Kid Vigilante Series (Story #4)

Kid Vigilante

The End: Part 1

The water swirled over our heads, and we started sinking to the bottom. I can dully hear the patrol boats come over to where we just crashed. I can only hope that they did not see us jumping out. I swim as low as possible, and start heading towards the shore. Rachel seems to have fallen unconscious. I grab her waist, and blow some air into her mouth, and swim upwards, bringing her to the surface. Almost instantly she stirs and starts screaming

“Robert! Help!”

“Shh. I’m right here, you’re okay. We’ve got to stay quiet. The city is not very active like it used to be. Something just feels wrong. We’d best stay low.” I slowly drift over to the coast. They couldn’t have seen us. Let’s hope not.

“It’s your town Robert, you lead the way. I’m sure that they would have seen the plane crash, from the island. We should swim to shore, and make some distance.”

So that’s exactly what we do, and get on the shore of the mainland of Starville. The island’s lights blink ominously. Out of nowhere a car screeches to a halt, and two people get out, a man and a woman. They both have leather jackets on, and I see a little glint in the moonlight. Crap! It’s a knife.

“That’s far enough. We’re taking you in.” One of them says, obviously the male.

“Okay, Rachel, whatever you do don’t respond, just follow my lead.” I whisper.

“What are your names?”

“I’m Todd, and this is my girlfriend Jennifer.”

“What are you doing out this late at night Todd and Jennifer? Don’t you morons know there’s a curfew.” The man asks in a mocking tone.

“We’re sorry sir, we just wanted to get a little crazy tonight and go skinny dipping.” I say, and regret it instantly. The next question comes like a slap to the face.

“Why are you still wearing your clothes?” the woman asks. Didn’t think Rachel had my butt.

“Well, we had this little competition. He would take of his clothes, and I would take off mine, and we’d drop them in the water, making them wet. We’d have to dive in-making us wet- and get them before each other’s clothing hit the bottom.”

“Couldn’t you blokes do this in your own swimming pool?”

“Oh come on sir, we need some thrill. Besides I heard the colder the water is the more it turns you on. And by the time we were done our clothes were soaking wet, and so was I… so…yeah. That’s basically the story.” Rachel said.

“Well, you’re coming with us. Where’s your home?”

“Do you know the name Samson?” I ask.

“No. Listen, we don’t have time for this.” The woman says.

“Look, we’ll just give you the directions so you can take us there all right?” I try to say in a conciliatory voice.

“Fine. Let’s get it over with.”

(Things are in slow motion now)

As we walk to the car, I can already see patrol boats coming over to investigate the area where our plane crashed. I avert my eyes and walk as quickly as I can. Some of the crew men are yelling out orders, and pointing to shore. I hurry Rachel along, and we climb into the car. It’s really nice and toasty inside. Leather seats too. Man the gangs had it the best.

“So where is this Samson?” the man asks.

I give him the directions and he gets us over there in a jiffy. My heart is beating faster as I walk to the door. I have been gone for a long time from my hometown. I ring the doorbell. No answer. I ring again and the door opens. It is Mr. Samson.

“Hey, Rob, how’s it going?”

“Long time no see Mr. Samson, but it’s going…well I wouldn’t say great.” I say but in a low voice, because the two agents from the gang are still watching us.

“Well come on in Rob.” He says. “And, this must be Rachel. Hi Rachel. My undercover business in Animus was necessary. I wasn’t trying to double cross you or anything.” Mr. Samson says. Rachel just smiles back.

“So…tell me. What’s new?”

“Oh, nothing much…except for the fact that you sent me on the craziest field trip of my life!” I say with a smile. He laughs heartily, and says,

“You know, Rob for some strange reason, I actually feel that you benefitted from what I did for once.” Mr. Samson says and chuckles.

“I did indeed. I did indeed.” I met Rachel, and Joseph, who sadly had to leave us. I did not die, thankfully.

“So, you hungry?” Mr. Samson asks randomly.

“Starving.” Rachel pipes up.

“Well, I’ve got tons of bread, bagels, cupcakes, you name it, from the bakery. It’s a feast.”

“Thanks, I’d like a bagel, and a cupcake.”

“Go get it yourself, I’m not your waiter.” Mr. Samson says with a smile on his face.

