The Changing Earth Series (Book 3): The Walls of Freedom

by Hathaway, Sara F.

  *****

  Finally the day of the party arrived. It was a Friday night and a beautiful evening. Dressed in their finery, they met in the driveway to be picked up by the party bus that would be making rounds throughout the night.

  “Why can’t Gage and Brenden come, Mom?” Daniel wondered while they waited.

  “You know why, baby. They are refugees and this party is for landowners,” Erika replied.

  “Of course,” Daniel commented, rolling his eyes. “This totally sucks.”

  “Come on, it won’t be so bad,” Bennet commented to the boy as he approached. He wore his officer’s uniform and looked as shiny as a penny. He had just shaved his mustache into its classic walrus form.

  “Don’t you look like a dandy,” Vince commented, shaking his hand as he approached.

  Corporal Avery followed him, decked out in his formal uniform as well.

  “You’re coming?” Erika mentioned, hoping she wouldn’t have to deal with his rules tonight.

  “Of course, hopscotch. I wouldn’t want to miss seeing you in your pretty princess dress,” he teased.

  Erika blushed, forgetting her feminine appearance. “Whatever, I have to wear this,” she stammered.

  “You look beautiful, as does the rest of the family. You will fit right in,” he commented, not wanting them to stand out.

  They headed off to the party. It was at a large building near town and soldiers patrolled the perimeter. The family was seated at the head table next to a table for the regional officials. Everyone who attended the party was first brought by and introduced to this unique family that had been reunited after ten years.

  Erika met so many landowners it was impossible to remember them all. Elena Porter greeted them warmly and whispered with Master Sergeant Bennet. The largest producer elected to the Federal Governing Board for the Social Safety Party was a man named Greyson Webb. He was in his late sixties and wore short gray hair with a matching beard and mustache. He owned five hundred and sixty thousand acres in North Dakota that had over a thousand wind turbines on it pumping out power for the state. He held himself with a superior poise and eyeballed the family carefully.

  Pierce Dickson was another regional official that she met. He represented the Congressional Party and although he did not sit on the Federal Governing Board he still harnessed a lot of power in the region. He had short brown hair and wore a wool coat with a scarf wrapped around his neck. He oversaw food preservation factories in Wisconsin. He sat next to Greyson and they chatted quietly while entertaining attention from landowners.

  Julieta Blanchard was another individual that Master Sergeant Bennet made sure Erika noticed. She was not someone Erika would have thought would be representing the Constitutional Party. She was an elegant lady in her forties. Her hair was dyed blond and her long legs extended from her short black dress. She was the owner of a pharmaceutical company, eager to begin selling her products for profit once again.

  The Northern FEMA Representative was also there. Erika wondered how this gentle-looking black man could ever run a refugee camp. He looked to be in his mid-sixties. The hair atop his head was cut so short he was almost bald, and his beard was mostly gray with some black still splattering it.

  “I’m sorry for what your family has had to endure. It never would have happened in my region,” he whispered as he shook Vince’s hand.

  Dexter made extra special note of someone Erika had hardly noticed. Her name was Caroline Gardner. She was the daughter of a man who was both a major landowner and the Mayor of Brainerd. Dexter watched her young, sexy body float across the floor in her elegant gown. Her brown hair had gorgeous blond highlights whose waves flowed over her shoulders. She went to talk with a group of teenagers and occasionally made eye contact with Dexter as he stared at her.

  After dinner, Erika mingled with the crowd, talking about household activities, household refugees and outfits with the ladies. She noticed that the women had pretty much separated from the men, and she assumed that the conversations the guys were having would be much more interesting than the ones she was wasting her time with here. Not to mention Master Sergeant Bennet was always close behind her, watching and listening. It was starting to drive her crazy, so she excused herself to go use the restroom.

  “You coming with me?” she asked the Master Sergeant as she pushed the door open.

  “No, I’ll wait out here,” he acquiesced.

  While in the bathroom, Erika heard lively music and loud conversations coming from a small building next door. She looked out the window and saw people dancing and someone singing. Is that Sean? she wondered, watching the man. Then she saw Star dancing in the crowd. Screw this, she thought quickly and climbed out the window.

  She nervously sidestepped the patrolling guards and walked through the crowd, getting sideways looks. Before long she was engaged talking with a group of people about hunting and weapons.

  Sean sang beautifully and Erika danced with Star for a while before she sat down with a group of people who handed her a beer. Someone from the group had recognized her and told their friends. They were now eager to hear her stories, identifying certain parts and asking if it was true. In the middle of a beautiful rendition of the riots at the Las Vegas camp her group of listeners fell silent and their eyes opened wide.

  Erika was gripped from behind on the neck of her jacket and pulled out of the group. Master Sergeant Bennet had found her. The vein in his forehead was bulging, and Erika was fearful of the look in his eyes. It had been a long time since she saw that look and she knew she had messed up, big time.

  He gripped her arm tightly and pulled her out of the throng of people.

  “Dammit, Erika! You will not make a fool out of me,” he barked at her.

  “I’m sorry. It was just so boring in there and looked so fun out here,” she stammered, trying to explain.

