The Uprising (The Julianna Rae Chronicles) (6 page)

He moved his hand from her face to take her clenched fists. They were pushing against his chest, and he unfolded her fingers into his.

‘You just need to rest.’

She needs initiation.

‘But I’m scared,’ Julianna said.

‘Push the voices away, sweetheart. You’re
strong enough, you can do that,’ he whispered.

‘I can’t hear what they’re trying to tell me.’

‘You don’t need to hear them yet,’ he said again. ‘Mind’s tricking you with your fever.’

Daniel’s grumble reached Caden. Caden raised his
head again to see Daniel shake his own in contempt and disapproval. He was getting to his feet and reaching for his jacket to greet the still night outside; finding the gap between the real world and the world they had created to stay safe. Caden watched him leave and Julianna stirred at the sound of the footsteps passing them.

‘I’m sorry.’

Caden returned from Daniel’s distraction. ‘With the sunrise you’ll feel stronger again.’ He stroked her bare shoulder.

‘I’m sorry for betraying you with the prisoner.’

‘You didn’t betray me, just stupid.’ he whispered.

Julianna closed her eyes as Caden watched over her. The owl perched onto a branch in her mind to watch over her with its large black eyes, swallowing her whole and guarding her.

3rd May, 2018, 0630 hours.

Devils Canyon Lake, 30 miles west of Camp 2.2.1

‘All Canine units are accounted for, Sir. Five dead, three injured, four unharmed. The others won’t move with their pack’s blood fresh in their snouts, Sir!’

Taris paced the crushed grass, muddied and worn, from the heavy boots patrolling the area throughout the night. The lake was calm, but for the small falls at the far end, and he swore a system of caves rested behind it. They’d searched there too, relentlessly for hours, finding nothing but shear rock edges, jagged and slippery.

‘The map shows a network of caves here.’

‘With all due respect, C
ommander Madison, the map must be wrong. We’ve searched the area all night. There aren’t any caves.’

Taris nodded. ‘Take the hounds to the camp, wash them down, feed them,
and bed them.’

‘Yes, Sir.’

His radio clicked.

‘Go for Delta…
’ He listened to his loosely held radio, as it hissed at him. The storm was interfering with the base transmissions and he waited for it to clear.

‘No sighting…shhhhhhhh…at…
west blockade, no breach.’

Taris wanted to shake the radio, throw it at the closest officer. The white noise cleared.

‘Delta to west base, copy that. Delta to east base?’

Shhhhhhhh, Crack!

‘Delta to east, report!’

‘East copied. Nothing, Sir. Negative sighting.’

The trees rustled and the water lapped at the shore, tipping the toes of his boots. He glanced across his men packing the weapons into the Jeeps lined in a single file along the dirt road. The dogs were being caged into the back of two vehicles and were restless.

Yawk, Yawk, Yawk.

He rolled his eyes at the incessant barking. ‘This is Delta to command. We’re moving out from location and returning to base. Negative sighting. Blockades to remain, day-shift relief will be sent, over.’

Taris lowered the radio. He scanned the woodlands and its harsh terrain of jagged rock and rushing waters. An echo of ‘copy’ broke through the white noise, and he stopped where the falls were overflowing the ledges into the lake. He knew better, he’d
visit the lake during his years before the Militia, dived from the edge of the waterfall with friends. He was certain this was the same location which held those memories, though they were a long time ago.

They’re here,
he thought to himself.
The caves should be here.

The last of the Canine unit called madly from their cages for their fallen comrades, as the Jeeps drove them away.

Yawk! Yawk! Yawk!

He shook his head, he was feeling something. Julianna was close, maybe even watching him where he stood. Taris felt her
strong presence, but when he closed his eyes, all he got was the familiar grey haze over his vision.

‘Commander!’ The call interrupted his concentration.

Taris opened his eyes to cast his steely gaze over the cause.  A comms was thrust forward for him to take.

‘The General
wants to speak with you. He’s opened a special line.’

Taris snatched the comms and dismissed the tired soldier to return to the truck. He stared down at the line waiting for his answer. The clock in the corner of the screen ran down the seconds: It was zero-six-thirty-two hours. He cursed the search, its duration and outcome; the time wasted moving in circles around the area distracted him from his more pressing objectives.

Taris slid his finger across the glass plate to open the line. The board room of Central Command was in full view before the general took his seat at the head of the table and into the middle of the screen. Taris studied the portrait of himself hanging behind the impressive chair, and it wasn’t until the general addressed him that he felt his lips curl.

Where should I start?

