* * *
Every screen in the camp changed to a singular image. People throughout the camp were slowly turning their attention. Nathan swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to compose himself.
He looked into the camera took a deep breath and began. “My Name is Nathan Turner, what you have been told is a lie.” People were turning up the screens and shushing others around them, trying to see what was going on. “You have been told that there is a terrorist threat and that these terrorist have killed millions of people worldwide and here in our country as well. It is true that we face a threat, a very real and stronger threat than we have ever faced before. The attacks around the world were organized, strategically placed attacks not by a Middle Eastern terrorist group but by a much older much stronger and much more determined group of people who have been manipulating the world and our country to form a one world government with them in complete control of the worlds resources.” Nathan was learning to pause to let the gravity of his words sink in when he was trying to enlighten people. “You have heard them speak about forming a global alliance, of them unifying the military into one global force. What you don’t know is that the same people making these movements to a one world government are the same ones that attacked us and our leaders are in on it. The President is one of them. They’ve killed almost a million Americans by President Garrett’s order. They do not want your allegiance they want your obedience.”
At that moment Anthony took notice of some soldiers moving to the operations building, he radioed Darion. “Bravo you’re a go.” Darion responded. “Moving in now.” As Allen cut the fence the group moved in, dressed in civilian attire they began to try and blend in. Nathans voice echoed thru the loudspeakers. “These people have already taken your rights, you are held here against your will. You have already received their vaccine so why can’t you leave? The answer is obvious and you already know it, they don’t want you to. They allow you to see only what they want you to see, their news, their programs and propaganda, their coalition. They have deceived you.”
There was quiet among the entire camp, many people exchanged looks that they knew this man’s words to be true. They could see the way they had been corralled and told what to think. Darion entered the Oasis to see the people fixated on his brother.
“I ask those of you who served this nation, those who became police officers, firefighters, doctors, teachers, business owners or construction workers… I ask the soldiers protecting the camp now, didn’t we all take an oath to defend and uphold the constitution of the United States of America, against all enemies both foreign and domestic.” Nathan felt a strong mix of anger and pride, as he raised his head he spoke with that anger and passion. “Didn’t we pledge allegiance to the flag of this nation under God, and where is that flag now? They’ve slowly taken it out of our schools, out of our public buildings out of our homes; they’ve spit on it, burned it, they’ve convinced you that you shouldn’t be proud of that flag or the liberty and justice it stands for.” Nathan’s anger grew as he fought to hold back angry tears. “What of the men and women who bled and died for the freedom that flag represents, what of them.” The men and women around the camp looked to each other many of them ashamed for what they let happen to their country; the slow disintegration of American pride and patriotism; no longer the beacon of freedom it used to be but still the last great hope for a burning world. Nathan looked down and lowered his voice and then looked at the camera again. “And what of God, we should all be ashamed for how we let them push him out.” Nathan again paused, he could lightly hear the bang of the doors on the first floor echo up the stairwell and he knew his time was short. Nathan looked back at the camera. “The time is now to take back our country, we must show these people what America is… what we stand for.” Nathan gave his final instruction. “Go home, leave this place, tell others what is really going on and help them find the truth as you look for it yourselves. Think for yourself.”
With that Nathan motioned for Jason to turn the camera off. Knowing he had no time to reflect Nathan had only hoped his words would help sway some people. He turned to Jason. “Access their database; I want you to see if you can download a list of the citizens in every camp.” Jason stopped for a minute to think about the request and then began looking thru the operations computer. “I’ll try.”
Nathan moved to the silver case Jason had his computer in and removed the bottom to reveal Jason’s bow, three arrows, some climbing rope, three harnesses with carabineer’s and his two short swords. Nathan strapped his swords together over his right shoulder to where they looked like one. He gave Alexia a harness. “Put this on, sorry your mace wouldn’t fit in the case.” Alexia was standing holding the harness in her hand trying to figure out what they were about to do. Nathan walked over to the elevator pressed it open and placed a chair in the door to keep it from closing. “That should give us a little more time.” Alexia looked up to her brother her former poise and confidence all but lost. “This is not what I think it’s for!”