“Come on Rachel.” I say, and go help myself to the bakery items that Mr. Samson has left there. I look at Rachel, as she takes out the bagel. She cuts it so deftly. She has the perfect eyes, the perfect lips, chocolate brown, she’s hot too. And….no! She is a partner, not my girlfriend. I’d better keep my hormones under control.

“Got everything you need?” Rachel asks.

“Yeah, Mr. Samson does a good job of baking this stuff.”

“True.” Rachel says with a stuffed mouth, as she is eating a cupcake already.

“Guys, come on, tell me some more.” Mr. Samson says. We hurry over and sit down to chat about our adventure. I tell him about the labor camp in Extremis, and that wacky controlled society in Animus, and our precarious journey here. Then, Mr. Samson asks like 50 more questions, and finally we’re done. It’s nearing 10:00. So I decide to ask whatever I can about the island, before I go to sleep.

“So, since we’ve answered your questions, tell us a bit about how the island’s doing.”

“Haven’t you seen for yourself. The gang has agents everywhere. In fact they were the ones who dropped you off here. Be happy you made it here alive. People have been disappearing from this neighborhood one by one. The local bank owner just disappeared yesterday, and St. Martin is not even here anymore. But then again he works for the gang, like we figured out a little while ago. But still, it’s like a regime here. The Mayor is worser than ever. Jobs are being lost, and all the money goes to the Mayor.”

“What about Roger? When do we meet him?”

“Tomorrow. He comes to my house every Sunday, and we talk about this stuff.”

“When do we do that “recon mission” you promised?”

“Easy there Rob, the time will come. You need to figure out about the island first. For now, get some sleep.”

Sleep doesn’t come very easily for me. I keep having dreams about Animus and Extremis. I wake up, out of breath and sweating. Rachel has a sleeping bag next to me. She is sound asleep. The moonlight filters in through the window, and lights up her skin. She’s a goddess. I try to resist, but can’t. I run my finger along her cheek, down around her neck. Her skin is so soft. I lean over to kiss her, when Rachel opens her eyes. I try to back away, but, she grabs my head, and kisses me herself. It is a deep long kiss. Her tongue moves around inside my mouth, and mine inside of hers. I feel her waist, and move my hands up her body. Her beautiful, slender body…I caress her face and run my hands through her hair. My lips are stuck harder to hers, and it’s like we can’t let go. I look into her eyes and she looks into mine and I see the true soft side in her. The part you’d want to cuddle and kiss, like I’m doing right now. After an eternity, one of the best I’ve ever had, we let go.

“I love you Rob.” She says with a smile.

“Love you too.” I say back, kind of feeling childish. I have a goofy smile on my face and I go back to my bed, contemplating over the event. This thought helps coax me to sleep.

It’s 7:30 in the morning. I get up quickly, and look over to find that Rachel’s sleeping bag is empty. Must have had a rough night.

“Wake up sleepyhead.” Mr. Samson surprises me at the doorway.

“I’m already up.” I say with a chuckle.

“So, Roger’s going to be here in a short while. You might as well get ready. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”

“Sure, I’ll be down.”

“Hurry. Rachel’s waiting.”

“Oh, come on Mr. Samson…”

“I’m just teasing you.” He laughs, and leaves the room.

While I take my shower, there are hundreds of questions that rush through my mind. What does Roger look like? How will he react to seeing me? Was he really a soldier? Does he know my family? So, I hurriedly throw on some shampoo, and scrub myself raw. I’m out in just five minutes. Wow! That’s the fastest that I’ve ever taken a shower. Usually, my sister is banging on the door. The thought makes brings a pang of sadness. I’m back in town, but I haven’t even taken the time to think about my family. I’d better go and ask.

Roger walks into the room. He is huge. 6’5, and strong arms. He looks like he can tear us all to pieces. But the guy is so nice.

“Hey! You must be Rob.”  Roger says.

“That’s right, and you must be Roger.” I reply.

“Confident response young man. I am Roger indeed. Roger Arlington.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Roger, I’ve got tons of questions.”

“I hope I can answer them.” Roger says cheerfully, and we laugh.

After we sit down in the living room. Mr. Samson is not down here for some reason. I don’t bother to ask why.

“So, Roger, I am so eager to get to know you. Tell me about yourself.” I ask. I’ve never been this straightforward before, but Roger doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.

