Rise | Book 3 | Reclamation

by Ford, Devon C.

  “Because,” Cole said sullenly, not wanting to get into it with Soares again about Tom’s death.

  “Because he was on the wrong side? Newsflash, kid, half the people here were on the wrong side if you think about it. That side didn’t starve to death or didn’t have the bravery to cut their hands off. That side was survival, and yeah, I guess some of them enjoyed it, but I don’t think Dex is one of them. Tom didn’t either, so you should respect that.” He shrugged as if deciding that he’d made his point and picked up a fork to start digging at the mashed potato on his plate, mixing in the peas.

  “So we blindly trust him?”

  “Your brother traveled with him. Saw what Dexter did to the guards in Nebraska. Alec seems to think the guy is all right.”

  Cole poked at his cold food. “And when we show up there to find a bunch of them waiting for us, what then?”

  “Then we die a glorious death surrounded by our own brass,” Soares said through a mouthful and with no sense of comedy.

  “I’m serious,” Cole said, pushing his own food away, as his appetite had abandoned him.

  “So am I, but I’m not as blindly trusting as you might think.”

  “Explain,” Cole said.

  “Four days from now? That fits. We have good intelligence that says the Gateway opens no more than twice a week, but it’s not like they keep a regular schedule. Four days would put it about the same as last week. We have people who were at the mines here, and they saw how much they were bringing out and stockpiling. We’re confident this shipment’s going to Detroit.”

  Cole said nothing as he watched the older man dig at his food and shovel another fork load into his mouth before he’d finished the last. He tried out a number of things in his mind before he said them, but nothing came out because he couldn’t find the words. Every question he asked threw four more back at him.

  “We could be on that shipment, you know…”

  “How? Why?”

  Soares shrugged again and chewed as his eyes searched Cole’s face for something. When he finally swallowed, he reached for the tin mug to wash it down before he answered.

  “What do you think the Gateway is?” he asked seriously.

  “A… a portal. Something like a door, that opens to their world and not another room.”

  “Right, and you think it’s just a door? A way between two places?”

  Cole shrugged, not sure where Soares was taking the conversation.

  “We all assumed that, right? I mean, why would anyone believe differently? But then we found out about the other gateways.”

  “And?”

  “And the eggheads started going crazy about it. Multiple gateways imply what they’re calling a nexus theory.”

  “A what now?”

  Soares leaned further over the table and spoke in a low, rushed voice.

  “It’s like a subway system, right? There’s these lines going out to everywhere, but they all end up at one main place. Metro Center in D.C. You understand?”

  “No,” Cole said, frowning to remind the man that he’d only ever been on a train once in his life, and it wasn’t an experience he was eager to repeat. Soares shook his head and tried again.

  “Red line, silver line, orange, blue… they head to separate locations, but they all go back to the same spot. We’re calling it Grand Central, which is lazy, but what the hey. Anyway, point is, we reckon these gateways have a home base. A nexus. A… a hub.”

  “So all the gateways lead to this hub?”

  “That’s the theory.”

  “And you want to risk our lives on a theory?”

  “We’re risking our lives eating breakfast, kid,” Soares said darkly. “You think there’s a version of this where everyone comes out on top? Sacrifices may need to be made; that’s how it is and that’s how it’s always been. No risk means no reward.”

  Cole bridled a little at the implied assault on his courage but didn’t overreact.

  “So what? You want to stowaway on the shipment to see your hub? Why don’t we just load it with explosives like the train?”

  “Throw a grenade in the dark and hope for the best? That’s not how this works. What if it’s our only shot and we waste the chance?” Cole agreed but was still too confused and sullen to admit it out loud.

  “Come on, kid. Haven’t you ever wanted to see more of the world?”

  “Our world, yeah… you really think this could work?”

  “Better than throwing a train packed with explosives at a heavily defended gateway with reinforced guards expecting another brute force attack, yeah.”

  “And you expect me to come with you on alien safari and see if we can blow something up?”

  “When you put it like that,” Soares said awkwardly, “…yeah.”

  Cole shrugged. If Lina was travelling in an ancient submarine and he didn’t have a say in the matter, then he was going through the Gateway. He picked up the tablet and slowly, deliberately typed a reply before sighing heavily through his nose before hitting send.

  We’ll be there - Cole

  He flashed the message to Soares, seeing the older man smile deviously. That was the first time he’d seen what was written on the battered tin mug Soares drank from. The words were chipped and faded but the message remained. It read, “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps.”

  Chapter 10

  Lina

  She was a little sad that they left in darkness, rising before the dawn and stealing away in the dark without the chance to say goodbye to anyone. She felt a pang in her chest that she didn’t get to offer a real farewell to some people. Yas stood proudly, saying that he would accompany her to the lands across the sea, but he’d been convinced to stay.

  Many of the Freeborn looked to the big man and her for leadership, including a lot of their elders who found themselves lost in the new world they now inhabited. She’d tried to tell him that the submarine, which she’d been inside of the previous day, would be excruciating for the man to occupy. Every doorway was too small, every ceiling felt like it was pressing down on her, so she worried for his sanity if he had to spend days on end in those conditions.

