Page 83 of Longing for Liberty
“There you are. … Yes, it happened overnight at three separate arms venues. I’ll send you the locations. Cameras were tampered with at all three; segments of time between two hours and forty minutes to three hours and eight minutes are missing. I have no answers yet, but my men are looking into it.” He shut his eyes and shook his head as the other man yelled. It had to be Roan. Nobody else would yell at him like that. “Nearly everything was wiped out at all three places, weapons and ammo.” Another shout that I could hear all the way across the room. “I don’tknowhow! This isn’t some random handful of people. We’re looking at a large, organized group with men on the inside. We need to interrogate every person with clearance.”
I didn’t realize I was tearing at my cuticles with my teeth until I tasted the metallic tang of blood, and I forced my hand into my lap.
Don’t bounce your leg.
Stay still.
“No, I don’t think it’s anyone from Five,” Amos said with irritation. “My men watch them around the clock. And do you really think they could pull this off? It has to be our workers. Or even international terrorists.”
My skin prickled at his comment about Community Five. All those times he’d been vague about Community Five, and I’d wondered if he respected them or thought they were strong…how off I’d been. He underestimated them just like he underestimated me. He believed them, and me, to be naturally less intelligent and incapable of overthrowing their forces. Knowing this was like swallowing a bitter pill that turned to fire in my belly.
Fine. Let Amos continue to think like that. Let all of their foolish prejudices be their downfall as I listened and passed everything along to the resistance. And listen, I did.
If I understood correctly, three locations with weapons had been looted and were now in possession of the resistance. And Amos was right, there had to be three large groups to move those, and I was certain the groups consisted of inside workers like me, along with citizens who were never captured in the roundups, and C5 members. America had so many forests, swamps, and bodies of water to hide in. State Force could never surveil all of them. Community Five had found ways in and out of their lands.
In that moment, as I sat there trying to look forlorn and worried, all I could do was imagine those people who had raided the weapons. They’d surely felt the same terror I had when I downloaded all of Amos’s information. But they’d done it. I had no idea where those arms were headed, but I internally cheered and wept with joy.
For that one glorious moment, I didn’t feel so alone. I felt part of something bigger. Something important. I felt proud.
THIRTY-NINE
STATE NEWS: C1 CITIZENS TO BEAUTIFY CITY CENTER THIS SATURDAY FOLLOWED BY PICNIC! BRING YOUR OWN FOOD!
The next day,while I cleaned silently in a flowing dress of pastel flowers, Amos met online with his highest military advisers and officers. A zing of excitement went through me when I realized he wasn’t going to use headphones. I’d be able to hear everything.
What I learned that day as I meandered through my chores was vital to the movement.
The tech factory in Community Four was nearing completion of one hundred thousand drones, which they hoped to have set up and manned to send into Community Five within two months. This was bad. Once drones got in there, it would affect the way members of C5 could speak openly and plan. But not just that…these drones were not just for surveillance. They would have the ability to shoot bullets and detonate like grenades.
I wanted to throw up my breakfast as they discussed this.
Right now, satellite drones from higher up were scouting the land area of Community Five to map out what neighborhoods could currently be used to build pod neighborhoods like the other communities currently had, and what buildings would need to be torn down and rebuilt to be like the neighborhood where Jeremy and I lived. The C5 members themselves would be doing demolition and rebuilding, overseen by State Force, just like we’d done six years ago. For two months, we’d lived in tents.
Places like strip malls would be torn down and turned into fields for agriculture.
It sounded much like what I knew of the other four communities, except for some disgusting differences. Community Five, which was in one of the hottest regions, would not be given air conditioning, not even crappy window units like we had. They would have to “make do” with fans like people did for centuries before. The cruelty had me tasting bile.
But the worst part was how they planned to monitor the women and their bodies. Each young woman who wasn’t a parent yet was expected to have two children—one to replace herself and one to replace the father. The goal was to keep the population the same, carefully monitoring so it would not get much higher or lower. Sterilization clinics would be a thing.
By the time Amos finished the meeting, my head was pounding, and I was dissociating in a major way to keep from showing emotion.
He let me take my walk after dinner, and I told Kathy everything as quickly as possible.
“Two months?” Kathy whispered.
“Two months until the drones come,” I said back. “Then they’ll map it all out, and in about eleven months, State Force will go in to implement the building of the neighborhoods and work centers.”
She cursed under her breath. I agreed with the sentiment.
“We’re going to need some sort of interference. A sense of chaos to distract and give us more time.”
I hoped someone could come up with something fast.
* * *
That nightas we lay in bed with my head on Amos’s chest, I knew it was time to prod him for information, but I wasn’t sure how. I decided to start at the beginning.
I ran my fingers through his chest hair as I asked, “What was your childhood like?”
