Fredric Shernoff - Atlantic Island

“Are you kidding?” Theo responded. “We were prepared to stay here all week if we had to. We weren’t about to go out the door and fight whatever was waiting out there.” He hesitated, then indicated the outside. “Are they…”

“Dead,” she said. “Or injured enough that they won’t be any problem for us.” She looked around the room. “How did you take all of these men prisoner?”

Theo smiled. “Long story. We’ll have to swap tales. But now…”

“I know. We’re not done fighting.”

“No. Tiberius has to know about all this by now, and he’s not just going to give up and walk away.”

“Well, I’ll be damned. He lives!” Bill ran across the lobby. Theo put out his hand. Bill shook it and pulled Theo into a hug. The rebels slowly entered the prison. Husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends found each other for the first time in far too long.

Jane and Tony walked over to Kylee and Theo.

“Thank you both for bringing us back together,” Jane said.

“What you did for us made all of this possible,” said Theo. “Without you giving us a place to live and hide there would be no rebellion.”

“That’s what this is, isn’t it?” asked Tony. “A real, full-on rebellion?”

“That’s right,” said Kylee.

“Well… good. That’s damned good.”

“Guys,” called Ryan, running over, “we’ve got a problem.”

They turned and looked where Ryan was pointing. Brian had collapsed to the ground and Liz was holding his unconscious body, sobbing uncontrollably. The prisoners and the rebels had all experienced some very horrible things the past few hours. Liz’s ability to keep all of that inside had reached its limit.

Kylee and Theo ran over. Liz’s hands were soaked in blood where they moved on Brian’s torso. “Oh, God, he was shot,” Kylee said. She looked at Theo. “I didn’t know…”

“He must not have wanted you to know. Brian has wanted a piece of the action for a long time, and I’m sure he was afraid you’d make him stay back.” Theo turned to the group around him. Several of his men were still keeping guns trained on the Security Force agents they had taken prisoner. Others were still standing with loved ones. Everyone had stopped what he or she was doing to watch the scene unfolding as Liz screamed in the middle of the room.

“Who else here was shot?” Theo called. “Raise a hand. Now is not the time to be brave.” More than a few hands went up. Theo counted. “Nine,” he said to Kylee.

“And I’ve got a few more with the women guarding our prisoners. Couldn’t even find the energy to come in here.”

“Okay,” said Theo. “Those of you who are injured, I’m sorry but you need to go get help for your wounds. Officer Menendez—”

“I’m afraid it’s just Carlos now, Theo,” said Menendez.

“Carlos, please lead these brave men and women to the hospital. Take whatever forces you need to escort them safely.”

“Yes, sir,” said Menendez. He called over two of his men and began discussing a plan for moving the wounded.

“We need to move everyone outside,” said Kylee. “The longer we wait here the more time we give the Security Force to plan a counterstrike.”

“You’re right,” said Theo, “but we need to take care of our prisoners first.”

“Okay.” Kylee left the prison and returned shortly after with a contingent of armed women leading their captives.

While Theo and Kylee oversaw the process of locking up the Security Force agents, Menendez and his partners departed for the hospital, using the SUV to transport the wounded. There was no longer a need to use the makeshift wagon for weapons. There were enough soldiers in the rebel army now to carry everything.

They left the prison behind, trying to ignore the sight of the dead Security Force agents in the street. A block down, Theo halted the procession. He wanted to speak to his people. He jumped up on a metal bench that was bolted to the sidewalk. “Can everyone see me?” he called.

The crowd of people standing before him cheered. Theo waited for them to settle, a technique he had picked up while watching Sam Lucas in action.

“Some of you have come to think of yourselves as rebels. That’s okay… we all are rebels here. Some of you have come to think of yourselves as prisoners. That’s okay too… whether we were imprisoned in a facility, in a beach camp, or just on this island, we are all prisoners of a corrupt leadership. Tonight, I want you to realize that you have become something else. You are the hope and salvation of Atlantic Island. Thousands of men, women and children sleep in their beds right now not knowing that we fight so that they will wake up to a brighter tomorrow. You are the future of this land, and together we will make right all that Tiberius has made wrong.”

The crowd cheered again. A voice called out, “Theo is our Supreme Leader!”

“Theo is our king and Kylee is our queen!” said another.

Theo held up his hands. “Please, everyone, we aren’t looking to be royalty. No one person… no two people are more important than everyone else. When this is all said and done you will have a chance to elect whomever you choose to lead you. That time will come, but for now I’m afraid we have more fighting ahead. Kylee will instruct you on the specifics of the mission going forward, but I will tell you this: We are not going to sit and wait for Tiberius to hunt us down. We are taking this war to his doorstep tonight! We are going to knock him off his golden throne tonight! We are going to take back our country tonight!”

His last “tonight” was shouted by everyone in attendance. With the army properly inspired, Theo hopped off the bench and stepped aside for Kylee to explain the plan of attack.

They moved through the streets with no obstacles. It seemed Tiberius had withdrawn the Security Force to the Palace. “Are you okay with this?” Bill asked Theo.

“What do you mean?”

“Kylee’s got people looking for anybody hiding in alleys or sniping from rooftops. There’s nobody here. The whole damned Force is waiting at the Palace. I know that place was built on people taking a gamble but, you know…”

“It is what it is. They know we’ve got a lot of firepower and we could probably pick our way through a series of small squads. They are going to try to outnumber us on their home turf.”

“And you think we can handle that?”

“I do. I hear you brought the bazooka.”

Bill smiled. “You mean Bertha? She’s my baby.”

“Well, don’t be surprised if your baby needs to come out to play.”

Bill gave him a serious look. “Theo, I’m ready for whatever comes. I’ll do whatever I have to do to help you and Kylee win this thing.”

“Okay. Good. Go hang out with Jamie for a few minutes. I don’t know—”

“If she and I will both be alive after to talk. I gotcha, bro.” Bill merged back into the marching army.

The rebels arrived at the wide intersection leading to the Palace. Theo had experienced so much within the golden walls of the Palace. School, private meetings with Lucas, the frightening encounters with Tiberius. He was tired of being afraid of the Supreme Leader, that was for sure. Still, he had absolutely no strategy for facing Tiberius, if and when it came to that. Theo imagined the odds were good he would have to shoot the man at close range. He tried to remember all the horrors Tiberius had committed.

The Palace gleamed majestically before them, its bright lights illuminating the vast complex.

“Okay, we are coming in through the garage,” said Kylee. “It’s very likely we are going to run into some opposition before we even get into the building so—”

She was interrupted by the blinding flash of the giant screens around the Palace flashing to life. Theo saw a distant glow from the beach that told him the screens along the heavily damaged pier mall were also active. He guessed this message was appearing on all available screens throughout the island. The screens showed the emblem of Atlantic Island. A voice boomed across the landscape, loud enough to rouse the city from its slumber. “A message from your Supreme Leader, Paul Tiberius!”