Atlantic Island (25 page)

"That's what I've been wondering," said Ryan. "He's tall but he's not that big a guy. He doesn't have the muscle to do what he did to Dale. I don't think I've ever met anyone who does."

"What do you think, Theo?" asked Bill. "You've had the most personal interactions with him. Do you have any idea how he could be that strong?"

Theo thought it over. "I…I saw something once. Tiberius was angry as hell with the mayor when he overturned your sentence. He went to slam his hand on the desk to make a point, like a total normal reaction for an angry guy. Then…I don't know, he sort of stopped himself. Slowed the speed of his hand. But after he left, there were cracks on the glass where he hit it."

"How does that happen?" asked Kylee.

"I just thought, I don't know, like he had a ring on or something. That it was a freak thing. But this…I was wrong." Theo scratched his head. "I don't understand it at all. But look, it doesn't change much. We already considered him incredibly dangerous. I don't think anybody here was planning to go toe to toe with him as it was."

"What do we do?" asked Jamie.

"For one thing," said Theo, "I want to make it very clear that we don't all have to do the same thing. You don't have to follow me into this. I…can't guarantee you won't all end up like Dale. I don't have any more answers than anyone else."

"I choose to stand with you, Theo," said Joseph.
 

"I do too," said Andrew. "Wherever you want to lead us, I'll follow."

One by one, everyone committed himself or herself to side with Theo no matter what may happen.

"Thank you," said Theo, genuinely moved. "I will do the best I can, but I need input from all of you. I need help from all of you. First we need to find a place to stay. I'm not sure any place will do for very long. Does anyone have any ideas?"

"What about Jane's place?" asked Bill. "You know, the woman we met? She hates Tiberius and all of the people out there are kinda forgotten by the leadership anyway."

"I hate to impose on her and her housemates like that," said Theo, "but I think you're right."

"So we hide," said Brian, who was still holding his wife. "What happens next? How are we supposed to find the arms depots when we can't even go out in public?"

"We don't know how limited our travel will be," said Theo. "I'm not convinced they've connected you and Liz or Joseph and Andrew to the rest of us."

"I doubt it will take Tiberius long," said Andrew.
 

"Be that as it may, we can use your anonymity for as long we are able. We'll need to make contact with Carlos Menendez. He deserves to know we are okay. Plus, he may be able to point us toward the weapon stashes."

"We need to be quick about it," said Kylee, "The way things are going it would be dumb to assume Carlos is going to be accepted on the Security Force much longer."

The rebels wandered back out into the dark streets. They didn't see many people and fortunately didn't come across any Security Force agents. They wandered toward the edge of Ventnor.

When they arrived at the rundown property where Jane lived, Theo gave one last look back at his friends. They stared back at him in firm solidarity. Theo mounted the steps. The floorboards of the porch creaked under his feet, and a support beam somewhere groaned as if the metal bolts were threatening to come loose from the wood. Theo had forgotten just how much structural damage had taken place during the Event. The fact that the leadership had ignored renovations on these homes and then forced good people to overpopulate them was disgraceful. He pulled back the rickety screen door and knocked.
 

A woman in a torn t-shirt answered the door. She peered suspiciously at Theo and his group waiting in the street. "Is there some reason you're knocking in the middle of the night?"

"I'm sorry ma'am," Theo said. "My name is Theo Essex. I was hoping to speak with Jane?"

The woman cocked her head as she studied him. "Jane, huh? Okay…you wait right here." She pulled the door closed.

Theo stood staring at the door for five minutes. He had just made up his mind to return to his friends when the door opened. Jane smiled at him. "The prodigal son returns!" she said. "And I see you've brought more friends this time. What's up?"

"I'll be honest with you Jane," he said. "We're in some big trouble. Tiberius came to arrest us. He killed one of our friends. I know this is more than I should even think of asking but do you think it's possible we could hideout here? Just for a little while?"

She stared at him, eyes wide. "You got away from Tiberius?"

"Yeah. We were lucky. Well…most of us."

"I'm sorry about your friend. Why don't you all come inside?"

She stepped back and allowed Theo to enter. The others followed behind. The interior of the house was not in much better condition than the exterior, but Theo saw that the residents had tried to make the most of their situation. Handpicked flower arrangements decorated the entrance. He felt a deep pang of sadness for these people.

"This would be much easier if we had a basement," Jane said. "As it is, we have one room we were saving, assuming somebody else would come along in time. It's not much for one person, let alone all of you, but it's all we've got here."

"What about the other residents?" Theo asked. He kept his voice just barely above a whisper. The common areas were empty and he assumed the other women and children were sleeping.
 

"Oh they know all about you," Jane said. "I told them some boys were crazy enough to try to stand up against Tiberius. I'm not sure they believe me that you exist. Like you're a myth or something." She cackled.
 

"And if somebody else does get added?" Kylee asked. "If the leadership throws another person in here and now there's no room?"

"Oh, we'll make room," said Jane. "You all are gonna be crammed into one little space. The rest of us can do a little more sharing."

For several long days and nights Theo's rebels stayed in the back room of the community house. Nobody came looking for them. They left one at a time only to use the bathroom. A revolving roster of women brought their meals to them. All of the women seemed curious about the newcomers. They were eager to meet the group that would dare defy Supreme Leader Tiberius.
 

Several of the women pledged loyalty to Theo and his group. Theo thanked each of them, and always promised to repay their kindness. In particular, he hated having to eat from the already tiny rations afforded to the women. He promised himself he would make all of this up to them.
 

