“Um…can I help you?” the boy asked.
“I’m here to speak with Rocco, Nina’s father. I came in with her group yesterday. I’d like to introduce myself and speak with him for a moment,” Daniel said.
The boy and girl looked at each other.
“I’ll go let him know you’re here,” the girl said. She got up, placing her book flat so her spot was saved. She walked around the side of the concession stand and disappeared down the hallway entrance to Daniel’s left.
Daniel looked at the book she was reading. “Carrie,” he said, reading the cover out loud. “That’s an intense one.”
The boy looked at the cover and nodded. “Tessa likes books like that. She says they pass the time.”
Daniel cocked his head to get a look at the boy’s cover, and the boy moved his book so he could see the cover better. “Jurassic Park,” Daniel said. “Good choice.”
The boy shrugged. “I like to use my brain a bit more then she does,” he said with a facetious tone.
Daniel chuckled. “I can see that.” Daniel stretched out his hand. “My name is Daniel.”
The boy stood and grabbed it with his right hand and shook it. “Tom.” He sat back down and placed his book back on the counter. “So you rescued those slaves, huh? Sounds badass. They’ve been trying to get a group together to rescue them—especially Nina—but they had her so deep within the Rove camp that everybody we sent either got killed or captured.”
“Really?” Daniel said. “Well, I guess we got lucky when we caught them in transport.” Daniel smiled and, feeling particularly funny, nodded his head toward Tom. “A guy like you looks like you could take on a whole group of Roves yourself!”
Tom gave a sad chuckle. With his right hand he pulled up the sleeve of his left arm. Daniel was mortified when he saw that Tom had a prosthetic arm.
“This thing here is what’s keeping me in this chair, unfortunately,” he said, having a seemingly good attitude about the whole thing.
Daniel tried to find the words to apologize but couldn’t. His skin flushed red. He’d never felt so embarrassed.
“Don’t worry about it,” Tom said with a smile as he pulled his sleeve down. “Couldn’t have known. It’s fine though, I get to sit here and read books. Even got a pistol in case something goes wrong.” He gave the holster at his side a pat.
“That’s a nice gun,” Daniel said, the words coming out fast. Despite Tom’s understanding, Daniel still felt stupid and foolish.
Tessa came around the corner, saving Daniel from the awkward torture. “Rocco’s ready to see you,” she said in an annoyed voice. She eyed her copy of Carrie that sat on the counter, eager to get back to its pages.
“See ya later,” Tom said to Daniel as he picked his book back up and returned to reading it.
“Yeah, see you,” Daniel said, still recovering from his embarrassment.
He walked to Tessa and could hear quiet laughter from Tom behind him.
Chapter Five
Daniel
Tessa led Daniel to the door at the left side of the hallway. She opened it, and Daniel walked in alone.
The room held twelve rows of about fifteen chairs each. The chairs were cloth and the seats were folded up unless someone was sitting in them. The room inclined down slightly toward the front of the room where the large screen sat in the wall. The emergency exit door was propped open by a cinder block, letting in daylight.
A desk sat near the front row, facing the opposite direction of the screen. Behind it, a man sat in a large office chair. The desk and chair looked comical and incongruous in such a large room. Daniel wondered why Rocco didn’t have a normal office.
Rocco looked up from his desk when he heard Daniel approach. He stood up from his chair, wearing a big smile. He stepped around the desk, laughing. He grabbed Daniel and gave him a big hug.
Daniel wasn’t sure how to respond, so he gave the large, muscular man a pat on his sweaty back.
“Daniel, you are my hero!” Rocco practically shouted as he laughed. He pulled away and clasped Daniel on his biceps. “You have brought my daughter back to me. For that I am grateful. And humbled! We lost some good men trying to save her and the others. You and your friends did so with ease from what I’ve heard.”
Daniel smiled and nodded. “Yes sir, we just got lucky I guess. Caught them at a vulnerable time.”
Rocco nodded his head. “Yes, yes, you did.” He gestured toward the theater seats in front of his desk. “Please, have a seat. I hear you have some things to discuss?”
Daniel nodded as they walked over to the desk. “ I do.” He unfolded the seat and sat down. Before he continued, though, Daniel eyed the documents Rocco had on his desk. Daniel found it strange that he was here and not with his daughter, so he was curious as to what was so important.
Rocco, seeing that Daniel was eyeing the documents, moved them around on his desk so he could see. “These are the boundaries Riven,” Rocco said.
Daniel looked at the blueprints of the town and saw that Riven was a drawn off portion in the corner of the map.
“We’re expanding our borders, so I’m seeing which places would be best suited for our needs.” Rocco rolled out the blueprints and set them down beside his desk. “But that is not why we are here,” Rocco said as he unfolded his hands gesturing as if he was laying the floor out to Daniel. “So please, tell me what it is that you need.”
Daniel cleared his throat. He was very nervous for some reason“As I’m sure you know, Jefferson Memorial is in a lot of trouble.”
“Yes, my scouts have heard some things. They were never able to get any concrete information, though, only that something was wrong.”
