The Renegade

by Daniel Evora

  It made me feel so guilty that I had some say in this, that I could've done this to them. These people weren’t living in poverty, however, but didn’t live free. It was right then and there that I knew the Silents had to be stopped. Then again not everyone shared the same opinion.

  We were walking down the street dressed in disguise to draw any attention or adulation away from prying eyes. Large, brown trench coats with hoods to cover our faces in the cold.

  I looked up at the towering buildings that made up the city. There were even ones that were stacked on top of each other like a house of cards. Just waiting to topple over. All of them were completely empty. Rotting away, and some with overgrowth taking their place.

  “We’re almost there,” Chris said, as Thomas and Lily nodded to him. We traveled into an alley, into an abandoned building, and sat around for a bit, not knowing what to do.

  “Are we supposed to meet this guy here?” Thomas asked, puzzled, looking around for an entrance.

  “No, he’ll just let us in,” Chris replied.

  Suddenly, there was a loud creek that sounded like the opening of a hatch or a door. Out of nowhere, the wall in front of us split into two sections. Finally, a thick, large vault door swung open slowly, and as it opened I could see someone on the other side. Long hair, skin was beginning to wrinkle, and yet was still able to shave. Who we saw was Jacob.

  “Are you Jacob?” I asked the man, but he did not respond as he stared at me. Then he glanced at everyone else.

  The man sighed. “Follow me,” he said.

  The four of us were amazed by the bunker that Jacob lived in. I could tell that he was a very clever man, from what kind of tech lied in it. Lots and lots of robots to help him with certain things. Jacob sat down on his couch and told us to join him.

  “Hello, Chris,” Jacob smirked. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. How long has it been? Five? Seven years?”

  “Too long,” Chris responded. “I’ve been trying to track you down for almost six years now.”

  “Well, you found me. What do you want?”

  “We need some intel on a concentration camp not too far from Nipton, California. I was told you know the place very well.”

  “Why?” Jacob asked, he held a serious face. It was as if he didn’t like the sound of the place Chris had mentioned.

  “Ben has been captured by the Silents, and it’s imperative that we find him and bring him back to us.”

  “That’s suicide,” Jacob said as he stood up from the couch.

  “Not unless we know where to go, and we need a plan,” Chris explained. “Please, Jacob, we need your help.”

  “Even if I do tell you, the place is an impenetrable fortress. That includes the Phoenix Post.”

  “Impenetrable fortress?” I asked, rethinking the situation.

  “Back in '79, we tried to take another base closer to Kalo City after Phoenix Post, but the camp had spread for miles. It’s a prison, military depot, medical bay, and anything else they made it into.”

  “Where’s the prison?” Chris asked.

  Jacob sighed and pulled up a digital map of the prison area. “This is all I recovered from that mission. Everything else is a maze. The prison area is broken up into sectors, then into floors. Ben is most likely going to be here. Floor one sector D. That’s where they keep the special prisoners. Be careful, they have surveillance in every room, and the place is crawling with soldiers. Luckily, we were able to capture two of their checkpoints somewhere in the Midwest. So, you guys should stop at one of them on your way to form a plan.”

  “What about the outside defenses?” Thomas asked.

  “That’s the hard part. You think everything I said before was enough of a challenge. The base is surrounded by a double wall, covered with air and ground defenses. However, you need to take out that radar tower first or else they’ll find you quickly and shoot on sight.”

  “You can come with us, you know.” Chris told Jacob.

  “Thank you, but I don’t really feel like it. I mean look at me, I’m fifty years old. I’ve already taken two of these things in the past and I’m not looking forward to taking another one.”

  “There’s another reason though isn’t it?” Chris asked.

  Another reason? What could it be that he’s so afraid of? But I didn’t ask the question.

  “Look, Chris, we’ve been through this before. I left because of what that life has done to me,” he was becoming teary eyed. “I lost everything to the war. So many people died, and for what? Just to lose and do it all over again? No. When your mother died that was it for me. The rebellion named you guys as the “descendants of hope”. But, most of it is gone. I can’t go back to my old life.”

