Day of Reckoning (Dawn of Rebellion Series Book 2)

by Michelle Lynn

  My sister must have thought that I hated her. I pull the trigger.

  She thought I had become a horrible person. Maybe I have. I pull the trigger.

  I will never get the chance to apologize and tell her everything is going to be okay. I reload.

  “I couldn’t protect her,” I say aloud. I couldn’t save her. I failed my baby sister. I pull the trigger again and again until all I hear are clicks and my own sobs. I cradle the gun and sink to my knees, rocking back and forth. I am so sorry Dawn.

  Chapter 63: Gabby

  The next morning, Jeremy finds me in the range and wakes me up.

  “Hey,” he says softly as he shakes my shoulders. “You okay?”

  “My sister is dead,” I answer. “So, no I’m not okay.” I sit up and my body is stiff from sleeping on the hard ground. I stretch out my limbs and stand up.

  “They’ve called a breakfast meeting that we’re all required to attend,” he says, glancing behind me at the target I destroyed last night. He sighs and tries to hug me. I duck away from his open arms and head to the cafeteria. I look around at our table. Drew’s uniform is wrinkled, his hair is a mess, and his eyes are bloodshot. Lee and Conner have hopelessly sad expressions and there is even sympathy in Shay’s eyes. Jeremy takes his seat but I walk right past all of them to sit by myself. I can’t take all of their sadness and pity.

  Jonathan and Miranda walk to the microphone at the front of the room. I stand along with everyone else to give my salute because this is all I have left.

  “At ease,” Jonathan says and we all sit back down. “Thank you all for being here.”

  “Today is a sad day,” Miranda chimes in and I could almost swear that she looks directly at me. I watch as my mother talks about her own daughter’s death. “One of our patrols was attacked by the Texans.” The entire room sucks in a collective breath. “We lost eight good soldiers. It will not be forgotten.”

  “In the aftermath of this atrocity,” Jonathan begins, “we have set a date for our assault on Texas. Three weeks from today, they will pay. We leave in four days. Your commanding officers will have your assignments. We will be going after three cities at once. Everyone will have a job to do because we will not be able to rely on numbers. I will now let you all in on something that we have kept secret.” He pauses, “our brilliant technicians have developed bombs.” No one seems surprised as I look around. “Our success is going to rely on stealth and cunning. We are going to destroy their cities before they even see us coming. To anyone still questioning our fight, I say this, destroying the Texans will allow England to relocate its people here. A natural tragedy is befalling our beloved island nation. Within 50 years it will be nearly unlivable. The survival of our culture depends on your bravery. We need to succeed here in vanquishing those who would deny our people their future. Texas must be crushed.”

  “You all need to be ready,” Miranda says. “We may ask you to do things that are not easy. Train like you never have before. We may not have the biggest force but we will have the best. In London, we had a phrase to describe these game-changing events. It will be a Day of Reckoning!”

  I join in as a round of shouting makes its way across the room.

  “Rebels!” I yell along with everyone else.

  Miranda and Jonathan watch the scene with smiles on their faces.

  “You are dismissed,” Jonathan says. People rise but they do not leave the room as the roaring grows louder. Someone starts a chant and soon everyone has joined in.

  I need to yell; to let everything out. It doesn’t feel good. It just feels right. I will go on with grim determination. This is personal now. I want to make them pay. I will make them pay.

  Chapter 64: Dawn

  My strength is returning quickly but my shoulder still throbs whenever I lift my arm. The dizzy spells are coming less frequently but I am still in the clinic because they have nowhere else to put me. Ryan is usually with me when he’s not fishing, chopping wood, training horses, or performing one of the million other jobs around here. I’ve asked him about that a few times and he says that no one here is simply labeled as one thing. He is training to be a medic but he will never be just a medic. His days are filled with whatever his father wants done. His favorite job is working in the stables and that’s where I find him on this cloudy day.