“Well, things have definitely gone wrong. The Roves have taken over our compound. We’re not sure why. We just know they’ve never ventured this far outside of their territory. Things are not looking good for us at Jefferson Memorial, and for anybody else who considers themselves an enemy of the Roves.”
“With all the resources you have at Jefferson Memorial, I figure you could’ve staved them off,” Rocco said with a smug smile.
Daniel rubbed his hands together. “Yes, you’d think. That just goes to show the power of the Roves.” Daniel leaned forward in his chair as if he was about to divulge a secret. “If they could do something like that at Jefferson Memorial, just think what they could do to all the other settlements in this area—including yours.”
Rocco let out a laugh. “I don’t think Riven would roll over so easily.”
“You would if they were threatening the lives of those you cared about. The power of the Roves is not something to make light of. If they are looking to expand their territory, there’s no telling what their reasons could be. But if we had your help,” Daniel said as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, “we could show the Roves that our power is nothing to make light of either. If we could drive them back into their territory, it would be a great victory and secure peace.”
Rocco nodded his head. “You are right. It would be a great blow to the Roves. But, that is just a theory. A fairy tale. You know the Roves. They aren’t going to just give up and roll over as easily as you did. They’ll come back with a vengeance and have a taste for the blood of anyone who helped your people. Riven is hidden in the Texas woods. The Roves barely know of us, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Daniel felt his heart beating faster in his chest, and sweat began to bead on his forehead. He swallowed big before he continued talking. “Rocco, the Roves will find out about you, and they will want your town. Once they have what they need from Jefferson Memorial, they are going to expand their territory even more and continue expanding until there is nobody left to stand up to them. They may not know about you now, but they will. And when they do, it will be too late for you to do anything about it. The only thing that will be left for you to do is roll over or die on your back.”
A heavy silence hung in the air. Daniel sat there, staring at Rocco. He trie
d to appear tough and confident, but on the inside, he was filled with fear. He was afraid that he may have pushed Rocco too far, but then again, Rocco might appreciate that. All he could do was hope that at least a seed was implanted into Rocco’s mind.
“You raise a good point, Daniel; however, I cannot just issue the death order of my soldiers as they help you try and take back your home. I will need something from you in order to make this worth my while.”
“The protection and safety of your people isn’t enough for you?” Daniel said with a passive-aggressive chuckle.
Rocco scoffed and smiled. “Yes, of course it is, but I’m putting my people in danger by helping you. The Roves will know who I am and who my people are. By helping you, I would be leading the Roves to my front door. Now, I will admit, I do owe you for saving the life of my daughter. However, I am putting her back in danger by helping you. That is why I will need to send one or two of my men along with you to scout out Jefferson Memorial. I need to see what the situation is like there. If they do not deem it a lost cause, perhaps I can spare some of my men to help you. I will still need something more from you, maybe something from your armory?” Rocco smiled a yellowish grin. “But that is something we can discuss later, after I decide whether or not I will actually help you.”
Daniel nodded. “I can understand that. And I also understand your hesitance to help us. I would be suspicious if you just threw your men at us without so much as a second thought. Hopefully we can become allies in this fight.”
Rocco stood from his chair. “Yes, Daniel, I agree. Hopefully we can come up with something that is mutually beneficial.”
Daniel stood from his seat as well and nodded. “ Mutually beneficial sounds good to me,” Daniel said.
Rocco offered his hand, and Daniel shook it. “This was a good talk, Daniel. I look forward to discussing more things with you in the future. Right now, however, I have some work to do.”
“Of course,” Daniel said. “I look forward to discussing more with you.”
Daniel turned and began walking toward the door. He couldn’t help but get the uncomfortable feeling that Rocco was watching him intently. He felt relieved once he stepped out of the room.
Chapter Six
Ira
It wasn’t her slave master barging into the tent that woke seventeen-year-old Ira Dever, for the pain in her back from all the labor of the day before had woken her an hour earlier. She used that hour of peace to try and think of a way of escape, as she always did. Almost every night, the pain in her body woke her anywhere from an hour to three hours before it was time to actually get up. And every time that happened, she would always spend that peaceful time, a time when when no one else would bother her, to lay there and fantasize of escape. She knew that if she actually tried to implement her plans, it would bring her a fate worse than death. So she never tried to escape, but she enjoyed thinking about it all alone at night when no one else could bother her.
The Roves had figured out quickly that killing slaves who tried to escape was pointless. If they did, slaves would try to escape halfheartedly because death would be better than continuing in slavery. Instead, escaping slaves were given more work and less food. They were given the worst of jobs, like cleaning out the sewage naked, bathing the dirtiest of the soldiers, or having to eat rotten food. On some occasions, the Roves would have the slaves fight each other to the death. Even though it would cost them slaves, it provided them some entertainment. And there was always another slave to take the place of the dead one. That’s what most of the slaves hoped would happen when they attempted escape, because the end result was still death.
