by Judd Vowell
“Ok, Anna, here we go,” Archer muttered to her.
One of the Lefty soldiers walked toward them, stiffly with confidence. When he reached them, he stopped and asked Anna the same question three times. She gave a different answer after each. Jessica’s memory rushed back to Camp Overlord, where the same secret password system had been used to grant entry. But this time, entry to Camp Forager was not granted. Something had changed.
“What do you want?” the Lefty soldier asked.
“Retaliation,” Anna responded.
“What do you want?”
“Redemption,” Anna answered.
“What do you want?”
“Resurrection,” Anna said with a smile, thinking her answers held a new special meaning after what she had experienced over the last few weeks. Her smile vanished quickly as she saw that something was wrong.
The soldier clicked the safety switch to its OFF position on his assault rifle and raised his hand into the air. He motioned the other three soldiers forward. “Wrong answer,” he said.
Anna turned her head, and the rest of the group could see that she was confused. Jessica thought back to Camp Overlord, when her friend Jeff had responded to the questions with the same answers. She was sure of it, and so she felt the same confusion that Anna did. But there was another emotion that began to form inside of her as the other Lefty soldiers got closer, their rifles raised in aggression. Jessica felt terror creeping across her insides. And by the look on Anna’s face, she was feeling it, too.
4.
J essica never understood why the Lefty soldiers softened when she stepped between them and her fellow refugees. It was probably natural human instinct. After all, she was weakened from her month in a hospital bed, frailer than her normal athletic self. And she was still so young compared to the others, only fifteen years old. Her appearance must have involuntarily produced a sympathetic reaction from the Camp Forager guards. Then she spoke, and diffused the heated situation instantly.
“May I say something?” she asked. She stood in front of Anna, almost her same height.
The head soldier did not break his stare in their direction. He pondered her simple question for a moment before he answered. “Go ahead,” he said simply.
“My name is Jessica. We have come here from Camp Overlord. We are not your enemies. In fact, this woman behind me is one of your strongest leaders.”
“Camp Overlord, huh?” the head soldier asked. “So tell me – what brings you here from Camp Overlord?”
It was a question with hidden intention, and Jessica could see that. Based on what she had learned during her short time with the Lefty organization, she knew that their network’s communication system was reliable despite its simplicity. The soldier already knew everything that had happened at Overlord. He was fishing with Jessica, baiting her to see how much she knew. Her intuition told her to be as straightforward with him as she possibly could, without revealing who Jacob, Archer, and Laz were just yet.
“Desperation brings us here, if you want to know the truth,” Jessica said. “We were captured, taken inside the Sector 3 grid. We were able to escape, but just barely. We first went back to Camp Overlord, but it’s been destroyed. Everyone who was there is gone. So we came here.” She had a sudden thought while she told her story. Survivors from the battle at Overlord would have retreated somewhere. “Maybe there’s someone here who might know us...” she said.
The head soldier hesitated for another moment. He wanted to believe her, and if her story was true, then the refugees wouldn’t know that Lefty had changed the passcode answer to the third question. But after what had happened at Camp Overlord, every Lefty was nervous. He didn’t trust anyone anymore. He called one of the other soldiers over.
“Go get that Daniel guy. The one who came from Overlord,” he instructed. Then he said to Jessica, “This guy will know you, right?”
“Yes, sir,” she said with confidence. But in the back of her mind, she worried that Daniel would also recognize Jacob, and that could make a tense situation worse before it had the chance to get better.
5.
S imone would have to wait for the answers to her questions about what Salvador was hiding. She found that out when he came to her room the morning after Jacob’s escape from the Sector 3 grid, not long after she had woken.
“How are you feeling?” he asked after she invited him in.
“Better,” she said, even though her head was still throbbing.
“Good. I was worried. You seemed out of sorts after the accident.”
“I’m fine,” Simone reiterated. “So what’s next? Do we know where they went?”
“Listen, Simone, I don’t want you to get too wrapped up in hunting Jacob and the others. We’ll find them, eventually. But there’s a bigger picture here.”
“I understand,” she said, even though she didn’t.
“I hope you do. With that in mind, I have someone I want you to meet. Someone who may be able to shed some light on the rebels for us.”
“You mean someone I don’t know?” she asked incredulously.
“That’s right,” he said. “He’s an old friend, and an important one. He prefers to stay out of the spotlight, even though his role is invaluable.”
“An old friend? Salvador, what the hell? Don’t you think I should’ve known about this? What else are you hiding?”
“Simone, not now,” Salvador said as he made his way to her door. “Rest. You need it. I’ll call for you when I’m ready. But remember – we’re playing the long game now.”
With that, Salvador left her. And her head began to throb worse than when he had arrived.
6.
C amp Forager’s eastern guards moved the five refugees to the grassy side of the interstate while they waited for Daniel, the Lefty leader of what had been Camp Overlord. After the bombing that had ended the battle there, he and most of the surviving rebels had made their way to Kansas and Camp Forager. There was no conversation as Jessica and the others waited, all of them smart enough to know that a wrong word could escalate an already strained situation.