  Monet intervened eventually and told him there was no way he was coming. He swelled his chest and demanded to know who would protect Lina, but before Monet could inform him that she’d done just fine before he showed up, Lina put him them both in their places and stated she didn’t need anyone to keep her safe.

  She regretted her words now and wished that she had a friend with her. Even a sullen coyote would’ve made her feel calm about climbing into the open hatch and feeling the cold metal of the ladder’s rungs against her hands.

  The sub was crewed by around a hundred people, all men, and Gerard, the old man running it, bragged that he’d once gone two hundred days without seeing daylight. Lina didn’t think that was something to be proud of, but other questions pushed that comment aside.

  “What happened to the military?” she asked. “When the aliens first came.” He stopped and sighed sadly, resting a hand over his face as if accessing some vault of emotion he’d been tricked into unlocking.

  “Our lads fought back, obviously,” Gerard answered. “They blew our fly boys outta the sky like they was nothin’.” He patted the wall—apparently called a bulkhead inside the dark metal tube—and sighed again. “These babies threw everything they had at them. Cruise missiles, even nukes. You name it.”

  “It didn’t work?”

  “Sure, some of them broke through well enough, but almost everything was shot down. The next fire came from the birdy bastards took out the boats that fired them. Surface ships plummeted in minutes with no time to react, like a worldwide Pearl, you know?” Lina had no idea what he meant but felt his emotion so keenly that she nodded.

  “I only survived because I was on shore leave,” Gerard said. “Remember sitting on a train and watching it all happen out the window. Never made it home… How ‘bout you?”

  “I…
I was born after,” Lina said.

  “Sorry,” Gerard answered with his eyes cast at the floor—the deck—before lifting his head to show the false smile of being okay. “Force of habit, you know? Asking folks about before… anyway, we found this old girl about fourteen years ago, half flooded and listing to port, but Zhao let me work on her instead of the maintenance stuff in the complex, and here we are.” He patted the wall again fondly. “I knew she’d serve a purpose one day.”

  “And you can drive a ship?” Lina asked. “Is that what you did before?”

  “Boat,” Gerard corrected her kindly, “and I fixed stuff. The driving part takes care of itself easy enough.” Lina was certain he was overconfident but accepted his assurances anyway.

  Lina pushed aside the ominous feelings of the previous day and concentrated on the darker ones of the early morning to mix them with her apprehension at leaving. The dread of being out at sea. The fear of being under the expansive water. She knew it was about as natural as flying, but something about being up in the air made her feel free and unrestricted, whereas just the thought of gliding along in a metal tube in the black water of the open ocean made her feel trapped and frightened.

  Monet pulled her out of her spiraling thoughts with a friendly warning from above.

  “Watch your head!”

  Lina ducked at the foot of the ladder, avoiding the heavy thump of a bag hitting the deck inches away from her.

  “Dammit, Monet!” she called.

  “Crap, sorry. Did I get you?”

  “Almost.”

  Monet shimmied down the ladder confidently to drop the last few rungs and planted a boot on either side of the pack she retrieved, when Lina saw the reason she didn’t have the hands to carry it on the first place. Cradled against her body were two thermos flasks wrapped in plastic that had little pockets of air in them.

  “Is that it?” Lina asked, the near miss forgotten.

  “Yeah,” Monet replied, giving the flask a gentle pat as though she was reminding herself that she carried a weapon.

  “Why is it in a flask?”

  “The doc said something about a suspension fluid to carry it or something. We need to keep it cool and not drop it.” With that, she separated the two flasks and handed one to Lina. She hesitated before accepting the offered bioweapon.

  “Take it,” Monet said. “They should be kept separate in case.” Lina grabbed it, not needing to ask why the need for a backup to infect the chemicals used to make whatever it was that let the aliens breathe Earth’s atmosphere.

  She knew about the plan for the stolen ship to fly over land to Europe, hopping over the shortest stretches of open water while staying undetected, much the same as she knew Cole was going to do something with Soares about the Gateways. However, she didn’t know the finer points of these missions.

  And that, she realized, was the problem.

  Individually, their plans would damage and maybe even cripple the aliens’ infrastructure on Earth, but combined, it would mean success and the eradication of the Occupation. If it all worked, they’d reclaim their planet and hopefully close the door on the aliens forever.

  If not forever, then at least long enough to make them pay too heavy a price to try again.

  There were too many working parts, too many plans and plots running intertwined to be certain of success, and that worried her.

  Voices from the hatch above brought her to the present, just as an electric hum filled the boat.

  “Lina? You down there?” Her heart skipped a little.

  Cole? Why is he here? Is he coming with us?

  “Coming,” she called up softly, handing back the flask to climb the ladder and enter the chill pre-dawn morning outside. Soares was there with him, as was Buddy, along with Zhao and his daughter, who stood closer to Alec than she was to her father.

  “Didn’t want you to leave without saying goodbye,” Soares said, his bright smile providing a tiny flash of white in the gloom. Lina smiled and bent down for Buddy to come to her, which he did with his head low and his tail wagging. He curled up between her legs before rolling on his back in loving submission to her attention. She peered up as Cole cleared his throat, taking the hint and rising to walk a short distance away with him.

