Reddened Wasteland Read online

  “So you play ‘the truth’ right onto the televisions inside everyone’s homes. No wonder you have so many people now. They are probably happy just to see something that isn’t so—”

  “Fake?” he finished for her.

  “Exactly,” she nodded. “Got to tell you, man. You have a pretty brilliant recruiting plan here… but there has to be more to it,” she turned and walked out of the room, with Thorin on her heels.

  “There is. Come with me,” he took the lead down the hall.

  After a short walk, they entered another massive room, with dozens of bookshelves lining the walls. They were overflowing with texts of all different shapes and sizes and colors. The room was brightly lit and many armored men were lounging around, casually reading. Everyone looked completely at peace, off in another world in their own minds. It was the most bizarre sight, people reading books just out in the open without looking over their shoulder at every turn of the page.

  “We also offer knowledge. With these books, we can learn from the past mistakes of humanity and we can better prepare for the future. These books have taught us of old warriors, and have given us their skill. We have used them to train an entire army. We even learned how to smith, and made these great weapons and armor. While The Union has a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips, we have the history of Earth itself. They may have their fancy new guns, and they may be trained well with them, but we have the sharpest steel, and a group of people that can masterfully use it.”

  Velar was taken aback; she would give anything to access the knowledge contained in those books. Liberty’s Hammer was quickly becoming something unexpected. Maybe they weren’t the fanatical terrorist group that she had originally thought. Maybe they were a well-educated group that did bad things out of necessity. “So why me? Why did you take me?” she asked.

  “Well, you and Alerik are very good at what you do, very dedicated to acting in the best interest of the people, regardless of the consequences to yourselves. That is exactly what we are looking for. The Union can’t have both of you, and of course, we assume you could convince Alerik to switch sides,” he said with a smile.

  A memory surfaced. “I don’t think that you are Alerik’s favorite group of people right now,” she frowned. “I kind of left him a clue that Liberty’s Hammer took me. I assumed it was Liberty’s Hammer, since it wasn’t The Union.”

  “That’s not good. But, it would explain why we have reports coming in of his increasingly hostile behavior. He and his new partner have been capturing our people and asking more questions around the settlement,” he scratched his chin and leaned against the wall. “Well, the good news is, he is only getting our fringe associates, people that we use out in the world to get things done without ever bringing them into the circle. As long as he keeps finding them instead of us, that is a good thing. It allows us to keep our work going while The Union gets minimal information and preoccupies themselves with false leads.”

  “New partner?” she wondered, but didn’t bring it up with Thorin. Just another Union lackey, presumably. “Maybe I should go talk to him. If he knew I was alright, maybe he would bring it down a notch,” she offered.

  “No… It is better this way. With him on the rampage, it points The Union in the wrong direction. If he calms down and starts to focus again, they might get to us before we are prepared. A great war is coming to Liberty, we need to be as ready as we can be.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked, her brow furrowed with concern.

  “One final battle. We are going to use everything we have and attack The Union building. We are either going to take them out once and for all, or be wiped off of the map. Either way, we only have one shot at this, so everything has to be perfect,” he said with his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

  “What? How will you orchestrate that? You said you could only use that device when close to other devices that receive transmissions.”

  “You’re right, unless we have a way to amplify the signal. Our plan is to fight through The Union building until we reach the radio tower, then we will send out our broadcast everywhere for people to rise up and help us clean up the remaining Union men at all of their outposts,” he said, his voice dripping with confidence.

  She thought it over for a moment. Hypothetically, their plan could work. It would, if they were capable of cutting through The Union building. Once they took that tower and gave the word, the people would surely follow. Everyone hated The Union. “Sounds pretty solid, I have to admit,” she nodded. “You know… you are a lot different than I expected,” she caught herself admiring his physique and quickly occupied herself with studying the ground at her feet. What the hell?

  “What did you expect, exactly?”

  “I don’t know… Some old man, or a creepy black shadowy figure. I’m not sure really.”

  “Sorry to disappoint,” he chuckled.

  “Oh, you did a lot of things, but disappoint was not on that list,” as the words spilled out of her mouth she realized that she was flirting. Again she wondered what was wrong with her? Alerik was probably worried sick, searching the settlement high and low for her… and there she was, picturing this guy out of his armor. She needed to get it under control.

  “You are not THAT disappointing yourself,” he said with a wink. “I am going to head out now. I need to start the day’s training for my men. Will you be alright on your own?”

  “I’m a big girl, I’ll be fine. If you need me again, I’ll be in the library,” she hurried through her reply, extremely relieved that Thorin would be leaving so that she could have some quiet time to get her head straight.

  “Tomorrow, I would like you to join us for training. We need you prepared for anything that might come our way. Everyone must be prepared,” he said as he started walking away, “No exceptions.”

  “Will I get one of those sweet sets of armor?” she called out to him.

  “Of course!”

  She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face.

