Wayward Pines
Onward
By: VinEsquire
August 2015
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The townsfolk of Wayward Pines watched as a military convoy rolled into town. They could literally feel the street rumble beneath their feet as the hummvee and two trucks made their way to the hospital. Another truck had stopped in front of town hall and soldiers had started streaming out of the back. Heavily armed soldiers.
This was martial law. Not that the tiny town didn't already have a martial law feel to it. But it was different now. There were simultaneous twin bombings at the sheriff's station and at the school.
With the arrival of 40 soldiers and the already present dozen or so state police, the security situation should be markedly improved. The small town only had 700 or so residents.
Some of the townsfolk actually felt a little bit safer knowing the town was being flooded with security. Others were hesitant. Still others, a small group who yearned to be free from this crazy town, feared they would eventually be discovered and hanged.
When the convoy made it to the hospital, a dozen soldiers hopped out of the back of each of the two trucks, securing the perimeter with their weapons drawn. One of the soldiers opened the passenger door of the hummvee and a young but serious-looking soldier stepped out. He tried to look alive, but he was so tired. Tired tired tired. He and his entourage walked into the hospital.
"Major Hassler, Idaho National Guard," said the leader of the group as he introduced himself.
"I know who you are," said the nurse at reception.
"Can you direct me to the room where the town's sheriff is?"
"Right this way, sir."
Hassler followed the nurse down a long corridor. He saw that there were a couple of other rooms with injured patients. None of the injuries appeared life-threatening.
At the end of the corridor was the room assigned to Jason, the town's sheriff. His deputy undersheriff was keeping him company. Jason was being examined by one of the hospital's doctors.
"He's likely to make a full recovery," reported Dr. Stevens.
"Thank you, doctor," said Hassler.
Stevens scribbled a few notes onto Jason's chart and then hung it at the end of the bed.
"Will you guys please excuse us? I have an urgent matter I need to discuss with Jason alone."
"Of course," said the nurse. Stevens, the nurse, and Jason's deputy filed out of the room and closed the door behind them. The three women weren't exactly sure what to do, so they wandered off in different directions and gave Hassler some privacy.
"You're being relieved from internal security operations," said Hassler in a calm but authoritative voice.
"Who's replacing me?" asked Jason. He was annoyed, but he had a feeling this would happen.
"James, from the quote-unquote Idaho State Police," said Hassler. He thought about doing airquotes with his fingers, but knew Jason wasn't usually the joking type.
"Not you, Vince?" asked Jason.
"No. I've got…. other priorities. This comes straight from my dad."
"I'm a little surprised you even had time to leave your high-tech mountain fortress," said Jason, partially in annoyance.
Vince and Jason were known to be rivals, even enemies, from time to time. They had differing visions of how the town of Wayward Pines should be run. However, Vincent Hassler was responsible for external security while Jason was in charge of internal security. That gave Jason the final say on how the townspeople were treated. That is, until the day Director-General Adam Hassler decides to remove Jason. Adam thought the town needed to be run by a native of Wayward Pines, someone who grew up in town. Vince was lucky enough to have grown up in the mountain complex and spent time on various missions scouting the nearby area with other explorers. In all of his teenage years, he maybe spent a total of 10 days in Wayward Pines. Still, he thought Jason was too heavy-handed.
The attack on the sheriff's office triggered a "national security incident" which temporarily put Vince in charge of the entire town.
"I'm going to be honest with you, Jason. My dad is this close to having you replaced. You and your class one buddies and other next generation kids. Or new generation. Or whatever it is you call yourselves. You're terrorizing the townsfolk with these circus stunt reckonings. You're creating insurgents and you're wasting my time. My people should be on the fence or out in the field counter-attacking against the abbies but instead they're here. So this better be the last time I leave my so-called mountain fortress. Do you understand?"
Jason was used to being the dominant person in the room and did not take kindly to being scolded. However, he understood that Major Hassler was not to be trifled with. At least not today. Jason nodded to confirm that he heard the major.
Hassler walked toward the door.
"You're half-disappointed I wasn't killed in the blast, aren't you?" asked a defiant Jason.
Hassler turned back to face Jason.
"Jase. You're a jackass and a nuisance. But your death would bring me no joy. You can also rest assured that when my men find the idiots that did this, they'll hang."
"Find the Burke kid," said Jason.
Hassler had an annoyed look on his face.
"You're serious?"
"I know you and your dad were friends were the Burkes, but look at the timing. Burke gets reanimated from cryostasis. He leaves the hospital and wanders off into the woods. Then, less than five hours later, my station is bombed?"
"You think Burke organized this in just a few hours? Knowing nobody in town? After wandering off seemingly disoriented from his reanimation?"
"The timing, Vince. It would be a ridiculous coincidence."
Hassler remained annoyed.