Taris took a breath and gained some control.

He smiled. ‘Morning G
eneral,’ he said.

‘We’re all wondering when you’ll bother to grace our presence this morning, Tarisos.’

‘We’re closing down the search now. I’ll be there in forty-five minutes.’

‘Anything to report?’

‘Sure,’ Taris smirked. ‘The report will include my observations of the fact, that if I had been awarded these abilities earlier, we’d have several prisoners right now.’

‘Eluded your capture again, I see.’ The general sniped, and Taris heard the other Senate members sitting around the boardroom table, whisper between each other.

‘Several. Valuable. Prisoners.’ Taris said.

The general wasn’t convinced. The whispers of contenti
on carried over the comms plate to the lake, unapologetic to Taris.

‘One watcher against three, who used to hold Council and Senate positions, I’m at
the Devils Canyon Lake, by the way. You know, the one with the caves scattered everywhere?’

He held the comms high for the general
’s benefit and moved it in a circle so his company could see the landscape they had patrolled. His squad watched him in awe of his disobedience.

He returned it to his own gaze. ‘Notice something unusual about the area?’

The whispering in the boardroom stopped, waiting for the general to return his response. The silence hung in the air, he had their attention.

The general thinned his lips. ‘No caves. They’ve concealed themselves
—’

The general
leaned over the table, nodding and sighing to an invisible person, spreading his hands over the solid wood table before him, drumming his fingers, and thinking.

‘They’re here, or at least Julianna is. I can sense her
very
close to us, sleeping in the arms of her watcher, no doubt.’

The General sniggered into the comms.

‘This amuses you?’ Taris quipped.

‘Even Caden Madison wouldn’t break the rules and sleep with his apprentice. Are you jealous, Tarisos?’

‘Like hell. I’m just pointing out that they’re in a close relationship. This isn’t going to be easy with him in her shadows, every waking moment. Hoping you’ll pass something decent to me, so I can deal with this problem.’

‘We do now. If they’re concealing an area as large as Lake Rapid, then we need to combat this issue swiftly, and without further impediment.’

‘Leaving now, General.’

‘Don’t keep us waiting, Tarisos. We can find someone else to do the job, if we need to.’

The comms screen flickered off before he could respond. Taris stared through the glass spattered with dry mud and rain, to the ground below. His boots were thick in heavy sludge again, despite trailing them over the rocks, and his pants were soaked through. He shivered from the exposure of a cold night in a storm. His thoughts were far from happy ones. The time in the corner was counting down the seconds, he’d lost another four minutes talking rubbish to the general, and he’d only given himself enough time to drive into Central Command, minus a uniform change from the wet clothes he was wearing.

You’re on a timer Tarisos
my boy, need to move on, before they grow impatient.

Yes, yes, moving on.

Don’t want to rock the sinking boat now, do you?

No, no. Moving now, the dry clothes can wait.

The truck beside him started its engine. He raised himself into the seat beside his best driver, giving him a go ahead nod to drive along the track, towards the interstate. The other trucks followed cautiously along the slosh, threatening to sink the tires.

The last Jeep on the stretch of dirt, continued to point in the direction of the lake, waiting on a grassy side where they wouldn’t get trapped in the mud, while they waited for everyone else to pass.

Taris’s driver stopped alongside it. The other trucks and Jeeps moved forward. The grinding of engines carried along the air as they moved farther down the track.

Taris leaned his head over to the driver waiting on the grassed edge. ‘Be sure to stay hidden. Make your camp in the trees.’

‘Yes, Sir,’ the driver said.

‘I want a report on everything. That’s everything which happens here the moment it happens, over the comms, understood?’

‘Yes Sir!’

Taris checked the time again. ‘Everything
.
’

‘Sir, if we see them, what are our orders?’

Taris smiled,
to hell with the General.
‘Kill them.’

‘The girl?’

Taris narrowed his eyes. The caves behind him were there.

‘Kill them all.’

3rd May, 2018, 0700 hours.

The
Caves of Devils Canyon.

‘They’ve gone,’ Daniel slumped in front of the fire. ‘But they came close; we need to be careful moving out when we do.’

Bas nodded. He
stared at the flames dancing low in the cave and the smoke floating along a breeze to the lower chasms. The waterfall’s crash of water rose above their spell, their ability to conceal themselves waned as the early rise of the sun reached where they sat. Bas nodded again with his lips pursed and his eyes narrowed on the cigarette he held between his fingers.

‘So who asked for him to be Julianna’s watcher, or has he
self-appointed again?’

