Fiction: Afterlife Volume 3 (Chapter 33)

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Afterlife is a sci fi/western action serial published every other week. Join us in a post-apocalyptic journey through a future where life has become little more than a struggle for survival. However, where there’s life, there’s always hope.
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Read the previous chapter here:

Afterlife, Volume 3, Chapter 32

Where:
Abby enters Valhalla.
Abby receives a message from the past from her ancestor, Cheol Seong.
Abby and Paul head for Rose City.

Find the Volume 3 Table of Contents page here.

View the Map here.

Check out Afterlife on Goodreads and don’t forget to rate it.

 

Afterlife, Volume 3, Chapter 32

Foxtrot knocked on the door to General Rodriguez’ quarters in the Rose City Barracks.  It was a utilitarian, military building as one would expect, a huge concrete complex in the center of town with dull gray, brightly lit hallways inside.  The building had been built to withstand bombs and other attacks, but it wasn’t very homey.  Javy had chosen these quarters over a more luxurious mansion or penthouse apartment because he wanted to be closer to his men.  Foxtrot lived in the same hall along with several other senior officers.  The door opened, Javy standing in the frame holding a paper coffee cup from the local chain.  He looked even worse than usual, wearing boxers and a tee shirt, stinking of sweat and alcohol, hair disheveled, face bent into a frown.  Foxtrot grinned.  “I see you have your morning café Americana.”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Javy said.  “Come in, I guess.”  Javy walked inside and sat on the black leather couch facing the hologram projector which sat atop a wooden stand.

Foxtrot shut the door behind him and joined Javy on the couch.  “I still don’t understand how you can drink that watered down espresso.  Some Italian café probably created it to pander to American tourists.”

Javy managed a slight grin.  “More likely an American café in the old world created it so Americans could pretend to be Italians.”  He glanced at Foxtrot.  “I take it you’ve had your morning espresso shots.”  Foxtrot nodded, adjusting his glasses.  “You’re definitely tougher than you look,” Javy said as he swigged his drink and placed it on the end table.  “You’re tougher than I’ll ever be.”

“Nonsense,” Foxtrot said.  “You’ve never lost a battle.”

Javy glared at him.  “You have a short memory.  Did you forget what just happened?

“The battle’s not over,” Foxtrot said.  “This is just a break in the fighting.”

Javy shook his head.  “I don’t see how we can win this one, old buddy.  My plan caused the deaths of thousands of great soldiers.  Our army’s dwindled down to next to nothing.  I was wrong.  Howell was right and you know it.  Because of me, lots of our boys are dead now.”

Foxtrot frowned.  “I don’t see it that way.”

“Then how do you see it?”

“You were right,” Foxtrot said.  “And you still are.  We can’t just sit around here waiting while the IAO build up their forces.  They’ll wait until they’re strong enough or until we’re starved out and then they’ll strike.  We’re playing into their hands unless we find a way to attack.”

Javy shook his head.  “They’re too strong.  And they’re entrenched.  There’s no way we can beat them.  We need to be realistic here.”

“We need to get creative,” Foxtrot said.  “Nobody does creative better than you, General.  Nobody.  You need to stop getting down on yourself about this, though.”

Javy shrugged.  “There must be something we’re missing.  I guess we’ve managed to overcome greater odds than this in the past, but that was because we were mobile.  We could strike and run.  But now we’re stuck here.”

“Then we just need to change our thinking,” Foxtrot said.  “Maybe we should study people who were in similar situations in the past.  Thermopylae.”

“They all died,” Javy noted with a grin.

“Yeah,” Foxtrot said.  “But they put up one hell of a fight before they did.”

Javy yawned and stretched.  “Was that all you came here to talk about.”

Foxtrot bit his lip.  “No.  There’s also the General Schmidt thing.”

“I knew it,” Javy said.  “It’s hard enough for me to be stuck in the same room with that asshole.  Now I have to work with him.  I’ll tell you one thing, Frank.  When this is all over, I’m gonna kill that bastard.”

“Well you need to work with him for now.  Our survival depends on it, and you know it.  Play nice, Javy.  He’s full of good ideas and experience.  And his troops give us the numbers we need.  We may not have enough, but we’re far better off than we were before.”

Javy shrugged.  “You’re right.  I’ll play nice.  For now.”

