by Keegan Long
“I’m so sorry Joe,” Jill said as tears began to roll down her face. “Only if I knew you were there I would have come for you.”
“It’s not your fault,” Joe responded as he smiled back towards her. “Destiny had something else planned for me but look at us now. Together once again.”
“I lost my parents,” I began to tell. “When the war ended Cerberus came to our house and took them from us. Then they separated McKenna and I for five years. I didn’t even know if any of my family was still alive after being in that prison for so long. But then Jill got a team organized to rescue me and even better all my friends. In the end, she reunited me with my sister and I have finally been able to find myself once again. Jill, you may not have rescued Joe but you made me whole again and I thank God, every day for you. Thank you, Jill.”
Jill began to let out more tears to my speech but this time they were tears of happiness.
“You see Jill,” Joe began to speak again. “Your destiny was not to save me but in the end to save them. In the end, you reunited two long lost sisters and you should be very proud of that.”
“Thank you, Joe,” she mumbled out from the tears falling still falling down her face. “That means a lot guys.”
“You have all done something for us, Jill,” Joe said. “Now let us do something for you. We are going to get you your Presidency back.”
Everyone cheered in response to Joe.
“Looks like we finally made it,” Joe informed us as we approached an old destroyed abandoned house.
“This is where you stay?” Sarah asked with a confused tone and look on her face.
“It doesn’t look like much,” Nicole added.
“I don’t stay in the house of course,” Joe began to laugh. “I stay underneath the house.”
When we entered the house we made our way into the living room, which was completely trashed and destroyed. To my surprise though Joe lifted up one of the couches to reveal a secret entrance to the underground base he was talking about.
As I went down the secret set of stairs I noticed this base was well buried underground and well beneath the basement. When I finally entered Joe’s secret base I was overwhelmed because he had running lights throughout the entire base. He also had plenty of room and multiple sets of doors that lead to a variety of different rooms.
“This is amazing Joe,” Jill said as she gazed around the base.
“Well when you have nothing to do you make a secret base,” Joe responded with a laugh.
I began to hear the mechanical shifting of metal parts approaching us from a different room. This was the same sound I heard when the robots were approaching as we were escaping the prison.
Everybody became extremely shocked and overwhelmed when a Cerberus robot made its way into the room where we were currently in but this robot was somewhat different than most of the Cerberus Centaurs. Its normal robot head had been replaced with a more friendly and welcoming one. To everyone’s surprise, though this one could talk.
“Welcome home everybody,” the robot spoke to us.
“Don’t be alarmed,” Joe said as he walked in front of the robot. “This is my robot companion and my best friend. Everybody I would like you to meet Lee.”
“It’s very nice to meet all of you,” Lee responded in his robotic voice.
“How did you do that?” McKenna asked in amazement. “That’s so cool.”
“You guys probably don’t know but Cerberus has different robots in the cities compared to the ones outside the borders,” Joe began to explain. “The robots in the cities are able to talk as they maintain order and all that stuff. The ones you probably ran into don’t talk. Those are the military robots made specifically to kill and fight off any resistance. On my way out of D.C., I was able to snatch this one and I reprogrammed him. I soon later gave him a friendlier look and even changed his voice too.”
“I told you guys that Joe was a genius,” Jill told us.
I thought this was the coolest thing ever but I felt that even McKenna found it way more interesting than I did.
“Lee is still connected to the Cerberus mainframe,” Joe began to explain. “I heard a drone had entered the Denver area and I went to go check it out. Luckily I got there right in time and came across you guys.”
“Can he fight?” Kevin asked as he began to examine the robot.
“Sure can,” Joe said in pride. “I usually just leave him here though to look after the base.”
“How do you get the power to keep him running?” I asked Joe.
“He runs completely on solar energy,” Joe informed me. “I have built some special battery power packs of sorts that are installed in him as well for back up but for the most part he runs off solar energy.
“That’s amazing,” McKenna commented as she went closer to the robot to have a better look.
She then would begin to start talking to the robot.
“He’s a very friendly robot,” Joe reassured us. “It’s nice to have someone to live with you know. It can get pretty lonely down here.”
“I understand,” I said. “Before I met Sarah, Bekah, and Nicole I was completely alone and it was the worst feeling I had ever felt.”
Joe smiled at my comment. “He’s very useful too and will help as we fight Cerberus.”
“Not to interrupt but we need to get down to business though,” Jill said to the group.
“Agreed,” Joe said as he showed us to his dining area. “What brings you out here to find me?”
“I have a plan,” Jill began to explain. “But we can’t do it without you.”
“If it involves Cerberus count me in,” Joe said with a smile.
It looks like Jill was right on how Joe was like me. Both hated Cerberus with a passion like no other.
“We need to turn the power back on,” Jill said. “And knowing you I know you can do it.”
“I can do it no problem,” Joe began to explain. “But it won’t be easy.”
