by James Tow
messages to the radio broadcasters all the time—saying how they thank you for everything you do. Some people still deny your existence,” he said laughing.
“Yeah, we are not real,” Gabriel said looking at the clouds.
“Shit, there is even a Podcast dedicated to you two. Or whatever it’s called. The kids listen to it all the time on their mp3 things,” Bergstrom said.
“That’s ridiculous,” Gabriel said shaking his head.
A chuckle escaped my lips and Alyse nudged me with her elbow. It’s always funny when old people try to explain modern technology and they don’t fully understand it.
“Well let’s go inside. I don’t feel like ‘catching up’ while standing out in the open,” Bergstrom said.
“Yeah, especially with all your ‘mini-soldiers’ aiming their weapons at us,” Alyse said.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Bergstrom chuckled. He grabbed the large radio ‘walkie talkie’ that was clipped to his khaki shorts and put it to his mouth. “Stand down. It’s the Reed brothers.”
Immediately, guns fell to the sides of their carriers. Some threw off their tactical goggles and head gear to get a better look at us. They all had looks of amazement as they slowly marched toward us. Doors, swinging open and slamming against walls, could be heard from the school. Hundreds of students filed out of the open doors. They were all jumping and cheering on the sidewalk as if their football team won the state championship.
“See what I mean?” Bergstrom said smiling and started walking toward the high school. Gabriel walked beside him with Alyse and me trailing a couple of feet behind them.
“I see you’re still wearing that ridiculous hat and those same ole’ shorts,” Gabriel pointed out. He was right—it was pretty ridiculous. A red lanyard was hanging out of his jacket pocket, and, I’m assuming, a large key ring with hundreds of keys was jingling in his pocket with every step he took.
“Damn right,” Bergstrom said while rubbing his brown mustache. “You know I’m superstitious. And this hat with the shorts and no underwear is the ultimate good luck charm.”
Disgusting I thought, and Alyse must have had the same idea. I looked over and her eyes were shut with a wrinkled nose.
“Dirty bastard,” Gabriel said.
“Call me what you want,” Bergstrom retorted. “But luck—or whatever it’s been—has gotten us through this thus far, and I don’t feel like breaking the streak.”
“Luck is like believing in God,” Gabriel said while looking into the dark cloudy sky.
Bergstrom was taken aback by his comment and looked at Gabriel in disbelief. He then looked back at me and I shook my head to signal him to drop it.
We reached the asphalt that was the bus ramp—it was littered with debris. I vaguely remember the curvy lane which used to be packed with buses at the end of the school day. Luckily, I never had to wait on the buses. We lived close enough to where we walked home every day. Bergstrom came to a sudden stop and held his arm up across Gabriel’s chest. We noticed the kids who came out with him were walking in a straight line following a specific path toward the sidewalk.
“Don’t step on any of the debris you see on the ground. This area is covered with mines. Just follow me in a single line,” he told us. We followed him as he instructed—Gabriel first, Alyse second, and I held caboose. We slowly made our way to the sidewalk, where the kids stood in silence—their cheering faded when we approached the ‘mine field.’
“So, where did you get all these mines?” Alyse asked Bergstrom.
“Dealers. It’s quite the popular occupation nowadays,” he replied.
“Like…drug dealers?” Alyse asked with honest curiosity.
Bergstrom started laughing and said, “No, Arms Dealers.”
We continued to serpentine our way through the mine field. Even though we had a guide, I was especially nervous—I haven’t walked through a mine field before. My heart stopped every time I set my foot down, and I watched the ground closely. When I glanced up Alyse was a good ten feet in front, and Gabriel was coasting through with his hands in his pockets. The image of me taking a wrong step and losing limbs fluttered around in my head. I like my legs!
“Hurry your slow ass up!” Gabriel called out. I looked up to see they were standing on the sidewalk, which followed the perimeter of the school, waiting for me. I gave him the finger and pressed on. When I made it to the sidewalk Gabriel started laughing, “You’re sweating,” he pointed out.
