17: In the Midst of Battle

With the gas mask firmly against my face, I gently stepped onto the hand-cranked lift and put my hand out for Tamara to grip and climb down next to me. I ignored the pain at my temple as the strap of the mask pressed against my uncovered wound. For my plan to work, I needed to look as if I hadn't been injured and treated.

Em peered down over the lip of the hole. "Be safe."

By now, the gunfire had stopped and no activity was detected. Things had seemed to settle down, but to settle down now was eerily strange. We were in the midst of a battle, a fight that had yet to claim a victor. My nerves kicked in, causing my innards to do somersaults. I already missed the days where ogling Vince and discussing Refuge Inc. legends in the library were the highlights of my day. Compared to gunfire and gunshot wounds, my life had been pretty stress free up until yesterday. The things I had took for granted for so long had been snatched away from so many in a blink of an eye.

Now it was not just things, it was lives.

I glanced at Tamara as we descended into the darkness, past the debris from level twelve, which now rested on Eleven. No words were exchanged, but the fear in her eyes caused my heart to pitter-patter in an unusual rhythm. When I could no longer make out her facial features in the darkness, I gripped her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze of confidence, hoping she would return the favor. When she responded with a double squeeze, the gesture calmed the pain that radiated my skull and the knots in my gut, as it brought attention to our intertwined fingers and the pressure of her grip.

She moved closer until our shoulders touched. "Sometimes you would look at me and gloss right over me, but other times you'd look at me like you really saw me for the first time. And in those moments, I would feel guilty for the hell I caused you. Also, you remind me why I'm really here." Her voice was just above a whisper. "To fight alongside you for what's right. That's why Vince needs you. Why I do too. Why we all do."

"I notice you every time I look your way." I turned and leaned closer so I could speak as low as possible. "You're a beautiful, determined woman, who I often admire and envy for your intelligence. I have no doubt that one day you'll find someone who'll not only see those qualities and fall in love with them, but who will love you the way you deserved to be loved." I squeezed her hand again. "I'm fully convinced the facility couldn't last long without you. You have a lot to offer."

The lift stopped at Eleven and we waited for a few short, agonizing minutes, listening to the booted footsteps that echoed below. Reaching behind me, my hand grazed the metallic handgun in the holster at my waistband.

The spotlight that had lit up the space between the hole in the wall and the short corridor that led to the ladder was no longer shining. Was is damaged in the gun battle that injured some of our fighters? Whatever the reason, it gave us the advantage of hiding in the shadows.

Tamara stepped onto the first rung of the ladder. When she went down a few steps, I followed, listening for motion around me. One foot below the other, blindly feeling for each rung to safely allow my weight onto.

"Hey, Thomson." A voice called from around the corner, near the hole that led into the main halls of Ten. "Anything?"

"Nah. Nothing, man." The voice was familiar. "I'll put a hole through the first fucker I see. No worries."

There was no mistaking the voice and threats of Ralph Thomson and his partner Sean. As much as I thought jamming wads of polyester fiber down his urethra would give him a taste of his own medicine, I had moved past that incident. Confronting him now would be a totally different battle, especially since Vince was nowhere in sight to come to my rescue if my plan backfired.

We continued down the ladder, one foot after the other, peering through the large window of our gas masks. The darkness cloaked us like a wool blanket, and our sense of touch was the only thing keeping us from falling to the rubble-littered concrete below.

Their footsteps gave me an idea of their proximity. They were just beyond the wall that stood twenty to thirty feet from us.

Tamara reached the bottom first, and I tapped my toes lightly against the floor, hoping the sound of the tiny granules of blasted concrete beneath my soles didn't give us away. Tamara followed my lead as we made our way to the hole in the wall, creeping closer to the men on the other side of it.

"How long is this gonna take, man?" Ralph's impatience gave away his exact position.

"You want him to rush and blow us all up?" Sean scoffed. "Shit like this takes time to get right. Just keep a look out."

"No one's getting through the east stairwell," Ralph went on. "Dr. Randolph made sure of that. And by the looks of it, there's no one left alive up here anyway. Anyone up top would be a fool to come down now."

"Just follow the orders. All right?"

Had the first explosion taken out the east stairway? Were they preparing to detonate another bomb to conceal the hole in the wall and eventually the west stairway?

A beam of light flashed by the entrance of the hole, startling me as I tried to take cover, but in my haste I kicked a chunk of concrete.

"You hear that?" the voice asked.

Light beyond the hole illuminated the space around us, but Tamara pressed her back to the wall and stood motionless, pointing her handgun to the floor near her feet.

"I got it." Ralph's light fixed on the uneven gape. "Come on out, fucker."

I imagined the flashlight perched on the barrel of his rifle, and where the light shined a shot would follow. His footsteps crept closer, crunching the debris beneath every calculated step. The light grew denser and brighter the closer he came.

