Determinant: One choice will change everything

Chapter 41: Tris - Complications

Chapter 41: Tris – Complications

It's a relief when a woman stops her car and offers us a ride. I'm not sure if she recognizes me from Tobias' broadcast, or if she just wants to help someone who is obviously injured, but I'm grateful either way. By now, the agony in my ribcage has become impossible to ignore, and I know I won't be able to stay upright much longer. So, I let the soldiers help me into a seat and watch as three of them join me in the vehicle. The others will have to continue on foot.

"Madam President, you really need to go to the hospital," the soldier next to me says quietly, not for the first time.

"I know," I admit, barely managing to wheeze the words out through my lungs. I swear my breathing is getting worse. "But the command center...comes first."

She sighs, but she apparently accepts my decision because she gives directions to the driver. I stare out the window as we start moving into the growing traffic, amazed by how different everything seems from inside the car. The buildings gleam in the early rays of the morning sun, looking beautiful and untroubled. And there are no sounds of suffering or stench of misery noticeable from here. This is probably how those in charge have always seen the city, I realize. The thought makes the back of my neck prickle. It shouldn't be this easy to ignore the world on the other side of the glass.

Worries pick at my mind as we drive slowly through the city streets. I can't help but think about everything that needs to be done, and about everything that could still go wrong, and about what might have already gone wrong.... At least I know that Tobias is safe – I could tell that from his broadcast – but I'm desperate for news of the others. The selfish part of me wants to throw everything else aside and look for them now, but of course I can't. There are too many lives at stake. So, instead, I try to determine my list of priorities.

The most important thing is to make sure the attack on Chicago has been called off. Without knowing the range of the transmitters, I can't tell if Tobias' broadcast reached that far or not. I have to assume it didn't, which means I need another way to get orders to the more distant parts of the army. There must be some method that NUSA uses for that; I just have to find it.

I also need to make sure that all the former government officials are taken into custody. Tobias asked people to arrest them, but I highly doubt those leaders will just roll over and let their power be taken away. They'll fight back, and they clearly have plenty of resources to help them – weapons and vehicles and hiding places and who knows what else. It will be difficult to ensure they're all captured...or killed, I suppose.

And then there's the obvious need to start building a new government. I can't do that by myself, which means I have to figure out whose help I want, and somehow get a message to those people. Unfortunately, I can't say that a bunch of names jump to mind, but I already knew that. After all, if there were a lot of good choices for this task, Tobias wouldn't have picked me in the first place. Still, it's frustrating to realize that I'm going to have to work with a combination of strangers and people I don't like. Maybe it's always that way in life....

I sigh, trying to figure out what criteria to use when selecting people, other than my instincts. I guess it would help to have people from a variety of different backgrounds, so everyone's interests are represented. And we'll definitely need a historian – someone who can teach us about different forms of government so we can pick something that works for our situation. Something that will also hold up in the future.

And we need people who can lead. I have no desire to stay president for long, and even in the meantime, I shouldn't hold all the power. We didn't learn all that much history in school, but I remember that it's never worked out well for one person to have sole power, no matter how good their intentions are.