  When I see him, he is walking a large, black horse in circles around the yard. He beams as I walk up. I can’t help but draw parallels between this boy and Sam. They are the only people I’ve ever known to smile this much; to make you feel like they are always happy to see you. When I think of Sam like this, his smile and his joy, I can finally do so without the overwhelming grief that used to accompany any reminder of him.

  Ryan walks the horse towards me and I step back. I’ve never been around horses and I am suddenly nervous.

  “Duke won’t hurt you,” Ryan laughs. “Come meet him.” When my feet stay in one place, Ryan comes closer. The big animal blows air into my face and then nudges me with his nose. I am frozen on the spot. Ryan’s laughter becomes hysterical.

  “I don’t see what’s so funny. You're acting like a proper git,” I say through clenched teeth. Duke’s big eyes bore into me.

  “He wants you to pet him.” I glare at Ryan. “Come on,” he encourages me. When I don’t move, he takes my hand and puts it on Duke's nose. After a few uncomfortable moments, I run my hand along the length of his nose. He is surprisingly soft. Suddenly, he takes a step forward and I jump back.

  “Let’s put Duke away,” Ryan says, much to my relief. “I should probably be getting to the clinic anyway.” He leads Duke into the stable and hands him off to someone else.

  “So,” I start, “I’ve been feeling a lot better.”

  “That’s good,” he says cautiously, knowing where this conversation is going. I’ve been bugging him all week about getting back to the rebel compound.

  “I need to get back before the rebels march on Texas.”

  “You know what I don’t get?” he pauses, “you are only one girl. What makes you think the rebels need you so bad?”

  “They don’t.” I stop. If I need to trust someone, I guess it might as well be this American boy who will probably never be farther south than this town. “The rebels are planning to kill a lot of innocent people.”

  “I’ve heard the stories about that place. Texas doesn’t seem all that innocent to me.”

  “No, but many of the people are.” I look towards the gray sky. I need to make him understand. “The rebels are going to destroy a lot of valuable food sources and then they’re going to bomb the cities.”

  “So, you aren’t a rebel then?”

  “Well, technically I am.”

  “You’re a traitor rebel then?”

  “I wouldn’t put it that way.”

  “You are actively planning on betraying them?”

  “I guess.” I stop walking and look at him. “A lot of people are going to die.”

  “Sometimes people have to die so that others can live. It’s the reality of our world.”

  “That’s it,” I say quietly, an idea coming to me. “What do you think would happen to Texas if they no longer had their prophet?”

  “A civilization cannot run without a strong ruler. They’d surrender to whoever spared their lives.”

  “I need to see your father,” I state, changing direction.

  “He won’t see you,” Ryan warns, catching up to me. “He’s refused you all week. He can’t be seen speaking to foreigners again. He’s barely holding on to his power as it is right now.”

  “I’ll have to make him see me,” I say confidently.

  “Why would he agree to that? Why now?”

  I don’t have time to explain everything to him as I barge into the Smith house. Ryan’s mother looks up from her sewing in surprise and is about to say something until Ryan walks in behind me.

  “Where’s dad?” he asks. His mother looks from him to me and then back to him.

 
; “He went to the north fields to check on the planting.” Ryan and I hurry out of the house.

  “You really want to see him?” he asks.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “It would take all day to walk there. Come with me.” We end up at the stables and my eyes widen as Ryan takes a saddle off a hook and walks in. He returns with Duke. “It’s the only way,” he explains. He gets himself situated in the saddle before offering me a hand. It takes a few tries but he is able to help me into the saddle behind him. I can feel the horse's every movement beneath me and we start out at a slow walk. I wrap my arms around Ryan and clamp my hands together in front of his chest. There is no way I am going to fall.

  “Hold on!” Ryan yells as he gives Duke a light kick and we pick up speed. People stay out of our way as we pass the edge of town. It takes us quite a while to reach the north fields where people are spread out working the ground.

  Chief Smith sits atop his horse, surveying the field. Ryan slows Duke as we get closer. The chief sees us and shakes his head.