I had to do something.

Anything.

Time to proceed with my plan.

"Ralph, it's me." I gulped away the nerves causing my voice to quiver through the gas mask. "It's Connor Nichols."

"What are you doing, Connor?" His composed voice cautioned me, as I realized this confrontation wasn't going to be easy.

We stayed in our positions, afraid to move too quickly and do something drastic prematurely. However, Randolph had never publicly announced our disappearance, giving me a chance to work the predicament in my favor.

My mind raced with possible scenarios. Either I could convince him and get him to help us, or one of us would have to die. I wasn't ready for the latter. "There's no contamination threat. There was never a breach. Randolph is trying to cover up a vicious, inhumane act-"

"Step into the light." Ralph's beam shined through the hole and to the back of the wall. "Let me see you. Make sure you're who you say you are."

His partner's light added to the beam on the wall. "Careful, Thomson," he warned.

"Sshh," Ralph held his place. "I got this. Step into my light, Connor. Now."

"I can't do that." I glanced at Tamara, who remained silent in her position. "I need to know you won't shoot."

"Well, I'm not lowering my weapon," he said. "So I guess we have a problem."

"The problem is the lies Randolph is feeding you." I sighed, feeling my chance of reasoning with him slipping. "He's killed many people, including my dad. He left many others to die brutal deaths. There's no contamination up here. There's no breach, and by doing this, you're doing his dirty work."

"You have three seconds to show your face," Ralph warned. "Three... two..."

Shit.

I stepped out from behind the wall and into the beam. "It's me, Ralph." Blinded by the light, I put my hands up to show I was no threat. "Don't shoot."

"There's no contamination up here, right? Then why are you wearing a mask?"

I had to think quick. "I never took it off."

He took a step forward. "Why are you up here?"

"I followed Vince up here and he's hurt really bad." I backed up by one step, hands still displayed. "He needs help. We've been trapped up here since Randolph sealed the lifts. Please, come help."

"Ralph-" his partner started, doubt in his tone.

"Please, Ralph." I pressed my palms together. "This is the least you could do for me. Come on."

His partner coughed. "Ralph, our orders."

"I know him. All right. We go way back." Ralph proceeded through the entrance of the wall. "He's not gonna do nothing." One more step and he was past the threshold.

Tamara stepped forward and placed the muzzle of her gun to his temple. "Lower your weapons. Both of you."

"Goddamn it, Ralph," his partner cried out.

Ralph kneeled to place his rifle onto the ground, all the while Tamara's gun remained at the side of his head.

Once his gun was on the ground, I grabbed his wrist and twisted him around to face his partner. With my arm hooked around his neck, I held him in front of me as a shield. "Drop your weapon." I pulled my handgun from my waistband and pressed the end of it to Ralph's ear.

Tamara moved fast, picking up Ralph's rifle and pointing it and its light at his partner. "Drop it."

He didn't move. "Fuck you."

I pushed the tip of the gun under the edge of Ralph's gasmask, until it broke the vacuum seal and the mask flipped off of his face.

"What are you doing?" His panic tripled as he fidgeted in my arms, trying to break free. "I'm fucking dead. You fucking killed me!"

"There are no toxins, like I said." I peeled my mask off and dropped it to the floor. "Now calm down. I swear I have no problem retaliating against you for what you done to me in that bathroom. You remember that?" I had gotten over that incident a long time ago, but he didn't have to know that, especially if feigning hostility worked in my favor.

"That was years ago, man." He squirmed. "A stupid thing that never happened again. Vince made certain we made out even already."

"Tell your friend to drop his weapon," I insisted.

Ralph looked to his partner. "Dude, put the gun down."

"Orders," he responded.

"Just fucking do it, man."

Finally, and reluctantly, his partner placed the gun on the floor. Tamara kept him in her sights and refused to drop her aim.

I jammed my knee into Ralph's hip, against his sciatic nerve. "What are you doing up here?"

"Ow, man! What do you mean? We volunteered to watch the halls with a few higher officers while the technicians place the explosives, because a lot of the higher officers were needed on other floors to handle some arrests and keep order."

"What shook the place earlier?" I pressed the gun to his cheek. "Was that an explosive?"

"We took down the east stairway." He coughed. "Randolph wants to collapse Ten to seal it from the rest of the hemi." He whimpered. "Am I gonna die?"

"No. Listen. Randolph is trying to hide evidence of mass murder. There are hundreds of people still alive up there and they've been up there for almost fourteen years, since the first apparent breach. My mom's one of them."

"Huh?" his face twisted in confusion. "Man, what are you talking about? What's going on?"

I took a deep breath, thinking up a plan B. "How are you receiving Randolph's orders up here?"