  “You needed to be in there, talking with decision-makers, not out here entertaining the refugees,” he fumed, walking her over to a bench by the meeting building.

  “I’m sorry,” she replied. “I’ve never been very good at fitting in with the ladies.”

  “Or following orders,” he commented, sitting her down hard on the bench.

  “Ow, Sergeant, I’m not a freaking soldier anymore, remember? What’s the big freaking deal, anyway?” Erika was tired of his lecturing and shoving her around.

  “This was your first chance to meet with officials, even federal officials, and you sneak out, leaving everyone wondering what happened to you,” he explained.

  “Who cares,” Erika spat at him. “I sure don’t. I’m not going to become one of those elegant ladies worried about their clothes and hair. What does it freaking matter?”

  “Don’t you see what’s going on here, Erika. Don’t you see the division? Don’t forget all the people you left behind down in Vegas, getting put into the box while you go party,” he snapped.

  She sat and thought on that for a moment.

  “A few hours talking with delegates doesn’t seem so bad now, does it?” he questioned quickly, noticing he had gotten through to her.

  “No...I guess not,” Erika acquiesced to him.

  “Come on, we’ll go in the back door and you can make some excuse about needing air. Clean yourself up,” he commanded.

  She straightened her hair and dress back up and went in the back door with the Master Sergeant. Vince watched them come in. He noticed the vein popping out of Bennet’s forehead and wondered what kind of trouble Erika had stirred up now.

  “Everything okay, guys?” he asked.

  “Oh yeah, everything is great,” she said convincingly. “I just needed some air,” she said, smiling at him.

  Vince knew from the look in the Master Sergeant’s eyes that there was much more to this but before he got a chance to probe further, Elena Porter came over and took Erika by the arm, eager to find out all about her. Erika talked with her and the other officials for the rest of the night, with Master Sergeant Bennet n
ever out of arm’s length. She wasn’t sure how in depth she should go with her stories, so she gave them the Cliff Notes of her survival story and they marveled at her tenacity.

  Chapter 33

  Master Sergeant Bennet was knocking on her door early the next morning.

  “You and Dexter are coming with me today,” he commanded.

  “What? Why?” Erika was confused.

  He looked at her sideways. It was obvious he was not in the mood to explain after the stunt she had pulled at the party.

  “Erika, just get your shit together and tell Dexter,” he snapped at her.

  “Fine.” She went to do as he ordered.

  “Good morning, Master Sergeant Bennet,” Vince greeted him as he exited the bedroom. “You’re here early, what’s up?”

  “I’m taking Dexter and Erika over to the base today. Dexter can start training to be part of the merc force if he wants, and Erika and I are going to work some things out on the training mat today,” he explained.

  “I bet Dex would like that, but I don’t think Erika will. She said you were pretty pissed at her last night,” Vince replied.

  “I was,” he admitted. “She snuck out the damn window.”

  Vince laughed. She hadn’t let him in on that side of the story.

  “Sounds like something she would do,” Vince admitted.

  “What?” Erika said, walking up.

  “Climbing out the window,” Vince laughed.

  “Well, he was following me everywhere and it looked so fun out there,” Erika explained, blushing at her rash move.

  “Don’t be too hard on her, Master Sergeant,” Vince teased as he called for Daniel. He winked at Erika and gave her a kiss.

  Erika went with Master Sergeant Bennet and Dexter. She felt like this was going to be an interesting day as she listened to Dexter describe Caroline and how beautiful she was. They rode a troop transport that came by to pick up soldiers housed throughout the countryside to attend training at the base.

  The base itself was huge. Training grounds with stacks of housing pods all situated on Mille Lacs Lake. The lake was used for training exercises as well, practicing water rescues. The small town and casino that had once occupied the space were gone and now high fences guarded the weapons and soldiers inside.

  Their first step was to a recruitment office where the officer was very interested in Dexter’s past training and experiences. They talked about possible career paths and positions. Dexter told him about his dog, Trucker, and they decided that as long as the animal could pass the test he would train to be a K-9 unit. Dexter seemed excited about it, so Erika left him with the recruitment officer so that they could tour the facility and get to know where he would need to report to.

  Master Sergeant Bennet took Erika to a room with a training ring.

  “Oh no...I am not getting into there with you, while you’re in this mood,” Erika stammered.

  “Yes, you are. Now...I can have those soldiers over there throw you in or you can put on this sparring helmet and climb in like the fighter I know you are,” he commanded, glaring at her intensely.

  “A sparring helmet? Really?” she teased.

  “We don’t want any marks on that pretty face of yours, cupcake. There’s a regional meeting coming up,” he responded.

  She grabbed the helmet from his hand and removed her shirt before she put the helmet on. She stood in a black tank top, camouflage pants and helmet, ready to take him on.

  “Come on, old man,” she said as he entered the ring.

  He towered over her and his muscular body flexed tightly.

  “Oh that’s cute, hopscotch,” he replied.

  He acted like he was going to throw a left punch and watched her body sway to avoid the attack. She ran square into his right hand. He hit her so hard the helmet skewed to the side. She adjusted it back into place quickly.