Bas shrugged. ‘Does it really matter? He is who he is and the rest is none of your business.’

‘Devo said there were issues with him at the camp, after I left.’

‘Caden never laid a finger on her.’

‘Not what I heard,’ Daniel moved his gaze to Julianna.

‘We’ve heard a lot about you too, Danny. Let’s leave it at that before it gets ugly
, because right now I’m your only friend in this place.’

Daniel disagreed. ‘Once this is done, Julianna comes with me.’

‘No, once this is done, she stays with Caden until she’s initiated. It’s what your father wants, and it’s her duty. She has higher callings now. She doesn’t belong to herself anymore. She belongs to us, to the High Order.’

Daniel lowered his tone as Devo stirred beside them. ‘It’s her decision.’

Bas leaned over Devo and whispered for her to keep sleeping. The young girl muttered and rolled over in restless slumber.

‘It’s not right, what you’re doing,’ Daniel said. ‘What
we’re
doing.’

‘Just like it’s not right about what you have in your jacket pocket, and that you took a hit while you were on watch for us all. Shall I tell Caden about how wrong his actions are, or are you keeping your mouth shut?’

The couple sleeping in their corner were oblivious to the world, still deep in their dreams. 

Daniel closed his mouth
and scratched at the fresh mark in the crook of his arm. A trickle of blood flowed freely before he could mop it away with a finger.

Bas smoked his cigarette in silence, baring his glare on Daniel while he held his arm until the puncture wound disappeared.

Caden tightened his grip around Julianna’s waist with the blankets half kicked away. Julianna in her sleep tried prying his fingers curling into her skin.

‘Yeah, just so you know I’m scrutinizing your every fucking move.’

She yelped and sat upright, startling Caden into a daze as he looked around the cave. Julianna thumped him in the shoulder with a closed fist before lying down again.

Daniel responded with his one finger sticking
proudly high about his knuckles at Caden.

‘Bas, bring us another lot of penicillin. Her fever’s broken, let’s keep it that way,’ Caden said.

‘Nah.’ Julianna whispered from his jacket. ‘I feel much better, I’m good now.’

‘We need you light on your feet, J Rae. We have to move out today, can’t afford your fever returning
and I said it’s broken, not gone.’

‘Caden’s right, Julianna. Let him do this,’ Daniel said
with a sigh.

She sat in the blankets beside him, ‘Christ, how long have we been here?’ her reality
returned. She studied the cave they hid in, still dark, but for the line of light breaking through the waterfall. 

The surroundings opened, the darkness
left and the muffled noise of water crashing over rock rose in volume as Caden lazily stumbled from their bed.

She sprung to her feet and ran to the edge to survey the outside world. The grounds below were empty and
hazed in an orange cast from the rise of the sun and the dipping of the moon.

She
looked over her shoulder, wide-eyed. ‘There’s fresh boot prints down there.’

‘They’re gone, saw them leave myself. Taris left with them.’ Daniel said.

‘Taz was with them?’ She spun around. ‘Why are we here then? We need to leave. Right now! He’s too close!

‘Something you’re not telling us, J Rae?’ Caden stretched and accepted the injection from his brother.

‘If he was searching this place, it means he’s still watching from a distance. There’ll be men out there waiting for us. They’ll be there with orders.’

Julianna scanned
over the tops of the trees to the lower grounds, and rocks. She searched for the hint of a shine glinting in the early sunrise, from a barrel of a rifle pointing in their direction, and didn’t stop until the sharp jab of the needle under her skin broke her attention.

‘Why so worried?’ Caden
quickly rubbed the puncture wound, healing it with his touch. He peered out through the gaps between the rock face, following the water down to the ledges below, until it reached its final place in the lake.

‘Because he knows where we are,’ she said quietly.

‘If he knew, we’d be in a camp, or dead. We’ve been here all night, he’s been and gone, we’re safe,’ he said quietly.

‘No,’ she shook her head. ‘He knows w
e’re here. Concealed or not, he knows and it’s a matter of time before he comes back. We can’t sit around here and wait for nightfall again.’

‘We can,
and we will.’

‘I don’t want to,
and I won’t.’

‘You
’re not Commander, I am,’ Caden said. ‘And unless you want to tell me how you’re so certain he’ll return to this location, I suggest you keep your mouth shut for now.’

‘
You’re not my Commander.’

‘
Arguable, but one thing’s for sure. I’m your watcher. That gives me a certain authority, don’t you think?’

‘In your dreams, perhaps.’ She said and glanced at the prisoner still unconscious. ‘Seems I have the final say in some things after all.’

