Rebels

by Jill Williamson

  “Ha, ha.” But Omar let his hands slide a little faster, letting three knots pass through his grip before squeezing again. He was only about three levels up now.

  Keep going.

  He stopped himself just above the top of the fence. Time to see just how well the supposed motion detectors worked. He took a deep breath and resituated himself with his feet facing the wall. The smell of marijuana made him pause. Not grass in juice form. Fresh marijuana. Like someone was smoking it.

  The greenhouses must have been growing it. And now they were burning.

  “What are you doing?” Zane asked.

  No time to think about the smell. He glanced behind him at the fence. This was probably going to hurt.

  He stretched his legs until they touched the wall. Pushed off with his toes. No alarms went off — that he could hear, anyway. The push got him swinging. The next time his feet touched the wall, he gave a good jump. He came back to the wall hard and jumped again.

  One more time.

  On the last jump, he kicked out with all his strength and eased up on his grip on the rope. As he sailed out, he slid down. At the apex of his swing, he let go of the rope. His body flew over the top of the barbed wire fence and toward the ground. He bent his knees and tried to land in a crouch, but his momentum was too high and he fell onto his backside and rolled right along his back. He tried to stay in a ball. His backpack got in the way and the tools inside beat against his spine. But it also helped slow him down, and on his second turnover, he stopped rolling.

  He hurt. His back and his head throbbed. He lay there, panting, trying to decide just how bad he was hurt.

  “Omar, you okay?” Zane asked. “I can’t see anything. Open your eyes.”

  He did. The sky above was dark. He shifted, straightened his legs, then managed to sit up.

  “There you are,” Zane said. “Speak to me, peer. You hurt?”

  “I think I’m okay.”

  “Then get up and run! Someone might have seen you.”

  Omar groaned and tried to stand.

  Someone grabbed him from behind. Omar elbowed the person, pulled away.

  “Hey! Calm down. It’s me. Lonn. I got you.”

  Omar relaxed and leaned on Lonn for a moment. “Is everything on track?”

  “Yes, you maniac. We’re right on track. How are you? That fall looked rough.”

  “I’m okay. Is there someplace I can sit a minute?”

  “Yeah, sure. It’s not like every enforcer in the Lowlands isn’t out tonight. But we’ll get you to a nice place to sit. Would you like some lemonade too?”

  Zane chuckled. “Oh, I’ve missed Lonn.”

  “Shut up,” Omar told them both.

  “That’s the spirit,” Lonn said. “You’ve got my contacts?”

  “In my pack.”

  Lonn pulled the pack off Omar’s back and held it up. “Where?”

  Omar unzipped the little side pocket and pulled out the contacts case. He handed it to Lonn. “There’s fluid in the container, so be careful they don’t slip out when you open it.”

  Lonn put the contacts in his eyes like he wore them every day. “These really recording?”

  “Tell him yes,” Zane said. “I’ve got you both, and your audio is still good too. The cube is working.”

  “We’re good,” Omar said. “How much time do you have?”

  Lonn glanced at his watch. “Fifteen minutes.”

  Omar took a long breath — a marijuana-filled breath. Panic gripped him, and his breathing became short and shallow. He shouldn’t inhale the smell, right? He’d get hooked again.

  He pinched his nose and took several deep breaths, trying to calm his nerves. But when he let go, he could still smell the marijuana.

  “You okay?” Lonn asked.

  “The smell. What if it gets me hooked again?”

  “What smell?” Lonn looked to the greenhouses. “The plants?”

  “That’s marijuana,” Omar said.

  “Yes, but you can’t get high from smelling the plants like this. The chemicals have to reach your brain, and you’re leaving right now.”

  “Okay.” Omar let himself inhale. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

  “Be careful, kid.” Lonn handed Omar his backpack and jogged away.

  With all the fuss over the fires in sector one, Omar easily made it to his mother’s apartment.

  She embraced him, then helped him take off his coat. “Mason is gone. I don’t know where. We haven’t seen him for days.”

  “Yes, he’s okay. Renzor beat him up trying to get answers about where I went. But Levi traded him for Ciddah and Kendall’s kid. So he’s fine but probably not happy about it. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him.”