So when the slave master barged into Ira’s tent that she shared with fifteen other slaves, she’d already thought of two different ways to escape. She rubbed her eyes and sat up in her bed, saying a quick prayer for death before she climbed out of the warm embrace of her cot.
“You all have five minutes to get ready,” one of the slave masters named Mark said.
Ira looked across the room and made eye contact with her best friend, Isabel. She raised her eyebrows as if to ask Isabel if she knew what was going on. It wasn’t usual that they had such little time to get ready. They usually had to spend at least fifteen minutes to get all of their makeup on and to fix their hair. The Roves wanted them to look as beautiful as possible so as to give them a good show while they did such hard labor. Usually by the end of the day they were dirty and their hair was messy, but then again, some of the Roves preferred that look.
“Why so little time, sir?” Jessica, one of the slaves who slept close to the tent door, asked.
Mark gave Jessica a sly smile. “You lot are going to be spending your day on a little road trip.”
“Road trip?” another one of the slaves asked. This time it was Joshua, a young man of about twenty-one who had a buff figure from all the heavy lifting he had to do.
“That’s what I said. You lot are going to be the latest slaves at the newest Rove settlement. You’re joining the Jefferson Memorial crew.”
Chapter Seven
Miles
“This is where you’ll be staying,” Trevor said as he opened the door in a hallway filled with them. He stepped inside. John and I followed close behind.
I looked around the room and was impressed. To our right was a small living area with couches, a couple of chairs, and a bookshelf filled with books. To the left was a small kitchenette with a mini fridge, microwave, and stove.
“Your beds are through that door,” Trevor said pointing at the door straight ahead.
“So we’re sharing?” John asked.
“Yes, everybody has a roommate,” Trevor said as he walked to the exit. “Dinner will be served at 1700 hours. I’ll have somebody come by show you the way there. For now, get settled in. Make yourself at home. I’ll talk to you later,” Trevor said as he exited the room, shutting the door behind him, leaving us standing there alone.
“So what you think?” John asked as he walked over to the bedroom door, opening it and peeking inside.
I looked around the room. It was a nice room. Feeling the cool blast of the AC on my skin was refreshing. “It will be nice to have a place to lay our heads without having to worry about zombies or Xenomortises.”
“Yeah, not battling for our lives will be luxurious.” John smiled and chuckled.
“Yeah, I guess. But does this all even seem real to you?” I asked John.
John turned and looked at me. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” I began, “this all just seems so… I don’t know. Just something doesn’t seem right. They aren’t even gonna let us leave,” I said.
“Well, can you really blame them?” John said as he sat down on the couch. “This place is super-nice. I know that the Roves would definitely kill for a place like this. Hell, even some of the other settlements that ’aren’t as violent would kill to stay in place. I mean, this has it all.”
I nodded my head. “I guess that makes sense. But if they were so concerned for the safety of this place, wouldn’t they have killed us?”
John looked at me with a puzzled face. “Are you really complaining that they didn’t kill us?” he asked.
I shrugged and smiled. “ I guess I can’t complain too much. I’m just saying that you need to keep your eyes open. A place like this has to be filled with secrets. If we can find the right one, we can get out of here and save our family.”
John interlaced his fingers behind his head as he leaned back on the couch and placed his feet up on the coffee table. “Or we could just gain their trust so they let us leave.”
I didn’t say anything. John was being very optimistic, and optimistic moments were few and far between in the world we lived in. I decided to let him have his moment and keep my doubts to myself. Because the truth was that none of this made sense to me. They were being too generous. They had something up their sleeves, and I was determined to find out what that was.
The sound of footsteps running
down the hallway reached my ears. John perked up from his position on the couch, looked at the door, and then back at me. He raised his eyebrows, and I raised mine back. Something was going on.
I walked over to the door and opened it. People and aliens rushed by the doors, whispering things in hushed tones before turning the corner at the end of the hallway. I was still shocked by the sight of the aliens, and even more shocked by how normal they seemed. I had a lot of questions for them, but for now, the only question on my mind was where everybody was going and what the commotion was.
I turned to look back at John, but he was already by my side. “You want to see what’s going on?” I asked.
John smiled and nodded. “Let’s go see what these people are up to.”
Chapter Eight
Miles
I followed the people down the hallway with John close behind me. People were murmuring things to each other, but I couldn’t tell what they were talking about. There were groups of three or four people every few feet rushing down the hallway. They ignored John and me, as they were too busy trying to get wherever they were going to pay much attention to us.
We rounded the corner and walked down the outer row of the living quarters, which led to a large, round hallway that arched upward like a gentle ramp. People were rushing up the ramp and gathered around a doorway at the top. Guards stood outside, keeping the crowd at bay.
John and I walked up the hallway and joined the crowd of people as we tried to figure out what was going on.
“Everybody just get back and go about your business. The situation is being taken care of,” a distinguished-looking older gentlemen shouted at the crowd.
“We have a right to know what’s going on! I might know something that could help,” one of the Genari citizens shouted. He towered almost a full foot above the crowd. I felt my knees weaken at the sight of him.
Retaliation: The Mortis Desolation, Book Two Page 2