* * *
Outside chaos was erupting; people were forming at the gates yelling at the soldiers. Some of the soldiers were letting people go by while others were taking to physically pushing people back. Marcus, and Darion were yelling at people as they ran by. “Hey this way, there’s a way out!”
Allen was holding the gate and telling those that passed to run to Thomas by the tree line and wait that they had a safe place to go. More and more people were flowing out some following Allen’s direction others just going there own way. Outside the gate the soldier with the mechsuit had returned. The suit was a metal alloy armor that enhanced the user’s strength and stamina, this particular unit had a 7.62 auto rifle attached to his right arm and a non lethal taser pulse cannon on his left which the soldier was firing at the citizens who were running past. Gabriel saw this happening from his vantage point and informed Anthony. “Sir that mech from earlier is firing on civilians!” Anthony switched his focus from the operations building to the mech. As the soldier in the mechsuit tased civilians Anthony sighted in. “So Gabe I’ve been out a while but knowing the military like I do can I assume they still haven’t fixed the battery housing on the mechs yet?” Gabe recently removed from the Marine’s knew exactly where Anthony was going. “To my knowledge that’s still a problem sir.” Anthony sighted in on the battery housing located on the mechsuits back just above the beltline. “Thought so.” Anthony applied a slow steady squeeze on the trigger until he felt the telltale kick of his rifle and heard the soft sound of the bullet clearing the silencer. Immediately you could see sparks flying from the back of the mechsuit, the soldier inside spinning around trying to escape. Anthony quickly turned his attention to the operations building taking down a few autodrones along the way.
* * *
Nathan looked at his sister; he knew that getting her to go along with the escape might be the hardest part of the plan. Nathan walked back towards Jason and asked. “How’s it going?” Alexia yelled at her brother. “I’m not going out the window Nathan!” Alexia was deathly afraid of heights and Nathan knew that, he also knew that that might be their only escape route. Nathan tried to focus on Jason who was speaking to him. “I can’t find any list anywhere I don’t think it’s here.”
Nathan felt an overwhelming sadness, feeling that this was his only hope to find Kayla. He was brought back by the sound of the soldiers breeching the doors below. He spoke to his sister with a stern brotherly tone. “Put the harness on now!” he then looked to Jason. “You too.” Nathan moved over to the window of the fifth floor, broke the glass and began clearing around the frame. He then tapped his earpiece to transmit but could already hear his friend on the other end. “Got a visual Alpha preparing for extraction.” Nathan momentarily looked out the backside of the building which was about thirty yards from the fence, he then looked up to the panel roof grabbed a sword off his back and began cutting thru until he saw what he was looking for. He grabbed the rope and threw it o
ver a thick water pipe. As he was tying it Jason was walking up with his bow and arrows. He tied one end to a special arrow he had made out of a thin metal rod notched it and then looked past the fence for Anthony and Gabriel. Nathan was pulling himself up the rope to check that it was secure as he heard the footsteps running up the stairs. Gabriel flashed a light and set it on the ground to let Jason know where to shoot, he silently counted down in his head to ensure Gabriel and Anthony had moved away. He then pulled the cable back on his compound bow and fired over the fence about fifty yards. The weight made the makeshift arrow and rope fall short, Gabriel ran up retrieved the rope and ran back to the tree he and Anthony were going to use as an anchor point.
Alexia pushed a desk in front of the stairwell door. “Their almost here!”
Once the rope was tight Nathan yelled at Jason. “GO, and remember to keep your feet up!”
Jason hooked on climbed out the window and zipped down the line raising his feet above the barb wire at the top of the fence Anthony and Gabriel catching him at the bottom. He turned to the duo. “Well that was fun.”
