To Be A Rebel

Chapter 53: Break The Ice

The sound of the plane exploding makes my ears ring, and I watch, stony faced, glossy eyed as our ride home goes up in flames, lighting up the night.

"I said it was too good to be true," Sam sighs, his eyes never leaving the waves of orange and red that go up into the sky, the smoke visible for miles out.

"Which of us had money on 'we get there safely in the plane, but then we have to blow it up on the ground for tactical reasons'?" Maxine asks.

"I think Runner Two had that. Or like, he said we blow it up it up on the ground, but didn't specify reasons."

She shrugs. "Good enough. The batteries go to him. But you know, that burning plane looks like kind of pretty against the snowscape."

"Sigrid's people were about to investigate the plane," Evan says. "They'd already spotted it, but if they'd gotten any closer, they'd have known Jaime helped us steal it when they saw it was one of the royal flight."

"You did the right thing," I say, finally tearing my eyes away from the smoke and fire, away from burning metal and black snow. I don't want to admit my disappointment. I mean, I did hate that plane, since it went, well, up, but it was my way home. That was my way back to my kids...

"I set off the bomb remotely," Tom says. "They won't have seen us. We're safe."

Amelia scoffs. "Safe for now. In Finland, in the snow, with limited recourses." She pauses at the loud howling that echoes through the night air. "Oh, and wolves."

"We'll retreat to our supply stash now and come up with a plan," Janine says.

"You already know what we're going to do," She sasses, and Janine sends her a look while her brother laughs.

"I've seen her take men off a mission for less than that."

Janine simply sighs and shakes her head. "She's right. We all know exactly what we're going to do."

Sam glances over at me, a brow raised in question. I shrug, slightly shaking my head to tell him I'm just as confused as he is.

"Uh, we don't."

"There's only one group here we know that has planes and fuel," Evan says, shining his flashlight at the ground, at the multiple pairs footprints. "They've left tracks in the snow as they retreated."

My eyes grow wide, and I have to take a moment to actually find the words because I'm just that shocked over what he's suggesting. "You're-you're kidding, right? You want us to steal a plane from Sigrid?"

"We have to get our cargo home," Janine argues. "We have found-astonishing as it may seem-the holy grail, containing blood which Vikings used to cure the zombie plague, along with ancient books that might help in learning how this blood was used to create a cure. This is our most dangerous moment. If the Minister captures us now, she captures everything. We must get home. Run!"

We do, my heart fluttering in my chest as nervousness and fear spread within me, as if an icy hand is reaching inside me, curling black fingers around my heart. I'm scared, and with each step I take, that fear only gets worse.

I'm the one who has the cup. It's in my pack that I have on my hip. The cup takes up all the space, but I only had a compass and the Viking bracelet in there before. Maxine has the bracelet now, and Janine and Tom have the books that we took. It's best to have everything split up, just in case one of us gets separated and captured.

I'm scared. We have something our enemy has been trying to get for years, and instead of heading home, we're headed right towards her base here in Finland. Of course, I know Sigrid herself isn't here. She's in England, but she might as well be here. And even though she's in Abel, if we get caught, she'll be here within a few hours to come see us, come see me, and Janine and Maxine.