"My people will find Burke and I'll interrogate him myself. In the meantime, I strongly suggest stronger oversight whenever new arrivals are processed through the hospital."
"I agree," said Jason.
Hassler left Jason's hospital room and his entourage followed him out of the hospital.
As Hassler opened the door to his hummvee, a nurse came running out of hospital.
"Vince! You don't believe Jason, right? Ben wouldn't do this."
"Amy, if you know where Ben is, you need to tell me."
Amy just stood there without saying a word.
"Look, I'm going to find Ben myself, and then I'm going to beat the living daylights out of him. For wasting my time. Is that what you'd rather have?"
Amy continued her silent treatment.
"Okay, fine," said Hassler, defeated. "At least tell him he needs to surrender, at a time of his convenience. But soon. You know, before Jason heals up and is back in charge."
Amy smiled and gave a quick peck on Hassler's left cheek.
"Thanks!" said a giddy Amy. It was unusual for her to be giddy.
"By the way," added Amy. "The nurse at reception, Samantha, thinks you're cute."
"First Pam Pilcher and now you. You nurses can't help butting into people's personal lives."
"It's in the job description," said Amy.
"Yea, well, this town just got rocked by two explosions. There are patients in that hospital. Take care of them. Make that your job description," teased Hassler.
Hassler climbed into his vehicle, shut the door, and told his driver to floor it.
Amy watched as the hummvee sped away.
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James Rodgers was usually the deputy supervisor of security on the mountain. Today, he was playing the role of a state trooper. A sergeant of the Idaho State Police. What a farce. It was his first time in the town of Wayward Pines. He thought it was quaint. He had just finished a meal at one of the local diners and returned to his patrol car.
He got into his car and turned the ignition on. A car. He never thought he'd actually drive one of these things, although he had been trained on the simulators. He got on the radio.
"Car six is code eight," said James. Code eight meant he was back in service.
"10-4, car 6," came the voice of a female dispatcher.
"James, check in," said another voice on the radio.
"What's up, V?" asked James.
"Are your troopers looking for Benjamin Burke right now?"
"They're investigating, but I think Burke is on the list, why?"
"Do me a favor, can you bring him to me if he's found? Make sure he doesn't get roughed up. I need him in a cooperative state of mind."
"Who do you think I am? Jason?" asked James, a little bit insulted.
"Seriously dude, Burke might be a little out of control. Just tase him or something. Don't let Jason or his guys get near him."
"10-4, boss," said James. "You heading to town hall?"
"I'm on my way back to base. I'll be back in town later tonight."
"Gotcha."
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Vincent Hassler's hummvee made it back to base without incident. Two "Idaho State Police" patrol cars had escorted the hummvee since the three national guard trucks were left in town. There was one truck each guarding the town hall, the hospital, and the Wayward Pines Academy.
Almost as soon as he stepped out of his hummvee, various aides were trying to grab his attention.
"Major, sir. Brigadier General Humboldt and the Director-General would like to see you as soon as possible in Briefing Room One on E-deck," said Hassler's chief administrative aide. She wore a military uniform, but never went out into the field.
"Got, it."
"Sir, here are the latest reports from Project Prometheus which you requested this morning," said an aide in a white labcoat. The aide handed Hassler three file folders, two blue ones and one manilla.
"Thank you," replied Hassler. He opened one of the folders and took brief glimpses of some of the contents before closing the folder again. He entered one of the elevators and pressed the button for E-deck. The rest of his entourage did not follow.
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Briefing Room One.
"These guys, they weren't volunteers like you and me," said Guarino. "They're criminals! They're murderers. They're rapists. Some, I assume, are arsonists. What if I can't control them out in the field?"
"Calm down, son. These guys were non-violent offenders. Pilcher wasn't an idiot."
"So drug dealers, great," Guarino responded sarcastically.
General Humboldt threw down a few files.
"Tax evasion. Tax evasion. Tax evasion. Rape. Oh, wait, no. Tax evasion. Are these guys seriously going to give you trouble?"
"If they're all pointdexter accountants, they'll be of no use to me."
Rocky Guarino was the chief of the Mount Pilcher fire brigades. Fire season was just around the corner. In two months, the forests around Wayward Pines would be susceptible to dangerous wildfires. While that meant that the abbies would temporarily move away from the area and migrate north, it also meant Fire Chief Guarino would new firefighter recruits in his ranks. In previous years, the soldiers simply shifted from fighting the abbies to fighting fires. However, this year, a handful of soldiers were being held in reserve in case they were needed to hold security in town. Yet another contingent of soldiers was being assigned to some secret mission led by the Director-General's son. Guarino was going to be short-handed at least 20 firefighters.
"We'll reanimate them and have them go through training. You can evaluate them in a month," said Director-General Hassler.
"Sir, I still think this…."
