The Designate

by J B Cantwell

  That was when the firing started. Bullets rained down on us, and in the distance came the sound of Fighters rallying.

  “We need to move,” I said to Hannah as she finished the fourth car.

  “Yes, your majesty,” she said, glaring.

  I ignored her tone.“How do we do this?”

  “Right foot,” she said. “Two pedals. One right for gas, one left for brake.”

  “Ok,” I said. “Tell the others.”

  I climbed into the driver’s seat of the truck. The sound of bullets hitting the roof of the vehicle were like hail hitting a window. I suddenly realized that Alex was totally exposed as he rode in the back.

  I shouted through the back window of the cab.

  “Alex! Roll onto your stomach! Don’t let them shoot your face!”

  He did as I told him. His full suit of body armor would do the rest.

  Just like any of us, he didn’t want to die. He could tell me to leave him all day long, but the truth was that he craved survival.

  “Let’s go!” I shouted.

  I put the truck into gear and hit the gas with my right foot. The truck lurched forward, and I heard a thump from the bed of the truck.

  “Sorry!” I yelled.

  I pressed the gas more softly this time and the truck moved forward, leading the caravan. Hannah drove one of the cars, and two soldiers I didn’t know took the other two. As we started moving through the city, the firing stopped. Whoever it had been was quickly losing aim as we fled. I followed the map in my lens. We just needed to get out, to make it north and to the pipeline, or designated meeting spot.

  We were to defend the pipeline upon our arrival. We couldn’t have been flown in to do so; it was too risky. The military still had an army of helicopters from decades of war, but they were old and difficult to maneuver, especially under fire. When they had dropped us off at the south end of the city, there had been no other way but to plow our way through, all of us thinking that it would be possible, maybe even easy, to reach the pipelines on the other side.

  Now, with half of our numbers dead, dying, or missing, we realized the truth. Not all of us would make it.

  I turned to the person sitting in the front seat with me.

  “Soldier, can you see the map in your lens?” I asked.

  “Yes, Sir,” he said. His eyes were wide, like an animal of prey on the run.

  I suddenly felt calm in the face of death. I had killed so many in just the past few days, and I was disgusted with myself. I had turned into nothing but a robot, like a Prime, forced to follow the orders of my superiors. Maybe I deserved what was coming to me, whatever that was. But in that moment, survival seemed unlikely. We would simply flee through the city and hope for the best.

  As the truck moved, I struggled to see out the window. I pressed buttons and pulled levers until wipers crossed the windshield and pushed away the dust.

  The bullets that had followed us slowly died down as we exited the hot zone we had found ourselves in.

  We were on our way.

  Chapter Nine

  It only took an hour to make it through the maze of the city up into the pipeline area. As we approached I finally heard communication through my chip.

  “This is Prime Carter speaking. Soldier Taylor, is that you?” came the voice.

  “Yes!” I said, so relieved we were in the right place.

  “How many are in your caravan?”

  I slowed, looking back at the cars that followed.

  “Four, Sir,” I said. “I’m in the truck, and we have Prime Williams in the back. He’s injured, Sir.”

  Silence.

  “Understood,” he finally said.

  “What are your orders, Sir?”

  “Well, right now you’re headed into a hot zone. It’ll be best if you stop where you are and have us come get you in an armored truck. How many are with you?”

  “Twenty-one, Sir,” I said.

  I felt near tears, but I couldn’t figure out why. Was it relief? Joy?

  Pride?

  “Stay where you are and wait. We’ll be to you as soon as we can.”

  I slowed the truck down and stopped. I got out to tell the others the plan, but as soon as I opened the door we were under fire again. I was surprised; we were away from the city now. Where were they hiding?

  “Negative, Sir,” I said, running back to the truck. “We’re getting small arms fire here. We’ll need to keep driving.”

  Why had they started up again now? Surely they weren’t the same Fighters that had attacked as we had driven through the city.

  “Copy that, Taylor,” Carter said. “Keep coming and we’ll flank you on both sides on your way into camp. It’s the best we can do.”

  My heart was thudding, and my throat seemed ready to close. I had thought we were in the clear. But now …

  I gunned the engine and took off as fast as I could. As before, the firing gradually stopped as we got farther away. But I was unwilling to stop the caravan again. We would drive until we met the trucks.

  The road passed through mile after mile of forested lands. I looked up warily into the treetops, certain that I could see the enemy there. Hiding. Waiting.

  Alex bumped along as the truck hit potholes.

  “Williams, you okay back there?” I yelled.

  There was no response. The soldier next to me turned and looked through the window.

  “He’s ok, Sir,” he said. “He just gave a thumbs up.”

  I let out a breath of relief. Still alive. Still okay.

  Up ahead in the distance three armored trucks made their way to us. Relief washed over me. Finally, some help.

  But I didn’t stop. They passed us by and turned around behind us. The slowest I was willing to go was thirty miles an hour. We waited for them to catch up, to protect us as promised. One truck passed me by, a soldier signaling for me to follow. Now that we were getting closer, the small arms fire was starting up again. I ducked down as low as I could and still drive the car. The driver’s side window blew out and I ducked even lower.

