by T A Williams
Ben rubbed his eyes. It made sense. It was the best plan, but could he do it? He had killed before but this wasn’t exactly self-defense; this was an assassination. They didn’t have any succession plan. If he killed Johnson then the infighting alone might be enough to take them down. Hundreds if not thousands of lives could be spared. “You’re right.”
“You can do it, B.”
“All right, let’s head back, keep our heads down and wait for him to return.”
They walked back in silence and Ben didn’t remember any of it. He remembered Ty saying something to him before they split but he didn’t remember the words. He walked to the Mess Hall but couldn’t find his appetite so he roamed the dark hallways of the mall. He knew he would lose something of himself doing this. Part of him would never be the same, so was he willing to sacrifice some of his humanity in order to protect others? Wasn’t that why he had wanted to be a soldier, to save others? What would Mason do?
At first he didn’t notice the sound of the footsteps. They were soft enough they were easy to ignore, but it was the amount of them that got Ben’s attention. They moved carefully but quickly and with the empty hallways, it sounded like they were coming from all around. Ben carefully pulled out his sidearm and turned the safety off. He slowly walked backwards until he hit the door of one of the shops. Ben quickly went inside and took up position behind some shelving. It was hard to tell how many there were with the echoing of the empty hallways, but they had the element of surprise. Couple that with the fact that most of the base’s soldiers were at the courthouse, and it meant that things could be getting bad really soon. If these were Carter’s men then they weren’t technically his enemies but they didn’t know that and wouldn’t hesitate to kill him. He needed to find Ty. Ben waited for the sounds of the footsteps to fade before he left the store and headed toward the base.
Ally
The mall was a sprawling, dark maze. Ally’s eyes fought to adjust to the dark surroundings while she also fought to keep up with Maclin without making too much noise. Maclin and his men moved quickly and it wasn’t long before Ally had fallen behind and lost sight of them. Ally moved quietly down the dark hallways into what had once been a food court. Tables and chairs were scattered all about and there was a large carrousel sitting in the middle of the area. Ally walked over and ran her hand over the cracked plastic of one of the horses. For a moment she was transported back and remembered sitting on one of these with her mother standing next to her. She could still feel her mother’s hands holding her steady on the carrousel horse. Joseph was on the horse next to her, his eyes filled with fear, while Ben ran about the carrousel trying to make up his mind which he was going to ride. The memory faded and Ally found herself staring at the broken-down carrousel horse. She wiped away some of the cracking paint on the horse’s nose and then turned back to the dark hallways.
It was only a few minutes later when she came upon a body. She approached slowly, with her bow at the ready, and when she was within a few feet she saw the military uniform and knew it was one of the enemies. A pool of blood surrounded the man and Ally could make out where a knife had slid across the man’s neck, creating a larger second mouth. A gunshot rang out in the distance, the sound echoing down the hallways to her. Ally ran deeper into the mall.
She moved quickly, keeping to the edges of the walls and keeping her bow at the ready. Occasionally she would hear another gunshot and she would quicken her pace, moving toward the direction of the sound. She turned a corner and stopped as she heard talking floating down the hallway. It was too far away to make out what was being said but there were two distinct voices. Ally moved through the shadows down the hallway and saw one of Maclin’s men standing fifty yards away from a small coffee shop, his gun at the ready. Before she could get any closer the man opened fire into the coffee shop.
Ben
Every step sounded like thunder in his ears as it seemed to bounce off the walls and echo down the dark halls. He moved softly but quickly trying to catch up to the intruders, knowing full well lives were likely already being lost. Ben used the service hallways to attempt to make up time and avoid detection, but the hallways didn’t have windows, meaning he was fumbling around in the darkness and occasionally bumping into the walls. He fumbled around for a few more minutes in the dark hallways, until he felt certain he should be close, and then crept out of the nearest door.
He recognized the small coffee shop as soon as he stepped into it. He wasn’t far from their main encampment and the lack of screams or guns firing either meant he had made it there first, or the attackers were really good.
“The hell you doing?” came a voice from just beside Ben.
Ben jumped back and aimed his sidearm and just before he pulled the trigger he recognized Locke’s number two. “Jesus, Anderson, you scared the shit out of me.”
“What the hell are you doing sneaking around?” Anderson asked. He was leaned back in a chair sipping from a large glass.
Ben put his finger to his lips and whispered, “We are under attack.”
Anderson raised an eyebrow. “What the hell is wrong with you, Ben?”
A single gunshot echoed throughout the mall and Anderson immediately jumped to his feet and grabbed his assault rifle off the table.
“Like I was saying, we’re under attack.”
Another gunshot rang out and then there was a guttural yell from faraway. Ben crept up toward the front glass and peered out into the large atrium. Just behind that was where the main base was set up. He didn’t see anything.
Anderson pushed past him. “We’ve got to get our asses over there.”
He walked out of the open doorway and a gunshot sent him sprawling back inside. The man fell onto his back and pushed himself away from the doorway with his legs. Ben dove behind a fallen table and aimed his handgun toward the door.
“Anderson, you still breathing?”