Caden glanced at the prisoner behind them, and lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘I get that you’re the alpha chick here, I really do,’ he smirked and glanced behind to make sure their conversation was private. The others were organizing bags and weapons. ‘But as long as you sleep in this camp, and as long as I keep saving your sorry ass, and as long as I’m your watcher, you’ll follow my command. How many times do I have to explain to you that you have a lot to learn, and a lot of arrogance to let go?’

She stared at him.

‘I like you better when you’re sick.’ he teased and looked past her shoulder, to the world outside. ‘Bas, hand us your rifle.’ Caden returned to Julianna. ‘We move out the moment it dusks. I need to know you can fight tonight, if we have too.’

‘Moving west is stupid. We barely made it past a small road block; Taz will be ready this time. He’ll be waiting.’

‘I won’t be cornered like a rat, and if you call him Taz one more time, I’ll send you flying into that lake below us. He ain’t no friend of yours.’ Caden grabbed the rifle Bas held out to him, and raised it.

‘Anything?’

‘Shut the fuck up, J Rae,’ he said quietly and squinted into the scope.

‘No one…
or is there?’ he walked to the fire. ‘You need to earn your spot in my camp as a senior. Earn your keep and we’ll discuss it.’ 

‘You’re an asshole, you know that?’

He lowered the rifle, handing it to her. ‘You keep point for the next few hours. If we’re clear, we’ll move on your call.’

*   *    *

Julianna sat on the edge, flicking the water over her warm skin. The rock was cool to lean against, but the rifle was heavy, and she’d taken a break from scoping the spaces below her, convinced they were alone. She leaned her head to watch Caden count the spare boxes of ammunition, before dividing them into four tidy piles for them all. She was the only one without a side arm and she was happy with that, though she admired the rifle she held, knowing it was Bastiaan’s personal one. He had fine taste in rifles, and she ran her hand along the black stock before lowering to her stomach, to take point again.

Caden crouched beside her. His tone was low and his eyes the same, while they stared past the ledge. ‘Tell me why you call him Taz.’

She scanned down the scope. ‘I’m a mystery to you, after last night?’

‘You’re trying hard to conceal something
from me. I think I should know about it.’ He nodded out to the openness. ‘We clear to move yet?’

Julianna looked around uneasily.

‘What’s wrong, J Rae? Can’t make the big decisions?’ He laughed quietly. ‘You managed to make them at the skirmish. Took a prisoner and all, went against my command,’ he left her to the thought, he was still angry.

This isn’t a game, she thought. She glanced over her shoulder as best she could, at Caden meeting
Bastiaan for a quiet discussion. Daniel helped Devo zip the only ammunitions bag they had left. Their camp was ready to move, what was left of it since the skirmish. Now they waited on her to give the order.

Julianna looked
through the scope for what she hoped was the last time from the ledge. Taris wasn’t far from her mind, picturing him planning and scheming, plotting his next move, studying any heightened emotion she released, though unintended, and she felt a shift in their bond; a powerful change, fearing it wasn’t for the better of the Rebellion.

The new World Order just got their prize.

It coursed through her body like a static. 

What the hell are you playing at, Taz? What are you doing now?

A glint bounced into her cross hairs.

Fuck!

She looked down the scope again, wanting to call out for their opinion, but fearing retribution or worse, if they were watching her from the other end, in the trees. She had no choice, this decision was hers to make, and to make alone. A second wasted could cost a life. There was no time for consultation, and if she was wrong, she’d wear the consequences with Caden Madison yet again.

She studied the shine uneasily. The
glint moved into her scope, there was no mistaking the man crouched behind a tree, staring back at her through his own rifle scope. The sweat broke along her back as she breathed deeply and steadied her aim. Her heart pounded in her chest, and everything else went silent.

Her finger moved gently
over the trigger. She focused on becoming part of the rifle’s extension, as Taris had taught her, so long ago. She had one chance.

She pulled the trigger and watched as the man fell in the bushes. The birds in the trees above him scattered in fright, and Caden cursed behind her
, at the crack of gun fire ringing in his ears.

She moved the rifle to the left, drew another breath and found the second target scrambling for the dead body, still clutching the sniper. She exhaled. She focused.

The trigger engaged.

The body dropped.

Indeed, she thought, as she looked over at Caden boring down his glare, with his hand on his own weapon. Bastiaan was preparing a second rifle, but their camp was in shock.

Her lips curled at the co
rners. ‘We’re clear to move, Commander.’