. “We’re not supposed to do that, sir. Orders from Ms. Vincent. Nobody sees the prisoner before she does.”
“And when did you get those orders?” Jacob asked.
“Two days ago, sir.”
“Before the battle, correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, things have changed, guys. Simone is in the hospital, recovering from surgery. Who knows how long she’ll be in there. It’s imperative that I speak with that prisoner now. In private.”
The guards looked at each other again, as if trying to confirm their agreement with one another. “Alright,” one of them finally said. He walked to the steel door that led to the basement jail and unlocked it with his key. “When you’re done, just signal the camera above the exit door. We won’t be able to hear you, but we’ll be watching.”
“Good deal, guys,” Jacob said as he shook their hands, and then started his descent into the basement. Halfway down, he thought of one more gesture that might quell any lasting suspicions the guards may have. He didn’t want word of this visit getting back to Simone if he could avoid it. He turned up to them. “Thank you, soldiers. For the Soul of Humanity.”
9.
T he underground floor of the former government building was cool and damp. The entire building was old, but the jail showed its age more than the rest. The ceilings and walls were made of staggered concrete blocks, painted a plain gray. Underfoot was a faded green linoleum floor that announced every visitor’s arrival. The cells were gated with traditional prison doors made of vertical metal bars. Jacob shouted the sole prisoner’s name to locate her inside the rows of cramped enclosures.
“Anna!” His voice echoed off the squared layers of concrete blocks. There was no response, so he shouted it again, this time louder than before. “ANNA!”
“Present!” came her answer, as if she were acknowledging some bygone school’s roll call. She was in the center of the basement, surrounded on all sides by emptiness. Jacob walked the halls, making one turn, and then found her. She was sitting atop her cell’s lone cot, her knees pointing upward and her back against the wall. If not for her unwashed hair and sleep-deprived eyes, Jacob may have assumed she felt relaxed in her confines. She did not display any signs of the anguish that most people experience in solitude. She was not afraid.
“Hello, Anna,” he said from the other side of her cell’s barred door. “I’m Jacob.”
She turned her head and looked at him for a moment before she spoke. “Of course you are,” she said. “Who else would come here before Simone?”
“Good point.”
“Stay a while,” she said with a smirk. “You’ll start to see I’m full of ‘em.”
He couldn’t help but like her. He had initially felt a fascination with her as he watched her first interrogation. She was strong, just as Simone was. But she was also witty, and not in a demeaning way. What a person finds humorous in the world can be quite revealing. Jacob could see that Anna had character. It was a refreshing quality to find in someone.
“Anna, I need to ask you some things,” he told her, “and I need for you to be honest with me. I know you don’t have any reason to, but you have to trust me. There may be a way out of this mess for you if you help me.”
She maintained her gaze at him, thinking deeply as she analyzed what he had said. She was an exceptional reader of people. It was one asset that had helped her become an information expert for the Leftys. She could almost always smell the truth. Or the opposite.
“Ok, so you’re not completely full of bullshit,” she said. “You first. Tell me what the hell is going on here.”
Jacob obliged. He described to Anna what had transpired over the last thirty-six hours. He told her about the ANTs’ pursuit of Jessica and Henry, and how it led them to Camp Overlord. He told her about the attack and ensuing battle. And then he told how Simone had gone after the two teenagers, almost killing Jessica and wounding herself in the process.
“They’ve operated on Jessica,” he said. “It doesn’t look good,
but I’ve told them to do all that they possibly can. Anna, I’m so sorry.”
Anna had lowered her head and closed her eyes while Jacob told his story. She was absorbing the information, without showing any emotion. “What about Simone? How’s she looking?”
“Let’s put it this way. She’ll survive. But what Jessica did to her is gonna leave some lasting memories.”
“Good girl,” Anna said to herself, but loud enough that Jacob heard her. Then she raised her head and turned on the cot, lowering her feet to the floor. “So tell me, how did the battle turn out?”
“Hard to say. The ANTs were close to overtaking the camp when Simone went on her rampage. I left not long after, so I didn’t see what happened next. Apparently someone from the rebel side was able to blow up the highway bridge. Killed a ton of ANTs. And changed the outcome of the battle. It didn’t take long for the rebels to shift momentum and drive the rest of the ANTs away.”
A smile began sneaking across Anna’s mouth. “I’ve just noticed something, Jacob,” she said. “I haven’t heard you say ‘we’ or ‘us’ yet. You are one of the ‘ANTs,’ aren’t you? Are you having second thoughts about this whole revolution? Because it may be just a little too late to simply turn the lights back on.”
Jacob suddenly became frustrated with himself. He had betrayed his confusion without knowing it. And Anna was too perceptive not to pick up on it. “Ok, your turn,” he said. “You need to answer the questions I’m about to ask, without retort and without evasion. The longer I’m down here, the more suspicious it looks. Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” Anna said, sharply saluting him with her right hand.
“Knock it off,” he said. “Now listen. I want to know why you came here. And why in the hell would you bring your damn kids?”