“Well, I served in the army for 30 years, before stepping down. But believe me, I am still a soldier at heart. I moved to Starville, right about then, and the current mayor of the town was just being instated. His old father passed away unfortunately. Mayor was a dick, and I loved nothing more than to bring him down. Anyway, I got myself a job at Samson’s bakery ‘cause he had some of the same idea. Man we were cranking out cash. Now the customers have kind of died down. Well, just about everything has died down. People are disappearing and, well I’ll get into that later. I worked in Mr. Samson’s bakery, but later on I found a job as a security guard in the town hall, and I took to that. I’ve been doing that ever since.”

“Wow. That’s all I can say Roger. Wow. That is amazing. But what is your behind the scenes life. You know… the hush hush stuff you came to tell us.”

“Eager are we? Anyway. This is where it gets serious. So while you were gone, things have gotten a lot more strict. There are curfews. All residents of the city are to be in their homes by 9:00 at the latest. You guys violated curfew last night, it was close to 12 o’clock when you showed up. You’re lucky you didn’t get taken to the island. Speaking of which, I’m really sorry to say, Rob, but your family was one of them. After your dad tried to pull that stunt back when he was a lawyer, he’s been on the watch. They came a few nights ago, and took him away. God knows what they do to those that end up there.”

“I want to get them out Roger. Please. I need to figure out about this island as much as I can.” I say, and Rachel, who’s been quiet this whole conversation, puts a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“You will do just that. In fact I have brought the blueprints. Why don’t we take a look at them right now.”

“Of course. The sooner the better.”

Roger lays out the blueprints to the island, and I am just amazed. I must admit. Even though these people were probably the cruelest people in the world they knew how to build something. Fences. Lined the entire outer perimeter of the island. There were guard outposts positioned at equal intervals, along the fence. There were mounted machine guns, and search lights, in case things got out of control. Within the confine, there was a main building, with a large veranda that had a podium, probably where the mayor gave his speeches. Next, I took a look at the underground passages. It was like a…no it really was a prison. There were cells, lined row by row, next to each other, and very close to the whole array of cells, was, THE HOSPITAL. This is probably where the mayor’s father went, when he got a drug overdose. Man, we had to do something, or this town would become a ghost town. Where is Mr. Samson. Of all times…anyway.

“I…don’t know what to say Roger. We’ve got to do something. I mean that’s all that comes to my mind.” I say with a nervous laugh. Not that it’s a funny matter.

“I agree. But you actually have to go to the island to know what to do. Tonight, I’m going to sneak you two over there, and we’re going to take a look. But you have to stick with me, no matter what. If you even make one mistake, you are as good as dead. Am I clear?”

“Crystal.” Rachel pipes in.

“Good. Now we’re going to head over there by boat. You know where your plane crashed last night. We’re going to start off on the side opposite that. Head in from the south side of the island. The guard towers are not occupied as often over there. I think that we will have a better chance at getting our job done if we stick to that coast. We’re going to row over there. So I hope one of you has strong arms. We can’t risk a motor boat. If anything goes wrong…well, let’s just hope it doesn’t. We get in there, and we get pictures and get out. We’ll keep those pictures as a kind of bait. So when we deal our ultimatum, and actually break these people out, we can smear more crap on their faces.”

“Sweet, can’t wait.” I say. You know, despite the fact that I’m probably walking into a trap, I still feel more energized and eager than ever. I am craving this adventure. I look over at Rachel, and see the faint traces of a smile forming on her face, telling me that she feels the same way about it.

Roger told us that if we’re going, then we’re going close to midnight, and that Rachel and I need to rest up before the big job. But the truth is, I can’t rest. My mind goes in circles about how the reconnaissance mission will go. What if they capture us? No, they won’t. I can’t think like that. What have they done to my family? What about my teachers, even the mean ones? The hours pass by, and finally it’s 11:30 p.m. Oh yeah, by the way, Mr. Samson still isn’t home yet, I just can’t fathom why he would be gone for this long. I get dressed in a jiffy. I wear a black sweatshirt, and dark colored jeans, and dark colored shoes as well. Rachel, seems to have her wardrobe set up properly. She’s wearing her leather jacket, and tight jeans and shoes. She has a knife stuffed into the back of her pants.

“Roger, we’re ready.” I shout downstairs.

“Alright, lock and load. I’ve got the boat all set up. Let’s go.”

To avoid excess noise, we walk through the woods to the other side of the island, and go down to the shore to get into our boat. Rachel in fact suggests paddling with our arms, to make even less noise, but it seems a bit impractical in such cold water, and with such a long distance to go. Hence, we try to limit the number of times we paddle, and whenever we do put the paddle in the water, we row as hard as we can so that the boat will go as far as possible.

