by Jessica Dall
Jude just looked at him.
“I didn’t.”
Jude shook his head and turned back to camp.
* * * *
“We don’t have anything better than that?” Maureen frowned.
“With what we have to go on?” Des looked at her.
“I think it’s better than a lot of what we could be planning,” Heather said. “Sometimes simple is better.”
“Not to be a nag...” Dahlia looked around the circle. “What am I going to be doing, while you’re all trying to take over the government?”
“You’ll be here, helping the wounded,” Heather said.
“The wounded aren’t going to be here.” Dahlia frowned. “They’re going to be where the fighting is.”
“Yes,” Des said, “but you getting shot isn’t going to help us heal anyone.”
“Trying to march the wounded out here is just going to let them bleed out before I can help.”
“You can’t fight, Lia.” Heather shook her head. “I’m not going to send you in there with just your medical bag. It isn’t bulletproof.”
“Lucy taught me how to shoot. It’s not that hard,” Dahlia said. “You point and pull the trigger.”
“And you try to kill someone,” Heather said. “You aren’t a murderer.”
“Neither are you.”
“I’ve shot people before, Lia,” her sister said. “I’m not putting a gun in your hand and forcing you to kill people. I think most people here would agree with me. I know Ben would.”
“Oh no.” Dahlia held her hand up, glancing to where Ben sat a little ways off. “You’re the ones who banished him from the war council. You can’t suddenly use him as a vote.”
“We could stick her in the tunnels,” Lucy suggested. “She’d be close to the action if we need a doctor, but would have at least a stone wall if not feet of dirt in between her and the closest bullet.”
“We’ll need the tunnels open in case we have to retreat.” Des shook her head.
“You can talk to me, you realize, not just about me.” Dahlia crossed her arms.
“Well, no offense, Lia,” Jude said. “My vote would be keeping you away from the front lines, too.”
“I didn’t realize my actions were up to a democratic vote.”
“We do what is best for the group,” Heather said, “and that’s keeping you back where you can help people who are hurt.”
“Out in the forest is a little extreme even if you want to make that argument.”
“We’ll talk about it later,” Heather said. “Go keep a look out for Jack. We don’t want your boyfriends fighting.”
“We don’t even know if he’s coming.” Dahlia shook her head.
“The runner said he saw him,” Des said. “He’s got to be on his way by now.”
Dahlia shook her head, but moved over to where Ben sat.
“Am I still banished?” He looked at her.
“Yeah,” she said, “and now I am too.”
“Why’s that?”
“They don’t want me to go into town.”
“Well, I’d say the same thing.”
“Luckily you’ve cheated yourself out of a vote,” she said.
“Apparently you have too.”
“They just want me to be here in case Jack shows up and I have to break up a fight.”
“Why would you have to break up a fight?” Ben raised an eyebrow. “I have the girl, don’t I?”
“Don’t try me right now, Ben?” She shook her head.
He touched her hand, rubbing his fingers along the side of it. “You aren’t going to be mad at me forever, Lia.”
“I don’t know. I’m pretty good with keeping grudges.”
“Take a walk with me,” he said softly.
“Why?” She looked at him.
He cupped her face, rubbing his thumb over her bottom lip. “Because you want to.”
She took a shaky breath looking down at his thumb. “Stop it before I bite that off.”
“You bite me and it’s just more for you to have to bandage up.” He smiled. “Come on, we could die tomorrow. You really want to hold in whatever you have planned to scream at me?”
She released a deep breath. “You’re really transparent, you know that?”
He just looked at her.
“Oh, come on.” She stood.
He smiled, and sprang up using his good arm.
Chapter Twenty
Dahlia woke with her eyelids heavy and her head foggy. She sat up, fighting off the sense of vertigo. The camp appeared empty. “Hello?”
Abel came out of the tent looking sheepish. “Hi.”
She blinked, her eyelids rising much too slowly. “Where is everyone?”
Abel didn’t answer. She stared him down.
“They went to the tunnels,” he said.
“The tunnels,” she repeated.
He shrugged, looking at his feet. “Des said they were as ready as they were ever going to be, so they needed to get going.”
“So, they’re gone.” Dahlia stood, taking a second to steady herself. “Gone gone?”
Abel nodded.
“Then why are you here?”
“They said you’d need help when they brought back wounded.”
Dahlia frowned. “They just left without talking to me?”
“I think that was Heather and Ben’s ideas.”
Dahlia opened her mouth, shut it again. “You know, I’m not surprised in the slightest.”
“You aren’t supposed to be standing.”
“What?” Dahlia frowned.
“They said not to let you stand for at least ten minutes after you woke up.”
“What?” Dahlia frowned. “Why would they...” Something clicked. “They drugged me?”
He shrugged.
“Mother...” She took a step trying to steady her legs. “How long ago did they leave?”
“I don’t know. An hour maybe.”
She took off.
“You aren’t supposed to be walking.” Abel followed her.
“I swear to god, Abel, if you try to keep me here, I’m going to make you wish you had gone with everyone else, because anything they could do to you won’t begin to measure up to what I will do to you.”