  ***

  Over the course of the next few weeks, Velar read many books, soaking up as much information as she could. She read of Earth’s history, along with legends of far-off worlds. She wondered if many of them existed. She read tales of kings and queens, gods and demons, Valhalla, Mount Olympus, Heaven, and Hell.

  She picked up on the origins of many of the expressions the people still used. Curse words were especially fascinating to her. Funny as it seemed, the fact that she exclaimed the same thing that an Earthling would’ve said, when she dropped a rock on her foot, was exhilarating. Every bit of information, no matter how small, was amazing to her, and she couldn’t get through the books fast enough. There was only so much time.

  She quickly discovered that war was a fact of life on Earth. Men fought and bled for their beliefs and for the people they loved. She was beginning to understand what Liberty’s Hammer was all about, and she decided that she was onboard.

  As the days went by, she became more and more enthralled with the cause, wholeheartedly dedicated to fighting for what they believed. She still missed Alerik dearly, but she was getting training in The Forge, and knowledge she couldn’t gain anywhere else. She knew that one day, when she and Alerik were reunited, he would understand. She hoped at least. All of this had to be for something bigger, she just knew it. She had been reading a lot about fate lately, and from what she could understand of it, she knew that she and Alerik would be together someday, and fate would get her to him.

  She and Thorin had become pretty close during the last few weeks as well, though she never crossed the line and did something she’d feel guilty about. He never pushed it, either, which she was thankful for. She was fairly certain that the attraction went both ways. It was hard at times for her to ignore her increasing feelings for Thorin, but thoughts of Alerik always snapped her out of those feelings rather fast.

  There were times that she’d wish that she’d never met Thorin, but then… then there were other tim
es that she’d wish that she hadn’t been involved with anyone before arriving at The Forge. She was confused and ashamed of these thoughts, so she tried to avoid them.

  She wondered why her life had to be so complicated, most people went through life just doing repetitive tasks until they died. But her life, for whatever reason, was different… it was suddenly interesting. Be careful what you wish for, one of the books had said. It was so true, it hurt. She had wanted something other than the monotony of the mines, and oh boy, did she ever get it. ‘Interesting’ in Liberty was a double-edged sword.

  She walked through the room with the shelves, letting her finger graze over the tops of the uneven books. To her, they were a source of magic and wonder… They had to be protected at all costs. Luckily, with her training, she was now pretty good with a sword. She could protect them. Probably.

  She exited the library, daydreaming of fighting dragons on Earth, and aliens on far-off worlds. She had been doing that more and more lately. It was as if the books had unlocked her mind and its potential. She couldn’t remember dreaming at all, before. If she did, they were likely boring old nightmares about scrubbing dirt off of rocks. No wonder she didn’t remember them.

  She hated to leave the adventures in the books behind, but she had to attend her daily training. She didn’t mind all too much, though. She felt it opened her mind in another way and helped her realize the potential of her body. She was much more athletic, much stronger than she had given herself credit for.

  She made her way down to where training was usually conducted and found Thorin addressing the group. As usual, he went over their duties for the week, and their assignments for the cause. He moved in front of them like he was floating on air, just gliding effortlessly in his armor. He was authoritative and strong, he knew exactly who he was and what he wanted. The way he carried himself just broadcasted his confidence, she was entranced by him.

  She couldn’t help but feel the way she did, but she cursed herself for it. It made her feel like a bad person, and she wondered if this all meant that she was wrong for Alerik. Maybe they weren’t fated to be together. She hadn’t seen him in a long time, she started wondering if he had moved on from her. She could be dead for all he knew. As more time went by, the harder it was to resist her own impulses. What if he was in a similar situation? She thought about him mourning her, then moving on from her… and though she was dealing with her feelings for Thorin, the thought of Alerik with another woman seriously angered her.

  She pushed the thoughts away, since she had no idea how to handle them.

  Thorin finished up with his men and walked over to Velar, greeting her with a smile. “So, how was I?” he asked.

  “Perfect, as always,” she replied.

  “You sure know how to boost a guy’s ego,” he grinned. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”

  She wondered what that something could be, “Okay, show me.”

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her along. Velar wasn’t entirely comfortable with him holding her hand, but she went with it. He brought her to a room she’d never seen before. Inside was a metal table, and bright lights shone down onto some strange device that was laying on top. She was immediately confused, she had no clue what the object was or why he seemed so excited about it.

  “What is this thing?” she asked, as she wriggled loose from his hand to try and pick it up.

  “No! Don’t touch it!” He shouted and she recoiled. “It’s not finished. This is the device that will win this thing for us. This is what we will use to hijack the radio tower!” he grinned.

  “But it’s not finished?” she asked.

  “No. Turns out that several parts are missing and cannot be replicated. We just don’t have the technology for it. There is only one broadcasting station in the settlement, and we have to get the rest from there.”

  “You mean The Union radio station… the one inside The Union building?”

