Chapter 137 Chapter 137: What Have You Done?

Chapter 137 Chapter 137: What Have You Done?
Kalev’s POV

The helicopter landed in a forest clearing a few miles away from the capital. The other helicopter followed suit and did the same.

None of us had expected that the rebellion would already be in full swing. Stepping out of the helicopters, the pilots and the guards gathered.

“What do we do?” one of the guards asked. They looked over at all the sector borns who were climbing out of the helicopters. The sector borns glared at the guards.

“I don’t know,” one of the guards said. “But I’m not going back to the capital, that’s for sure.”

We found Korrigan and Isolde.

“Did you see that?” Isolde asked. Her cheeks were flushed with excitement. “That was unreal! They’re already marching.”

“And more are on the way. Come on,” Korrigan said. “I can’t wait to join them.”

It had been a sight to behold, seeing the capital on fire. At first, I’d been happy. But then I’d had a twinge of something I couldn’t explain. My feelings were complicated. Yes, the capital needed to fall. But it had been my home my entire life.

And not everyone there was bad. Some people were just a product of their environment. They were innocent. Just because they were raised in the capital didn’t make them evil.

Senna had been so happy though. So I hadn’t said anything.

“Kalev.” My mother’s voice came through the air. I turned and saw her. She hefted up her skirt and marched towards me, a scowl on her face.

“Mother,” I nodded at her.

“What have you done?” she asked. “Did you see the capital? Those are your people, Kalev. Your family is there.”

She was right. A lot of my family was at the capital. Which only made my feelings all the more complicated.

“You’ve ruined it,” she shook her head. “All of it. Did you ever stop to think that things were the way they were for a reason? That there was a purpose to the capital and the sectors?”

“And what purpose is that?” Korrigan asked, stepping forward. “To allow the rich to feed off the backs of the poor? The only people that benefited from this so called purpose were the people in the capital.”

My mother shook her head. I thought she would be furious, but instead, she seemed really said. “People need rules, Kalev. They need a purpose. That’s what the sectors were. Each one had resources. It gave people jobs. It gave them something to do.”

“That’s bullshit,” Isolde spat at Petra. “You can convince yourself all you want that the system was ‘good’. But you never had to live in the sectors. How’s the view from up there on your high horse? You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Government. Order. Society. These aren’t new concepts. We didn’t create this system. It’s always been there, in one form or another. Go ahead. Go somewhere else. You’ll see that it’s all the same. There are people that work. There are people who are more fortunate. There are people who have power and people who don’t. And those with the power get to make the rules. It might not be perfect, but that’s just the way it is.”

“You’re disgusting,” Korrigan said.

“No,” Petra said, locking eyes with him. “I’m honest.”

Everyone fell silent for a moment. Then my mother chuckled.

“So what now? Huh? What happens when this is all over? What kind of system are you going to build then? One where everyone is equal? Good luck with that.” She rolled her eyes. “That won’t work. It never has. Because people are greedy by nature. People will always find a way to take advantage of others.”

“There has to be a better way,” Isolde said. “The system we had was set up so that a few fortunate people took advantage of a lot of others. There had to be a way to equalize. No one should be that poor while others are that rich.”

My mother stared at Isolde. Her expression was unreadable. The guards hovered at the tree line. “Okay,” she said. “We’ll see about that. But society, my dear, is a monster. You can cut off all the heads you want. Others will just grow back.”

She turned on her heel and went to the guards.

“We’re going back to the capital,” she told them.

“Are you crazy, Mother?” I asked. “You saw what was happening. You just ran the games. Going back there is suicide. You won’t make it two steps inside the walls before they hunt you down.”

“It’s my home,” she said, shaking her head. “And if everything I know is going to fall, then I will fall with it.”

I didn’t know what to say. Was she right? Were we just cutting off the head of a monster only to have another grow in its place?

“Good luck to all of you,” she said. “You’re going to need it.”

Then without another word, she disappeared into the forest, with her guards trailing behind her.

“Your mother is crazy,” Korrigan shook his head. “You’re right. They’ll eat her alive. She’s everything the sectors hate.”

“I know,” I nodded. But she was still my mother. It was hard to watch her willingly walk back into the capital. She was likely going to die. What could I do though? I couldn’t stop her. It was her choice. Just as it had been my choice to join the sectors in this fight.

“So,” Isolde sighed, placing her hand on my shoulder. “What now?”

“Now we go back too,” I told her. “To fight with the sectors.”

“And after?” Korrigan asked. No one would say it, but my mother’s words had rattled us all a little bit. None of us wanted her to be right. So none of us talked about anything she’d said.

Instead, we began the long walk to the capital, eager and ready to fight for what we believed in. Even if my mother had made us all question if this was really the right fight.