Inside Nathan turned to his sister. “Now you.” Alexia mustered up as much courage as she could. She walked over and hooked up then began shaking as she attempted to climb on the window seal. She tried to hold the tears back in her eyes. “Nathan I can’t.” Nathan moved over to his sister. “Hey, look at me.” Alexia focused on her brother as he tried to console her. “Close your eyes, and don’t open them. It’s just like when we were kids when I would pick you up and throw you in the creek, remember?” Alexia nodded as tears rimmed her closed eyes. Nathan heard the soldiers at the stairwell door trying to push their way in. He picked up his sister and lightly pushed her down the line. “Stay in a ball!” Nathan yelled as she flew down the line missing the top of the fence. Nathan then turned to the soldiers lying on the floor at the end of the room. “You heard what I said; you can come now if you want.” The soldiers looked at themselves still unsure what they thought of Nathan’s statement. Nathan hooked up. “You know what’s happening now; you have a choice to make. The next time we meet I hope it is as allies fighting to defend our country.” As the first of the soldiers from the stairwell were squeezing thru the door, Nathan had begun to zoom down the zip line, along the way he hoped the next time he met those soldiers they would be allies… for their sake. As Nathan hit the ground to join Anthony, Gabriel, Jason and Alexia he could hear gunfire coming from the window in their direction. “THIS WAY!” Anthony shouted already having the exit route planned out. The group followed Anthony to the woods thankful it was too dark for the soldiers that were firing to get a clear shot. The group stopped momentarily. Nathan moved around the group. “Is everyone alright?” The group being short winded after their escape just nodded with a couple of “Yea’s” mixed in. Nathan radioed Darion. “Bravo what’s your status?
Darion returned the call. “Bravo here, it’s good to hear your voice. Did everyone make it out ok we heard gunfire.” Nathan inadvertently nodded as he responded over the radio. “We’re all good, moving to Hilo now.” A sigh of relief could be heard as Darion came back over the radio. “That’s awesome we’re on the way and we have a lot of people with us…a lot.”
Nathan looked around the group both happy and nervous. “That’s great we’ll see you there, be careful.” Darion radioed once more. “Will do.”
As the group was about to move Anthony spoke up. “I’m going to head back to camp.”
Nathan looked at his friend confused. “Why?” Anthony reluctantly turned to show a bullet flesh wound on his hip that he was applying pressure on. “Didn’t even notice until the adrenaline died down.” Nathan had moved over to check out his friend. Anthony lifted his hand. “It’s nothing, it just grazed me.” Nathan nodded. “Thankfully.” Nathan turned to the rest of the group. “Lex you and Gabe go with Ant, Jason and I will see you guys back at camp.” Anthony was about to argue with his friend but as he met Nathans eyes he saw there was no point. “Be safe, we’ll see you guys back at camp.” With that the two groups split Nathan and Jason moving to rendezvous with Hilo.
* * *
Deshad’s plane had touched down over an hour ago in Harrisburg Pennsylvania but there was no point in trying to track in the dark, he made his final preparations so that he would be ready at first light. Deshad brought along a snowmobile to help him catch up to Jenkins unit, he knew they likely left going northwest in a JLTV. Considering that there was almost no traffic on the roads he hoped that he would be able to follow a clear trail. If the snow had covered all trace of them he knew he would have a much harder time finding Xeno. Deshad had just finished strapping his rations, sleeping unit, spare clothes and portable heating unit to the snowmobile. He was now standing alone in the plane’s cargo hold going over the tools he brought for the difficult task ahead. Deshad stood in white winter pants with his throwing daggers on his left leg and his silenced 9mm pistol on his right. His boots were next to a hammock nearby while his cold weather white top and mask were thrown over the snowmobile. Deshad had on a white neoprene long sleeve shirt with his trademark daggers under each arm. As Deshad finished loading his sc340 assault rifle he leaned it against the snowmobile while he placed a few items in the utility pouches on his belt. Most people would try to rest before first light but not Deshad. The thought of the hunt pushed too much adrenaline thru him to sleep. He sat down in his quickset cot and pulled out his pad with more detailed information on his prey. He would study it all night trying to understand the personality of each member of Xeno squad. Deshad knew he was out gunned and out manned but he also had excellent tracking skills and intel Xeno did not, not to mention the element of surprise. This might be the most difficult challenge Deshad had ever faced…and his heart pulsed with anticipation.