  “What does that mean, traded?” Mother asked.

  “Renzor wanted the medic. Bad. So bad that he gave Mason back to Levi.”

  “The medic is the one Mason likes?”

  Omar barked a laugh. “You could say that. Mason told Levi he wanted to marry her.”

  Mother frowned at this. “Does she feel the same about him?”

  “Who knows? She might.”

  “And how about you? Did you see Shaylinn?”

  Omar grinned. “She had the babies, Mom. A girl and a boy. They’re so little. We named them Nicolas and Cerise.”

  Mother mirrored Omar’s smile with her own. “But are they all right? Isn’t it too early?”

  “I think they’re going to be fine. Shay seemed to think so.”

  “Congratulations, son. I’m glad you got to see them.”

  He stood a little taller then. “Me too.”

  “Get some sleep. Tomorrow will . . .” Mother blew out a deep breath. “Tomorrow is everything.”

  “It seems so far away right now,” Omar said, “but I know that it’s not. Soon it will all be over.”

  Mother put her arm around Omar’s waist and squeezed. “Yes. Well, fear not tomorrow, for God is already there.”

  That very well may be. The question was, what would God do?

  CHAPTER

  34

  I’d like everyone to know that I was pregnant before I was caught this second time,” Jemma said. “The medic confirmed this on my first appointment in the SC. Lawten Renzor wanted you to think the child was his, but that’s a lie, like so much of what he says. The child belongs to me and my husband, Levi.”

  “Mine?” Levi jumped up from his chair, where he’d been sitting on one side of Zane, watching Luella Flynn’s interview with Jemma. His chair clattered to the floor behind him, knocked over in his excitement.

  “You okay, brother?” Jordan stood up and righted Levi’s chair.

  “Mine!” Levi said again. He embraced Jordan, who thumped him on the back a few times.

  “Best news I’ve heard since you told me Harvey had been born,” Jordan said.

  Jemma was still on the screen, so Levi released Jordan and stared at his wife. His amazing, beautiful, precious wife.

  He was going to be a father!

  But that was the end. Luella said something about revealing what liberation really was, then the screen went to a commercial.

  Really? A commercial today?

  “Congratulations, peer,” Zane said. “No wonder they were able to make her a queen so fast.”

  “Yeah,” Levi said. “Yeah! Why didn’t I think of that?” He glanced at the time on the Wyndo wall screen. Twenty minutes before they were supposed to leave to get Jemma.

  He wanted to go now.

  He managed to sit back down on his chair and watch Luella Flynn introduce the Owl’s “Liberation Exposé.” It started with the Owl in some apartment building. He even had his creepy Owl voice working.

  “This is not an error. The Messenger Owl has truth to deliver to the people of the Safe Lands. Truth brings freedom. Listen well. Today the ColorCast is safe. I am working together with Luella Flynn to deliver my promise. I promised to expose liberation for what it really is. You deserve to know. People
deserve freedom.”

  Then he introduced Richark Lonn, who Omar pointed out was very much not dead. Lonn told viewers that he had been working on a cure for the thin plague when he was fired from his task in the MC years ago. He said he was now working with the Owl to bring truth to the people.

  Then Richark and the Owl ran all over the Lowlands, capturing footage that Luella narrated. She was able to speak to the Owl through Omar’s SimTalk device and urged Safe Landers to try to tap friends who had been liberated.

  Then the Owl and Lonn went to the strikers’ bunkhouse, where Lonn lived. After that, they went through something called the Car Wash, explaining how the people in Lonn’s bunkhouse were required to do this once a week.

  It was all fascinating and shocking, but Levi was distracted and kept a close eye on the time. The moment the clock switched to the appointed time, he stood. “Time to go.”

  And so Zane tested Levi’s earpiece one more time and they were off to free Jemma, once and for all.

  He hoped.

  With Luella distracting the entire nation, Levi felt confident that their plan would work, but his head kept saying that such an attitude was foolish. How many times had they gone through this before? Could the ColorCast truly be that powerful? Could it keep enforcers from doing their jobs?