  “Ow, damn!” she said, getting to her feet. Anger started to well inside of her. She acted like she was going to punch and kicked him hard in the gut as he went to block the punch.

  “Two can play that game,” she boasted, smiling at him as he bent over, exhaling the air that had been blasted out of his lungs.

  He quickly wiped the smile away as he came back up with a swift upper cut to her chin. Her head snapped back and she hit the mat hard. He circled to kick her gut but she reacted quickly, knowing his moves, and kicked in him the jaw. It barely phased him and he kicked her anyway. The air blew out of her lungs and she felt like she was going to puke.

  “What the fuck?” she screamed.

  He was not pulling his punches today and he was really starting to piss her off. This wasn’t the friendly training they usually engaged in and she was infuriated. As she came into attack he hit her hard in the gut again and then punched her across the head. She fell to the mat in pain.

  “You see, cupcake. There are no guns here, no knives, no way for you to maximize your size. I’m bigger, stronger, and if two or three people like me come for you, all the skills in the world won’t save you,” he hissed at her.

  She stayed on the mat, trying to breathe, listening to him yell in her ear.

  “You may be out of the camp and the badlands, but you are in just as much danger here. Wake up, cupcake! We’re doing our best to keep you safe,” he said, calming down.

  She gathered up her strength and rose to her feet. She flew at him acting like she was going to kick again and he bent slightly to block it. Erika jumped up and grabbed his head; instead, she pulled it down into her knee. He stammered for a second but came back swinging, and she blocked a couple before he overwhelmed her again and beat her into the mat. He targeted her middle section, knowing bruises there would not be visible in public. She didn’t get back up after this assault.

  “All your rage, fury and strength can’t save you without your weapons, Erika,” he said, watching her lay in pain on the mat. “Damn stubborn woman,” he mumbled as he wrapped his hand that was bleeding in a cloth.

  Erika began to cry, not because of the pain but because of frustration.

  “Are you crying?” Master Sergeant Bennet asked. “This is a first.”

  “Why me? Why did I have to live this life?” Erika pleaded.

  “I can’t answer that, but I can tell you, I’m with you. I believe that together we can do this,” he assured her.

  “Do what?” she asked.

  “There’s a chance we can free the refugees and make things right peacefully. If there’s a war, Erika, people will die on both sides and who knows what will become of this country after that,” he reminded her.

  She sat up, taking off the helmet.

  “But you need me to listen to you and follow your orders without question, right?” Erika knew how these beat-down sessions usually ended.

  “Now you’re catching on, cupcake. I am not your commanding officer anymore so I can’t legally make you do anything, but I am your friend. You have to trust that I am protecting you and I will tell you what you need to know. I have to know that I can trust you to follow me. Otherwise, the resistance can’t use you or protect you,” he replied honestly.

  “So, I have to blindly trust you or else my family will be in danger. Gee, where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, from you in the camp!” Erika shook her head in frustration.

  “I know, Erika. I know we’ve been through a lot, but this is life out here. This is how it is and until someone can change it, we just have to live in it. I mean, come on, I take orders, why can’t you?” He hated to explain himself. For a man consumed with orders, explanation seemed so useless.

  “It’s your job, Sergeant. You chose it. I never chose any of this.” Erika yelled, swinging her arms around. “ I’ve been forced to survive in one situation and the next. Forced to act a certain way, say certain things, watch my children be assaulted and almost die. I never chose any of that.”

  “I know, Erika, and damn, you’ve risen to the occasion, every time,” he answered, trying to put himself in her shoe
s.

  He came over and hugged her. She was freaked out at first, but relaxed and cried in his arms.

  “I would never have done any of this if I didn’t think you could do it, if I didn’t want to protect you and see you safe. I really do love you, cupcake,” he teased, watching a small smile form on her face.

  “I guess that’s what they mean by love hurts,” she said, holding her painful mid-section as she laughed.

  “I needed to get your attention. I need you to understand that it only takes a moment to remove you from the game board. I need you to trust me without question,” he consoled her.

  “I do,” she replied quietly. “And I’ll try to be less of a pain in your ass, but I can’t make any promises,” she grinned widely at him.

  He looked at her sternly.

  “Okay...okay. I’ll follow your lead,” she agreed.

  The Master Sergeant left Erika to take a shower and get cleaned up. He was going to find Major Virgis. She let the hot water wash over her, marveling at the irony of the situation. It seemed she would never escape and live her own life again. When she finished she dressed in fresh fatigues that had been brought for her.

  Bennet had given her directions to a waiting room and she wandered the halls looking for the right pod. Suddenly a young man with glasses bumped into her. The papers he was carrying went flying.

  “Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry,” he bumbled.

  “It’s okay. Here, let me help you,” Erika stated, helping him to gather up the papers.

  She handed the stack she had collected to the young man.

  “Brad Dougan,” he said, extending his hand.

  “Erika Moore,” she replied.

  “Oh, it’s you. The lone survivor of Sacramento,” he replied, recognizing her name. “It was you in the ring with Master Sergeant Bennet!” he exclaimed, putting the pieces together.

  “Yeah, that was me,” she answered.