“It’s good that you guys wore dark clothing today. It’ll be harder for the guards up there to notice us. See those towers up there,” Roger points, “they are always occupied with atleast 1 guard, if not more. Luckily there aren’t as many guard towers in the back, like I mentioned earlier.”

“Don’t we have weapons to defend ourselves? I have a knife…but I doubt that’ll be enough.” Rachel asks.

“Didn’t bring any. It’s too much of a hassle, and would raise suspicion. I brought camera though, that has a night vision feature, so we can get images of the horrors that take place here. Now when you go on there, and touch wood, you see someone you know, don’t react. As of right now, they are not in any way related to you. It’s important to not let your emotions come in the way of accomplishing your goal. All right, enough chit chat, we’re pulling into shore. We’re lucky we didn’t get caught.” Roger finishes.

Rachel, Roger, and I all get off the boat and prop it up near a little rock shelf that we find on the side of the island. It’s a fairly long walk up. There is a path leading up and I start towards it. Almost immediately, Roger grabs me, and pulls me back.

“Are you crazy? You’re the one who goes on about how they shouldn’t catch us. If you go up that path, you’re dead for sure. Now I’ve brought some grappling hooks, we can gently climb our way up this side.”

“Roger, I’ve never gone rock climbing before.” I say, and I can see by the look on Rachel’s face that she hasn’t had much experience either.

“Well, it’s never too late to learn.” Roger says. He hands me the ropes and all the other paraphernalia to help climb this rocky shelf. I get a grip of myself. Anyway, the whole time climbing up, I feel like my heart is going to rip out of my chest. I freeze at least 3 times on the way up, and only keep going so that I don’t have to be the reason the whole mission gets screwed up. After what seems like an eternity, we make it to the top, and even there I am not allowed to say a word. We slowly sneak up to the nearby fence. Roger cuts a hole in the bottom of the fence, and we crawl under. For some reason, the fence on this side is not charged with electricity. Roger patches it up quickly using the piece that he cut off. All three of us soft footedly jog over to a nearby cabin, and hide behind its walls for cover.

“The real action starts once we get into that central facility right there. It leads to the underground network.”

“That facility is like a 100 yards. We’re not going to get across without getting caught. We need some sort of a distraction.” I whisper.

“You know when I told you that I did not bring any weapons?”

“Yeah.”

“I lied. I have a flash bang grenade. We need something loud, and something very bright. Then when the flash happens, and people start coming over here, we start to run to that facility understood?”

“Yes.” I reply

“On three, two, one…” Roger says, and tosses the grenade as far off to the side as he can. We want to draw the guards away from our location. In a few seconds the grenade detonates. I almost go deaf for a while. I did not expect anything that loud. So this delays me in starting to run towards the central facility. Roger grabs me, and starts dragging me along. We just barely manage to get through to the central building…only to realize that there is a keypad lock to the door. Roger is like the man of the era. He has some sort of a thermal reading device, and he uses it to scan the keypad. It tells him which keys have been used the most. Based on this, Roger presses the buttons, and he gets through.  We silently go into the building. I immediately notice one thing…the organization here. Everything is so pristine, and there is a place for everything. There is nice carpeting done for the entire place, and they even have pictures of people up. Pretty fancy for a gang. We hear footsteps.

“Quick!” Roger says in a hoarse whisper. We duck into a corner and wait till the footsteps die away. Roger pulls out the blueprints, and looks at where we are. We have an elevator in the far right of this room. Roger explains the sprint to us, and we get ready. On the count of three, we all start moving as quickly as possible, but still try to stay quiet. We make it to the elevator, and press the button. The door opens, and out walks a guard He is armed, with a machine gun, and has a bullet proof vest. But Roger is too fast. Before the guard even has a chance to talk, Roger hits him in the throat, and puts him some sort of a choke hold. The guard is desperately reaching down for something near his pocket. Rachel sees this, and instantly grabs his hand. The guard passes out. At least I think so. I, in a way, hope he isn’t dead. Roger doesn’t have time to explain. He just takes the guard’s ID card, and takes away his weapons, including the machine gun. Looks like there’s been a change in plans. Roger kicks the guard off the elevator, and like bad luck hitting us, an agent walks around the corner of the hallway as we kick Roger out. The agent doesn’t hesitate, and starts to run towards us. Surprisingly, Roger doesn’t fire. He just pushes the button pointing downwards on the elevator, and selects basement. Roger cocks the machine gun, and hands the pistol to Rachel. She gets it ready. Roger then hands me the camera device, and reaches again into his equipment bag, and pulls out three night vision goggles.