“But...someone needs to watch the camp,” Abel said.
“Then sit there and wait,” Dahlia said. “I’ll be back later.”
Abel hesitated but didn’t attempt to stop her.
She walked as fast as she could with her head still swimming. By the time she reached the edge of the tunnels, she was steady enough on her feet to not worry about falling. She brought her hand to her neck. The chain with the key was gone.
“Heather...” Dahlia seethed, but passed the tunnels and headed for town. By the time she broke through the trees, the streets were already filled with women staring at the sky. Dahlia turned seeing the large smoke plumes rising up above the tree line.
“What do you think it is?” One of the women frowned.
“The camps,” Dahlia answered without turning her head.
Everyone turned to stare at her.
“The men are revolting,” she said in a matter-of-fact voice. “If you head over to the government headquarters you’ll see. The place is filled. Full on battle.”
The women paused. “Seriously?” someone said.
Dahlia nodded. “Just came from there. Go and see for yourself.”
The crowd hesitated and then began to move.
A woman approached her. “How do you know?”
“I was hiking.” Dahlia nodded towards the forest. “Saw that and then went by the building.”
A ripple went through the last women hanging around and they joined the crowd heading to the seat of government.
She caught one of the younger girls. “Could I borrow your comm unit? Mine’s dead.”
The girl nodded, glancing at the crowd and then the smoke. “Is it really men?”
“Yeah.” Dahlia nodded. “I
’m going to get out of the crowd so I can hear. Do you want to wait...?”
The girl shrugged. “Are you going there?”
Dahlia nodded.
“I’ll meet you there,” the girl said. “I’m Kristie, with a K.”
“Great.” Dahlia nodded. “Thanks.”
Kristie moved off and Dahlia headed for the edge of the crowd. She typed in Cassandra’s number.
“Hello?”
“Cassie?” Dahlia held a hand over her ear to try to hear better.
“Who is this?”
“It’s me,” she said, “Dahlia.”
“That’s not funny,” Cassandra answered. “Who is this?”
“I’m serious, Cass. It’s Dahlia. I’m in New Zealand.”
“New Zealand?”
“Cass, it’s me.”
Cassandra paused. “Seriously?”
“No,” Dahlia sighed. “Humorously.”
“Holy crap, it is you! Li, what are you...how...?”
“I’ll explain later. Are there fires again there?”
“Gas leaks.” Cassandra nodded. “Yeah.”
“They aren’t gas leaks,” Dahlia said. “It’s the camps.”
“The camps,” her friend repeated.
“Yeah, the men are rebelling. It’s what I’m doing in New Zealand.”
“You’re with the men?”
“I seem to have ended up that way. I haven’t got a whole lot of time. If the men blow this...well, I’m not dead at the moment, so I thought I’d let you know.”
“How did you end up with the men?”
“If I make it through this, I’ll let you know, I promise,” Dahlia said. “I have to go now. Say hi to Claire and the twins for me.”
“But Li...”
Dahlia disconnected. She looked at the comm unit for a long moment and then something popped into her mind. Opening Kristie’s address book, she next typed up a message and sent it to everyone listed. She then clipped the comm to her belt. She turned to another woman in the crowd.
“Hi, my comm unit just died. Would you mind if I used yours?”
The woman handed it over without question.
Dahlia gave silent thanks for trusting women and sent a message to all the people in the woman’s address book before returning it. “Thank you so much.”
Working her way through the crowd, Dahlia borrowed comm units from anyone who would let her. Wearing legislator colors was probably once again working in her favor.
The crowd circled the government building as women tried to get as close as possible to see. Emergency squads did their best to disperse them. A woman standing on top of a planter tried to assure the crowd nothing was happening and they should all leave.
Dahlia waited a moment before taking a breath. “Someone just screamed!”
The crowd started to turn to her voice, and she moved to another spot.
“What was that? Someone just fell over! Look, don’t you see that?”
Without much urging, women in the crowd began seeing things, real or imagined, putting the crowd in a frenzy. Somewhere near the emergency workers, a punch was thrown, breaking the last semblance of order. Dahlia made her way out of the crowd to avoid the worst of the shoving. She took a picture with the comm unit and sent it to the full address book with the caption: Emergency Squad turns violent on crowd. Citizens being beaten!
She pressed send, not really caring whether the emergency squad had thrown the first punch or not.
The balcony caught her attention. She had seen that balcony more than once on the Independence Day broadcasts or any broadcast where Patience had spoken. She looked around, trying to get through the crowd with as few bruises as possible. She slid her hand along the wall outside the building pulling at any breaks in the marble. Finally one shifted. She smiled to herself before slipping in as fast as she could and shut the passageway behind her. She ran up the stairs as fast as she was physically able to the fifth story. Finding the door unlocked, she paused a moment wondering why. Maybe the rebels had used it. Pushing the door open, she heard shouting and gunfire outside the room. The room itself was silent. She paused, looking at the back of the man’s head.
“What are you doing here?” Jude spun.
“Helping.” She looked at the body at his feet. “What did you do to her?”
“She seems to have had a heart attack,” Jude said. “Most of the heads of government it seems.”
