A New Era

Everyone was on the road back to our hometown and I’ll be honest, I was kind of worried and freaked out. I mean I hadn’t been home in months, and hopefully I won’t run into my parents. I don’t know what would happen if I did. Would they sell us out? Would they listen to what we have to say? It was all on thin ice right now.

It took less time to get back to our hometown than it was to get to the capital. But that was because we were supposed to keep ourselves inside cause of curfew. It definitely didn’t apply to the higher ups and authorities. Fucking bullshit.

“We’ll be there in 20.” Daniels spoke up from the drivers side. We all gave a nod when my walkie talkie went off.

“Sam? Kids? You guys there?” Dave’s voice echoed from the device. I looked at the others and they nodded before I pressed the button to speak.

“Yeah, we’re here.” I replied.

“Good, I knew you guys would make it alright.”

“We’re with Daniels.” I explained.

“Perfect. Now listen up. We got to Jill and the others. How far are you guys?” He asked.

“About twenty minutes.” I answered before pressing the button once more. “What are we doing now?”

I glanced at the others, who all had confused looks on their faces. Joe and the others got to Jill, but what was our mission now?

“Change of plans now...” Joe spoke. I furrowed my eyebrows wondering what he meant.

“We take down the troops...”

I blinked a few times and stared into the abyss. Take down troops. Meaning he wants us to fight? Were we ready for that? When I didn’t answer, Ben grabbed the walkie talkie from me.

“You mean we’re fighting them? Now?” He asked as he looked at the three of us.

“No. While you guys were in the capital, Jill and the group made some bombs. When you guys get here, get the hell out of there and far as way as possible.” He explained. It suddenly got quiet and we all just stared at each other in pure shock. Bombs? No one said anything about bombs.

“Holy shit..” Kyle whispered.

Joe spoke through the walkie talkie once more. “I know this isn’t what you guys expected, we sort of had this idea a long time ago. Didn’t know when to get this plan in motion, but now is the time. If we take down these troops, President Martin is weakened, he’ll be struggling to gather more people while we gain more power.”

My eyes averted from the floor to Ben, then Krista and Kyle. Things haven’t gotten this intense in years, but now we had to fight for our freedom. Living a life with these rules, not being able to express ourselves and life the way we want, was toxic. Everyone is miserable, and the longer this goes on, the worse it’ll get.

“I know it’s hard to hear. But think about this, the minute the other troops realize who you are, they won’t think twice but shoot you dead..” He added.

I took in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before slowly letting it out. I reached over and grabbed the walkie talkie from Ben. I glanced at the others and they all looked at each other, making their decision before giving me a nod.

“Okay. Let’s do it.”

***

We finally arrived to our neighborhood. The trucks stopped in the middle of the streets of one of the neighborhoods, not even remotely close to where our house is, thankfully. We all turned to look at each other, worry washed all our faces. Joe and the others were somewhere out there getting ready to plant these bombs, but when exactly?

Once our truck came to a stop, I grabbed my walkie talkie and spoke into it.

“Joe, we’re here. The last truck in line. What’s the plan?”

It was quiet for a minute and I furrowed my eyebrows.

“Joe?” I spoke once again.

“Yeah, yeah I’m here.” He finally said and I let out a sigh of relief.

“Alright, we wait for the troops to get out, do what they gotta do. Dave, Linda, Alec and I will plant the bombs. You kids get to Jill and the others and start heading back, do not look back and do not stop. You understand me?”

I glanced at the others and they just gave a nod.

“Fine.” I replied as I gestured for them to get out. The four of us stepped out of the truck. The sun was finally setting, meaning that everyone should be starting to make their way home so they don’t miss their curfew.

I was the first one to step out of the truck, the others following behind me. My eyes gazed around for a bit before watching the others step out of the trucks. One of the lieutenants gestured for everyone disperse and do what they had to do, hunt down each and every single member of our group.

Daniels made his way to the back of our truck where we all gathered. Joe and the others must be somewhere hiding waiting for the right moment to plant those bombs, but we had to find away to get ourselves out of here.

“Alright, listen up, just follow my lead, alright? You guys keep quiet, I’ll do the talking. We wait for Joe to signal us, then we’re outta here.”

We all gave a nod to what he said and followed after him.

About an hour had passed of going through each house as some of the troop leaders went through questionings, checking each part of the house, hoping to find anything suspicious or anything that could lead to our group. Thankfully no one has said anything and most of these people were scared and freaked out that we showed up.