  “Chris, can’t we just leave?” Thomas asked.

  “He needs some space, I can tell Jacob has a lot on his mind right now. So, we need to just go,” Lily suggested. “We have what we need, so let’s leave.”

  “I’m sorry, Jacob. I shouldn’t have left,” Thomas said out of nowhere. I turned to him looking confused.

  “It’s not your fault, Thomas. Your parents will get their justice,” Jacob replied.

  As we left New York I thought about what Thomas said to Jacob at the last minute. I never knew he actually served in the rebellion army, but I guess it made sense why he knew so many people that were either older or around the same age as him. I saw him as he stared out into the distance, and he pulled something out of his secret jacket holster to reveal a black revolver. I snuck up on him by accident, which startled Thomas and caused him to shove the item back into his jacket.

  “Sorry, Tom, I didn’t know you had a family that died,” I said, feeling empathy for him.

  Thomas reupholstered the weapon. “The Blackhawk. It was my father’s before me, and his mother’s before him. That last time I saw him he told me: don’t worry, everything will be alright. I was eleven at the time, and I never got the chance to say goodbye.”

  “I never knew my father,” I explained. “I was given to a foster home at three years old and lived there until I was sixteen, so I registered to serve in the Order at eighteen. Dead or alive, I don’t know.”

  Thomas nearly frowned at my response, then his face lit up with a grin. “I have a family of my own. Well, soon anyways.”

  “I’m surprised you’d have time for that. How long has it been since you’ve seen your wife?”

  “Too long. This conflict has been going on ever since The Siege of Phoenix has only split us even further. I might not even get to see my child until he or she is a few months old. I worry that I can’t be there for her, yet I worry I can’t be there for the Agents. So, I hope you can understand why I’ve haven’t been cooperating as much as the others. I want to go home to my family, but then at the same time I want to stay and fight.”

  “I think I do,” I replied slowly, as there was little confidence in my answer.

  “What do you plan on doing after all this?” Thomas asked, putting away the Blackhawk. “After the mission. Why did you want to come here?”

  I looked at the sunset, searching for an answer to that question. I watched as the light of the sun turned the sky into a warm orange color. I searched, and searched. The clouds began to fade as the sky lost its brightness. I turned to Thomas; he was prepared for me to reply. So, I began to speak.

  “I-I don’t know,” I replied, as I pulled out one of my katanas and looked at its glare on the blade. “I’m still trying to figure that out. Sometimes, now I feel--”

  “Useless,” Thomas interrupted, as I nodded.

  “Well, you’ll find it someday,” Thomas answered. “Like I did mine, with the Agents, and with Lily, and soon with my future son or daughter.”

  Lily had joined in on the conversation. She stared at the ground and cleared her throat, as Thomas let her speak. “We’re going soon.”

  “Where?” I questioned.

  “To another base up northwest, one of the bases Jacob had mentioned. I believe it�
�s in North Dakota.”

  The next day was very, very slow. It was certain that we would have trouble making an effective plan to infiltrate the facility in California. Matthews, his crew, Chris, Lily, Thomas, and I were debating with the officers in the area about the best way to enter. But it was useless, we had already talked about the plan with Jacob. That’s when I started to see the problem with the Rebellion these days. Ever since the Siege of Phoenix, as their greatest loss, the higher ranks haven’t been able to get along with each other. Everyone was blaming at least someone for their horrible defense at Phoenix. They were powerful then, but now I can’t be so sure anymore.

  We had been arguing in the room for almost an hour, and the officers Jamie, Leo, and Erin, who was only a private; a newbie. I glared at them with disappointment. All this arguing for nothing, and now I have started to see the one flaw in the Rebellion that had caused them to lose much power over the past couple of years. It’s hard for everyone to get along.

  “I understand, Klara, but what about the guns,” Matthews scolded her.

  “Which guns?” she asked back

  “The...guns...on the....bridge. The entrance! How are we supposed to get past those if you’re telling us we can’t take out their navigation first!” he shouted, holding back some of his anger sparingly.