“Here’s the plan. Rachel and I will cover you. There will be a gunfight, it is inevitable. While we cover you, I want you to take as many pictures of this place as you can. Then, just yell done. Remember, this camera has night vision capability. Alright, here we go.” Roger says and gives us a nod, to get ready. The elevator dings, and we walk out. Surprisingly, once again, there is no gunfire. The hallway is extremely dark, and we can hear moans coming from the distance. After about three steps or so, a woman pounces, out of nowhere on Roger, and takes him down to the ground. She’s in a tight suit, that you see those spec ops people wear. She tries to pull out her pistol, but Roger the quick, flips her over, and knocks the gun out of her hand. Rachel steps in.

“I’ll take care of her.” She says. The woman tries to get up, but Rachel is already on top of her. We hear the struggle going on. Punches being thrown, choking, and I don’t even want to describe it. Roger and I move on. It’s just the two of us.

“When do I start?” I ask.

“Wait for my call.” He whispers. There is a dim light in the hallway.

BAM! I am tackled by a man from my right. Dang! I can’t breathe. It stings. I desperately claw at the man’s face, and try to gain some leverage. I try to use my skills I learned back in Extremis. In an instant, Roger points the gun at the guy’s head and fires. Blood spatters everywhere. I try not to puke.

“Come on, let’s move.” Roger says in an indifferent tone.

I get up, and dust myself off, and pick up the camera, still shaken.

“They’re going to hammer us, there’s no doubt.”

“Then it’s best if you stayed as quite as possible.” This is all he says. I nod back, and get the camera ready. I can hear voices. Pained voices. We move slower than ever. Roger monitors our every move, and keeps his gun ready. We reach a corner, and we turn…probably the biggest mistake we’ve made so far. A barrage of gunfire comes from the hallway to our left. Luckily we turn back just in time, but they’ve already seen us. Chances are they’re moving in. One man can’t keep all of them off. Roger looks at me with thoughtful eyes. I can sense a plan coming. In a second Roger puts his machine gun in one hand, and swings it around the corner firing. I hear screams for a few seconds and finally there is silence. The carnage is over. Roger and I waste no time and getting around to the next hallway, where there is a barebones elevator which we climb, to take down to the next floor. Roger looks to me, and gives me a wink. I don’t react.

Finally, there is some silence. It feels a lot safer…I mean in the sense that there isn’t a random dude who’s going to jump you. I still hear people groaning.

“It’s just around the corner.” Roger says. I tip-toe around the corner and get my camera ready. But the horror which meets my eyes is unexplainable. People are tortured, bleeding, and put in cages. Sadly I know most of these people. Mark, even though he was a bully I still felt terrible, My father and mother, brother, and sister. Even my teachers are locked up in this place. Dang!

“Hurry.” Roger whispers. I start flashing pictures. Luckily, since my hoodie covers my face almost entirely, people don’t recognize me and give me away. After about 10 or 12 pictures, I pull back, and hurry back to Roger.

“It’s done.” I say. “How do we get out?”

“I studied the blueprints and….no, Rachel!”

The word hit me like a bat. In the heat of the moment we forgot about Rachel. She was still on the floor above.

“Roger, you go. I have to find Rachel and get her out. I owe her one.”

“Kid, you’re crazy. That place is probably crawling with guards by now. You’re coming with me.” Roger says, and gives me a stern look.

“Roger…please.”

“Rob, if anything happens to you. I’ll feel terrible, but it won’t be my fault. I just want to give you a fair warning. If you decide to go back up there, you might not make it back. We’re about 2 miles from Samson’s house.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

“Take a gun with you.” Roger says, and tosses me the pistol. He gives me a few quick instructions, which I can only hope to remember. I turn around, and start walking.

(everything is in slow motion now)

This strange resolve has come over me. It’s like Rachel is my responsibility, and no one else’s. She saved my butt back in Animus; I owe her one…more than one. I get back to the elevator, surprisingly with no resistance. I board it, and push the button, my heart thumping against my chest in anticipation. Let’s hope my slowed sense of reality helps me now.