  He and Jordan went through the storm drains into the Highlands, picked up a truck that Dayle had left for them, and drove right up to the drop-off zone in front of the harem. No one came out to meet them.

  “That’s a good sign, right?” Jordan asked.

  “Let’s hope so.” Levi got out, left the truck in the drop-off zone, and walked inside, Jordan right beside him.

  People stood in clusters around Wyndo screens, staring. No one even so much as looked at them as they walked to the elevators.

  “I guess they’re all pretty shocked,” Levi said.

  “Can you blame them? It’s mad. Their whole lives have been a bad joke.”

  Levi was thankful that his great-great grandpa Seth had sacrificed himself all those years ago so that Papa Eli and his friends could escape. He’d always been thankful, but he was more thankful today. And he hoped that the truth would truly set these people free.

  The elevator quickly took them to the sixth floor. They stepped out into a gaudy hallway with vaulted ceilings.

  “This place is fancier than Renzor’s office,” Levi said.

  “I think it’s hideous,” Jordan said.

  “This carpet sure is.” Levi paused and looked both ways.

  “To the right, peers,” Zane said through the earpiece.

  They walked up to a garish door with some kind of hybrid creature sculpted on the surface. Levi tapped his glove against the SimPad beside the door. It didn’t open.

  “Zane? Can you open this door?”

  “Not that one,” Zane said. “The SimPad is actually a doorbell. Just wait there. Someone should come and open it.”

  Great. The question was, who?

  Sure enough, some ten seconds later the door opened. A maid.

  “We’ve come to make a pick-up,” Levi said, pushing past her.

  “You can’t come in here,” the woman said from behind him.

  But she didn’t try to stop him, so he and Jordan walked inside a fancy living room. A handful of women were sitting in front of a massive Wyndo screen that covered the two-story windows that overlooked the harem gardens. Levi had stared at those windows so many times, pining for his wife. Now he was finally here.

  And they were watching the ColorCast. Good.

  “Yeah, I’m looking for a Jemma Levi. Is she down here?” he called out.

  “Levi?”

  On the far side of the room, Jemma stood up. He could hardly see her in the darkness, but her voice was unmistakable. She hurried to him. He ran to her. They met behind a couch. He swept her up in his arms and twirled her in circles, breathing her in. She felt wrong in his arms though. It was her belly. Large and firm, it separated them in a wonderful way.

  He kissed his wife.

  “Matron! Intruders!” some woman yelled. Not the maid, though. She was still standing over by the door.

  “Shhh!” This from someone watching the ColorCast.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Jordan said from somewhere beside him.

  Levi released Jemma and took her hand, pulling her toward the front door.

  Jemma pulled back. “Not without Alawa.” She let go of him and he followed her like a shadow, behind the couch to a group of chairs. “Alawa, come.”

  “Shut up!” someone yelled. On screen Lonn and the Owl were touring a poultry slaughterhouse.

  A pregnant girl stood up and walked to Jemma. “You think we can really go?” she whispered.

  Another pregnant girl rose from her seat on the couch. “You can’t leave!” She walked around the couch until she was standing between Levi, Jemma, and Alawa, and Jordan and the exit.

  “Mia!” someone yelled. “Stop talking!”

  Mia. Levi gritted his teeth at the sight of so many problems.

  “You’re welcome to come with us,” Jemma said in a low voice. “Your mother too.”

  “Oh, Mia, let’s go with them.” Another pregnant woman came to stand beside Mia. Levi barely recognized Jennifer in the darkness.

  Time to go. Levi took hold of Jemma’s hand and pulled her toward the exit. The pregnant girl walked alongside Jemma. Jordan pushed open the front door and held it.

  And they walked into the gaudy hallway. Free.

  Almost.

  “You can’t just leave,” Mia said from behind them. She looked to be as pregnant as Jemma and followed them to the elevator. Her mother was right behind her.

  Jordan pushed the elevator button and it opened right away. He stepped inside and held the door.

  “Come with us,” Jemma said. “There is no life here.”

  “That stuff on TV?” Mia scoffed. “That will blow over.”

