A woman in a torn t-shirt answered the door. She peered suspiciously at Theo and his group waiting in the street. “Is there some reason you’re knocking in the middle of the night?”
“I’m sorry ma’am,” Theo said. “My name is Theo Essex. I was hoping to speak with Jane?”
The woman cocked her head as she studied him. “Jane, huh? Okay… you wait right here.” She pulled the door closed.
Theo stood staring at the door for five minutes. He had just made up his mind to return to his friends when the door opened. Jane smiled at him. “The prodigal son returns!” she said. “And I see you’ve brought more friends this time. What’s up?”
“I’ll be honest with you Jane,” he said. “We’re in some big trouble. Tiberius came to arrest us. He killed one of our friends. I know this is more than I should even think of asking but do you think it’s possible we could hideout here? Just for a little while?”
She stared at him, eyes wide. “You got away from Tiberius?”
“Yeah. We were lucky. Well… most of us.”
“I’m sorry about your friend. Why don’t you all come inside?”
She stepped back and allowed Theo to enter. The others followed behind. The interior of the house was not in much better condition than the exterior, but Theo saw that the residents had tried to make the most of their situation. Handpicked flower arrangements decorated the entrance. He felt a deep pang of sadness for these people.
“This would be much easier if we had a basement,” Jane said. “As it is, we have one room we were saving, assuming somebody else would come along in time. It’s not much for one person, let alone all of you, but it’s all we’ve got here.”
“What about the other residents?” Theo asked. He kept his voice just barely above a whisper. The common areas were empty and he assumed the other women and children were sleeping.
“Oh they know all about you,” Jane said. “I told them some boys were crazy enough to try to stand up against Tiberius. I’m not sure they believe me that you exist. Like you’re a myth or something.” She cackled.
“And if somebody else does get added?” Kylee asked. “If the leadership throws another person in here and now there’s no room?”
“Oh, we’ll make room,” said Jane. “You all are gonna be crammed into one little space. The rest of us can do a little more sharing.”
For several long days and nights Theo’s rebels stayed in the back room of the community house. Nobody came looking for them. They left one at a time only to use the bathroom. A revolving roster of women brought their meals to them. All of the women seemed curious about the newcomers. They were eager to meet the group that would dare defy Supreme Leader Tiberius.
Several of the women pledged loyalty to Theo and his group. Theo thanked each of them, and always promised to repay their kindness. In particular, he hated having to eat from the already tiny rations afforded to the women. He promised himself he would make all of this up to them.
The problem was, he had no idea what to do. Any plan of action had to begin with acquiring weapons. The firepower of the Security Force made even the slightest protest too great a risk to take. He discussed his thoughts throughout those first few days in the safe house. Kylee was itching to get in touch with Officer Menendez. Theo guessed she also just wanted to get out. They all felt that way. He told his friends that he believed they needed to ride out the week in hiding. Then they could begin small exploratory missions.
The third afternoon, one of the women knocked on the door of the back bedroom. Theo and his friends were sprawled all around the room, standing or sitting but all leaning against the walls. The room had no furniture.
“Have any of you been outside?” The woman asked.
“No,” said Theo. “What is it? Is it Tiberius?”
“No, no, it’s not that.” she said. She looked nervous. “The sky is dark and the wind is howling.”
“Probably one of the big-ass rainstorms brewing,” said Bill. “That happens all the time. No biggy.”
“This is different,” the woman said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Can one of you come with me?”
“I’ll go,” Theo said. He wasn’t convinced this wasn’t some kind of a trap. If Tiberius’s men were waiting, he was going to be the one to go. He’d give the others a fighting chance to get away.
The woman led him outside. It was already hard to control the screen door as the whipping winds took hold of it. Sand was blowing down the street and Theo raised his arm to shield his eyes. “You were right,” he said. “This is pretty bad.”
“This is worse than before I came to see you,” she said, frightened. “I was just out here five minutes ago and it wasn’t this bad. Something is coming fast.”
As if her statement had signaled it, the rain began to fall, faster and harder than Theo had ever witnessed. He might not be as smart as Ryan, and he wasn’t a meteorologist, but he had watched the news plenty of times. This was a hurricane, and a terrible one, from the looks of it.
Theo ducked back into the foyer and forced the door closed. “It’s a hurricane,” he said to the woman.
“Is it coming in off the beach side?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “It seems to me like it’s coming from everywhere. We need to get everyone away from windows and doors.”
“But… there aren’t many people here!” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“We got a notice that because the crops are doing well there would be bonus rations today. Most of the women who live here are out getting food. I stayed behind with Mindy to watch over the children! The others are all out there somewhere!”
“What’s your name?” Theo asked.
“I’m Carla,” she said.
“Carla, wait here. Stay away from the door.” He ran back through the house and into the back room.
“Sounds like a hell of a storm,” said Bill.
“It’s a hurricane. A bad one. Most of the people who live here are out in the middle of it somewhere.”
“Why would they all be out?”
“They were told to go get extra food,” Theo said.
“That’s horrible timing,” said Kylee. “Who would have guessed a hurricane would be coming?”
“The leadership, that’s who.” Ryan stood up and began to pace as he often did when agitated.
“How do you figure, Ry?” asked Theo.
“The science department has all kinds of weather monitoring equipment. They’ve got special balloons out in the ocean in all directions. I’m not saying they knew days in advance, but they knew something was coming.”
“And not only did they not warn anybody,” said Bill, “but they sent the people they considered a problem out in the middle of the damned storm.”
“What can we do?” asked Joseph.
“Not much,” said Theo. “I’ve never seen anything like this hurricane. I don’t think we’d survive out there. We have to hope that the others found some kind of shelter.”
“But… this is mass murder!” said Jamie.
Theo nodded. “As soon as the storm dies down we’ll go out in small groups. See who we can find and what we can do to help. Right now we have to stay put. This thing is just getting warmed up.”
The pitiful band of rebels hunkered down in their little room as the storm raged. The power went out quickly. The world was overwhelmed by rain and wind. Theo tried to look out the window but there was too much driving rain to see anything.