“That means no more blowups at meetings,” Foxtrot said.

Javy rolled his eyes and chuckled.  “No more blowups at meetings.”  He yawned.  “Now you’ve got some work to do, don’t you?”

Foxtrot nodded.  “We’re meeting this afternoon at two.  Don’t forget about that.”

Javy nodded as the two of them got up and walked to the door.  “To go over the current situation and try to draw up some battle plans.  Like we do every day.  To no avail.”

“Maybe today will be different,” Foxtrot said as Javy opened the door.

“Don’t count on it,” Javy said.  They said goodbye to one another and Foxtrot made his way down the hall as Javy closed and locked the door behind him.

<>

Abby frowned as she sat behind Paul on the sand bike.  It shot out from the Rocky Mountain foothills and was now rocketing across the desert.  Scores of white dunes were flying by in lightning fast succession.  “There’s no way in, then?” Abby asked.

“I don’t detect one,” Einstein said from her wrist.  “Rose City, as I said, is surrounded by a perimeter of troops.  I count at least seventy-five thousand.  They have all ways in covered.  I sense some tunnels but they all end significantly far away from the Undertown and there are no openings.  I sense they’ve been filled in, likely by the resistance.  The openings of the tunnels are mostly guarded by IAO.  All except one that I detect seems to be abandoned.  It is the tunnel with the opening farthest away from the city.  This tunnel ends underground almost a half mile away from the Undertown, though, with no way out.”

“A half mile,” Paul said as he stopped the bike and let it hover down into the sand.

“Why are you stopping?” Abby asked.  “If we stop here we’ll be sitting ducks for the IAO to find us.”

“No sense wasting fuel before we have a plan,” Paul said.

“Any suggestions?” Abby asked.

“I’m trying to compute the course of action which would have the greatest chance of success,” Einstein said, “but so far the odds are so far off, no action appears to be worth taking.”

Abby nodded.  “We’ll take the tunnel that isn’t currently being guarded.”

“It’s probably not being guarded because it stops so far away from Rose City,” Paul said.  “And with no way out.”

“I have an idea,” Abby said.  “She took the bag Bernard Parks had given her off the back of the bike where it had been strapped down and started rummaging through it.  She took out the force field projector and looked over it.

“What are you thinking?” Paul asked.  He turned to notice Abby holding the force field projector.  “Oh, no.  No way.  I think I know what you’re thinking, and there’s absolutely no way…”

Abby held the force field projector in front of her and grinned.  “What?  This could be our only way in.  If we don’t get into Rose City, this is all for nothing.”

“But that’s too dangerous.  You have no idea whether it will work.”

“As long as the force field projector doesn’t run out of battery charge,” Einstein said, “the plan has a thirty-four point seven six percent chance of working.  There’s a lot that could go wrong.  Still, those are better odds than any of the courses of action I’ve been considering.  Far better.  In fact, it’s not even close.”

Abby shrugged.  “Then we’re doing it.  I charged it in my bag after I used it at Valhalla.  It’s fully charged now.”

Paul shook his head.  “All right.  I guess I’ll trust you on this one.”  He started the engine and headed northwest, towards where Einstein told him the tunnel entrance was.

They found the entrance and Paul rocketed into it.  “In order for the plan to work,” Einstein said, “you’ll need to be going at least four hundred miles per hour.”  Paul increased the speed as Abby held the force field projector out in front of them, preparing to turn it on.  “Don’t turn it on until I give the signal,” Einstein said.  The sand bike continued picking up speed as it shot through the glass tunnel created by one of the IAO burrowers.  Abby noticed the end of the tunnel up ahead, blocked by sand and rock, and it was on them in seconds.  “Now!” Einstein said and Abby turned on the force field projector.  Paul didn’t slow down at all as the sand bike flew at the rock and sand.  The force field in front of them started glowing and burning with flame as they burrowed through the sand at four hundred miles per hour, the force field shielding Abby, Paul, and the bike as it burned through.

<>

Della was standing in the top floor of the metal lookout tower with two of his troops, surveying the dunes with his binoculars.  They’d been on lookout duty for the past three hours.  The IAO had been sending small attacks almost constantly to test the resistance defenses, but Della dreaded the all-out attack that could come at any minute.  He knew they weren’t ready for it.  He noticed a fireball shoot out of the sand about a half mile out and frowned.  Was this some sort of new IAO weapon?  He held his hand up.  “What is it?” Sergeant Jackson, one of the troops with him asked.