  Soldiers in the trucks fired back at the attackers and the firing stopped for a moment. Then, the first truck sped up. I followed suit. The truck turned off the main road onto a dirt and gravel lane leading to the pipeline. The land was peppered with Fighters hiding deep within their trenches, waiting for us to get closer. One of the trucks following us fired a bomb, and again the shooting stopped.

  Up ahead another series of trenches surrounded the area that controlled the pipeline. These were where our soldiers were firing from, and where, I expected, we would be spending our days.

  The trucks wound around and into a metal building, almost like a hangar for an airplane. Inside was the machinery that controlled the flow of the fuel. We lined up our vehicles and got out. I went straight for Alex, who was looking terrible and shivering.

  “Soldier Taylor!” came a loud, booming voice. I turned and watched Carter approach.

  “Yes, Sir!” I said, standing at attention. As all the soldiers who had followed in their separate cars saw me, they followed suit.

  “I am Prime Carter,” the man said. He was a full head taller than me and three times as wide.

  “Pleasure to meet you, Sir,” I said.

  “Explain to me now,” he went on, lowering his voice, “why you have taken someone out of the fight who is injured. You know we don’t have facilities here to handle injuries, as well as the policy of the Service to leave the injured behind.”

  “Yes, Sir,” I said. “I am aware of that … policy.”

  “Why, then, is there an injured man in the back of your truck?” he asked.

  I knew I had a way out of this, had counted on trouble since our trek out of the city had begun.

  “Not just a man, Sir,” I said. “A Prime.”

  Carter’s eyebrows raised.

  “I didn’t think the Service would want a Prime with a non-life-threatening injury to be left behind, Sir.”

  He walke
d around behind the truck and put down the tailgate.

  “Well, who do we have here?” he said, grabbing onto one of Alex’s feet.

  The wrong one.

  He wailed in pain and thrashed at the man with his other foot. Carter took a step back.

  “Show yourself, Prime,” he commanded.

  I walked around behind Carter and climbed into the truck.

  “This is Prime Alex Williams, Sir,” I said. “His leg is broken, but he is otherwise unharmed.”

  I helped Alex sit up, his face still white as a sheet.

  “Carter,” he said, his throat dry. “Get me out of here.”

  Prime Carter’s face broke into a wide grin.

  “Well, if it had been anyone else I might’ve reprimanded Taylor,” he said, then turned to me. “You rescued just about the only man who would make me tolerate your transgression.”

  “Sir?” I asked.

  “Prime Williams has helped me on many occasions,” he said.

  “One in particular,” Alex said, “where I saved your life, if I recall.”

  “Yes, I recall that time as well,” he said. “When night falls we’ll get a chopper and get you out of here. For now, we have plenty of cots where we can get you settled. You broke your leg, you say?”

  “Yeah,” Alex said. “The building was coming down, and I got stuck underneath it.”

  “Got it,” Carter said. He turned. “Soldiers!” he commanded. “Get over here and help Prime Williams to a bed.”

  Several of those who had followed in our caravan came straight up to lend a hand. I remembered the glances I had gotten as I had insisted that Alex come with us despite his injury. Clearly, they now understood why. Or they thought they did.

  The reason I had insisted on saving him, of course, was far from a desire to impress my superiors.

  As they helped Alex from the truck, he groaned in pain. I wanted to help him, but I didn’t want to look any more suspicious than I already did.

  Carter’s attention was on getting Alex settled, and Hannah walked up behind me.

  “See there, Pink? You made it here and brought your boyfriend, too. All safe and sound.”

  “What is with you, anyway?”

  “You broke the rules,” she said. “You never should have brought him. The delay could have meant all our deaths. Nice story about wanting to save a Prime, by the way. That’s the biggest load of crap I’ve heard from you yet.”

  Carter turned back toward the rest of us as we awaited instruction.

  “Y’all must be tired to the bone,” he said. “The day shift of soldiers will be coming in soon to eat and get some rest. You can bunk with them for tonight and then go out in the morning and join them. This building is well fortified, but we still need to protect the perimeter. We’re surrounded by Fighters on all sides, but as long as we keep up the perimeter we can do our work here. We can get a helicopter in here to take Williams after dusk.” He pointed to a room behind him. “Chow hall’s in there. Feel free.”

  Alex seemed generally comfortable now, or at least he had been able to recline onto one of the beds. A soldier gingerly helped him elevate his leg, and he fell back onto the bed with a groan.

  I looked up at the giant pipeline that ran through the building. A loud hum filled the space, and a group of soldiers was up on the pipe, presumably opening and redirecting the flow toward the States, undoing the work of the Canadians to keep their oil for themselves.

  I slung my pack over my shoulder and was just about to join the other soldiers headed toward chow when I saw something I didn’t expect.

  Carter walked over to Hannah, put a hand on her shoulder.

  “Soldier Murphy, excellent job,” he said. “Without your help your team surely would have perished.”

  What?

  I had been the one to lead these men and women out of the city, not Hannah. She glanced in my direction and I saw the side of her lips upturn just a bit.

