“Are you questioning my loyalties, sir?”
“Not at all, Officer. I will simply rest easier seeing for myself that Essex isn’t hiding somewhere.”
Theo could tell from Tiberius’s voice that the Supreme Leader didn’t trust Menendez at all.
Time passed as Tiberius and his men searched the apartment. Finally, they came outside.
“It seems you were right, Officer Menendez. The Essex boy and his followers have vacated the premises. Almost as if they were warned.”
“Sir,” a new voice. “We found this one hiding in the bushes. He’s young. Maybe one of Essex’s group?”
Damn it! Theo thought.
Two helmeted guards led Dale into view. Tiberius stepped in front of him.
“What is your name, boy?” asked Tiberius.
“I’m Dale.”
“Dale, where is Theo Essex? Where are his co-conspirators?”
“Kiss my ass.”
Tiberius frowned. “Remember that you speak to the Supreme Leader, boy! I will ask you one more time. Where. Is. Theo. Essex?”
“Go to hell, demon bastard! This is for my family!” With unexpected swiftness, Dale elbowed one of the guards holding him and twisted free of the other. He lunged for Tiberius. The Supreme Leader moved with blinding speed. His hand grasped Dale by the throat, lifted him effortlessly off the ground and snapped the teen’s neck. The Security Force officers stood silent. Menendez looked ill. Theo heard a gasp and realized at least one of his group was hiding somewhere near him.
“You will allow Essex and his gang of criminals to return home. I want them to find this. Then, and only then, will you come in and arrest them all.” Tiberius relaxed his grip and Dale’s body crumpled to the ground.
Tiberius and the other Security Forces left. Menendez knelt by Dale’s body, tears streaming down his face. After several minutes, Menendez looked up. He shouted into the distance, trying to reach Theo’s group. “You run now,” he shouted. “All of you. Run and disappear.”
Theo stepped out. “I don’t want to run.”
“You have no choice. The Security Force might still be around. Run as fast and as far as you can. Hide, and find others who agree with you. When you’re ready, and only when you’re absolutely ready, you come back. You find me. And together we will kill that son of a bitch.”
Chapter 21
The flight response embedded in Theo’s brain mingled with his agony and guilt over Dale’s senseless death. He fled his home, leaving his few possessions behind. Kylee and the others ran with him. They kept to the shadows, wandering in and out of yards and behind shuttered shops.
Theo knew if they had any chance at all of finding refuge they had to get away from Tiberius’s stronghold in the city. He kept thinking about what Michelle had warned. They truly did have nowhere to run; no place where they could feel completely safe. The best they could do was go where Tiberius was not likely to follow. The far side of the island was predominately anti-Tiberius, and it was a long walk, one that Theo bet the leadership wouldn’t take unless absolutely necessary.
They ran for a long time, empowered by fear and using legs and lungs strengthened by the work of living on Atlantic Island. Finally, Theo detoured toward the boardwalk. He spied a space between dunes and under the boards and raced to the opening, darting in and sitting down in one smooth motion.
The rest of the rebels followed him in. That was truly what they were now, Theo thought. Rebels. Traitors, if you looked at it from the perspective of the government. This was his group now. His friends and family. First the Event cut him off from the rest of the world, limiting him to this one narrow island. Now, almost all of that had been stripped away as well. It was hard not to feel crushed by the invisible barriers that had been erected around every aspect of his life.
“Dale’s dead,” moaned Liz, breaking through the quiet of night and speaking what they had all been thinking. “He’s dead and we couldn’t do anything to help him.” She curled into Brian’s arms and cried.
“If we had tried we’d all be dead,” said Kylee. “How the hell did Tiberius do what he did?”
“That’s what I’ve been wondering,” said Ryan. “He’s tall but he’s not that big a guy. He doesn’t have the muscle to do what he did to Dale. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who does.”
“What do you think, Theo?” asked Bill. “You’ve had the most personal interactions with him. Do you have any idea how he could be that strong?”
Theo thought it over. “I…I saw something once. Tiberius was angry as hell with the mayor when he overturned your sentence. He went to slam his hand on the desk to make a point, like a total normal reaction for an angry guy. Then…I don’t know, he sort of stopped himself. Slowed the speed of his hand. But after he left, there were cracks on the glass where he hit it.”
“How does that happen?” asked Kylee.
“I just thought, I don’t know, like he had a ring on or something. That it was a freak thing. But this…I was wrong.” Theo scratched his head. “I don’t understand it at all. But look, it doesn’t change much. We already considered him incredibly dangerous. I don’t think anybody here was planning to go toe to toe with him as it was.”
“What do we do?” asked Jamie.
“For one thing,” said Theo, “I want to make it very clear that we don’t all have to do the same thing. You don’t have to follow me into this. I…can’t guarantee you won’t all end up like Dale. I don’t have any more answers than anyone else.”
“I choose to stand with you, Theo,” said Joseph.
“I do too,” said Andrew. “Wherever you want to lead us, I’ll follow.”
One by one, everyone committed himself or herself to side with Theo no matter what may happen.
“Thank you,” said Theo, genuinely moved. “I will do the best I can, but I need input from all of you. I need help from all of you. First we need to find a place to stay. I’m not sure any place will do for very long. Does anyone have any ideas?”
“What about Jane’s place?” asked Bill. “You know, the woman we met? She hates Tiberius and all of the people out there are kinda forgotten by the leadership anyway.”
“I hate to impose on her and her housemates like that,” said Theo, “but I think you’re right.”
“So we hide,” said Brian, who was still holding his wife. “What happens next? How are we supposed to find the arms depots when we can’t even go out in public?”
“We don’t know how limited our travel will be,” said Theo. “I’m not convinced they’ve connected you and Liz or Joseph and Andrew to the rest of us.”
“I doubt it will take Tiberius long,” said Andrew.
“Be that as it may, we can use your anonymity for as long we are able. We’ll need to make contact with Carlos Menendez. He deserves to know we are okay. Plus, he may be able to point us toward the weapon stashes.”
“We need to be quick about it,” said Kylee, “The way things are going it would be dumb to assume Carlos is going to be accepted on the Security Force much longer.”
The rebels wandered back out into the dark streets. They didn’t see many people and fortunately didn’t come across any Security Force agents. They wandered toward the edge of Ventnor.
When they arrived at the rundown property where Jane lived, Theo gave one last look back at his friends. They stared back at him in firm solidarity. Theo mounted the steps. The floorboards of the porch creaked under his feet, and a support beam somewhere groaned as if the metal bolts were threatening to come loose from the wood. Theo had forgotten just how much structural damage had taken place during the Event. The fact that the leadership had ignored renovations on these homes and then forced good people to overpopulate them was disgraceful. He pulled back the rickety screen door and knocked.