“We are all up for the challenge,” Jill said as she looked around at everybody. “Everyone knows the risks in this new revolution we are about to start. But everybody has concluded that it’s worth it.”
“I like it,” Joe said. “Where we need to go is pretty far away.”
“Like how far?” Sarah asked. “I’m not much of a walker.”
“Very far,” Joe replied. “But don’t worry we won’t have to walk.”
Joe got up from his seat and lead us back upstairs but this time to the backyard of the house. When we reached outside I saw a big black tarp covering some sort of vehicle.
“Now what do you have for us this time?” Jill asked as she began to laugh.
“Why don’t you take a look,” Joe smiled back as he unveiled the black tarp.
As the tarp fell to the ground Joe revealed a giant RV that was a bit beat up in some places but looked like it would still run.
“I’m guessing this is one of his projects,” Bekah said.
“Sure is,” Joe replied.
“Now how did you end up getting that?” Jill asked him.
“I found her off the road,” he explained. “Brought her back here a while ago and have been working on her ever since.”
“She’ll do great,” Mitch said in excitement. “I’ve never been in an RV before.”
“Alright, Joe you got us hooked,” Jill laughed. “So where are we going?”
“The city that never sleeps of course,” he replied with a big smile. “All aboard. We’re going to New York.”
9
The Runaway
That evening we began packing all our supplies and equipment into Joe’s RV and wanted to leave and be on the road by sundown. We were all able to fit into the RV no problem and had space to move around a bit. It looked like this road trip would be a lot more enjoyable than the last one.
Too much of McKenna’s excitement, Joe’s robot was coming with us as well. She hadn’t left that thing alone ever since we came in contact with it. Her
reasoning to me was that it was a cute and friendly robot that she wanted to become friends with.
Joe informed us that it was going to be a very long trip and would take us about a day and a half to get there if everything went smooth. Knowing our luck though we were bound to get into some kind of trouble along the way.
“Are we ready to hit the road soon?” Joe asked as we finished packing the RV.
“I think we’re all set,” I told him. “The sooner we get on the road the better.”
“Is it really necessary to bring all this stuff,” Sarah complained as she finished packing the last couple of items.
“You never know when we’ll need it,” Kevin said.
“Like I get some things,” Sarah continued on. “But there’s a freaking musket back here. Like do we really need that?”
“Oh, we’ll need her,” Joe pointed out. “She may not look like much but she packs a mean punch. Plus she’s really fun to shoot with.”
“Where did you even get that Joe? Jill asked.
“At an old abandoned museum,” he answered. “I make all the bullets myself though.”
“Let’s hope we don’t have to use it anytime soon though,” Nicole added. “Let’s get there without any troubles this time. That would be ideal.”
“She does make a good point,” Bekah said. “Everywhere we go we run into some kind of trouble along the way.”
“Maybe it will be different this time,” Joe suggested.
“Doubt it,” Sarah mumbled under her breath.
“Why don’t you troublemakers get into the RV,” Joe said. “It’s time we hit the road.”
We were soon off and on the road once again. Joe was the driver and Mitch decided to join him in the passenger seat while the rest of us chilled in the back.
There were two couches in the back with one on each side of the RV. There was also a TV that didn’t work unfortunately and even a little bathroom. If you went back further there was a small bedroom in the very back of the RV as well.
“Do you know where you're going, Joe?” I asked him from the back.
“No idea,” he responded followed by a short pause. “Just kidding.”
We all laughed at Joe’s sarcasm.
“Very funny Joe,” I scowled at him.
“I used to be stationed in New York and would drive back to Colorado sometimes,” he told us. “Don’t worry I know where we are going.”
The sun had soon set an hour later and it was pitched black outside once again. I’m not really a big fan of when it comes to the night. You can never see anything but what’s in front of you and it always creeped the hell out of me. Someone could even be watching you and you would never know.
McKenna and her new friend Lee had found a chess board in one of the RV’s cabinets and began playing at the table. McKenna was determined to win but ended up losing anyway. I mean what do you expect he’s a robot and obviously the smartest one here.
We made a few stops here and there to refuel on gas that we had stored in the back. Next thing I remembered after one of our stops was waking up to the sunlight after falling asleep on the couch. To my surprise, Joe was still driving. He must be exhausted from staying up all night driving us.
“Joe aren’t you tired?” I asked him. “You’ve been up all night.”
“I’m alright,” he replied. “We are going to make a little stop up here and then we can rest for a while.”
Joe ended up taking us to an old abandoned civil war museum where he said he met someone here one time and that if they were still here they might come and help us.
“Hello!” Joe yelled across the museum as we all got outside to take a look around. “Anyone home!?”
No answer.
“I don’t think anyone’s here Joe,” Kevin said as he was seeing no signs of life.
“Oh, she’s here,” Joe smiled.
