Fredric Shernoff - Atlantic Island

“Smuggle our army inside?” asked Bill.

“The army is already inside,” said Andrew. “All we need to smuggle in is a… catalyst. Someone to rally the troops and organize the uprising.”

“Who can we afford to send?” asked Kylee.

“Simple,” said Theo. “You send me.”

“What? We can’t!”

“Kylee, it makes the most sense. You’re the one who leads the army. I don’t know the first thing about organizing troops for combat. For whatever crazy reason it seems like people like to listen to me talk against Tiberius. If that’s what I’m good at, that’s what I should do. I need to get into that prison. I’ll organize the prisoners, and start a riot.”

“Okay,” Kylee said, “Let’s say that I agreed with your plan, and I’m not sure I do. How do we get you inside?”

“I don’t know,” said Theo.

“We need someone to turn him in,” said Liz. “Doesn’t that make sense?”

“It does,” said Theo.

“I’ll do it,” said Michelle.

All eyes turned to look at her. “Tiberius’s forces trust me. They don’t know that I’m here with all of you. Let me do this. I’ll go back to the city and get in to see Tiberius. I’ll say that I was spying on you.”

“How do we know you aren’t?” asked Ryan.

“Ry, please,” she said. “I’m sorry for everything I’ve said and done. I’ve been so scared every day since the Event. I’m just not as capable as the rest of you at dealing with all of this insanity. But I’m trying. If I was a spy, I wouldn’t be planning with you and giving you a chance to develop a strategy. I would have turned you all in without any notice. That’s not what this is.”

“Okay,” said Theo. “Michelle will leak the information about the hideout.”

“Doesn’t that endanger all of us?” asked Jamie.

“I don’t think so,” said Theo. “Tiberius wants me.”

“Will we have to move everybody to a new safe house?” asked Brian.

“It won’t be necessary,” said Theo. “Whenever this goes down… when I get arrested, that’s the start of a countdown. The following evening is when the war has to begin.”

Kylee looked at him. Her eyes were sad and worried. “But… what if we fail? Tiberius will have you. He’ll kill you.”

Theo returned her gaze, serious as he could be. “If we fail he’d have me anyway to do whatever he wanted. I’m the symbol of this rebellion. But you, Kylee, all of you, you are the spirit. And that’s something he can’t crush. You’ll do what you have to do. I know you will.”

The next afternoon, Kylee stood outside the safe house. Her army surrounded her. Some of the women had made the decision to stay back with the children. She couldn’t blame them, and they needed someone to be with the kids if… she didn’t want to think of the worst-case scenario.

That left her with twenty-four of the women whose husbands were locked up with Theo. Plus eight more for the inner circle, including her. Brian’s surveillance and Liz’s gossiping among the city residents had reported that at least fifty men were locked up in the makeshift island prison.

She smiled, thinking how Tiberius had thought only to lock up the men. He didn’t consider the women a threat to his power. He was going to find out just how wrong he was.

She cleared her throat and looked at her army. She had to speak now. As the general it was her responsibility to inspire and motivate the troops. If only she could come up with the right words. Her mind raced, filled with fear and excitement for the night ahead.

She took two deep breaths, letting the oxygen permeate the blood in her brain. The salt fragrance in the air soothed her. “This… this is the day we have been waiting for. When the Event happened, we all found ourselves in a spiral of confusion and loss of control. We lost our homes, our friends, our families, only to be granted new lives here on the island. Then what happened? Those new lives were stripped from us. Taken away by a madman. A murderer, who thinks that we shouldn’t have the power to decide for ourselves what is best for our lives. A man who thinks that the founding fathers of the United States were wrong. Well, I don’t have to tell you what I think. Tiberius is wrong. Tiberius is the evil that ruins this island.

“Well, no more! At dusk, we begin a march to the city, and we take back our lives for ourselves. Officer Carlos Menendez, a friend, is waiting for our arrival. He believes that many of his fellow officers will abandon the Security Force and join us in our cause. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be opposition. I expect there to be plenty. I’ve trained you to the best of my ability, teaching you the same lessons that were taught to the recruits of the Security Force. Use those lessons. Use your brains. Listen to commands. We don’t know for sure what we will face, but I know for sure that we can and will overcome any obstacle placed in our path. Our goal is simple. We take the prison. Those of you who are assigned to distribute arms to the prisoners know who you are. And then, with our army at its peak, we take the Palace, and we put Paul Tiberius out to pasture.”

She walked away from the cheering crowd, desperate for a chance to clear her thoughts. She couldn’t help but sigh as she heard footsteps rapidly approaching. Jane was jogging up behind her.

“Kylee, can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure,” Kylee said. “Everything okay?”

Jane croaked out a laugh. “Everything’s okay in the sense that we’re all gonna go fight a war as if we were a bunch of soldiers.”

“You are soldiers, Jane. As much as anybody else here. You think the Security Force is full of US military veterans? Some police, maybe, but for the most part they were just average people who got some training and now find themselves on the wrong side of history. You are ready for this.”

“Hmm. Maybe you’ve got a point. That’s kinda what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Go on.”

“When all this is finished, if we win—”

“When we win.”

Jane laughed. “Right. When we win, well, the girls and I were talking. There’s more than a few people who would like to see you and Theo officially in charge. Supreme Leaders or something like that.”

Kylee smiled and shook her head. “No. That’s what we are trying to do away with here. That kind of power shouldn’t belong to any one or two people. It belongs to all the people. Sam Lucas wanted there to be elections, even if it meant he might lose. I think that’s how we have to handle things. Between you and me, Theo can probably be convinced to run.”

“That might be a good idea,” Jane said. “Alright. I’ll leave you to your thoughts. We’re gonna be partying all night long, after all.”

She got up and walked away. Just before she turned toward the house, Jane looked back over her shoulder. “Hey, Kylee?” she called.

Kylee looked up. “Yes?”

“I’m proud to be fighting for you. With you. I want you to know that.”

Kylee felt tears in the corners of her eyes. She nodded.

Sundown arrived faster than Kylee had anticipated. She had expected to feel a sense of foreboding. Perhaps she would become paralyzed by fear and responsibility. Instead, she felt nothing but a sense of purpose. This was the single most important day of her life. She was sure of it.