Many of these people I didn’t recognize, since I knew almost everyone’s face who was apart of the rebellion group. As the four of us stepped out of the house, I heard the sound of a bird call. I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked around trying to find where the sound was coming from.

My eyes flickered towards a house across the street and I slowly started making my way over. I glanced back at the others and they nodded for me to keep going, making sure I wasn’t noticed for leaving. Once I reached the house, I walked through the opened gate and a head popped around the corner which made jump in surprise. It was Dave. I glanced back as I watched Ben, Krista and Kyle make their way back to their truck before I quickly rushed over to Dave.

“Hey, you guys planted them?” I asked and he gave me a nod.

“Yeah, you guys gotta get out of here, as fast as you can.”

“Where are the others?” I asked, noticing it was just him.

“Hiding elsewhere, now go.” He gestured for me to get back and I gave nod. I quickly rushed back to the truck and opened the back door. Krista jumping slightly.

“Everything’s set, let’s get outta here.” I said as I closed the door behind me. As Daniels was about to start up the truck, there was a loud explosion and the floor beneath us shook.

“Shit...Daniels let’s go!” Ben called out as Daniels started up the truck and backing up. Another explosion happened and I looked through the front window to see a few trucks in front of us on fire. Crap. There was yelling and suddenly some guys jumped out of the other truck before it exploded and they had their guns out ready to take charge, pointing them at each and every direction.

“Dave and the others are out there, we can’t let them get caught.” I said to the others.

“Sam, no, you heard Joe. We have to get out of here and get the others, they’re gonna be fine.” Kyle spoke up. I glanced at them and they all gave me a nod, agreeing with Kyle. I opened my mouth to speak, when gunshots started firing. We all looked out the window to see Dave and Joe firing at the troops.

“Aw shit..” Daniels spoke up this time.

I then rushed to the back door and jumped out, and raced over to Dave and Joe to be at their sides. I hid behind a car before peeking around and firing some shots.

“Sam, I told you to get outta here!” Joe yelled over the loud noises. I just ignored him and continued shooting towards our enemy, a few them going down as I hit one in the arm and the other in the leg. I glanced over to see Ben, Krista and Kyle rush out and firing their own guns at them. A smile on my face, knowing they’d make the decision to follow me. I ducked down to shield myself from the bullets that were clanging against the car. I reloaded my gun before popping out from hiding and shooting another guard.

“Let’s go!!” I heard Daniels shout to us and we all started making our way to the truck. More gunshots went off as we all raced for our lives back to the truck. Everything felt like it was in slow motion, when suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my arm. I screamed out in pain as I tumbled and fell down on the concrete floor, my hand placed against the wound in my arm.

“Sam!!” Kyle called out to me. I winced from the pain as I struggled to get up. I could see the surviving troops making their way towards my direction, guns pointed at me.

Suddenly I was picked up, and lead to the truck, I glanced over to see Ben and Kyle carrying me back to the truck. Once we made it in, there were more gunshots going off, hitting the door and we all ducked down.

“Holy...shit..” Krista breathed out as the truck continued to drive off.

“Sam? You okay?” Kyle asked, concern in his voice. I nodded my head quickly as they helped me sit up. Krista helped take my jacket off to inspect the wound.

“You’re lucky, it went straight through.” She said as she looked around for something to wrap my arm in. Once she found a cloth, she wrapped and tightened it around the wound.

“Now what?” Ben asked as he looked at everyone.

“I told you guys to get the hell out.” Joe snapped and we all turned our attention to him.

“Hey! If it wasn’t for my sister, you two would have been dead!” Kyle spat back.

“Kyle, it’s okay.” I winced out as I leaned my head back against the wall. The ride was silent for a few minutes before Dave finally spoke.

“We go to Jill and the others, Linda went back and is waiting for us. They have another truck ready and packed for everyone to move out and quickly. I’m sure they’ve sent word out that they’ve been attacked.” Dave explained.

“I’ll radio Linda, tell her to leave now.” Joe answered as he pulled out a walkie talkie. “We head back to the capital. We’re now at war.” He added.

I turned my attention over to Krista, Ben and Kyle. All of them with a worried look. I didn’t blame them, this plan they had was really uncalled for and they didn’t even mention it to us. A plan that would have gone smoothly if we all worked together to get it done. But no, only they did, leaving the rest of us out.

I closed my eyes letting out a painful sigh. The ride back was going to be a long one and I needed my rest after being shot in the arm.