“I don’t know,” Della said as he continued looking through the binoculars.

“Should I alert the troops?” Sergeant Jackson asked.

Della shook his head.  “Not yet.  We need to try to figure out what this is first.  Send them a message to send out a warning to the object when it reaches a thousand feet and open fire if it doesn’t respond by five hundred feet.”  At a thousand feet, the object slowed down significantly and Della could see that it was a sand bike.  The fireball that had surrounded it quickly disappeared and Della continued looking through the binoculars.  He immediately recognized the driver.  It was Paul Jacobs.  And seated behind him on the bike was Abby.  She looked tired, but she was alive and appeared to be all in one piece.  A smile beamed from Della’s face.

“The signal man said they didn’t respond to his warning,” Sergeant Jackson said.

“It’s okay,” Della said.  “I know them.”

“You know them?” Sergeant Jackson asked.

Della nodded.  “It’s Abigail Song.”

“The Abigail Song?” Sergeant Jackson asked.

Della nodded again.  “The Abigail Song.”  He quickly headed for the stairs that led down to the entrance to the tower.

<>

As Paul slowed down and rode towards the Undertown, Abby noticed someone approaching them on the dunes ahead.  It was a resistance soldier wearing the usual tan uniform.  As they approached, Abby recognized Della and she smiled.  She waved and Della waved back and Paul stopped the sand bike a few feet away from him and let it hover down into the sand.  Abby jumped down from the back of the sand bike and Della walked up to her and gave her a big hug.  “I wasn’t sure if I’d see you again,” he said.

She smiled at him.  “I can take care of myself.”

“You make it awfully hard to keep a promise, though,” Della said.

“Promise?” Abby asked.

Della nodded.  “I promised Pastor Earl I’d look out for you and that I’d never let you out of my sight.”

“Well it wasn’t your fault,” Abby said.

“I know,” Della said, “but now that you’re back, I intend to keep that promise.”

“What about Ace?” Abby asked.  “Is he here, too?”

Della frowned.  “He’s in prison.”  Paul approached Della and shook his hand as the two of them said hello.

“In prison?” Abby asked.  “I should have known.  Well, we’ll have to do something about that.”

Della smiled.  “If anyone can get him out, you can.”

“Well let’s get into town,” Abby said.  “From the look of things, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Della nodded.  “We can fill you in more once you settle in.”

Abby glanced at Paul.  “Ride on ahead.  I’ll walk in with Della.”

Paul nodded and got back onto the sand bike.  He started the engine and rode towards the Undertown as Abby and Della followed on foot.

<>

“We can’t be negative,” Mavery said.  “I don’t care how bad things look.  I mean, we can all die being positive or we can all die being negative.  If we’re all gonna die anyway, we may as well go out fighting.”  She leaned back in her chair and glanced at Big Ed, who was standing against the wall.  The Phoenix Books office was still a complete mess of papers, pens, and other bits of trash.  One of these days Mavery was just going to have to clean it up.  It was starting to drive her nuts, and everyone being busy was no longer a good excuse.  They just needed to find the time to clean.  If no one else did, she’d have to do it herself.

Matt frowned.  “Sure, but we also need to be realistic.”

Victor nodded.  “But Mavery makes a good point.”  He put his hand on Matt’s hand as they sat next to one another.

Matt shook his head.  “I’m sorry.  It’s just so easy to get negative when we have this army staring us down and there seems to be no way out.  I mean, our generals have had days to try to figure out a plan of attack and they’re stumped.  It’s like we’re just sitting around waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“Or waiting for a miracle,” Mavery said.  Just then, the door opened.

Gale walked in, her silver body shining in the light.  “You have a visitor,” she said.

“We said no visitors, Gale,” Matt said.

“I think you can make an exception for this one,” Gale said.

Through the door behind her walked a short, unassuming Asian girl with short black hair.  She was dressed in jeans and a green shirt.  Her piercing eyes were the only things that suggested that she was anything but ordinary as she looked around at the other people in the room.  “Abby?” Mavery said with a grin.  She got up and walked over to Abby and they embraced.

“Abigail Song?” Victor asked.  Abby nodded.  “I’m Victor Lowe.”  She walked over and shook his hand.  Victor appeared to be star struck.