The elevator ride is probably only a minute, or even less. But with my slow motion thing in action, it feels painfully long. Every second feels like an hour. The doors finally slide open, and I walk out onto the floor. My pistol is as ready as it can be, and I tip toe down the hall way. Hm, surprisingly there’s no one else here. I start to retrace my steps to the other elevator which we had taken to come down here in the first place. Still no guards. What is it with this place? When you most expect someone…

THUD!

Aaah! Someone is on me! Can’t breathe! I’m pinned!

“Oh, it’s you.” The voice says. I can’t sigh because I’m being choked out, but still, I’m glad it’s Rachel. She gets off my neck. Rachel is bruised. A black eye, a cut, and bruises on her hands. Man, she must have really fought them off.

(Everything is in real time now)

“What happened to you?”

“That woman I tackled. She’s one heck of a fighter. She had me for about 10 minutes straight she tried to pull the gun on me, but I twisted it away, and she ended up shooting herself. Where’s Roger?”

“He’s finding his own way out of this mess. I begged him to let me come and find you.”

“Are you out of your mind? Rob, I am trained. I know hand to hand combat; I know how to fire a gun. You are not trained. You are damn lucky that no guards jumped you on your way here. Anyway, no time to argue. We’re probably a few minutes behind schedule. There is only one way out. We’ve got to go back up. But, we won’t leave through the way we came in. I’m pretty sure these people have some sort of a back door. Let’s go.”

We move to the elevator, and I brace myself. Rachel gives my shoulder a squeeze, and teases a smile. I smile back, but immediately get my head in the game. There’s only one shot at this, and missing it meant…well, I think after seeing those people underground I already know the answer. As the elevator is going up, Rachel tells me instructions.

“Rob, give me the gun. I’ll cover you, and you do exactly as I say alright. I’m improvising, but if you follow my instructions, we should make it out of this rut alive.”

“All right. Let’s do this.” I say, and the doors open. I toss Rachel the gun. Immediately, a gang member pops out from around the corner. Rachel does not hesitate in shooting him down. I pause in shock.

“Go!” Rachel yells.

I run forward. Well, with this time slowing down thing, It is like an awkward walk. More gang members. I tackle one of them and knock his feet out from underneath him. His head hits the wall very hard, and he passes out. Wow! I’ve got some skills. Too bad there’s no time to admire them. We round the hallway, and just as Rachel predicted, there was a back door.

“That’s far enough!” a voice yells from behind us. Rachel and I freeze. “Put the weapon on the ground.”

“Fine,” Rachel says, obviously a lie. She bends over as if she is going to do that, and she pulls her knife which she had been carrying and throws it straight at the man’s stomach. He goes down choking in pain. There isn’t much he can say. Rachel runs towards me and pulls me towards the door. We hack the controls and get through.
Since this door is closer to the bluff it is an easy sprint. But not without opposition. The moment we run outside we are bombarded with gunfire. Some of the gang members try to flank us but thankfully they are too slow. Rachel and I keep our heads down and hope for the best. Just when I think the worst is over, Rachel is shot.

Aaaah! She screams and stumbles to the ground. Being the sentimental person that I am, I turn around and run to her side. A bullet barely grazes my shoe.

“Rachel! Come on!” I yell.

“Go! Damn it! Leave me!”

“No, Rachel! We’re a team, we take the hit together.”

“Shut up Rob, are you stupid, they are closing in on us. Go!”

I give her a strong look in the eye and turn to go. I run to the cliff, and dive down for dear life.

My heart thuds even as I hit the water. I graze lightly against the rocks. Nothing serious luckily. The first thing I do is dive as deep as possible. The patrol boats are probably going to be coming any time soon. If The best hope I have of not being caught, is staying underwater. I’m not a soldier or anything, and have only held my breath for 3 minutes at the longest. I even rounded up in that case. Anyway, first things first. I turn around onto my back, underwater, and view the boats coasting in right above me. Luckily, there aren’t any divers that they are sending in. They ride around for a few seconds. Just as I am about to run out of air, they leave. So I just start kicking to the surface as if there is no tomorrow. I do my best to break the surface as quietly as possible. Don’t want to attract any attention. The other coast is nearby, so I basically float my way over. I….I’m just speechless. My camera’s intact, but Rachel is stuck on the island. Who knows what they will do with her? I guess life just has its ways of torturing you. Both physically and mentally, and it is only those who survive both of these that make a name for themselves. I clamber up the surface of rocks and sand, and make it to the other side. Luckily there are no patrol cars in sight, so I start running over to Mr. Samson’s house.