  “Their government has been lying to them, and now they know the truth,” Levi said. “Life here is going to change. And we’re going home.” Levi maneuvered Jemma to his other side, urging her to go into the elevator.

  Mia stepped up to the door, but she was looking at him. “You lied to Jemma. You’re no better than they are.”

  Levi flexed his jaw. “I never lied to her.” He turned Jemma to face him. “But I didn’t tell you everything either. Mostly because I was afraid.”

  “I don’t care what you did two years ago,” Jemma said. “I just want to get out of here.”

  “Right this way.” He walked with her into the elevator.

  Jordan let go of the door, but Mia caught it. “How can you not even care?”

  “Mia, why do you care so much?” Jemma asked.

  “Because I’m the prettiest. Everyone always said so. My whole life. Yet no one chose me.” The haughty tone of her voice had changed to anger.

  “The fairest of them all, is that what you think?” Levi asked.

  “I know it.”

  “There is more to beauty than appearance, Mia,” Levi said. “I’ve always thought Jemma was beautiful, but what made me choose her above every other girl was who she is. How she can make everyone she speaks to feel better about themselves.”

  “Mia, come with us,” Jemma said. “You’re my friend.”

  “I don’t want your friendship.” She huffed and crossed her arms. “Mother and I will stay here.”

  Levi nodded at Mia. “Fine. Let go of the door, then.” He wanted to push her hand off it. But Jemma was crying, and he wanted to please her as best he could. So he told Jennifer, “We don’t know what will happen with the Guild, but you’re both always welcome in our home. Please come and visit someday.”

  “Thank you, Levi.” Jennifer pulled Mia away from the door and it slid closed.

  They met no trouble at all leaving the harem. Their truck was still parked outside. Levi was tempted to try to drive back to Zane’s house in the Midlands, but Zane told him to stick wi
th the plan.

  It took a while to walk through the icy storm drains with two pregnant women, but they eventually made it back to Zane’s basement and into the next. Naomi and Tova were there with blankets to help the girls get warm. They all sat around the Wyndo wall screen in the nest to watch the rest of Operation Lynchpin unfold on the ColorCast.

  The ColorCast was still on the Liberation Exposé. The Owl was in a medical facility, and Richark Lonn and another medic were conducting some sort of test.

  “The Safe Lands Guild has lied to you about the thin plague,” Richark Lonn said to Omar’s contact lens cameras. “Your meds are not given to help you, but to experiment on you. The next time you see your medic, demand meds that are stimulant free. Demand clean meds!”

  After that, the cameras changed to Lonn’s view of the Owl standing on a table in a cafeteria of some kind. The tables were filled with men wearing orange jumpsuits.

  “Liberation is not death but it is prison,” Omar yelled, and the prisoners yelled their agreement. “It’s slavery.” Another yell. “For decades, the liberated have worked so that you the people in the Highlands and Midlands can play and take your ease.” The men yelled again. “That’s no Bliss.” Again. “And there’s little ‘pleasure in life’ when most of your choices are taken away.” Another yell. “Safe Landers, do not let this go on!” A cheer this time. “We must elect a new Task Director General.” Another cheer. “We must elect a new Safe Lands Guild.” Another. “And we must insist that the doors to this place be open for good, so that all can come and go as they please.” The prisoners jumped to their feet, applauding, cheering, some with arms thrust in the air.

  Levi got chills.

  It looked like Operation Lynchpin was going to be a success.

  The camera switched to Luella Flynn, sitting on the couch on the stage in the ColorCast theater. “Safe Landers, I’m appalled. To see my fellow nationals in prison? To discover that Bliss is a lie? That we don’t have multiple lives but only one? The Owl is right: We must not let this go on another moment. Today is the monthly meeting of the Safe Lands Guild, and I think it’s time we asked the Ancients and Lawten Renzor a few questions, don’t you agree?”

  The footage shifted away from the stage to show Luella Flynn’s back as she walked down the hallway outside Champion Theater. Mason walked beside her on her left, Ruston on her right. They reached the double doors that led to the Champion Auditorium. Ruston grabbed one door handle, Mason the other. They pulled them open at the same time, and Luella Flynn walked inside.