The man moaned. “Yeah, I’m good. Got me in my fucking shoulder. I’ve never been shot before.”
The glass shattered and bullets poured in from the other side. The bullets peppered the floor and wall all around Ben and he felt the table he was hiding behind get struck several times. The firing then switched to short bursts, and it sounded like they were concentrated on Anderson’s position. Ben peeked out from behind the table and saw the muzzle flash coming from the hallway, a single muzzle flash. Ben opened fire in the direction of the muzzle flash and the shooter switched their attention to him. The table shook as the bullets slammed into it, and Ben waited for the feeling of a red hot bullet to break through and connect with him. He fired back blindly until his sidearm was empty and then the only sound he could hear was the shooter and Anderson firing back and forth. Anderson pushed himself back behind a large bar in the rear of the room and the muzzle flashes from the outside shooter became brighter and brighter as they made their way toward the door. Every time Anderson attempted to peer out and shoot, the shooter let out a burst, sending Anderson back down below the bar. He was pinned down. Ben pulled out his knife and waited for the shooter to enter.
As the shooter stepped inside his assault rifle clicked, indicating it was empty, but the man dropped it and instantly pulled out a handgun and continued the pressure on Anderson. Ben got on his hands and knees to prepare to rush the man when suddenly the man’s head snapped back and he fell to the floor. Ben looked to Anderson, who looked from his handgun to the fallen enemy soldier, just as surprised.
“Shit, I can’t believe I got him.” Ben barely heard Anderson over the ringing of his own ears.
Anderson stood up, favoring his right shoulder, and walked over to the dead man. He gave him a few kicks to the side and shook his head.
“All right, I’m sure the shit has hit the fan. We better-” He was cut short by the arrow that pierced his neck.
Ben stared at the arrow shaft sticking from Anderson’s neck and watched as the man grasped toward it, immediately letting it go as soon as his hands clasped around it. Ano
ther arrow flew from the darkness of the hallway and struck Anderson in the back. The man let out a grunt, stumbled forward a few steps and then fell to his knees. The arrowhead peeked out from the front of the man’s chest and Anderson stared down at it and then looked to Ben, confused.
The sound of crunching glass reached Ben’s ears and he saw the source of the arrow. Partially covered in darkness, the figure was small in stature, with long, dark hair and a massive bow in her hands. The arrow was at the ready and it quivered as she walked toward Anderson. Ben stayed crouched, unnoticed. As the figure walked closer he could tell it was a young girl, and her face was contorted in anger. As Anderson turned toward her she let loose and the arrow shot through the man’s eye. That was when Ben attacked.
Ally
Ally stood over the dead body of the enemy soldier, the body of her own fellow soldier just a few yards behind her. She should have moved quicker; he should have remained behind cover. Instead, he had moved recklessly and had gotten himself killed. She stopped for a moment over the body of the dead soldier and realized that she had heard two voices before gunfire broke out. She saw the person moving toward her from the corner of her eye. Ally lifted her bow but the enemy soldier was already too close; he knocked it away and she dove to the side to buy herself time. The enemy soldier stumbled a few steps and then turned, his knife gleaming in the limited sunlight. As Ally began to pull out her own knife the soldier rushed her again, and before she could dive out of the way he had already slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. She rolled with the blow and was back on her feet in an instant, so as the soldier continued to stumble forward she was rushing him. She jumped on top of him, wrapping her arms around his neck and squeezing with all her might. The man dropped his knife and grabbed her arms and pried them off with relative ease; in a quick motion he tossed her over his head and sent her slamming into the ground a few yards away.
The blow knocked the wind out of Ally’s lungs and a wave of pain washed over her. She fought through the pain and quickly stood up, waiting for the man to make his next move.
“Back down, I don’t want to hurt you,” the man said. There was something about his voice.
Ally glanced around for her bow and knife but couldn’t locate them in the dark room. Her arm fell to her side, where she unhooked one of her throwing knives. She rushed the man just as she let loose with the throwing knife. The object sailed in front of her as the man twisted to the side at the last moment. Instead of striking him in the chest, it pierced his right shoulder and sent him staggering back just as she slammed into him from the front. Together they fell, the man on his back and Ally on top of him. As his back crashed onto the ground Ally grabbed the throwing knife from his shoulder and pulled it out. The soldier let out a scream of pain but as she plunged the knife down toward his neck, he grabbed her arm at the wrist. The soldier was strong. He squeezed her wrist until the pain was unbearable and she screamed as the knife fell from her hand onto the floor. Ally lashed out with her other hand but the man grabbed it before it could find his face. She thrashed about, trying to break free, but the man’s grip was too tight, too strong. She looked down at the man, who was now awash in the light from a ray of sunshine that had made its way into the coffee shop. And that was when he said her name.