  “Because, the navigation tower is inside the base,” General Leo replied. He had a good point, since going after would almost certainly end up in immediate detection. “You’d be trying to pass the entrance either way!”

  “Not necessarily,” Chris interrupted. “The tower can detect us using infrared radio waves, no?”

  “Correct, commander,” replied Klara.

  “So all we need is something capable of interrupting the signal long enough to let us sneak past the security, and shut down the tower,” Chris explained, as he pointed toward the picture of the navigation tower. “Signal jammers should do the trick.”

  “Except they don’t work on their own towers,” Klara replied. “The base’s security network is interconnected throughout the state and to Kalo City. I know because that’s how security works here.”

  “You thinking what I’m thinking?” Chris asked General Leo, as Leo shook his head.

  “Commander, we’ve been through this already,” Leo replied, enunciating his words. “The cloaks are prototypes, and may not work on the suits yet. We can’t take the chance of you getting detected while breaking through the entrance. It could take weeks for us to produce a stable, working stealth suit, and that’s just for one.”

  “Well, what are we supposed to do? Just wait?” Chris asked. “Who knows what they could do to him within that time frame?!”

  “You mean to tell me that this whole operation is all for one soldier!” Klara shouted, with a stressful tone.

  “This is General Benardo Perez we’re talking about!” Chris yelled back. I jumped for a bit, since I thought I’d never see someone like Chris become so angry.

  “I understand that the Syndicate has lost a member, but it’s better to lose one soldier than losing an entire battalion to rescue him.”

  While the two were arguing I asked Max if he knew anything about the Syndicate. “What’s the Syndicate?” I whispered in his ear, as I peeked over to Chris.

  “The Syndicate is a team of individuals chosen by Chris, as he believes, to help end the war once and for all. It includes you, me, Chris, Max, Matthews, Klara, and Ben,” Thomas replied. “Andrew was to be recruited, but you know how that went.”

  “Who’s Klara?”

  “She’s the daughter of Arthur Bell,” Max explained.

  “Arthur Bell? Who’s that?”

  “Bell provides funds for the Rebellion,” he informed.

  The argument escalated every second it continued, and annoying it was to hear them wasting their time on something this simple. We get Ben, then make a break for it. How hard is it to understand that? Even if we had to make a plan to prevent any casualties, it still doesn’t take away from their unnecessary conversation.

  I stood up from my seat and finally intervened. “Will you guys shut up? All this back and forth is getting us nowhere closer to rescuing Ben.”

  Chris glared at me for a second, but his glaring soon turned into nodding. He yielded. “Terra, we have to rescue your father, it is crucial that we bring him back to base. He has important information that could...He’s my uncle, which means he’s family. We are all family. Please, Klara, I need your help with this. So, are you with us or not?”

  Klara gave a light sigh. “Alright, what’s our first step?”

  Chapter 6

  Vendetta

  “Mr. West, the cell is ready for you to speak with the rebel, sir,” Sam told Adam, he stared at the wall, maybe even into deep space. “Sir?”

  “I’ll be there in a minute, General Kamarov,” Adam replied slowly with no emotion.

  “You better get it out of that rebellion general,” Adrana said.

  “You know it’s not that easy.”

  “Then make it easy.”

  Adam stood up from his office chair, put on his trench coat with the symbol of his rank on the left shoulder, and strolled swiftly to the cell of the prisoner, which was Ben. On the wall in front of the cell was an intercom for both men to speak through, without any unnecessary risk. Ben tilted his head up to meet Adam's eyes as he stared at him. Reciprocating that same hatred.

  Adam activated the intercom. “General Perez. I’ve noticed you’ve been here for quite some time, and I’ll let you be if you can answer my questions." He lied. "That sound good to you?”

  He waited for a response, but there was none. Ben's mouth continued to stay shut.

  “I said I will leave you be if you can answer--”

  “I've had enough. I've had enough of your games!” Ben shouted, throwing himself against the glass wall of the cell. "Your pernicious wordplay can’t fool me anymore.”