"Through our earbuds. Don't you know anything?"

With my free hand, I pulled the wireless bud from his ear and placed it into mine. I pressed it twice until it clicked.

"Control." A voice answered.

"This is unit..." I looked down at Ralph's number on the back of his suit. "This is Cadet Seven-Zero-Zero, Ralph Thompson. Connect me to Randolph, please."

"Affirmed. Connected."

"Randolph." The sound of his voice angered me.

"Vince is up here and he's still alive." My voice was rushed as adrenaline kicked in. "You need to stop this before it's too late."

"Who is this?"

"This is Connor Nichols. Vince, Tamara, and I are alive and well. We need to establish peace. We can still make peace."

"So she's already got to you too, huh?" His calm voice made my teeth clench.

"Who, you mean my mother? You mean the woman you told me was dead?"

There was a long sigh. "Sometimes as a leader you have to make some terrible decisions and tell a few fibs for the betterment of the masses. I'm not looking for you to understand my motive, and I lack the patience to explain myself, but you need to know that great leaders make great sacrifices. And that's what I have done."

"Whatever sacrifices were made, it's not too late to fix."

"Oh, but it is. It's far too late. There's no turning back now. If we 'make peace' as you say, the entire facility will turn against me. And the one thing I cannot have is to be overthrown and replaced by incompetent, self-centered people who care nothing about the citizens they're responsible for."

I scoffed and tightened my grip on Ralph. "Incompetent? Self-centered? And what do you call yourself?"

"Quite the opposite. I will do whatever it takes to make sure my people are taken care of and not taken advantage of by tyrannical, cruel leadership."

Thoughts of my once happy family flashed through my mind, and my anger for him grew tenfold. "You'd do whatever it takes, like killing my father, and trying to kill my mother, my only family? And the hundreds of other lives you've taken?"

"If it comes down to it, yes." He paused, giving me enough time to regret ever looking up to him. "Your mother wanted to lead a fight against me, and your father was trying to help her."

"Would it have been so bad to have someone else take lead?" I kept the gun pressed to the side of Ralph's face.

"Listen." Randolph's voice sunk low into a growl. "The people under my reign never complained about my leadership, neither have you. I took care of you. I've given you everything. Everyone in this place has everything they need. My leadership made people healthy, happy, and productive. Everyone has had the best meals, the best healthcare, the best of all luxuries. We've made advancements in our studies. We've been highly successful at our jobs, and I won't allow anyone to prevent me from doing mine. So you can paint me with the bristles of an evil man if you like, but if you really wanted what's best for this facility, you'd would make the ultimate sacrifice and allow me to do what's right."

The truth knocked me in my gut. He was right about one thing: in all the years during his leadership, no one ever complained, at least publicly. Still, no one knew of his crimes, and somehow he would have to pay for what he'd done and continued to do. There was no reason to take the lives of so many innocent people or make them suffer. In this case, misery and death didn't have to be the final solution.

I took a deep breath to calm myself. "There has to be a better way."

He spoke in a hushed tone that emphasized the vocal cracks in voice. "Sometimes the better way isn't always the most practical. Now, as much as I know you hate me for your father's death and your mother's confinement, those decisions were made for the good of the facility, and I stand fully behind that. What do you stand behind?"

For the first time in my life, I was without words.

He went on, "I have a job to do, a facility to run, and lives to protect. Goodbye, Connor."

I stood there, dumbfounded and more confused than ever.

Tamara inched closer. "Well, what did he say?"

Noise in my ear startled me. "Dr. Randolph speaking. Those of you on Ten with Ralph Thompson, Cadet Seven-Zero-Zero, neutralize anyone nearby who's causing a threat. And prepare to detonate. I repeat-"

The back of Ralph's head butted my chin, dazing me, and he scurried out of my arms. His partner reached toward his firearm on the floor, but Tamara fired a shot at the ground near it. They scurried away and took cover behind the wall.

I fired at the wall. "Run, Tamara."

She dropped the rifle and rushed toward the ladder behind us with me on her heels. She climbed a few steps before the beam of a flashlight caught us in its spotlight. Blindly, I aimed toward the light and pulled the trigger. The beam disappeared and I climbed as fast as my hands and feet would allow.

The light returned along with two shots that found their target at the wall beside me. Chips of concrete hit my right side, slowing my ascent by seconds when I flinched from the pain.

"Keep moving." I gripped the wooden rung ahead of me, a foot a so away from the hand-cranked lift.

Tamara's feet disappeared over the lip of the platform, and her hand appeared in seconds. I extended my hand, barely grazing her fingertips with mine. Suddenly my foot slipped from the step and her hand faded in the darkness as I dropped into a free-fall.

~~~

Do you think Connor and Tamara will survive this? If so, how? All of your comments and feedback is appreciated.

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