  “What are you doing out here son?” he demands. “You are scheduled to work on the new construction this afternoon. We need to get that finished before the storms come.”

  “Dawn said it was important.” He shrugs.

  “I am sorry, Dawn, but I cannot help you.” The chief keeps his eyes focused on his son as he speaks to me.

  “You don’t even know what she is going to say,” Ryan protests.

  “Son, look around. This is not the place.” The workers nearby have stopped their work and are openly staring at us. “Have Dawn tell you what it is and we can talk tonight. Right now, you have to leave. Don’t bring her here again.” The chief turns his horse to walk away.

  “Wait!” I yell. He stops but doesn’t face us. “General Nolan is my father.” I don’t know what I was expecting but the chief digs his heels into his horse and gallops away. I am left dumbfounded. Giving up, we ride back to town.

  “Dawn Nolan,” Ryan says under his breath.

  “Do you have something you’d like to say to me?” I snap, suddenly angry at both the chief and his son.

  “No,” he says quietly.

  “Yes you do,” I respond. “Go on then. Spit it out.”

  “You should have told us sooner.”

  “Why would I have done that?”

  “You really don’t understand, do you?” he says. “General Nolan collects debts. He does something for you so that he can count on you for a favor at some point in the future. My father owes him a lot for his chiefdom. General Nolan took it by force and by the time he gave it to my father, that power was tarnished. My father has to look over his shoulder at every turn, waiting for someone to take everything away. Loyalty is hard to achieve when you are seen as a foreign puppet. Our family is the largest in town, but if the other families were to band together, they would destroy us.”

  We’ve reached the stables and as I am helped down off of Duke, I ask, “Is that why your father won’t speak to me?”

  “No,” he answers, hanging up the saddle. “People watch everything he does and he can’t appear to sympathize with a foreigner. Ever since the great collapse and the Eastern war, us Americans don't trust any power, any government, and certainly not anyone called 'General'. You see, my father seems to think that your father is a friend to him. A friend that he owes big time. He doesn’t see what I do. Your father ruined him. The chiefdom is a curse more than anything else.”

  “That is not my father’s doing,” I state defensively.

  “You’re right, of course,” he pauses. “If you see things as my father does. But you’re also dead wrong.”

  We put Duke away and Ryan heads off to work as I make my way back to the clinic.

  Chapter 65: Dawn

  I am awakened in the middle of the night by someone holding a lantern by my head and saying my name. I open my eyes and am shocked to find Chief Smith bent over me. He puts a finger to his lips and motions for me to follow him. We go outside to where the moon’s silver light dances across the town. In a groggy haze, I almost trip over my own two feet. The chief doesn’t say a word as we walk through the marketplace that will be teeming with people in a few hours. Right now, though, it is deserted.

  We hear footsteps echo off the stones and the chief pulls me into an alleyway that is pitch black. I try to ask what’s going on but he covers my mouth with his hand. Once all is quiet again, we step back out onto the road. He starts to run. I keep pace with him until we reach the stables. The side door opens and we stand frozen until Ryan pops his head out and we can breathe again.

  “Took you long enough,” Ryan whispers, waving us inside.

  “What’s going on?” I am finally able to ask.

  “They know who you are,” Ryan explains.

  “Who does?”

  “The other families,” the chief explains, “they’re coming for you and I can’t stop them. Most of our men are out dealing with the freedom fighters. We are defenseless.”

  “I don’t understand,” I whisper.

  “They want to lock you up and probably execute you publicly as a sign that foreigners are not welcome here.”

  “Why are you helping me?” I ask. “Won’t they just go after you now?”

  “Your father is a good man and I owe him everything,” he says before turning to Ryan. “You ready?”

  “Almost,” he answers. “We just have to wait for mom to bring Emily.” As if on cue, the two women walk through the door. Ryan’s young sister looks terrified.

  “Wait, you guys are coming with me?” I won’t lie, I’m a bit relieved that I won’t be on my own.

