The second battle was between two women, Jessica and Molly. Theo had expected Tiberius to make unfair pairings between men and women, but it seemed that the man was actually intrigued by close matches. The women circled each other and pulled each other to the ground, but their fight did not have the brutality of the previous encounter. Neither seemed strong enough or willing enough to seriously injure the other. After a few minutes of this, guards entered the arena floor with a variety of weapons. Before long, Molly had gained the upper hand and was standing over Jessica with a metal baseball bat raised above her head. Molly cried as she stood hesitant. The guards pointed their guns at her. That was all it took to push Molly over the edge. She brought the bat down with all her might and was declared the victor. At this the majority of the crowd actually stood and cheered. Theo saw faces full of false smiles, brimming with fear.
“Time to go,” said Theo. “This is our chance.”
Behind the rows of standing, jumping, applauding people, Theo and his friends made their exit. They had no desire to see anything more.
Back outside, they moved quickly under the cover of night. Jamie was the first to speak. “How… how can this be happening?”
“I don’t know,” said Theo. “But it is. We all saw it. We saw what Tiberius is capable of. We saw what he plans to do to this country. Worst of all, we saw how quickly fear can break people… make them do things they would never dream they could or would do. What we need to decide now is what we can do about it.”
“What do you mean?” said Michelle. “There’s nothing to do.”
“You’re wrong,” said Theo. “We can’t bury our heads in the sand and hope everything will be okay. This won’t get better unless we make it better.”
“But we’re alone!” said Michelle. “What good are we?”
“Excuse me,” called a voice in the shadows. A man was standing several yards away in the darkness hugging his crying wife to his chest. “I don’t know who you all are, but I want you to know that if you’re going to do something, anything to end this madness, we are on your side.”
Chapter 19
One week later Kylee and Theo welcomed five strangers into their home for the first meeting of something that had no name but one purpose: find some way to right the wrongs of Paul Tiberius.
The husband and wife who had stepped out of the shadows after the disgraceful blood sport at the arena were named Brian and Liz Lambert. They had owned a condo in Ventnor and had been making their first weekend visit of the summer at the time of the Event. They had been evicted from their home by the lottery system and now lived in a smaller place in the city.
Their friends Joseph and Andrew had been vacationing with them and stayed with them even now. Theo observed an unusual dynamic between Joseph and Andrew, who only introduced themselves with their first names. The two men seemed to be intentionally keeping distance between them as they sat in the apartment, as if to hide that they were a couple. Theo wondered if this wasn’t a little technique they had developed to stay under the radar of the government, which wasn’t proving to be exceptionally open-minded.
The final member of the group was a young man named Dale Nester. Kylee recognized Dale from their brief time in the Atlantic Island School. He was a year or so younger than the other teens and, it appeared, exceptionally angry with the leadership. Theo wondered what Dale’s experience on the island had been like. The young man wasn’t forthcoming with details. They did know he was living with the adults in his party, a recent development.
“We really appreciate you all coming such a distance in the night and taking such a risk,” said Kylee.
“It’s no problem,” said Brian, “It’s amazing what you all are trying to do. Our apartment’s in the city. Walking through streets without cars isn’t such a huge deal anyway.”
“We aren’t fooled into thinking that we will have that apartment for very long,” said Liz. “The government is giving the city to supporters little by little. I think we haven’t seen the last of the ‘transitions’ here.”
The others nodded. “I think you’re right,” said Ryan. “The leadership wants to make it clear that supporters will be rewarded and any dissidence will not be tolerated.”
“So let’s give them dissidence,” said Bill. “It’s what they deserve. They’re making people kill each other. Making a sport out of death!”
“I’m not sure we can just go right at them,” said Theo. “We’re just a few people and we are facing a massive force. We have no weapons and they have all the weapons. If we rose up we’d be dead before we knew what happened.”
“I agree with Theo,” said Michelle.
Great, thought Theo, maybe I should try a different approach.
“We all saw the same thing last week at the arena,” Michelle said, “Tiberius is in total, complete control. He holds all the power. You saw what happened when that guy tried to protest.”
“Well,” said Jamie, “There are eleven of us here, not one. That has to count for something.”
“It’s just ten additional bodies that the Security Force will dump in the ocean,” said Michelle. Ryan looked embarrassed.
“Okay,” said Theo, “I get what you’re saying. A direct assault is bound to fail. Maybe even with twice our number. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing we can do to fight back. That’s the point of meeting here. This is what we need to think about.”
“And on that note,” said Kylee, “I think we need to elect a leader.”
“Forgive me, but don’t we already have enough to handle with our current leader?” asked Andrew.
“That’s exactly my point,” said Kylee. “We didn’t pick our ‘Supreme Leader.’ We didn’t ask for any of this. If we are going to start something different, something better, it must start here and now, and it must start as a democracy. We pick someone to be our leader. Someone to run our meetings and to be the tiebreaker on important decisions, and maybe accept additional responsibilities in the future.”
“I think you’re right,” said Liz. “Why don’t you do it, Kylee?”
Kylee blushed. “I’m flattered, really, but no. I’m not the one for this job. You all have heard our story. We wouldn’t be here able to organize this meeting at all if it wasn’t for Theo. He’s the one who should lead.”
“Whoa,” said Theo, “I don’t really think—”
“Seconded,” said Ryan. “Theo, you’re the one.”
“Guys, really,” stammered Theo, “I don’t know if I can…”
“You can and you will, bro, “said Bill. “We believe in you. You’re the man.”
“Okay,” said Kylee, “Let’s put this to a vote. All in favor of Theo being the leader of our band of rebels raise your hand.”
Hands went up all around the room. All eyes went to Michelle, who was the only one with both hands firmly in her lap. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s nothing against you, Theo. I wouldn’t vote for anybody. This is all moving in the wrong direction. We can’t organize a rebellion!”
“Michelle,” pleaded Ryan, “try to think in the here and now. Don’t worry about a rebellion. We still need someone to run these meetings. To help us organize our thinking so we can stay safe going forward. Doesn’t that make sense?”
Michelle thought for a few seconds. She frowned and raised her hand. “Okay. I’m in.”