To Be A Rebel

Chapter 5: Hanging On The Telephone

"Okay, three packs of chewing gum and half a pack of M&M's says he drops out of a tree," Maxine says, earning a laugh from Paula.

"Is he still dropping out of trees?" She asks.

"Some things don't really change! You can take a man out of an evil government task force, but you can't stop him dropping out of trees."

"I think he'll just come right towards us." She shrugs. "It's only been two days since they got me out of Abel. He hasn't had the time to come up with something elaborate."

She laughs. "Boring! He'll be dangling out of a helicopter that's on fire! Do you wanna bet on that, Five?"

I chuckle but shake my head. "No, I uh, I don't think I'll bet on it this time."

"No, wait, okay, I've changed my mind," Paula says. "Running, but he's running away from an explosion which he caused."

"Sounds much more plausible," Maxine says.

"What did Sam reckon?"

"Oh, Sam is convinced Steve will appear out of the night so suddenly, we might wonder for a moment if he's actually a wizard!"

She laughs. "Wow. That is quite-"

"Staked his toothpaste on it."

"His toothpaste?" Steve asks, and we all jump and snap our gazes towards his voice. He grins at us. "Then I'd hate to let him down."

Maxine huffs. "Oh, for God's sake!"

"Sorry, love. Got a reputation to maintain. And now that Sigrid's told the world that Five and Sam are actually alive, she's got her soldiers scouring these woods everywhere looking for them."

"What did she say?" I ask with a raised brow. "That she made a mistake and only thought we were dead?"

"That you and Sam faked your own deaths."

I hum. "Makes sense. Politicians never want to admit they're wrong, even when they're lying on both instances."

"Anyway, she's looking for you now, and she's angry, so sneaky is the only way."

"And you know where the communications station is?" Paula asks. "You can lead us there? We have to work out some way to sabotage it this evening, just to give us some breathing space until we find a new place to live. We can't even talk to Sam on coms right now."

"Which sucks," I grumble. Steve chuckles.

"I do and I can, darling. And it's a lovely night for a bit of nefarious sabotage of Sigrid's facilities, disguised as Exmoore Militia. But I'm on special measures at Abel after what happened."

I nod, looking at his bruised nose from Owen's assault on him, as well as how his right cheek is slightly swollen.

"Ian got you good, huh?"

He shrugs. "Nothing I can't handle. But he has told me I have to report to him personally every hour, so we're on a tight schedule. A boy can't miss his master. Ready, Five? Let's go."

He takes off and we follow, and I adjust my jacket, the bright yellow color standing out in the oncoming evening. As long as we don't look like Abel people, we should be okay. My hood is pulled up, as is Maxine's. It would be bad for Paula to be seen, but if Maxine is seen, then they'll know Steve didn't really kill her, and me-well I know the Minister wants me dead. I'm nothing but a thorn in her side, not that I want to be anything else.

But her people seeing us would be extremely bad. Paula's only wanted because of the babies, which I know Sigrid wants because of some kind of testing they were doing.