My brain is in overdrive mode. I am struggling to keep running. I just had a death-defying experience, and now I need to run back home. As soon as I get to Samson’s house, I slam the door with my fist. In seconds, it opens, and Mr. Samson is at the doorway.

“Rob, oh my goodness. What happened?”

“I…”

“Don’t worry, tell me tomorrow. You need to rest for now.” Mr. Samson hurriedly waves me away to bed.

I take off my wet clothes, and put on the first pair of pajamas I see, and drop into bed. Sleep comes instantly.

Ring! Ring!

It’s 7:30. I shoot out of bed. I’ve never slept like that since…who knows when? Anyway, I get ready as soon as possible, and head downstairs. It’s like the whole entourage is waiting.

“Hello, Robert.” Roger says and Mr. Samson. “We need to talk.”

“Roger, go easy on him.” Mr. Samson nudges.

“Robert, what in god’s name did you think you were doing last night?” Roger presses.

“I…”

“Let me finish. Rachel could have been one of our best assets in bringing down this gang, and now you’ve compromised her by just leaving when she told you to.”

“The situation was just…”

“Was just what? Just unmanageable? You couldn’t have stuck with your partner? That is what partners are for Rob. You fight with them till the end.”

“How would it have been any better if I ended up in the island?”

“It wouldn’t have been. But you and Rachel together could find some way out. You know each other. Now, Rachel is probably in a room with 20 other tortured people whom she doesn’t know and can’t possibly help. Good job, Rob, great job.” Roger says contemptuously.

“Now, Roger, it wasn’t his fault Rachel got shot.” Mr. Samson says.

“Not his fault?! Why did he ask to leave my side when we were underground then?!”

“Roger you are not making things any better by losing control.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry Rob, I know there wasn’t much you could do but couldn’t you have at least dragged her out of there?”

“I’m sorry Roger. I…I just…”

“It’s all right.” Mr. Samson pipes in. He smiles warmly. “We just need to start recruiting now.”

“Recruit who? The whole population is in fear.”

“Robert, you don’t understand. They are hiding. They are not dead. You just need to figure out the proper way to recruit these people.”

“We could go undercover, and lure them into here and show them our true plans.”

“That operation would be blown within days. There are people who work for the mayor out of fear. They could very well be our backstabbers. So, the only way I see deemed fit, is to actually rebel against them somehow, on our own. We need to create a public spectacle for them to soak in, and try to become a part of. Now, the mayor is the man behind all of this. If we could try to slander his image somehow, then it would be enough to bring out those who want to support us.” Roger said.

“Brilliant.” I said with a smile. “How are we going to do that?”

“The moron has his office just a few blocks up from here. He has two APC’s parked out front and has guards monitoring the perimeter. But there was one thing he was too careless about. I am one of his guards. I could easily have access to this place. You come in with me as a prisoner, and we raise havoc. To cover the evidence, and make it seem legit, we’ll have to leave something behind to make it seem like we died in the fire. After that, the most we can hope for is people to notice what we have done, and try to do something on their own. If this happens, which it probably will, then we take the stand and lead these people against the mayor.”

“Weapons?”

“Like I said, I am a hired guard. I know the locations of all the armories around town. If we swarm them, we’ll get those weapons pronto.”

“Let’s do this then.”

The next few hours were spent mapping out the event, and crossing every t and dotting every i.

(everything is in slow motion now)

The pressure is on. We are heading right to the Mayor’s office. It is an ornate building, with a beautiful façade and engravings carved into the walls. It was like a mini mansion. Too bad it wasn’t going to look like that for much longer.

“He’s clear. He’s my prisoner.” Roger said. The surrounding guards nodded their heads and kept on going with their patrol duty. “All right, Rob, you know the drill.”  We were going to make a quick detour to the mayor’s office. The thing was, all the guards had keys to the locks in the Mayor’s building. This way, he figured, a guard could always come in and help. But surprisingly he didn’t consider that the same thing could be very negative. So, Roger opened up the door and we went inside. I had to admit, everything was in perfect order, and was so pristine.

“Did you bring the matches?”

“Sure did. Let’s light this place up.” Roger wasted no time in sprinkling fuel over the contents of the room and lighting fire.

