“The anesthesia should be working by now,” Craig said, for the benefit of the rest of the group.
Craig cut a small incision just above the higher wound and inserted the wire. Craig expected Lev to move but looked up and saw he was sleeping.
The screen showed, in a fish-eye view, the inside of Lev’s body: organs, yellow fat, internal bleeding, and finally a bullet. He found the first bullet near a lower vertebra about an inch from the spinal column. He connected the edge of the splayed metal with the end of the wire and hit a sequence of buttons on the control panel. Watching the monitor, he saw the bullet dissolve as an electronic pulse broke it into dust. He quickly found the second one lodged in Lev’s pelvic bone and repeated the procedure. Craig used the scope to cauterize a couple of large bleeding areas, and then pulled the wire out.
“Thank the god who has forsaken us all, for the man, or woman, that created this wonderfully awesome tech.”
Craig stood, put his bloody hands on his hips, and hung his head for a moment. He was grateful that Lev now had a good chance to live, but that was a small victory compared to the huge disaster of the armory. He looked at Jesse who laid his head back and closed his eyes, then at Nam who paced nervously.
Footsteps echoed through the hall. Craig, covered in Lev’s blood, grabbed his rifle and aimed it at the metal door. Jesse opened his eyes and stared at his pistol he had pushed away, and closed his eyes again. Nam quickly pulled his sidearm and steadied it on one of the tables.
“Don’t shoot!” a female voice shouted as the door burst open.
Enna and three more rebels, all with minor wounds, hurried inside the room. She signaled for everyone to be quiet as she checked the hall.
“Damnit!” Craig fumed as he set his rifle down.
Bo turned to Nam, who had come to hug him, and squeezed him hard. “Good to see you made it, little brother.”
David and Ryan talked with Nam while Bo joined Craig over by Lev. Enna walked over to a table that was covered with supplies. She looked blankly at the table and then suddenly tossed it against the wall. They all looked at Enna.
“What?” Craig asked Bo.
“They took Bale,” Bo whispered, hoping Craig wouldn’t lose control too.
Craig was silent.
Enna was the leader of the rebellion group that called themselves the Catalyst. She was as beautiful as she was capable in any situation, mental or physical. Her dark hair and piercing blue eyes always stood out. She was tough but human, and loved her brother.
Enna’s parents had started protesting against the imbalance of the social condition in Nucrea when she was young. She and her brother, Bale, would follow them to their secret meetings and listen to them discuss a real future everyone deserved. She would listen to the arguments about whether to fight, or try to work with the Council to change everything. Some decided it would be best to leave Nucrea and try to create a new home in the Fringe, but you couldn’t survive for long. There were rumors of clean zones far away and tales of people that went looking for them, but never came back.
For years, the Council would make promises by implementing legislation that seemed to be amicable, but in essence was never a solution. Ironically, the legislation ended up supporting the same social system no matter what the efforts were.
When it was obvious that democracy was not going to change anything, the protests became violent. It wasn’t that the rebels thought violence was going to solve anything, it simply became necessary to defend their own lives against the Council’s attempts to eradicate anyone that opposed them. After the first member of the Council was assassinated, Yeong was appointed as Commander of the Nucrean Guard and soon initiated military law.
The Council member who was killed had supported the protests and had openly blamed the Council for the class system that was emerging. Whether he opposed his own Council as a political move or not, his death was a clear message.
Military law was established in cooperation with the Council, and most of the protesters were imprisoned. After hundreds of trials, all of them were convicted of civil treason and a choice was given. Those who denounced their corrupt ideals and entered a life of servitude to Nucrea were set free, and those who refused were sentenced to die in prison cells.
Enna’s parents had not taken any part in the protests, but were publically executed and left in the street. Anyone who tried to remove their bodies was shot.
After the execution, Craig’s parents took Enna and Bale into their home. The remaining supporters, all swore to each other that one day they would avenge their parent’s death, and that they would fight against the corruption and control of the Council.
Craig knew she didn’t want to be comforted, but walked over to Enna’s side anyway.
“How’s Lev?” she asked, dismissing the possibility of any spoken or nonverbal conversation about her brother. “Is he gonna make it?”
Craig had known Enna since they were young, and to anyone else she might have seemed heartless, but Craig knew that this was how she dealt with loss. Her parents had been executed in front of her, she had lost desperate friends to the lure of freedom in the Fringe, and now her brother had been captured and would surely be tortured and killed.
“Yeah, he’ll pull through, but he needs a doctor, and soon,” Craig said, in a way that let her know he knew about Bale.
“Let’s get him ready to move then,” Enna replied, looking for a way out of the moment.
For the first time since her parents were killed, Craig caught a glimpse of the pain hidden deep behind her walls.
Ryan joined the two of them. “We need to go back for him,” Ryan said.
Enna held back a flood of anger that would have been wrongly directed at Ryan. He was Bale’s best friend after all.
“He knew what he was getting into just like the rest of you,” Enna said.
“We can’t just leave him!” Ryan answered, frustrated.
“We can and we will. Bale can take care of himself.”
Enna knew he didn’t have a chance. Her brother would give the ultimate sacrifice for their cause, and that thought was the only thing keeping Enna together right now. She knew she had to hold them all together. This was bad, but they had to move forward.
“It’s Cole,” yelled a man from the hall as the door banged against the bar.
“Let me in assholes!”
Bo ran over and lifted the bar out of the slots. Cole burst through the doorway, out of breath.
Cole had long dark brown hair that complimented his even darker eyes. He was tall and carried himself well. For the last five years, he had been a member of the Consulate. More impressively, he was the only one that had been able to wrangle Enna’s heart.
Enna seemed to brighten and came over to meet him. Cole, still catching his breath, grabbed her tight.
“I’m sorry,” he said and kissed her head.
“Me, too,” Enna whispered.
Craig came over and joined the hug.
“Glad you made it.”
“You too,” Cole said as he let go of them both.
“Happy to see you,” Ryan said, with a narrowing glare. He never liked, let alone trusted Cole.
“You too Ryan.” Cole took in who was with them in the cellar. Jesse looked like he was sleeping next to an unconscious Lev.
“Others?”
“Jamis, Rob, and Chris all didn’t make it,” Ryan said sadly.
“And nothing to show for it,” Cole added.
“All I know is this inside guy better do his part or I’ll kill him myself,” Bo threatened.
“I know today went to shit in ways we can’t begin to explain, but we can count on him. He’ll get the program.”