When the guard who had been sent into the camp came back, he had two men with him. Daniel was one of them. As they got close, Daniel recognized Anna and Jessica. He yelled their names in excitement. He went to Anna and grabbed her up in a hard hug.
“I was afraid I would never see you again,” he said into her ear as he squeezed her tightly. “I guess our little plan didn’t work out too well, huh?” he joked, referring to their scheme to gain access to the Sector 3 grid.
“You can say that again,” Anna said when Daniel let her go.
“And look at you,” Daniel said, moving in front of Jessica. “Bravest young woman I’ve ever met. Sure glad you’re still with us.” He offered her his hand, and she took it, feeling proud for the first time in a long while.
Daniel turned to the other man who had come from the camp with him and said, “It’s ok. These are mine.” Then he turned to Archer, who was standing next to Jessica, and Laz, who was next to him. Jacob stood at the end of the line, his head bent downward so that his face was partially obscured. “Who have we got here?” Daniel asked.
“Friends,” Anna answered. “These men helped us escape, Daniel. You can trust them.”
Daniel put his hand out to Archer and introduced himself, then did the same with Laz. Then he got to Jacob.
“Hello, I’m Daniel,” he said, just as he had with the others.
Jacob raised his head slowly and took Daniel’s hand. “Jacob Marsh,” he said.
The introduction startled Daniel, and he instinctively reached across his body for the pistol at his side. Every Lefty had learned who Jacob was, along with the other known ANTI- leaders, but no pictures had ever been found of him. Daniel was stunned at the realization of who now stood before him. The Camp Forager soldiers reacted, raising the rifles they had lowered just a moment earlier.
“No!!!” Anna yelled. “Daniel, it’s ok! He’s with
us.”
Daniel moved his eyes back and forth from Anna to Jacob, confused by the man from the top layer of ANTI- who was now standing before him. Jacob didn’t say a word. He knew that he couldn’t help Daniel understand. He was at the Lefty leader’s mercy.
“At ease,” Daniel said suddenly, sensing the tension from the soldiers behind him. “Anna, what the hell is going on here?”
“Like I said, Daniel. These men helped us, including Jacob. You can trust him.”
Daniel was still gripping Jacob’s hand in his own, tighter than before. “This is one story I can’t wait to hear,” he said. “But know this, Jacob Marsh: you’re gonna have eyes on you at all times around here. You may have earned their trust, but you’ve got a long way to go with the rest of us.”
Jacob nodded his understanding. Daniel went to the other man who had come with him from the camp, and the two spoke briefly to themselves. Then Daniel came back to the group, talking more to Anna and Jessica than the others.
“Welcome to Forager,” he said. “Now, who’s hungry?”
ΔΔΔ
Headquarters for the Camp Forager operation were located inside the lowest level of a hotel that sat on the north side of the interstate. Just like Camp Overlord, Forager had power, hijacked from some dormant power station by Lefty’s own hackers. The bottom floor of the headquarters hotel was humming with electronic activity. Once-useless computers had been set up in the former meeting rooms and lobby, with Leftys at work on tasks to grow the rebellion.
“Feels good to be back in the trenches, even though it’s not Overlord,” Anna said to Daniel.
“Overlord was a bungalow compared to this place,” he joked.
The group was led on a tour of the facilities by the man who had come with Daniel to meet them on the interstate. His name was simply McKay, and he was commander of Camp Forager and the overall Lefty organization. Formerly a government contractor with the Army, he had lived just outside Kansas City before the Great Dark began. The American Liberation Effort was his brainchild, coming to him within weeks of the darkness. He had known sooner than most what had happened and who was behind it, and he had a plan for rebellion against ANTI- after just two months. Word spread from his base camp in Kansas City until a network of small camps and Leftys to man them formed across the United States.
The two hotels that sat within Camp Forager’s perimeter were fully occupied, to the point that the former baseball stadium on the interstate’s south side had been converted into a campground. Lefty tents lined the field in shrinking parallel arcs, from the edge of the outfield’s wall inward to home plate.
“In all, we’ve got almost 1,000 recruits here,” McKay told them. "Our growth is slow, but we are growing."
The football stadium was reserved for training and field exercises. Most of the people who were volunteering for the Liberation Effort had no prior military experience. The armed forces had been decimated during ANTI‑’s takeover, a deliberate extermination of trained soldiers who could possibly retaliate. That meant it was up to McKay and his leadership team to develop a new fighting force, a true army of the people. By the looks of Camp Forager, he was doing just that.
As the abbreviated tour ended, Anna spoke up, speaking directly to McKay. “This is incredible, sir. And I want you to know that you’ve got my full dedication and support, wherever you may need me. And one more thing. I’m sorry for what happened at Overlord. I take as much responsibility as anyone.”
“Thank you for that, Anna,” McKay replied. “But I won’t listen to apologies. We don’t have time for them in this new war that has just begun. You, along with Daniel, made a decision that you thought was in the best interest of Lefty. I can’t fault you for that, just because your plan didn’t work. And besides, from the intelligence we’ve gathered, the ANTs suffered as many casualties as we did at Overlord. Maybe more. All thanks to the bombing of that bridge.” He turned his attention to Daniel. “Speaking of, Daniel, where are we on that bombing?”