“And I’m Matt Lund,” Matt said with a smile as Abby turned and shook his hand.  Big Ed lumbered over to her and gave her a bear hug.

Abby backed away.  “It’s nice to see you again, Ed, and it’s nice to meet you Victor and Matt, but could you all please leave Mavery and I alone to talk for a while?”

Matt and Victor seemed a little taken aback but they nodded and left the office with Gale and Big Ed.  Abby sat in a chair facing Mavery, who was seated at the desk again, leaning back in her chair.  “It’s not good, Abby.  This could be the end of the resistance.”

“I killed Warrick Baines,” Abby said, glaring at her.  “I’ve been completely on my own.  I’ve often felt like I’ve been taking on the resistance by myself.  Now, there are a lot more people here.”  She smiled.  “I sort of like our odds.”

“I won’t mention what those odds actually are,” Einstein said from Abby’s wrist.

“Yeah,” Mavery said.  “Please don’t.”

“My point is,” Abby said, “I’ve been finding ways to beat the odds my whole life, and I plan to keep doing it.”  Mavery nodded.  “First thing’s first, though,” Abby said.  “I know Alex Harris is dead, but do you know what happened to the members of the Bloody Six who were traveling with him?”

“They’re dead,” Mavery said and Abby frowned.  “All of them.  Mark and Jane Gonzalez, John Bernard, and Juanita Ricardo.”

Abby nodded with a solemn expression.  “Do you know where the diamonds are?”

“They’re here,” Mavery said.  “A man named Ayman Ali who had been traveling with them brought them here.  Along with the money Ace and Della brought, that’s six hundred billion.”

Abby nodded.  “I have another four hundred billion.  Some I got in Drummond.  And the rest is here.  I’ll pick it up from the bank when I can.  That makes one trillion.  Can I talk to this Ayman Ali at some point?”

“Sure,” Mavery said.  “He’s with the army here now.  He’s a real hero.  Pretty much saved the resistance by bringing that money here.”

“I’ll say,” Abby said.  “As far as everyone else goes, Paul is here with me.  Nat and Bobby are dead.  Killed by Baines.  It turns out that was really an android programmed to act like Baines.  The real Baines died years ago.”

Mavery frowned.  “What about Sera?  And Shelly?”

“Sera’s dead,” Abby said.  “Killed by the IAO.  Shelly’s on the lam, but I plan on finding her one day.”  They continued talking, and Abby told Mavery all about Valhalla and Cheol Seong and what he’d said in his message.  She told Mavery all about Denver and how she’d discovered that the world had been destroyed in a nuclear holocaust.  Finally, she told Mavery about the data chips she’d found in Valhalla which contained lost information from throughout the world’s history.  Mavery, in turn, filled Abby in on what had happened in Rose City over the past weeks.  She told Abby about the siege and the battle.  She told her how they needed to find a way to hit the IAO before they attacked again.  Abby nodded.  “If they destroy us before we can spread the information I’ve learned, the data chips mean nothing.  The constitution is meaningless, and the resistance is lost.  I’m going to need you to share all of the information I’ve given you.  Let the people know all of this.  Use it to bring more people into the fold.”

Mavery nodded.  “I’ll do what I can.  It’s so much, though.  It’ll take me a while to digest all of it.”

Abby nodded.  “In the meantime, we can’t let Rose City fall.  All of human history is riding on this.  We have to find a way to win.”

“But how?” Mavery asked.

“I need to meet with the generals,” Abby said.  “The next time they meet.”

“They’re meeting this afternoon,” Mavery said.

“Then I’ll be there,” Abby said.

“But they don’t let civilians sit in on their meetings,” Mavery said.

Abby grinned.  “Haven’t you ever crashed a party before?”

Mavery chuckled.  “No, Abby.”

Abby smiled.  “Well I’m going to crash this one.  Hopefully they’ll see that I’m no ordinary civilian.”

Mavery nodded and smiled back.  “That shouldn’t be too hard for them to see.”

<>

“Another day,” Javy said, “another meeting.”  At least this time he promised Foxtrot he wouldn’t bring his flask.

“These meetings are important, General Rodriguez,” General Howell said.  “How do you know we won’t have some sort of breakthrough today?”

“What’s this a therapy session?” Javy asked.  Many of the officers seated at the table chuckled.

