Chapter Nineteen — Till Death Do Us Part
Aecker:
Once we have wrestled the keys from the guard, I unlock the other cells closest to me. Two young recruits make their way to the middle. “What can we do?” one says to me.
“Help get them out. I might need this guy for the scanners. Just get them all out and follow me!”
“All of them?” the taller one shouts.
“Yes,” I confirm, making my way back to the guard who’s half slumped against the rails.
“Help me get him to his feet. I need his embedded key card.”
Pulling his sleeve back, I can’t find an imprinted ID. But when I pull back the other sleeve, there’s one next to a huge scar shaped in an odd pattern, which looks like he has been branded. I hear the tall recruit shouting to me over the roar of voices.
“Over here!” a woman shouts. Her partner bumps into others, shouldering his way through the crowd to get to her.
“Where to?” someone else shouts.
“Follow me!”
The dark-haired boy drags the guard’s body to the first security gate. I lift his arm as the scanner takes in the codes. The door unlocks.
“This way!” the recruit shouts to the others.
We make it up the metal stairs.
“Quietly,” I order.
Unlocking the second gate, we get onto the metal walkway and take off toward the steel door. The boardwalk shakes, making a huge banging sound. Looking up, I realize then where we are, in the hull of an old military ship. Steel walls and pipes curve high around us. There are no windows, so I can’t see if we are anywhere near the shore.
We keep moving. I feel reassured in our numbers. At least there are enough of us to overtake the guards if they come for us.
As we reach the last door, I lift the guard’s arm once again to the scanner and notice the ID is wearing off. I have to scan it again and again. Finally, the barrier swings open and my worst fears are dampened. We’re not too far from land, swimming distance, in fact. Below us is the stretched out deck of an aircraft carrier vessel, but it’s populated with all kinds of buildings and vehicles―like a village at sea. It’s about midday, the sharp sun glints off the waves. If we can reach it through the maze of tents, jump in and swim, the waves might give us some coverage as we make our escape. Turning back, I realize there are some too weak to make the brisk swim. I have a really hard decision to contemplate; leave them or die.
“Where to now?” the boy asks.
“Lead them to the edge. There should be a few rafts you can put the injured into. For those who can swim… maybe grab some floatable devices on your way out. I’m not sure how strong the current might be.”
“What about you?”
“I need to distract them, buy you guys some time to get away. Those in the rafts will be easy targets for the armed forces.”
“Are you insane?”
I nod. “Now go, before it is too late.”
We dump the guard at the entrance. “Thank you.” The boy touches my shoulder.
“You would do the same.”
“If you ever need anything,” he shakes my hand, “Enzo is the name.”
“Aecker.” I smile at him.
A string of people make it past me, some covering their eyes due to the light. Who knows how long they have been down in the darkness.
“Where are you going?” the tall recruit queries as I make my way back in.
“Making sure you get away.”
“Come with us.”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
“No, you won’t.”
“I promise.”
“Just get out alive,” he shouts over people’s heads.
Waving goodbye, I make my way over the steel boardwalk. The stink of dirty humans, feces, and blood sends a nasty ripple over my spine.
Reaching the other side, I rip a strip of metal free from the wall. I hit down on the scanner until it breaks loose, wires and smoke fall to the floor. The door unlocks. I wedge the metal between the door and the wall. Using my feet, I push against the wall and pull the door to slide it open. There are four guards, unarmed and lifeless on the floor. I bend down, feel their pulses; dead.
The other doors are open and as I near a large glass box, I look in to see a huge wooden table, the light cascading off a glass tower hanging from the roof. I’ve seen lights like these before. We used to have one just like it hanging over the front entrance of our new home in The Gate. It reminds me of Dyllian, he always used to make a joke about it, saying it looked like a glass jellyfish. He wanted to jump from the second story balcony and try to catch it, swing like Tarzan. I miss him.
As I move closer to the box, I realize why it is ghostly quiet on the ship. When I pull open the door, I cough on the fumes. Some kind of gas was released, the canister abandoned by the door. Then I think of the guard who came down to my cell. He wasn’t there to harm me, he wanted to break us out. Suddenly, an alarm goes off, a loud announcement rings through the large, glass cabin.
