Liberation

Chapter 17

Adam's point of view:

"What the hell happened to you?" Susan asks while being suffocated by Julia's one-armed hug.

"It's a long story," Peter tells her.

"Well, we've got time," Kyle says when Julia finally lets go of them.

"Actually, we don't. Kyle, come with me; we've got to go inform the other nurses and doctors about what's coming and get medical supplies ready. Julia, I'll be back later to tend to your shoulder," Cassia says as she leads Kyle away.

"What do you mean 'what's coming'?" Kyle asks.

"I'll explain on the way," Cassia informs him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch site of two girls coming this way.

My sisters.

"Adam? What's going on?" Maria asks when she reaches us. "We saw smoke in the distance. We didn't know what to think," Samantha adds.

"Hey guys. Listen, the mission went bad. Henley and her brother and their police are coming here to attack us. We've got two days until they arrive if we're lucky," I explain.

"What happened?" Samantha asks.

"We tried doing a stakeout to find Henley. She figured out what happened and tried a mass execution on us and the rest of their citizens. We had to get them out," I tell them, pointing at the mass of people looking to us with expectancy.

"See to it that they're taken care of. Try leading putting them in the dome," I tell Samantha, gesturing to the large building in the distance that I had built as a shelter in case things ever went bad.

She nods at me and begins gathering the people. "Everyone, follow me. We'll take care of you here," she tells them.

I begin to walk away with Maria following me. "See to it that we have healers and people with the power of joy standing by. Some are injured and they're all afraid," I explain.

"I'll see to it as soon as possible. But Adam, I need to know what we're up against here. Our police force is small and inexperienced," she explains.

When I became Leader, I appointed Maria to be the Chief of Defenses, responsible for making sure that we would be ok if we were ever attacked.

"Well chief, what do you suppose we do?" I ask her.

She ponders this for a moment, her blue eyes wild with calculations and plans, the same power as mine guiding her.

"Not all of our police have powers. I suggest that we open the weapon vault and load all of our soldiers with any and all pieces of equipment necessary to hold our attackers back," Maria suggests, brushing her red hair out of her face.

"Do what you will with the weapons, but it's not going to be enough. If our high-tech security prison couldn't keep Henley in, what can we do to keep her out?" I ask.

She lifts her head to the horizon, gazing at the smoke's curling tendrils just beginning to show themselves above the trees many miles away.

"Those flames are going to turn into a massive wildfire, but it will get here sooner than Henley and her brother will. I say we gather everyone with the power of elements to stand guard around the entire perimeter of the city. When the fire reaches us, they'll form a protective barrier of the flames to keep them out. While they're doing that, we'll keep our police close to guard them. I'll tell Cassia to have a medical team ready to keep their energy levels high," she says.

"Impressive," I admit. "But Maria, I don't know what kind of powers they have, so I'm not sure if it would work. What if they try to come in by air or they simply pass right through the fire?" I ask.

"Keeping the fire suspended in one place for a long time outside the city will make it work overtime, causing it to release more CO2. The air would be too dangerous to breath, so I doubt they'd come in by the sky. And the idea of passing right through the fire seems pretty far-fetched," she brings up, raising a valid point.

I shrug, out of ideas at the moment.

"Remember that protective, transparent barrier that you told me about three years ago that you used to guard the camp with?" She asks.

"Yes, but what good would it do? It shattered under too much pressure," I tell her.

"Exactly. But even still, we'd be able to see them trying to break in. It would give us time to prepare," she offers.

"Maria," I say as I put a hand on her shoulder. "Whatever you have to do to keep them out, do it. That weapon vault has grenades and missiles; blow up the entire perimeter for all I care. Just keep them away from here. They're not coming to fight, they're coming to kill. Please, protect our city," I beg her.

She looks at the smoke on the horizon again, a look of determination in her eyes like I've never seen in all my years as her brother.

"I protect our people, but it's up to you to lead them. They look to you, Adam. Remember that," she says before walking away, a purpose in every step she takes back to her department of defenses building.

I look out to the woods, thinking of the massive army marching through the flames that will be on our doorstep in two days, if not sooner.

"We have work to do," I say to myself as I walk to my building, thinking of my office still lying in ruins from Julia's last visit there.