General Schmidt wasn’t smiling.  “Maybe that’s what you need.”

Javy glared at him.  “Touche.  What I’m saying is, no matter how many times we meet, we have the same facts, and the facts are what make the situation impossible.”

“Maybe we just need to look at the facts in a different way,” Foxtrot said.

Major Rodeo nodded.  “We’re gonna need to take a chance at some point.  Roll the dice.  It’s pretty much inevitable given our current situation.”

“That goes without saying,” Colonel Frank Myers, General Schmidt’s right hand man said.  He was sitting across from Major Rodeo and next to Schmidt.  His no-nonsense demeanor couldn’t have been more of a contrast to Rodeo’s flamboyant, showman’s nature.  Foxtrot wondered if the two of them might butt heads at some point.  The last thing they needed was more bad blood.  “Still,” Colonel Myers said as he looked at the map on the table, “General Rodriguez is right.  We have to be realistic here.  They outnumber us by probably ten to one at least at this point.”

Foxtrot noticed that Colonel Trent and Mark Wingate had both been mostly quiet.  Clarissa Trent was looking at the map through her glasses, scratching her bald head and looking mostly perplexed, and Major Wingate seemed to be listening intently like a young man eager to learn from his elders.  Foxtrot also noticed that Major Della Luscious wasn’t present.  He knew Della had been stationed at the Eastern lookout position earlier in the day, but he wasn’t sure what the reason for his absence was.  As Foxtrot was thinking, the door opened, and Della walked in, followed by a young Asian woman with short hair.  She was dressed in a tan uniform with no rank insignia.  Foxtrot realized it was Abigail Song.  General Howell glared at Della the second they entered the room.  “You’re late.  And what are you thinking, bringing a civilian in here?”

“Apparently you all need some help,” Abigail said.  “Della tells me you’ve been meeting like this every day and have yet to come up with an acceptable plan.  That sounds like a waste of time and resources if you ask me.”  She sat at the table next to Javy and was joined by Della.

“Leave the military planning to the adults,” Howell said.  “And you need to be careful how you talk to me.”  He stood, towering above her from across the table.  “Leave this to those of us who have experience in these sorts of matters.”

She glared at him, not flinching or giving an inch.  “Are you trying to intimidate me, General Howell?”

“Of course not,” he said.

“Then sit down,” she commanded.

He looked at her with confusion.  “You have no business being here, young woman.”

“Maybe you’re the one who has no business being here,” she said.  “So far your leadership has failed to gain us an advantage.  We need all the minds we can find.  I’ve studied military leaders and their decisions.  I’ve studied strategy and tactics.  And I’ve proven myself as a leader of the resistance.  I’m not going anywhere.”  She leaned forward.  “And you do seem like you’re trying to intimidate me.  So let me tell you that I’ve stood toe to toe with the likes of Nat Bigum and gained his respect.  I killed Warrick Baines.  I’ve seen a lot of fighting, and everyone here knows the things I’ve accomplished for the resistance.  Call me a civilian all you want.  But I’m staying here and I intend to find a way to get the resistance out of this mess that we’re currently in.  And there’s no way I’ll ever be intimidated by the likes of you.”

General Schmidt shrugged.  “It can’t hurt, I suppose.”

Abigail smiled at him.  “I’ve read your book, General.  I learned a lot from it.  It was a great read.”

“Thanks,” Schmidt said.  If Foxtrot hadn’t known better, he’d have thought General Schmidt was blushing.

“So let’s talk about the situation,” Abigail said.  “We’re surrounded by an army that has us outnumbered ten to one.  Our numbers were greatly reduced when we tried to attack previously and they were able to sneak up on our men from behind using tunnels.  We filled in the tunnels with explosives and were able to fend them off temporarily, but our numbers were greatly reduced and their numbers are increasing daily.”

“That’s it in a nutshell,” Javy said.

“How many levelers do they have?” Abigail asked.

“We count six here now,” Foxtrot said.

Abigail nodded.  “And how many of our men do they have prisoner?”

“At least fifteen hundred,” Colonel Trent said.  “Probably two thousand.  Maybe more.  These are estimates based on our dead and missing numbers.”

“Do we have any BB-44 block-busters or nanoguns?” Abigail asked.

“My men came across a BB-44 in our travels,” Major Rodeo said.  “We still have it.”