  “Well, Sir, I must say that I was against bringing Prime Williams with us, though I see now the … logic that Soldier Taylor used to make that particular decision. I’m only sorry that we weren’t able to keep track of Soldier Davis. I assume she died in the fight.”

  “You would be wrong to assume that,” Carter said. “We were able to pick her up with a group of the Fighters last night. She awaits execution in the morning.”

  “What?” I asked. “Execution?”

  “Yes,” Carter said, turning to me. “Her actions are treasonous, and the penalty for treason is death.”

  “I don’t understand, Sir,” I said. “What did she do?”

  “She has been working for the enemy all this time,” he said. “It was only with soldier Murphy’s help that we were able to track her down for arrest.”

  Lydia.

  “She and the captured Fighters will face a firing squad at dawn.”

  Suddenly I felt that I was in great danger. Had they known about the notes Lydia and I had passed to each other so many months ago?

  What about me?

  My voice shook. “Sir, I— is there a way that I can talk to soldier Davis now? She and I had become … friends.”

  I knew I should be distancing myself from Lydia, but I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to find out what had happened after she left us.

  “Well, then, soldier Taylor, you have not chosen your friendships very wisely. Davis has been on our list for years now. We just needed to catch her in the act of aiding the enemy. There will be no visits.”

  My chest deflated with these words. “I understand, Sir.”

  “You are all dismissed now. Go get cleaned up and fed.”

  I stared at Hannah; she was beaming back at me, annoyingly satisfied with herself.

  I turned and walked toward the chow hall. The excitement I had started to feel, the pride of having led this team to safety, had evaporated. I was now a simple soldier, bumbling through my time in the Service like a brand new recruit. I didn’t understand anymore. I didn’t trust anymore. Even Alex, with his broken leg and broken mind. Maybe he had turned toward the Service for good now, never to return to sanity.

  Or to me.

  Chapter Ten

  Hannah came up behind me and walked in step as I made my way to chow.

  “Sorry, Pink,” she said. “But you knew it would happen sooner or later. She’s been under suspicion for years now. This just proved her ties to the enemy.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I had been friends with Hannah. To find out now that she was lying all along, watching me all along, disgusted me. She’d been a very convincing actress.

  She elbowed me in the shoulder jovially.

  “Don’t be sore,” she said.

  I had too many questions. How had Hannah ended up, essentially, serving as a spy for the Service? What did she make of my relationship with Alex? Was he in danger now because of my actions? Was I? Maybe next time it would be me in front of a firing squad. And then what?

  I settled on just the one question, the one I could ask innocently, without putting myself at more risk than I already was.

  “Why you?” I asked. “I mean, how did you end up—talking to …” I couldn’t form the words. “Why is Carter looking to you for information?”

  “Oh, it hasn’t been this way the whole time,” she said. “I almost made Special Infantry, just like I had wanted. But when I failed at that, they took me aside and told me things, secret things. So I took up watch, looking out for things that the Service already suspected. And boy was there plenty to work with.”

  “So what about me?” I asked, anger rising. “Am I your next target?”

  “Nah,” she said. “Your motivations have been clear all along. You’re not the only one who wants out of the Service once they’ve joined, and lots of people join together, like you and Alex did. It’s a common pattern.”

  “I can’t believe this,” I said, my fists clenching. “I don’t understand what the benefit was to you.”

  “Benefit?”
she asked. “Not much benefit, really, other than it’s sort of fun, playing spy. And maybe they’ll do something more for me now that I’ve coughed up so much information. I mean, catching a known terrorist because of the information I gave them, they’re bound to make the whole thing worth my while.”

  “She’s not aterrorist,” I said, stopping to face her.

  “She is,” she said. “And you’d better get used to the idea. You’re stuck here, just like I am, for the next two years. They don’t tolerate working for the Fighters.”

  She walked away.

  My blood had run cold at her words.

  They don’t tolerate working for the Fighters.

  Lydia had given me a spot to meet Chambers, a way into the resistance without detection by the Service.

  Terrorist.

  Is that what I would become?

  I looked back toward the edge of the hangar where all the cots were lined up. Alex was over there, waiting for his ride out, waiting for his pain to ease.

  I wasn’t hungry, not anymore. I walked over to where he lay and sat down on the edge of the bed. His eyes fluttered.

  Hannah had said that it was normal for people to join in pairs, that it wasn’t a problem.

  “How you doing?” I asked.

  He groaned.

  “That good, eh?”

  He laughed a little, then groaned again at the way it shook his body, sending new waves of pain down his leg.

  “We’re gonna be twins now,” I said. “Two broken legs.”

  He turned his head, smiling slightly.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” he said, his voice rough.

  “I don’t know when I’ll see you again,” I said. I took one of his giant hands in both of mine.

  “Don’t worry about me,” he said. “I’m about as indestructible as it’s possible to be.”

  “Yeah, lucky you,” I said.

  “They’ll just patch me up, probably put me through another phasing or two to speed the healing. It’ll be like last time. Quick and easy.”

  He said this with such calmness, such certainty. It sent chills across my skin.

  “Then I’ll be up and out in the fight again,” he said, his face serious now. “It’s where I belong.”