“Still working on the details, sir,” Daniel said, “but I’m afraid we may never know who was behind it. Or why.”
Jessica felt a strange sensation flutter through her body as they discussed the bombing of Camp Overlord’s bridge, and the mass killing of ANTI‑’s forces there. It was a sensation she had felt before, one that was always associated with Henry in some way. He had experienced it at times, too, and they had decided it must have been a twin connection. A way of communicating with one another on a metaphysical level that couldn’t be explained. The feeling had been with her at the deserted camp after their escape, just barely there and almost unnoticeable to her. But it was undeniable in that moment as McKay and Daniel discussed the bombing. She knew who had planted the bombs that saved Lefty from complete annihilation in that first battle. Because Henry was telling her from a distance undefined.
7.
J acob had been in his new living quarters at Camp Forager only minutes when a knock came on his room’s door. He was by himself, the odd man out in the group of five recent arrivals to the camp. McKay had been gracious enough to find room for them in the camp’s main hotel, even though it was full. Archer and Laz had bunked together in one room, Anna and Jessica in another. That left Jacob alone, for the moment.
Jacob had felt wary about his presence in the camp ever since they arrived, and the knock on his door startled him more than it should have. He was in the midst of undress and close to exhausted collapse. He reluctantly opened the door and saw Daniel standing in the hotel’s hallway.
“Daniel,” he said. “What can I do for you?”
“I’ll make this simple, Jacob. I need to debrief you, and I need to do it now.” He pointed at Jacob’s head. “Can’t afford to let that knowledge up there start fading. Time has a tendency to do that, y’know.”
“Shit, Daniel, I’m beat. You don’t understand what I’ve been through over the past three days. Let me sleep, please. Then I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
Daniel shook his head and grabbed Jacob by the arm. “Sleeping is the worst thing you could do. Now come with me. I’m not asking.”
Jacob ripped his arm from Daniel’s grasp, then reached for a t-shirt from his luggage. “Alright,” he said, slipping the shirt over his head. “But if I die from sleep deprivation, it’s on you.”
Daniel didn’t laugh, and Jacob began to think his casual approach to the Leftys might not be best. He had always allayed his nervousness with a sarcastic humor, but he thought better of the tactic as Daniel led him to the hotel’s elevator and then down to its basement level.
As the elevator doors opened, Jacob saw a group of men and women, maybe twenty of them. They were seated in a large open area that was bright with fluorescent lights, unnatural and invasive. The group’s chairs were positioned around tables that formed a squared U shape. An empty chair sat in the U’s opening, placed there for him. Daniel led him to the chair and he sat. The people at the tables appeared eager, their laptops opened in front of them ready to record and calculate the data he would provide. He suddenly felt like a test monkey, his only value to them in the answers to some experiment he had been chosen to endure. Daniel had been right when he first met Jacob: it was going to take a long time before he might be accepted into the Lefty world, before he could be trusted. Jacob didn’t fault them for it. It was human nature. But he felt alone for the first time in a long while. Before he could dwell on his sudden isolation, the Leftys’ questions started coming.
“Alright, everyone,” Daniel said from the first chair to Jacob’s left. “Let me begin. Your name and occupation as defined by ANTI‑.”
“Jacob Marsh. Hacker, virus creator, inventor of the end of the world.”
“Let’s focus on the facts, Jacob,” Daniel instructed.
“Sorry,” Jacob said. “It’s just that ANTI- doesn’t work by the same constraints that you do. My occupation was never defined. It didn’t need to be.”
“So what you just described is how y
ou view yourself then?”
“Yes,” Jacob answered. “It’s what I did. Everything else was window-dressing.”
“How long were you with ANTI‑?” The question came from a different Lefty on Jacob’s right.
“A little more than ten years.”
“And, in all that time, the only thing you did was create a virus?”
Jacob smiled. “You did see what my virus was capable of, right? You did experience some disruption in your lives, correct?”
“Enough with the sarcasm,” Daniel snapped.
“Enough with the ignorance,” Jacob fired back. “I’ll answer your questions, guys, but don’t be so naïve. Don’t be so ignorant to the power that Salvador Sebastian has over all of us.”
The room fell silent for a few moments until a female Lefty spoke up. “The bombing at Overlord. Who was it?”
“Now we’re talking,” Jacob said. “The sixty-four-million-dollar question. I don’t know, ma’am, I truly don’t. But neither does Salvador. And that may be the only advantage you’ve got. For now.”
ΔΔΔ
Jacob lay in his bed after the interrogation, unable to sleep. He was as tired as he’d ever been, but he couldn’t settle his brain enough to drift into slumber. The Leftys' questions had seemed endless. He tried to tell them everything about his ANTI- experience, more than a decade of his life. He told them about Salvador and Simone. He told them about the Domino Infection. He told them about the grids and the directors. But the answer that he couldn’t give, and the thing that was keeping him awake, was the mysterious person behind the bombing.