Everything appeared blurry, and it took me a second to remind myself where I was. I saw a lot of faces. Somewhere smiling and others looked worried. The worried ones were inches from my face, mouthing my name. A beautiful woman to my right was grabbing my arm—I couldn’t feel it but I knew she was. One face stood out in particular—probably it was directly in front of mine. His eyes were fierce and he shook my body to a fissure. I lost all control and my knees hit the ground—I then fell backwards. The last image I took in was the clouds parting in the sky—showing the glowing sun.
15. An Act of Defiance
I woke to the sound of children playing. It was delightful to my ears. Their tennis shoes screeching across the tile, the continuous laughter, the bouncing of rubber balls—all of it—reminded me of happier days.
A pleasant, familiar, voice was talking near me—she was carrying a conversation with someone I didn’t know. “…No it exists. It’s based in Cardiff, Wales. That’s actually where we found these two. Gabriel was sentenced to death while Paul was trying to set him free. How he was going to do that by himself is beyond me…” she said with an accent.
“I was going to smile and say ‘please,’” I wheezed out of my dry throat.
The immediate chatter quickly died as I opened my eyes—they fell upon Alyse and her glistening smile.
“It’s nice to see you up again,” she said.
“Yeah, three hours later,” someone from the crowd, who sat around me, joked. The rest joined in with laughter.
“Three hours?!” I said and quickly sat up—that was a mistake. My head rushed and the blurry vision returned. It felt like six pairs of hands grabbed me and slowly bring me to a chair. When I came to, I realized I was in a dark blue carpeted pit which lay in the middle of Pine Forest’s common area. The pit sat a foot into the ground, and stretched throughout the commons. The plastic chair I occupied sat against Pine Forest’s trophy case—which greeted everybody as it sat facing the entrance to the school.
I looked around to see the faded school colors—red lockers lining the walls, blue tiled floors and columns, and white walls—home of the Eagles. The two flights of stairs, about thirty feet in front of me, were blocked off by a chain linked sign that read ‘High School Students Only.’ And in between the stairs—they’re twenty feet apart and lead to the same hall at the top—are two closed wooden doors that had the same ‘High School Students Only’ sign across them. To my right, by the right set of stairs, was the men’s bathroom. The children I heard were playing four square in front of them. Surrounding me were the children of Pine Forest, plus Alyse, sitting at my feet—on their knees, Indian style, with their legs out in front of them, and other various ways. I felt like a school teacher ready to read a story to my students.
Most those who sat in front of me looked to be fifteen or sixteen. And they stared at me with intensity—they were probably burning with questions.
“So…how’s it going?” was all I could say. Nobody answered. “Is something the matter?” I asked to the crowd.
“It’s just hard to believe that you’re actually sitting in front of us,” a girl called out from the back. Silent mutters floated throughout the crowd as they exchanged thoughts with one another.
Goosebumps overran my arms, followed by chills up my back. I always get this way when someone talks of about our ‘legend.’ I look down to Alyse, who was sitting by my right leg, to see her beautiful grin.
A question tore me from her gaze, “How many Apocalypse soldiers have you and your brother killed?”
“What was your most dangerous task?” the girl sitting next to Alyse asked.
I laughed at this. “Definitely when my brother and I were in New York City—we found out Apocalypse leaders held meetings at the United Nations. We let the idea of us killing the three leaders get to our heads, and we underestimated their power…greatly. Long story short, they backed us into a corner, and we barely escaped.” The crowd was listening intently—hoping I would press on.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t like thinking about it. That was the closest I’ve ever been to death,” I added. Their faces told mixed emotions.
A boy, whose face seemed eager, asked, “So you know who the three leaders of The Army of the Apocalypse are?”
This intrigued me a bit. “You guys don’t know who they are?” I asked and they all had faces of confusion.
“Well…we know of two,” I started, “And we’re not