Abigail nodded and smiled.  “It’s nice to finally meet you, by the way, Major Rodeo.  I’ve been a fan for years.  I went with my family to see your show when I was a kid.”

“Likewise,” Major Rodeo said with a grin as he tipped his ten gallon hat.  “You’re a livin’ legend, ma’am.”

Abigail smiled.  “Maybe someday I’ll earn it.”

“You will if you can help get us out of this mess,” Javy said.

“To answer your question,” Colonel Trent said, “we have two BB-44’s, but there’s no way we’ll get close enough to their levelers or hover tanks to make use of them.”

“We have three nanoguns,” General Schmidt said.

Abigail nodded as she looked over the map.  “I may have an idea.  But it’ll take some brave men, almost brave to the point of being foolish and crazy, and a lot of luck.”

“Sounds like just the sort of plan we need right now,” Major Rodeo said with a grin.

Foxtrot glanced at General Howell, who didn’t seem to be amused.  “So we’re gonna let a twenty year old civilian woman tell us what to do with our army,” he said.  “And she says it’s a crazy plan that will take a lot of luck.  Let me remind you that we’re talking about people’s lives here.”

Javy smiled.  “Let me remind you that Joan of Arc was a twenty year old civilian woman.”

“Let’s at least hear her out,” General Schmidt said.  “I have to be honest, I am a little skeptical.  But what have we got to lose at this point?”

Abigail nodded as she continued looking over the map.  “So those black cubes are the levelers?” she asked, looking at their positions around the city.  The tunnels were also drawn on the map.

“They are,” Colonel Trent said.

“So,” she said, pointing to a tunnel that led to a spot near one of the levelers, “we need a small group of men to hit this leveler here.  They’ll travel through the tunnel.  Two other groups will go through these tunnels,” she said pointing to two other tunnels that emptied out near prisoner holding areas that were clearly labeled.  “They’ll free the prisoners.  That should cause plenty of chaos.  We need to send all of our troops at the levelers.  Hit them with our nanoguns and BB-44’s.  We don’t want to destroy the levelers, though.  We need to take as many as possible.  That takes away their biggest advantage and gives it to us, and it may just lead to an opening we can use to win the battle.”

“First of all,” General Howell said, “It’s ridiculous.  Second of all, don’t you think we’ve thought of that?”

General Schmidt cleared his throat.  “Miss Song, the closest tunnel ended a half mile from the city.  They’ll see us in a heartbeat if we try to enter the tunnels.  Besides, there are IAO troops in the tunnels.  They’ll detect us and seal us in.  Just like we did with them.”

Abigail nodded.  “Don’t worry.  I’ve thought of all that.  We’re going to need to dig our own tunnels to meet theirs.  We’re going to use sand bikes with force field projectors to burn through the sand at high speed.  That’s the method I used to get here, and obviously I got here in one piece, so it definitely worked.”

“What about the troops in the tunnels?” Colonel Trent asked.

“We need to use stealth tactics,” Abigail said.  “If we can, we’ll sneak up on some of their men using camouflage projectors and radar jammers or whatever other technology is available.  Our tech guys can figure it out.  We can steal some uniforms and then sneak up on any other troops guarding the tunnels.  I know it’s crazy, but I know the perfect person to help us plan this, and possibly lead the mission.”

“And who’s that?” General Howell asked.

“Ace McCoy,” Abigail said.  Foxtrot heard some gasps.  Javy was chuckling.  “He’s perfect for this sort of thing,” Abigail said.  “He’s broken out of some of the most heavily guarded prisons in the world.  I mean that’s basically what this is.  It’s a glorified jailbreak.”

“This is insane,” General Howell said.

“I love it!” Javy said, hitting the table.  “Abby, you think like I do.”

“It’s perfect,” Major Rodeo said.

“It’s asinine,” General Schmidt blurted.  “I’m sorry, Miss Song.  Thanks for the compliments regarding my book and all, but this plan’s just too ridiculous.”

Abby shrugged.  “We can use prisoners.  Tell them we’ll free them if they do this.  Not murderers necessarily, but we can find some thieves and bank robbers like Ace.  Especially if they’ve broken out of prisons before.”

“Ace is a murderer,” General Howell said.