  Adam sneered, while Ben heavily exhaled through his nose. Both of his fists tightly closed staring straight into his soul.

  Adam tilted his head further toward the thick glass.

  “Tell me where it is.”

  “I’ll never reveal it to you,” swore Ben.

  “Then, I will rip it out of your thick skull,” cursed Adam.

  “You don’t have the nerve.”

  “Try me.”

  Adam squinted his eyes at Ben as he could spot the slightest raising of his upper lip. He didn’t reach for any of buttons or switches on the panel to pull out some ellaborate torture device or to make his ears hurt with an overly loud, ringing tune. He knew that

  “Why did you do it?"

  “I can’t, General Perez,” Adam answered, as he stared at the ground waiting for the guards to pass him. “I can’t tell you.”

  “Why? What are you so afraid of?”

  “I’m not afraid. You simply wouldn’t understand,” He turned away from Ben and left the room. Nothing but silence throughout.

  Sam caught up to Adam just before he left, confused by his behavior. “Sir, the interrogation?”

  “It can wait,” Adam swiftly replied, as he looked at Ben one last time with a straight face. “Once the interrogation is done. I want you...to hold a public execution.”

  “Alright, Mr. West, when would that be?”

  “I will come back in two days for interrogation,” Adam commanded. “Six o’ clock, no later, understand? I have a very busy schedule this week.”

  “Affirmative, Mr. West,” Sam nodded.

  ...

  I had come all this way to Boston, just for it to lead back to where I came from; California. However, we couldn’t just enter the state head on. So, we took helicopters instead of ground vehicles, making three stops to increase our chances of getting there alive. We had just made it to our first stop back at a Denver site, and was officially now my first ever mission working with the rebellion. The feeling itself was strange, but at the same time, exciting.

  “Alright, ladies a
nd lads, this is one of three stops we will make on our way to Nipton. The second will be in Albuquerque, New Mexico, then the third will be upon the border near Fort Mohave,” Matthews said. “Stay together and if necessary, split into groups. We can’t let Silent Death become aware of our presence on their territory.”

  “Our hardest stop will be when we reach the Colorado River, since Fort Mohave is crawling with enemy hostiles,” Max explained thoroughly, as he pointed to the holographic map. “Nate, do you have any intel we could use on Fort Mohave?”

  Everyone stared at me in silence, waiting for an answer. “Well...the good thing is that it’s a small outpost and I’ve been there a few times. Soldiers take shifts usually twice during the week, and since it’s Tuesday, on Thursday they will make a rotation sometime after midnight. That’s our opening to get past the border, but we gotta move fast.”

  “Well, you heard him people, we leave in the morning, to the border,”Chris smirked at me. Everyone split to their quarters, except for me, Thomas, and Chris.

  “That was good,” Thomas told me. “You might’ve just saved the mission.”

  “I don’t know about that one,” Chris added. He turned towards me. “But, your cooperation has given us important intel.”

  “Let’s just hope Adam hasn’t caught onto our trail yet,” I said. “He might catch on to our sudden inactivity.”

  “It will work, Nate. It will. It has to work.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  “Then we’ll die trying.”

  ...

  Remorse, fear, vengeance, hate, and depression. All of these were constantly mixing together in Adam’s mind. Blurring into each other, as he tries to discard them everyday as if they never existed. He didn’t talk to anyone about it, only through his own journal entries as an outlet for his emotions.

  “Entry number thirteen seventy two,” Adam said as he spoke into the microphone. “Date is April 15, 2105. I’ve just ordered Ben’s execution. I thought it to be best, but now I feel cold, bitter, and unsure of myself. But, I know deep down it must be done. My current update with Jacob’s exact location is still unknown, but I’m certain he’s within one of the abandoned cities of the Northwest Commonwealth . Problem is that there's a lot of ground to cover. He’s smart, but he cannot hide from us forever. I’ve come to the realization that if I am to succeed in this conflict, the Rebellion must be demolished completely. Finding a way to take out everyone easily is our best shot. Hopefully Ben, will--”