UNAUTHORIZED USE OF LIFE RAFTS. THIS SHIP WILL SELF-DESTRUCT. PLEASE SWIPE THE CANCELING KEY CARD ID TO TERMINATE.
The shock pulses through me like an electric current. Everyone’s going to die! In the sea of lifeless bodies sprawled all over the floor, I turn over soldiers and guards, searching for Cyrus. He would have the key card I need.
There are at least fifty bodies before me, wearing similar clothes and shoes. In the clutter, I can’t find any distinction between the uniforms. Then I see a body, kitted with a number of guns and knives, and steel-tipped boots. Former ST. It must be him. I try to move him, but he is too muscular, a dead weight I can’t lift.
The alarm is ringing in my ears, bringing on a huge headache. It’s as loud as if I was standing right beside a damn foghorn. The sound digs right into my bones. I pull a nearby chair and manage to set his body in it. Tilting the chair, I drag Cyrus. I have to use all of my strength to gain momentum. It’s taking too long to get him to the command post, my time is running out.
I don’t know what else to do! I try to soothe my guilt and make a run for it. The lights on the flashing alarm color the walls red―my blood, if I don’t make it out in time. I hear a voice calling my name. I slow down when the guard staggers to his feet.
“This way!” he shouts.
“I need to deactivate the alarm. Will your embedding work?”
He shakes his head. “You have to leave them, Son.”
The way he says son leaves my stomach feeling hollow, like I’ve just dropped down the face of a building.
It can’t be!
***
Our feet are pounding in unison down the metal stairs. The alarm rings outside, the water carrying the sound and crashing into the waves. Suddenly, bullets appear, slicing through the fabric of the tents beside me.
“Run!” we both shout.
We make it through a series of tents. I’m disorientated and not sure as to where we are on the grid as the bullets clink against the metal pipes beside me. A spark ignites and I realize it must be a sniper.
“This way!” he calls to me.
Suddenly, the exploding blasts increase, loud and deafening in the sky. The force sweeps me off me feet. My legs swing over my head. All I see and feel is red! I’m carried away by the wave of heat and summersault into the water, crashing alongside pieces of blackened ship. My body is carried away by a dense current, its hold on me too strong. The noise of objects hitting the surface of the water is high above me, and then below. I’m drowning in the current, it won’t release me, my arms and legs hold no power over my body. I am at the mercy of the sea.
Beside me a body floats, the boy’s eyes are wide open, bubbles cascade off his lifeless eyes. Pieces of debris float around me. I dig my way out of the churning tide. When I reach the surface, the giant ship folds in on itself and begins to sink. Huge pockets of air suck in the water around it, changing the current, sweeping my body toward the sinking ship. I look for anything to grab hold of, any one of the objects that bob on the waves around me. I can’t even see the horizon. I’m drowning in a sea of ship fragments.
***
The ship moans, as if making a final forlorn statement as it sinks, and sucks me in with it. As I descend into tides of the ocean, the sun casts its beams into the dark depths. The guard with the strange branding on his arm is suddenly beside me, his arms stretched out before him as if he is reaching for me. I recognize the shape of his scar. My father had a tattoo in that exact shape and size. When I reach out for his hand, he is motionless.
Dad? I miss you, I think, as my body is carried down into the deep. As my thoughts take over my dying mind, I think of Mom and Dad, and of my failure to save my brother. Those things I can live with, as they know how I felt about them. My only regret is that I was never brave enough to tell Opel how much I wanted her. That I won’t get to kiss her one last time.
My body tilts over, I’m staring at my feet as I go down.
I imagine her lips on mine. I think of the day I woke up in the cave with her in my arms.
The darkness of the ocean floor suddenly doesn’t seem so lonely anymore. At least I loved and I felt the impossible. I can die knowing that they were wrong and love is not a flaw. For love, I unraveled two major players in The War after The Wars. Because love set us free.
As the flames die out above the water, the world will know of love’s power. And the tidal wave of our faith will reach the shore of all lands and bring back the supremacy of love over all.