We made our way in the building but were quickly caught off guard as someone drew out their pistol from the corner and pointed it right at Joe’s head. I noticed the pistol was not your average looking pistol either and that it was an old Civil War pistol which they probably got from this museum.
“You know better than to creep up on me Joe,” the girl said as she lowered her pistol and came into our view.
The gunner was a tall younger looking girl and had short black hair. She looked as if she was probably in her mid-20s.
“I see you brought friends this time,” she said as she holstered her pistol away.
“Everyone this is Lindsay,” Joe introduced the woman. “Most people call her The Runaway though.”
“Because I used to work with Cerberus,” Lindsay answered but not in pride.
“You used to work with Cerberus!” I said in shock.
“I know and I’m not proud of it,” she answered. “When the One Year War was over Cerberus campaigned for people to join them and their effort to create a safe and free world. Unfortunately, I bought into it and so did many others. I believed what they had to say about creating a safe country and I joined them. About a year ago I learned the terrible truth of who they really were and I ran away from it all but in the process, I stole some very important documents of something they were creating. So now they are hunting me and I got the nickname The Runaway.”
“What documents did you manage to steal?” Jill asked Lindsay in desperation.
“Something about Project Alpha,” she answered. “It’s not the full report though just a part of it.”
“Do you know if it says anything about a successful experiment trial?” Jill asked. “Anything along those lines?”
“It talks about someone named Patient 6272 but then it cuts off,” Lindsay answered. “Sorry, that’s all I got.”
“That’s ok,” Jill replied. “I wasn’t expecting to find much anyway.”
“So, what brings you guys out here,” Lindsay asks. “Obviously it looks like you guys were searching for me.”
“Sure were,” Joe answered. “We came to ask for your help.”
“My help?” she asked confused. “I’m no help to anybody.”
“How would you like to be though?” Joe asked her. “Come with us to New York and make a difference like you said you always wanted to do.”
“What’s in New York?” Lindsay asked.
“We’re going to turn the power back on,” I told her. “It would change the favor into our hands and we could really start fighting back once again.”
“How do you expect to do that Joe?” Lindsay challenged.
“The Empire State Building,” Joe began to explain. “They have a strong enough antenna where I can go to their computer lab in the basement and hack the system. Hack Cerberus for a change and turn the power back on for good.”
“I do like that idea,” Lindsay smiled. “Even though New York isn’t a state though it probably still has a small Cerberus presence there. How do you expect to get past all that?”
“Since we have a pretty small team we can easily sneak in,” Joe told her. “Sneaking out is the hard part but we’ll figure something out.”
“A suicide mission,” Lindsay said. “I like it. I’m in.”
“Great,” Joe said. “The help is much appreciated.”
Moments later there was a shuffling noise that came from outside and we were in trouble once again.
“We got you surrounded,” a man’s voice said through a megaphone. “Come out with your hands up.”
We quickly took cover by the windows and drew our weapons ready for a fight. I quickly peeked out the corner of the window and saw a group of Cerberus soldiers fully armed with their machine guns and gear.
“Do your scanners pick up any robotic activity?” Joe asked Lee from across the room.
“There are no nearby robots being picked up by my scanners sir,” Lee answered.
“Must just be Cerberus soldiers,” Joe said.
“They’re here for me,” Lindsay said. “They must have somehow picked up my trail. I’m so sorry everyo
ne.”
“Don’t you worry,” Mitch told her. “It’s nothing new to us. We run into this kind of trouble all the time.”
“How many people do you count out there Jill?” Kevin asked from across the room.
“I got maybe no more than 30 people,” Jill answered as she carefully peeked out the window.
“Here we go once again,” Sarah said as she loaded a clip into her gun.
“They can never get enough of us, can they?” Nicole added as she too readied her gun.
The man on the megaphone ordered the troops to start firing and we were soon taking cover by multiple machine gun fire of bullets flying in all different directions.
“Do you have any plans!?” Joe yelled across the room. “Anybody!?”
“I got an idea but it’s crazy!” Lindsay replied.
“Well, it's worth a shot!” I told her.
“Joe come help me with this!” Lindsay said as she and Joe disappeared to the back of the museum.
Next thing I see is the two of them come hauling a rusty old Civil War cannon towards the front door. You got to be kidding me. Either this was going to work or fail miserably. It was worth a shot I guess.
“Will that thing even work!?” I yelled to them over the continuing machine gun fire from outside.
“Don’t know but it’s our best chance!” Lindsay shouted back towards me.
The two of them quickly set up the cannon by the front door and loaded a round into the barrel.
“Stand clear!” Joe yelled at us as he took out his lighter and lit the cannon.
Next thing I know is the cannon fires and shatters through the front door while making contact with a group of Cerberus soldiers. Well, all be darn it actually worked.
“Covering fire!” Kevin yelled across to us as we all began shooting at once as they began to reload the cannon again.
“Aim left this time!” Jill yelled towards Joe and Lindsay.