“Well, it’s only a matter of time now I guess.”

“Take off your jacket, and throw it in.” this was the part where we pretend to die in the event. Roger and I carefully open the window, and leap out. It’s a fairly short fall. My knee trembles a bit, but I make it out. “Go, go go!” Roger yells and we run off into the night.

My mind and heart are racing. We run through the woods. I still remember the spot where St. Martin had tried to shoot me long ago. Did I tell you? I’m 19 now. Kind of young to be trying to save a city, but hey, there are always exceptions. On the other end of the woods, Mr. Samson was waiting for us to get into his car.

“Fire in the hole?” Mr. Samson asked with a laugh.

“Yes sir.” I smiled back.

Going to bed was not easy. Sure, we had done something good, but the excitement was unbearable. I mean, I’d never jumped off a place more than three feet off the ground. Oh well, it was all for a good cause. If there was one thing I learned from my journeys, it was that I had to give everything to fight for the good side. I was ready to do that now. That mayor was going down, and I was getting Rachel back. I guess that thought was enough to lull me back to sleep.

“Rob! Come quick!” Roger yelled from downstairs. I thought he’d been shot. I run down as fast as I can.

“What’s the matter?”

“The news has captured this event! They have the fire on live feed. It’s only a day or two before there’s more rebellion.”

The reporter was saying,

“News reports show that a local guard and his prisoner were both killed in the fire, at around 11:00 last night, when the fire was brought to attention…”

Suddenly, out of nowhere there came gunfire.

“Screw you Johnston! Screw you!”  a man yelled from the back, and fired his gun in the air, he aimed his pistol and shot the nearest guard. The guard returned fire and immediately shot him dead. Uproar went through the crowd as they began to close in on the guards.

“Down with Johnston!” men and women chanted. The film crew was still filming surprisingly. I always thought they were cowards for things like this. The guards had their guns readied.

“Another step and we will open fire!” One of the guards yelled.

“You want to shoot? Well, shoot then!” A man said. The guards whispered something and got back to ready position.

“This is your last warning!” and then it happened. They opened fire and started picking out people in the crowd one by one. Men, women and maybe even children all dropped dead. The guard looked in the direction of the camera, and said

“Let this be a message to the people!” and the camera turned down to show the dead bodies on the ground. I almost felt like puking. So many innocent people in a split second. The camera focused in on the street again, and the task force had arrived on the scene, and surrounded the area, and that was the last of the feed. Mr. Samson turned off the tv.

“Sickening, just sickening.” he said.

“Yes indeed. But see what we have here? We can easily build a group of rebels with this thing being broad casted on the television. People have an incentive to join. We can’t wait any longer. Let’s go, right now. While the time is ripe.”

The wheels of the BMW were screeching along the road as we raced to the place where the shooting had just occurred. Paramedics had pulled in, and there were some more task force soldiers lined up along the area, and sirens were wailing. People were crowded against the barriers, crying and hurling insults. There was no way the soldiers could start another shoot out. They would hurt themselves even more. There was a small podium up front, where the mayor was scheduled to speak. It was our opportunity. If we were shot, that would be the end of days for the mayor. I literally kicked the door open to the car, and walked out. Mr. Samson put a hand on my shoulder and motioned for Roger to go forward.

“Brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers, we have come to realization about the true colors of our administration.” Roger started. I was surprised by his eloquence. “For years we have worked to support these people, yet in the end all we receive is a pile of dead innocents.” Cheers of approval went through the crowd. “This city is at its acme and its abyss. It is up to us to choose what it remains as.” Some more cheers go through the crowd. Look around you. There are armed men, with assault rifles, and armored vehicles. But the true armor is that of truth. That is on our side. We fight for what is right! Johnston’s regime, will come to an end. For that to happen, we must unite against the poison which has pervaded our city, and that is the mayor!” Roger finished, and the crowd was rampant. The guards lifted their guns again, but it was obvious they wouldn’t fire. There would be war, and the mayor would lose.

“So, we have the speech done. Now it’s just a matter of time. How will we recruit?” I say.

“We recruit as surreptitiously as possible. We hold a mourn session, and use that as proxy to recruit these people. We’ll have a good group of about 30 people to start with, and then we’ll grow. Then we unload on that bastard Johnston. I’ve waited for this my whole life. Let’s strike, Kid Vigilante, and let’s strike hard.”