Dahlia frowned, squatting to check her pulse. “She’s dead.”
“Patience slipped out, but the rest of them...”
She checked Lisa’s mouth, looking at the green specks in her teeth. She stood again. “That wouldn’t happen to be oleander, would it?”
Jude shrugged.
“Where’d you get oleander?”
“Ben had it.”
“Where did he...
?” She stopped. “When he stole my medical supplies?”
Jude shrugged in answer.
“I swear...” She waved it off. “I’ll deal with that later. Can you hack the computers?”
“What?”
“Can you hack into Patience’s computer?”
“Probably,” Jude said. “Why?”
“We’ve got a near riot on the streets. We stir up the women enough...” Dahlia jumped at the shouts near the door.
“It’s locked.” Jude sat down. “So what? You’re going to...?”
“Give a broadcast,” Dahlia finished for him. “Patience does it from that balcony. There have to be cameras set up.”
“So you want me to figure out how to do a broadcast, then.”
“Optimally, yes, and before something breaks down those doors.”
“Give me a second.” He typed something. “It isn’t exactly an exact science.”
“Are things going—?”
“I need to concentrate,” he said in a terse voice.
“Sorry.” She looked around, the body on the floor caught her eyes again. She squatted, folding the arms over the corpse’s chest and shutting the mouth. She was warm, not stiff. She hadn’t died long ago. It made Dahlia check the pulse again, just to make sure Lisa was dead.
“I’m in.” Jude finally looked up.
“Can you do two things at once?” She stood.
“Depends on the two things.”
“I need to you to get the broadcast up and running, however you do that, hopefully so it can broadcast everywhere. I also need for you to find any files you can to send out to make it so it isn’t just my word against theirs. Send that out to everyone in the address book.” She paused. “You can read, yes?”
He sent her a look. “Yeah.”
“Just asking,” she said. “Can we broadcast?”
He typed something, a screen opening and dots lighting up on a map. “I think we’re broadcasting.”
She nodded. “Keep those doors closed and look for files.”
“Do you have any idea what you’re going to say?”
“I’m just sort of making this up as I go along. The truth I guess. Get searching.”
Jude nodded, turning back to the computer.
She took a deep breath and opened the door to the balcony. A screen on the banister was on, giving her a picture of herself standing there. A button reading ‘mute’ was illuminated. She pressed it, an unpleasant squeaking sound echoing around the yard.
She winced as eyes started to turn toward her. “Sorry about that.”
Slowly the noise of fighting died away.
“Hi, everyone.” Dahlia ran a hand through her hair. “Sorry for the crudeness of the broadcast, but we don’t exactly have AV people up here, so it’s just a one woman operation up here...well, one woman, one man. My friend Jude’s in there working the computer right now.”
Nobody said anything.
“Um, I’m Dahlia, if you don’t know me. You might have gotten a rather rushed, cryptic message from me a little while ago on your comm unit, so...yeah. Um, I, well I don’t know how long I have out here,
since I’m sort of on the wrong side of this fight and if the men end up getting mowed down I’m going to be carted away soon enough. The men have started a bit of a riot, that’s what the smoke out there means.
“The camps are signaling each other I guess, I never really got what the fires were for. Maybe they’re just torching things for the hell of it. All the noise in here is the women who are trained fighters for the government fighting the men rioting in the building. There are these things called guns that are used for killing people and they make a really loud banging sound when they’re shot at someone. So, that’s that. I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that it’s not really the men’s fault. I mean, they’re fighting back since, well, they’re men, but they aren’t the only ones. Women are fighting too. I think they have been taught how to fight since they were little, so it was women teaching women violence, not just the men.
“I, well, I really have no idea what I’m supposed to be saying out here, and I’ve got enough adrenaline going through me right now that I’m probably not making a lot of sense, but I’m not a man lover by any means. I mean, at this point I’ve gotten rather fond of the ones I know, but I wasn’t...The men are just trying to be seen as equals. I think that’s important to say. They’re only fighting to try to get out of camps and have a chance at what all of us do...that might not be the smartest thing, and I’m not really sure I want men doing everything we do, but I think that they deserve a little more than what they have now.
“They’ve been lying to us. The government has been lying to us. Men are people, if nothing else. They have friends and they can love, and...and they deserve more than what they have. The lesbians too. My sister is a lesbian and would have been a doctor, but...it’s just not fair. We have a revolution happening, and...” Dahlia trailed off.
“Got military records,” Jude called.
“Jude...” Dahlia said, “Jude is one of the sweetest people I know. He’s sweeter than a lot of women I know. And smarter. He’s going to be sending out all the stuff on Patience’s computer that the government hasn’t been telling us.
“Even if you don’t support men’s rights, you should at least support knowing what is happening in your life. That...that’s why I’m here. They’ve been lying to us our entire lives. They’ve been lying for generations. Things aren’t as perfect as they would like you to believe. In all honesty, I couldn’t give a shit about men’s rights. I ended up here because I couldn’t let the men I’ve been with die at the hands of a hypercritical government in good conscience. I couldn’t let the hypocrisy continue.
