There were several enforcers milling about, keeping their distance but also leveling the occasional threat. One of them yelled, “This is an unlawful demonstration. We are under martial law. Return to your homes, or you will be prosecuted!”
For the moment it seemed like an idle threat since there were over a hundred Adherents, and only a handful of enforcers. The enforcers kept backing up in lockstep with the demonstrators as the group moved down the mall.
Duncan put his hand up and turned, walking backwards with the crowd. “Noble and devout Adherents!” he yelled. “This is an unlawful demonstration. It’s true. But it’s unlawful because our leaders have changed the laws without your consent, without a proper vote. Why? So they can continue to toil away at the Barnyard unchecked. So they can continue to pursue their own reckless obsessions. So they can lead us blindly into the abyss of Detonation one… more… time!”
There was a mix of cheering and angry shouts.
Duncan continued, “Yes, it’s against everything we’ve been taught, it’s against the Credo, it’s against our laws, when they meant something. So what I say is… no more obsession, no more tyranny… no more novation. Novation is damnation!”
“Novation is damnation, novation is damnation!” The crowd cheered back at him. Duncan turned back around and led them onward.
He caught a quick glimpse of the two watches on his wrist. Owen had insisted on having both windup and digital watches, so they could know when an EMP struck. They both read 10:06 a.m. It would happen any minute now, if it happened at all.
Several more enforcers had gathered, and they were talking heatedly. Farther down the mall, Duncan could see two squads of enforcers coming their way. These groups were more organized. They had shields and batons, and some of them even had rifles. These were the enforcers that would take action. These were the ones that wouldn’t hesitate to beat and maim Adherents. Then they would take them away to some forsaken detention center.
Even further behind them, three guardians converged from adjoining streets, jogging forward with their antelope-like gait. Pedestrians shrunk away from them as they passed.
A loud blast came from the Barnyard, shaking through the ground. Everyone on the mall stopped in their tracks. Some began to flee. “Hold!” Duncan yelled at the Adherents. Then another explosion went off. Yelling and screams could be heard coming from the Barnyard. More people began to flee the mall.
Most of the Adherents remained, however, looking to Duncan for guidance. Meanwhile the enforcer squads were confused. They began debating among themselves. One of the more organized squads of enforcers split off, heading down a side street leading to the Barnyard. Two of the guardians followed.
It still left about twenty enforcers on the mall, plus one guardian. It was more than Duncan hoped for, but less than there could have been.
Duncan took a deep breath. With all the passion he could muster, he said, “This is the sign! It’s beginning! It’s time to stop these tyrants!”
Duncan withdrew his pistol from his back holster and aimed it at one of the closest enforcers. The enforcer was a young man with brown hair and brown eyes. He might have had a family, maybe even kids, and surely a mother and father. But it didn’t matter. It was either him or thousands more like him.
Duncan’s shot hit him squarely in the face.
And he didn’t stop there. He kept firing into the group of enforcers. They stumbled, ducked, and ran awkwardly. Only a few of them had the presence of mind to pull out their weapons and move to cover.
This was the critical moment. There were only a few Adherents who were willing to resort to violence. If they welched on their promise, it would be all for naught. But he heard other shots coming from behind him on either side. “Come on. It’s time,” he heard an Adherent brother say. “Novation is damnation!” said another. It was Venter.
The majority of the Adherents joined in and boldly surged forward. Only a few of the more pacifist ones ran in the other direction.
The nearby enforcers were quickly overwhelmed. Those that managed to draw weapons had the opportunity for only one or two shots before the Adherents swarmed them.
“Use the stores for cover!” Duncan said, running to one side of the mall. “Venter, Graves, bring the box here.” They had been hiding the box behind the banners. It was time to put it to use.
The next incoming squad of enforcers was more disciplined. They found cover right away and chose their targets carefully. The most exuberant Adherent aggressors were gunned down. Then there was a stalemate as they exchanged fire from covered positions on either side.
The remaining guardian had surpassed the entrenched enforcers and was running beyond the line. It intercepted a running Adherent and threw him to the ground. Then it turned and headed directly toward Duncan’s group. A bullet glanced off its featureless head, not even leaving a mark.
“Hurry, open the box!” Duncan said. Graves ripped open the top and pulled out the explosive packs. Duncan fumbled around and found the controller in his pocket.
More shots ricocheted off the guardian as it approached. Venter bravely tried to tackle the guardian just before it reached their position, but it was only temporarily slowed. The guardian threw Venter to the ground hard. Bones snapped, his face cringed with agony, but he didn’t scream. Perhaps he had no breath to exhale.
Duncan pressed the orange button. A generator went off somewhere, and a Lamp of Liberty across the mall was extinguished. His digital watch went black. But the guardian was unaffected. It was still moving. It must be resistant to the EMP. By the time Duncan realized this, its metal fist had connected with his face.
THE LAST PAYLOAD
Bartz marched into the Barnyard underground command center, trailed by four of his personal enforcers. He was livid. “We’ve got our fucking artillery guns blowing craters in our own Barnyard, crazed Adherents storming the mall, a tower lost on the south end of town and now the SLS are attacking from the west. Who among you can explain this? Preston? Thorpe?”
Preston looked at Thorpe. Thorpe looked at Preston. Neither wanted to respond.
Bartz continued. “This is not what I wanted, do you hear me? I wanted a clean sweep of the SLS, and then I wanted these other miscreants gradually whisked away unceremoniously. Now we have this bullshit. How can we convince people in Seeville that what we are doing is right if people are dying all around us? How am I going to hold up Seeville as the gold standard to other Spoke towns if Seeville is torn to shreds?”
“Forgive me, Lord Bartz, but this is all manageable,” Gail interjected. “It was necessary to eliminate the threat of the truck immediately, which is why we used the artillery gun in the Barnyard. This is one of the reasons we had the guns installed in the first place. Otherwise we might have lost some of the bunkers, or even one of the artillery guns. As it stands, they took out a fair amount of infrastructure with their EMP, but it could have been worse.”
“And how in tarnation did a couple of demented mules get their hands on one of those?”
“It must be from the sanctuary, sir,” Preston said. “We discussed this the other day, and Gail warned us about it. It’s a source of weapons and equipment for Lord Banks and her allies.”