Ben
He had made the mistake of underestimating his enemy because she was a young girl. The pain in his shoulder from the knife and the memory of it being just a foot from his neck helped him realize that this girl was more than capable of ending his life. Ben held the girl’s wrists tightly and looked to his side and saw the knife that had nearly ended his life. If he let go of her wrists then she would attack him again and there was a good chance she had another knife hidden somewhere on her. He hunkered down and was going to try and flip her over his head when he looked up to her just as the ray of light hit her face. The girl’s face was young, with sharp features, and her eyes were those of someone much older. There was something about her face that was familiar and different at the same time. A face from his past. A face he thought was lost and would never be returned. His heart stopped as he looked up at the face of his sister.
“Ally?” he choked out.
The thrashing stopped for a moment as the girl was taken off guard. She looked down at him in anger and then her eyes grew wide. Did she recognize him? Was it really her?
“Ally,” he said, loosening his grip on her wrists. “Ally, it’s me Ben.”
The girl who used to run around their apartment with no shoes and not a fear in the world, the same girl who had just effortlessly killed a trained soldier and had nearly ended his life, fell back off him with a gasp.
Ally
It wasn’t possible.
He was dead.
They were all dead.
Ally pushed herself back across the floor until her back hit a fallen table. The man claiming to be Ben didn’t move. She stared at his face in the sunlight. The face was weathered, partially covered in a dark beard, and there was a large scar running over the man’s forehead, but those eyes--she knew those eyes. She saw the man shoot Joseph when she was captured. She remembered seeing the man shoot her father when he had tried to rescue her, but she hadn’t seen Ben or Alec get shot. Jess had told her they had been killed, and she believed her because why would she lie? Unless the woman had only assumed they were dead. She watched as the man on the far side of the room slowly stood up, tears running down his face.
“My God, Ally, is that really you? I…you were taken…Alec went to find you.”
“Alec’s alive?” Ally said in a burst of emotion. It wasn’t possible; they were dead. She had been told they were all dead.
“Ally!” Ben screamed as he rushed her and she ran into his arms.
Her life was one that she didn’t truly understand. She remembered her mother’s love, she remembered her mother getting sick and she remembered her disappearing. She remembered Joseph not just as her brother but as her best friend. They were the closest in age and while they didn’t always get along, they did everything together and then he was killed and she was taken from her family. Her life was one filled with pain, anguish and hate. But as she stood there in Ben’s arms, she remembered the part of her life that was filled with love, warmth and protection. It was a part of her life that she had thought was lost forever.
Ally pulled back from him and saw the tears streaming down his face. The face of her brother was obvious. He had grown up so much but she could still see the mischievous boy who had refused to play with her beyond all the changes.
“Alec…you said Alec is still alive?” she asked.
Ben opened his mouth and then stopped. He wiped away his tears before he began again. “I…I don’t know. After you were taken he left to look for you. I haven’t seen him since.”
He had to still be alive; if Ben was alive then Alec had to be alive. He had to still be out there looking for her. Her family wasn’t dead. “Joseph and Daddy?” she asked.
Ben’s face confirmed it. They truly had been killed.
The sound of several footsteps echoed down the hallway and before Ally could move, several soldiers entered the coffee shop and leveled their guns on her.
Ben
Ben pushed Ally behind him as Locke and three of his men entered the coffee shop, guns raised. Locke stepped forward. His face was ragged and a dried streak of blood ran from his bald head down to his chin. The man looked down at Anderson’s dead body and Ben saw him clench his teeth. Locke slowly looked over to Ben and Ally.
“Who the hell is this?” Locke asked. He saw the bow laying on the ground, and the arrow sticking from Anderson’s eye told the rest of the story. “Did she do this?”
“Put your guns down,” Ben said calmly. “This is a hell of a lot more complicated than you think.”
The soldiers kept their guns trained on him.
Locked stepped forward another step. “Did she do this? Is she with the group that just attempted to raid our base?”
“This is my sister,” Ben said. That stopped Locke for a moment, and the man tilted his head to the side to attempt to look around Ben at Ally. “She was taken from my family before I joined the Army. I…thought she was dead.”
Locke clenched his jaw again. “I’ll only ask this one more time, soldier. Did she kill this man and is she with the group that raided our base?”
Ben glanced at the ground around him; his gun and knife were nowhere to be seen. “She is but-”
“Then step aside.” Locke said, raising his handgun at Ben.
“What are you going to do?” Ben asked.
“She is an enemy combatant. She attacked our base and killed at least one of our men. What the hell do you think I am going to do?”
Ben took a deep breath and stepped forward. “Locke, I just told you. This is my sister. I can’t let you kill her.”
Locke stepped forward and got within a couple of inches of Ben’s face. “Step down, soldier, or you’ll join her.”
Ben pulled within an inch of Locke’s face. “You want to kill her, you’ll have to kill me first. And I promise I’ll take you down before I go.”
“Arrest both of them,” Locked said and the other soldiers immediately came forward.
Ben turned to Ally. “Don’t resist. I’ll talk to the President and get you out of this.”
The fire in Ally’s eyes burned brighter and he saw her tense up, but she didn’t make a move. The soldiers used plastic ties to secure their arms behind their backs.
“Locke-” Ben started.
“Shut the hell up. I don’t care if it’s your mother, wife or sister. She killed one of our men. I’ll put her in lock-up for now, but you know what is going to happen eventually.”