“This plan just might work,” Javy said.  “It just might be crazy enough to work.  Besides, what else have we got?  A whole lot of nothing.  All the meetings we’ve had and this is the first actual plan to come out of any of them.”

General Howell shook his head.  “This is on you, then.  Your men.  And prisoners.”

“My men,” Major Rodeo said.  “I’ll help lead the way.”

“I’ll be there, too,” Della said.

“One problem,” General Howell said.  “Ace McCoy is in prison right now.”

“Leave that problem to me,” Abby said.  “I’ll have him out by tonight.  We can do this tomorrow.  An early morning raid.  While it’s still dark out.”

General Howell rolled his eyes.  “God help us.”

“Don’t worry,” Abby said with a grin.  “He will.”

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Abby looked around at the people sitting at the table in the Phoenix Books meeting room.  They were the active members of the Lead Council of the Free Society Federation.  Abby called an emergency meeting to vote on two important matters.  Abby, General Rodriguez, and General Howell were there, along with Matt Lund and Mavery Thomas.  Art Crab, a computer programmer was present, as was Alfred Heimdall from the bookstore and a banker named John Ferndale.  The final member was a reluctant Big Ed, who had to be coerced, but they couldn’t vote without at least nine members present.  Everyone trusted Big Ed, and they decided he had what it took to be in charge of security, at least for the time being, so in a hasty vote, they made him a temporary Lead Council member.  Desperate times called for desperate measures, and the resistance needed at least nine Lead Council members in order to take action to try to save Rose City and its citizens from certain annihilation.

“I’ve called this special meeting,” Abby began, “so we can vote on the future of Rose City and the future of the resistance.  By now, I believe all of you are familiar with what’s at stake here.  We’re the last hope that stands between decent, civil society and a society that’s mired in barbarism and evil.  If Rose City falls, the IAO takes over Numurka completely.  If we win, we can start building a new nation and we can build a new era of peace and prosperity.  So the first thing we’re going to vote on is our course of action in moving forward with this battle.”  She frowned and looked around at the faces at the table in the small meeting room.  There were pictures of presidents of the United States of America from ancient times hanging on the walls surrounding the room.  Abby recognized Abraham Lincoln and Franklyn D. Roosevelt, two of the greatest and most famous presidents.

“We never want war,” she said.  “Nobody ever chooses to go to war unless they believe there’s no other alternative.  I’m a peaceful person, as I’m sure all of you are.  But sometimes war is necessary.  True freedom must be paid for with blood, and now it’s time for us to fight for what we believe in.  I believe that my plan is the best way to give us the best chance of winning.  So first, I’d like to vote on my plan to use the tunnels to take a leveler, free our troops who’ve been taken prisoner, and cause confusion in the enemy ranks that could possibly lead to our victory.  Everyone who wants to move forward with this plan, please raise your hand.”  All nine people raised their hands.  Abby noted that even General Howell’s hand was raised.  He’d been opposed to her plan at first, but had finally realized that it was the best course of action available whether he liked it or not, at least for the time being.

Abby nodded.  “So we’re going to move forward then.  As for the next part, I know many of you were opposed to this at first, but I believe that Ace McCoy must be reinstated as a member of the resistance, and enlisted as an officer in our army.  I believe that to my knowledge, he’s the best person to help us plan and lead this dangerous mission.  I move that we grant Ace McCoy a military pardon.  I propose that we also grant military pardons to other prisoners who will be able to take part in this endeavor.  All who agree, please raise your hands.”  Again, all nine people raised their hands.  Della had told her that Matt Lund had told him he’d never vote to free Ace, but again, desperate times called for desperate measures.  It seemed that all nine members present agreed that this was the case, so it was settled.  Abby would visit Ace in his cell as soon as possible to break the news to him.  The thought of seeing Ace again excited her and made her nervous at the same time.  She frowned at the thought.  She couldn’t let any feelings she had get in the way of duty.  As she stood from the table and left the room with the others, Abby took a deep breath.  She prayed that she would be ready for the trials that awaited her.  She knew that they’d make everything she’d experienced in the past look like child’s play.

 
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPj434eIk5M]
 

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Continue on to the next chapter:

Afterlife, Volume 3, Chapter 34
Where:
Abby visits Ace and frees him from prison.
Ace and his raiders attempt to execute Abby’s plan.
The battle for Rose City rages.

Find the Volume 3 Table of Contents page here.

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