  “Exactly. When the time comes and we make our move, we will need enough time to put this device together once we’re inside the control room. Then, we need someone who is quick on their feet to get out to the radio tower itself, and attach the device,” he said with a smile.

  “Where do I fit in…?” she asked.

  “I want you to be the person to do it,” he said as he put his hand on her shoulder.

  “What? Me? Why me?!”

  “Because I’ll need every good man I have with me, standing guard in the room. You’ll have to transfer the signal back to the control tower so that we can override the scheduled broadcast. It will be relatively safe because The Union’s attention will solely be on us. We won’t have much time to execute, so you will need to be fast. Once you override the broadcast and unlock the signal for us, we will be able to stream our own broadcast out to the settlement and call for backup. The chaos from the broadcast should take some of the heat off of us for our return trip out of the building,” he frowned. “Not to put too much pressure on you or anything, but if this fails, we will be sitting ducks inside that control room.”

  “It’s a control room, though. Why can’t you just highjack the signal from inside and broadcast?”

  “They have locks, passwords and fail safes in place. The deflected scientists told us that without using that device, it would take hours to crack their codes. The device does it in a matter of seconds, but needs to be on the actual tower to work.”

  “I don’t know if you should trust me with something this big, Thorin…” her stomach knotted.

  “Nonsense. I have faith in you. When the time comes, I will give you the device, and I’ll need you to do this for us. Can you do it?” He asked.

  “Okay. Alright. Yes… I’ll do it,” she nodded, wishing she felt as confident as she sounded. But, somebody had to do it, and she was just as dedicated to liberating the settlement as the rest of Liberty’s Hammer. She wouldn’t allow The Union to win this, no matter what.

  Chapter Five

  The last few weeks had been particularly hard for Alerik. The disappearance of Velar had torn his heart out. He began drinking a lot more, much to The Union’s dismay. Everything seemed lost and hopeless to him, but a person would never know that from looking at a television screen.

  Despite his newfound depression and self-destructive drinking habits, Alerik had brought countless people from Liberty’s Hammer to justice. He was beginning to be something of a celebrity, a legend. He didn’t care about the fame — or notoriety— if that’s what it was. All he cared about was taking down those responsible for taking Velar. It was all he had to live for anymore, just a fiery desire for vengeance. He had finally accepted that Velar was likely dead, and he was going to make everyone involved suffer. He stopped caring about what was right and wrong, as long as he got results, and that’s what The Union was all about. He started to actually work with The Union, helping them whenever he could, without prompting. He started to understand the need for them, and started aligning with their views. If the world had a bit more order, perhaps Velar would still be alive.

  Alerik sat in his same bar that he used to frequent with her — the one where he got his ass kicked the night she went missing — and soaked his sorrows in alcohol. The patrons of the bar yielded to him whenever he walked in, it seemed that everyone had a newfound respect for him. Or fear, maybe. How could they not? His image was plastered across every TV set in the settlement. The Union had done exactly what they said they would do. He was their poster boy.

  He sat on his stool and contemplated something that confused him. No matter how many times he thought on it, he could not shake the uneasy feeling it brought him. Back at the farm, Eden had slashed a giant wound in Lucius’s chest. It should have killed him. But the guy just got up, completely unaffected, and kept on going as if nothing had happened. That had stumped him at first, but when the wound revealed wiring and circuitry, he understood why the man felt no pain.

  So that wasn’t too crazy, there were robots in The Union building, but
they looked like robots. Lucius looked and acted human. Why would The Union create something like that? Why would a robot need to appear human? Alerik thought on this a lot, and he tried to come to his own conclusions, but he always hit a dead-end. Lucius, himself, didn’t even have the answers… apparently, he wasn’t programmed to.

  After a few drinks, the door to the bar slid open and Saskia stepped in with a frown already firmly in place across her face. She was wearing her normal elite-style black armor that hugged her body and revealed her athletic and curvy frame. The men in the bar knew that she was Alerik’s partner so they didn’t attempt to hit on her. Surely if he wasn’t there, she’d be hit with a barrage of men propositioning her. She was a pretty girl, Alerik knew that, but he had lost interest in such things. It didn’t really work out for him the last time he got involved.

  She approached the bar with her hand resting on her gun as she was trained to always do. “Really, Alerik? Again?”

  “It is what it is,” he said, as he tossed back another shot.

  “We have to work in the morning, The Union have been watching us closely and the only reason we haven’t been taken off of this and thrown in prison is because we keep producing results,” she reminded him as she sat on the stool next to him.

  “So, what’s the fucking problem? I get shit done, don’t I?” he looked over at her. His eyes were glossy and bloodshot.

  “Yes, but everyone we have captured has been small-time. These guys don’t know anything. It’s just one less foot soldier for Liberty’s Hammer. We need to land something bigger. Something that can give us answers or lead us to their doorstep. The Union won’t be satisfied with know-nothing captures for very long.”

  “No shit. What do you think I am trying to do? We want the same thing, Saskia,” he laid his head on the bar.