  “It isn’t safe here for them anymore,” the chief says sadly. “My enemies will use them to get to me.” He then stares at his wife. “I wish you would go too.”

  “Not without you,” she says simply.

  “I can’t,” he says. “Our family, along with the smaller families, need me here to protect them. I have to stay.”

  “Then I have to stay as well.” She hands Ryan a saddle bag full of food and he attaches it to Duke’s saddle. She then takes Emily into her arms. I watch her cling to her mother and realize she can’t be more than ten.

  “I don’t want to go,” she mutters over and over with tears streaming from her large eyes. Ryan kisses his mother and hugs his dad before leading the horses from the stable. Chief Smith manages to pry Emily from her mother and help her up into the saddle of her horse. Ryan climbs onto Duke and once again helps me up.

  “Take care of my Emily,” Ryan’s mother sobs.

  “I will,” he chokes out his response. I feel his body shake in front of me as the tears come freely.

  “You must go now,” the chief says. “You only have a few more hours of darkness.” Ryan and Emily look at their parents one last time before kicking their horses into a run. I grip Ryan even tighter. I glance over at Emily and her long, black curls are blowing out behind her. She doesn’t look back at me.

  Chapter 66: Dawn

  We ride on for hours before we stop. “We need to water the horses,” Ryan tells me. I slide down with stiff legs that ache as I walk to the stream that we have found. I bend down immediately and cup my hands to bring water to my parched lips.

  Here I am again, running for my life. Does it ever end?

  Emily and Ryan sit near me as the horses drink gratefully. Brother and sister both look like they could fall to pieces at any time. I don’t blame them. Gabby was younger than Emily when we became parentless but she still remembers what if felt like to be part of a family. I only remember bits and pieces of my family and I think it’s better that way.

  “I’m so sorry,” I say, knowing how little those words actually mean. I feel like a prat because I don’t know what else to say.

  “You should be,” Emily snaps. “If you hadn’t shown up, none of this would have happened.”

  Is she right? Am I to blame for ruining her life?

  “That’s bull shit, Emily,” Ryan
says. “That’s just mom talking. This has been coming for a long time. If I didn’t have to get you out, I would have stayed to fight.” Emily jumps to her feet.

  “Fine!” she screams, “if you want to go back, don’t let me stop you. Go ahead and get yourself killed. Me and Jasmine will be just fine.” She tries to make as much noise as possible as she stomps away.

  “Whose Jasmine?” I ask.

  “Her horse.” He glances back to where the horses were just a moment ago. Only Duke is there. “Shit! Emily!” he yells as he shoots to his feet. He climbs onto Duke without a saddle. “Don’t you dare jump that stream bed. It’s too far,” he yells after her as he takes off but then pulls up short of the water as Emily and Jasmine fly through the air and land safely on the other side. “Stay right there!” Ryan commands.

  “Fine!” she gives in. Ryan slides down and saddles Duke. He gets on and I hand Jasmine’s saddle to him before I climb up. We wade carefully through the stream and then Ryan thrusts the saddle at his sister.

  “Jasmine doesn’t like saddles,” she says as she rubs the horse's nose. Jasmine lowers her head so that Emily can plant a kiss on her.

  “Put the saddle on her,” Ryan demands. She gives in again and before we know it, we are on the move.

  Chapter 67: Gabby

  I am so ready for this. I have been assigned to Vicksburg, the Texan capitol, along with Jeremy. Lee and Drew are both going to be headed for St. Louis. They say that we have to use different tactics for each city and ours will be the hardest to defeat. I’m up for the challenge. I check every inch of my sniper rifle before packing it away. The next time I will shoot this gun will be from atop a building, aiming at real live targets.

  I am not looking forward to another boat ride. I know this one will be shorter and we won’t have to hide away in some cramped room, but still, this sucks. None of us know the entire plan because Jonathan is very secretive. I’m not even sure Miranda knows it all. We have each been told our part.