The problem was, he had no idea what to do. Any plan of action had to begin with acquiring weapons. The firepower of the Security Force made even the slightest protest too great a risk to take. He discussed his thoughts throughout those first few days in the safe house. Kylee was itching to get in touch with Officer Menendez. Theo guessed she also just wanted to get out. They all felt that way. He told his friends that he believed they needed to ride out the week in hiding. Then they could begin small exploratory missions.

The third afternoon, one of the women knocked on the door of the back bedroom. Theo and his friends were sprawled all around the room, standing or sitting but all leaning against the walls. The room had no furniture.
 

"Have any of you been outside?" The woman asked.

"No," said Theo. "What is it? Is it Tiberius?"

"No, no, it's not that." she said. She looked nervous. "The sky is dark and the wind is howling."

"Probably one of the big-ass rainstorms brewing," said Bill. "That happens all the time. No biggy."

"This is different," the woman said. "I've never seen anything like it. Can one of you come with me?"

"I'll go," Theo said. He wasn't convinced this wasn't some kind of a trap. If Tiberius's men were waiting, he was going to be the one to go. He'd give the others a fighting chance to get away.
 

The woman led him outside. It was already hard to control the screen door as the whipping winds took hold of it. Sand was blowing down the street and Theo raised his arm to shield his eyes. "You were right," he said. "This is pretty bad."

"This is worse than before I came to see you," she said, frightened. "I was just out here five minutes ago and it wasn't this bad. Something is coming fast."

As if her statement had signaled it, the rain began to fall, faster and harder than Theo had ever witnessed. He might not be as smart as Ryan, and he wasn't a meteorologist, but he had watched the news plenty of times. This was a hurricane, and a terrible one, from the looks of it.
 

Theo ducked back into the foyer and forced the door closed. "It's a hurricane," he said to the woman.
 

"Is it coming in off the beach side?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said. "It seems to me like it's coming from everywhere. We need to get everyone away from windows and doors."

"But…there aren't many people here!" she said.
 

"What do you mean?"

"We got a notice that because the crops are doing well there would be bonus rations today. Most of the women who live here are out getting food. I stayed behind with Mindy to watch over the children! The others are all out there somewhere!"

"What's your name?" Theo asked.
 

"I'm Carla," she said.

"Carla, wait here. Stay away from the door." He ran back through the house and into the back room.
 

"Sounds like a hell of a storm," said Bill.

"It's a hurricane. A bad one. Most of the people who live here are out in the middle of it somewhere."

"Why would they all be out?"

"They were told to go get extra food," Theo said.

"That's horrible timing," said Kylee. "Who would have guessed a hurricane would be coming?"

"The leadership, that's who." Ryan stood up and began to pace as he often did when agitated.
 

"How do you figure, Ry?" asked Theo.

"The science department has all kinds of weather monitoring equipment. They've got special balloons out in the ocean in all directions. I'm not saying they knew days in advance, but they knew something was coming."

"And not only did they not warn anybody," said Bill, "but they sent the people they considered a problem out in the middle of the damned storm."

"What can we do?" asked Joseph.

"Not much," said Theo. "I've never seen anything like this hurricane. I don't think we'd survive out there. We have to hope that the others found some kind of shelter."

"But…this is mass murder!" said Jamie.
 

Theo nodded. "As soon as the storm dies down we'll go out in small groups. See who we can find and what we can do to help. Right now we have to stay put. This thing is just getting warmed up. "

The pitiful band of rebels hunkered down in their little room as the storm raged. The power went out quickly. The world was overwhelmed by rain and wind. Theo tried to look out the window but there was too much driving rain to see anything.
 

The window gave out three hours into the storm. Glass spilled in to the room like tiny bullets. Theo was glad his group was smart enough to be positioned along the side walls and that he hadn't been foolish enough to make another attempt to peek outside.
 

The storm powered on for endless hours. Theo for once was grateful for the limited food that had become the rule on the island. His stomach could tolerate the endless hours of waiting. Finally, the winds reduced to a level of howling that allowed for his thoughts to form properly in his mind.

"I think it's slowing down," said Bill, already standing up. "I want to go out there and see what we can do to help."

"I'll come with you," said Theo, stretching as he got to his feet.

"The hell you will," said Bill. "You're our general. You don't enter the fray."

"Yes, I do. I'm coming along to help. Anything happens to me, I'm looking at a room full of people who can rise to the challenge. You're all just as capable as me. Now let's go."

It had not yet been a whole year since the Event. Though in many ways a lifetime had transpired in the months since, any time Theo thought back to that night and its immediate aftermath the emotions felt raw and fresh in his mind as if only a handful of days had passed.

Now, as he and Bill stepped out into a dark, wet night, Theo felt every bit of that fear and upset come rushing back. The shore had faced hurricanes before, and though there was often significant damage, the towns had recovered. The sheer power of the storm they had just experienced would have been a serious threat to the island under any circumstances. With many of the buildings far from the city so damaged by the Event, the conditions were right for absolute devastation.

"Jesus," said Bill. "We're lucky all that broke in our house were windows."

Theo saw that he was right. Houses up and down the street were damaged to the point of being uninhabitable. Trees had been uprooted and many had crashed through roofs and walls. Theo and Bill walked in the direction of the city. Taller buildings and motels that had been abandoned in the wake of the Event had now collapsed. In some cases the falling debris had showered onto surrounding homes, creating a cascading domino effect of destruction.