* * *
Nathan and Jason were closing in on Hilo which was just a designated fallen tree in the forest where the refugees were being transported three vehicles a time to the campsite. As Nathan and Jason broke thru they were in awe at the amount of people. They arrived in between transports as Darion was going thru the crowd talking to people. Nathan was surprised not only at the amount of refugees but also at their demeanor. The overall feeling was calm thru a light buzz of people talking. Nathan saw Allen as he walked up. “This is a lot of people.” Nathan and Allen looked out at the hodgepodge of people. A mixed group of all ages and races, he was afraid it would be mostly the white middle aged conservative patriots and no doubt there were many of them there but what gave Nathan more hope than he had had in a long time was how hard it was to see race, age, and lifestyle; all he could see was an integrated group of Americans uniting for a common cause. Allen watched a very tough looking black youth give up his jacket for an older white woman while Darion was talking to a group of young men who couldn’t have been more different from one another. Allen too felt pride as he spoke to Nathan. “It is a lot of people.” Allen turned to Nathan. “We’ve done something here, now we just need to follow thru.”
Nathan placed a hand on Allen’s shoulder. “We will.” Nathan then proceeded to move towards Darion weaving his way in and around people when he heard Marcus call for him. “Nathan.” Immediately after hearing Marcus’s voice Nathan heard another familiar voice that he was trying to process. “NATHAN! NATHAN!” Nathan saw a man in his mid twenties moving his way, six foot tall average build with brown skin and eyes. As the man moved closer Nathan recognized him even though he had only met him a couple of times. Nathans hope was immediately revived as he moved to meet Kayla’s brother. “Matthew!” Matthew Melendez moved to Nathan and embraced him as if they were brothers. Nathan surprised to see Matthew asked the immediate thought permeating thru his head. “How did you get here?” Followed by the next most obvious one. “Where’s Kayla.” Matthew began to explain how he came to be in Jackson Mississippi. “I was at my parents in Philly for Thanksgiving when Kayla came in. She started to tell us that you received word that we were about to be under a state of emergenc
y, she told us that you said they were going to try and put people into prison camps. When we saw the president’s address we thought we needed the vaccine so we went to register.” Nathan closed his eyes and slowly shook his head, he inwardly hoped Kayla wasn’t in a camp but couldn’t think of where else she would go. Matthew continued. “There were two camps in Philly both of which filled up fast so we went to Harrisburg.” Nathan was trying to let Matthew tell his story but he desperately wanted to know where Kayla was. He was anxious as he waited for Matthew to tell him more. “They started transporting people, separating us. I got separated from Kayla and the rest of my family when they threw me and several others on a bus and brought us here.” Nathan was in awe at the chances that he would run into Matthew in Mississippi. “Where’s Kayla?”
Matthew shook his head disappointed that he wasn’t able to stay and protect his family. “As far as I know she’s still in Harrisburg, she wasn’t on the transport with me.”
Immediately the options started flowing thru Nathan’s head. He thought for a long moment and then met eyes with Matthew. “I’m going to get her.” Matthew was a little surprised to hear Nathan say that, but hopeful at the same time. Nathan started to move back to Allen, Marcus and Matthew following him. Marcus was stating his disapproval. “You can’t go! Not now there must be over a hundred people here not to mention the thousands running around after what you said at the compound, they need you. You need to be here.” Nathan just kept walking Darion had heard the commotion saw his brother was in camp and moved to see what was going on.
Armageddon Rise Of The New World Order Page 18