  “We…” He stopped. “I didn’t want you to go without saying goodbye.” Lina stared at him, searching his serious expression for any hint of emotion she could read.

  “I might not be here when you get hone,” he said somberly.

  “I might not come home ever,” Lina told him seriously. “None of us might.”

  “True enough,” Cole answered, “but the mission comes first. We have to ki—”

  “You’ll be fine,” she said. “You always are.” He smiled.

  “So will you.”

  A moment of awkward silence hung between them before Lina decided she’d have to show emotion first. She stepped close to rest her arms around his neck.

  She felt him resist her embrace at first, his body stiffening in shock before he relaxed and returned it with his arms wrapping around her torso to bring her closer. They held each other for a long time, neither saying a word nor daring to breathe much, before she began to break contact.

  He kissed her once, gently, before releasing her and turning.

  “Just… just be careful,” he said as he walked into the darkness.

  “You too,” she whispered, her fingertips resting softly on her lips where the fleeting kiss had left her more confused than anything else.

  “Seal all compartments, prepare to dive,” Gerard’s voice echoed inside the submarine to reach Lina’s ears. He’d refused to allow her to watch from the surface, telling them that he wanted to lower the second the instruments told him he had enough clearance in the water to safely submerge.

  An awkward noise sounded, and the sub slipped beneath the waves of the Pacific to begin their long journey across the ocean.

  Chapter 11

  Alec

  Even though only a few of their people had left in the submarine the day prior, the camp felt emptier. It was miserable outside, the weather reflected in everyone’s mood. Alec had woken up with a gnawing feeling in his stomach, and he hadn’t been able to shake it since. His breakfast clung to his gut as he searched for Izzy.

  He found Gregory Zhao’s office, thinking she might be speaking with her father, and he knocked, the door pressing open as it was slightly ajar.

  “Hello,” Alec said softly.

  Zhao was sleeping, his head lolled to the side as he leaned heavily in his seat. Alec glanced to the man’s desk, seeing a half empty bottle of brown liquid and a glass. Maps were spread across the surface, and Alec moved the tumbler, leaving a sticky amber stain on the paper.

  What were these? There were intricate lines connecting their camp to something. He could see the shape of the medical bay, their mess hall, the residences… He ran a finger along the drawing of the outer fence, where Zhao’s red additions of the newly-formed Freeborn camps were just outside their walls.

  But what were the red marks and where did they lead? Zhao remained motionless, his breathing loud but even. Instead of waking the man, he opted to snatch the map and slunk from the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.

  Alec had never fully trusted Zhao, not after he’d turned Tom away, and it seemed like he might still be keeping secrets. He’d tried to broach the subject with Izzy, but it was a delicate conversation, and he didn’t expect it to go well. He liked Izzy… but the guilt at his feelings were almost enough for him to avoid exploring them. He’d once thought he loved a girl, one with a shaved head and pain in her eyes, but she was dead now, and they would be too if they didn’t end this damned Occupation once and for all.

  Alec moved with purpose as he clutched the map in his left hand. He went outside, the clouds so thick, he couldn’t tell the time of day. Rain began to splatter on him, filling his nostrils with the comforting scent of ozone. The smell reminded him of being in Detroit, heading towa
rd his cramped lodging after a long shift of back-breaking work. Those evenings when it rained were his favorite. He could hear the pitter-patter on the metal roof, and he’d dream of escape, of a new life.

  Now he had that freedom, or a taste of it at least, but this wasn’t enough. He nodded to some of the workers, a mixture of the Freeborn Lina and Monet had recruited, as well as a few of the Phoenix survivors.

  “Alec?” a voice asked, and he stopped, trying to find the source. The bald man stepped past a group leaving the mess hall, and Alec grinned at him.

  “Scott.” He shook the man’s hand, his grip firm. “I haven’t seen you since the meeting.” The ex-cop from the Phoenix facility was carrying a shovel.

  Scott peered up, rain dripping on his face. “Can’t say I mind a day of work, but nothing like doing it while wet.”

  Alec pursed his lips, thinking about the man’s set of skills. He’d nearly been shot by the guy, and knew he should be doing more around the camp than digging in the fields. “Do you want to come with me?”

  Scott shrugged. “If you can explain to Renata why I wasn’t there. She may only have one hand, but she sure knows how to strong arm a work detail.”

  “Deal.”

  “Where we going?” Scott asked, leaning his shovel against the wall.

  “I don’t know,” Alec said, moving into the mess hall for reprieve from the rain. He opened the map, and they hovered over it. “This was in Zhao’s office, and I think it leads to something…”

  “Should I be seeing this? I mean, the guy has given us a home,” Scott said, lifting his hands in front of his chest.

  “We’re about to send a ship to Spain to begin our plan to reclaim this planet, and I don’t like secrets. Even if we pull this off, there will be retaliation,” Alec said.

  “The birdbrains won’t ignore us forever, will they?” Scott asked quietly.