Before Guarino could finish his sentence, the three of them were interrupted by a corporal who knocked on the door and then entered.
"Sirs, Major Hassler has arrived," said the corporal.
"Thank you, corporal," said the Director-General. "Chief Guarino, you're dismissed."
Guarino walked out of the room as Major Hassler walked in.
"Please, have a seat," said Adam Hassler.
The younger Hassler took a seat at the conference table across from his father and Brigadier General Joseph Humboldt.
"Is the situation at Pines under control?" asked Humboldt.
"The area is secured. I've got over 30 soldiers posted throughout the city. I've also put James Rodgers in charge of the investigation.
"If you need more men, borrow from Rifle Company Charlie. I want this insurgency crushed asap," said Humboldt.
"Understood, sir."
"I would like you to put Project Prometheus on hold for the next few days," said the Director-General.
"Yes, sir. I plan on it. Pines is my priority and will remain so until we can straighten out the insurgent situation."
"You still think Prometheus is worth pursuing?" asked Humboldt.
"Yes, sir, I do. We can put it on hold for a few days. Once I'm back, it will be as if there were not pause.
"If you're putting Prometheus on hold, it makes me wonder why you're here on base at all? Why are you not down in Pines?" asked Humboldt.
"I'm meeting with my scientists one last time tonight to line up the workflow. It won't take long. After that, I will make my way back to Pines tonight."
"Very good," said Humboldt. "Should I have Lieutenant Rose lend you any of her men on your return trip back to town?"
"No need, sir. I'll ask her to put a squad or two on overnight alert in case I need to call them. But I think we're sufficiently manned in Pines right now."
"Do me a favor, Ani," said the Director-General. "Bring Tim down with you to Pines tonight."
"Yes, sir."
Adam Hassler had a habit of calling his eldest son "Ani," the Japanese word for "older brother." It was something that his wife did at first, and Adam eventually did it was well. Vincent Hassler and his younger brother Timothy were both half Caucasian and half Asian. They were a rarity in what was left of the human race.
"You're dismissed, Major," said Humboldt.
Vincent Hassler got up from his seat and pushed the chair back under the table.
"Good night, sirs," said Hassler.
"Good night. And good luck," said the Director-General.
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Scientific Research Wing.
Dr. Melody Temple was a zoologist in her former life. In this life, she had been drafted to study her two current subjects: Hercules and Leo. Major Hassler was very impressed with Melody. In four short months, Leo had already learned about 100 words in sign language. Hercules was less inclined, but also possessed a small degree of curiosity. Hercules and Leo were at the center of Project Prometheus.
Vincent Hassler took one of the elevators at the south bank down to sub-level 13. He had this entire level sealed. Nobody in or out except for his chosen few.
Dr. Temple and her staff met Hassler when he stepped off of the elevator.
"Welcome back," said Ms. Kim, one of Temple's assistants. She had an undergrad degree in psychology but then decided go to law school for some reason. Hassler had no need for lawyers, so he decided to see if she would be of any use to Temple's team.
"How are they doing?" asked Hassler.
"Well," said Temple.
"I'm going to be out-of-facility for the next several days, possibly longer."
Leo walked up to Hassler and performed a few signs.
"He says he misses you," said Temple. She thought it was cute, but somewhat heart-breaking.
"Me too," said Hassler. He knew that Leo could understand his voice, but Hassler also awkwardly made the signs for the two words. In all this time, Leo had learned more signs than Hassler had.
"I'll be back before you know it, okay?" said Hassler as if he were talking to a child.
"High five?" asked Hassler. He held his right hand up in the air and Leo slapped it lightly.
Hassler also waved hello to Hercules. Hercules was slightly older than Leo. Hercules was also a little bit less friendly. However, neither were aggressive, and that was a huge plus. Hercules waved back.
"I'll stay in radio contact," said Hassler to Temple. "Channel 36 if you need me."
"No worries," said Temple. "Focus on Pines. We'll be fine."
"Sorry, sir," interrupted Mr. Decker. "One thing. There has been a small group that has been harassing a few members of our staff. They object to us holding the abbies down here."
"Who are these clowns?" asked Hassler.
"Your brother is one of them," said a reluctant Decker. "He may be their leader."
"Ugh," sighed an annoyed Hassler. Though, this kind of explained why his father asked him to take Tim down to Wayward Pines.
"I'll take care of it," said Hassler.
"Thank you, sir," said Decker.
"If that's all, I bid you all farewell. At least for the time being."
Hassler went back up the elevator. One he got out, he hopped onboard the hummvee that had been waiting for him. His brother was in a second humvee.
"Jeff, take me back to Pines," said Hassler.
"Yes, sir."
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"James, go catch some shut eye," said Hassler. It was now a little past one o'clock in the morning. They'd start the investigation up again at 8 a.m. sharp.
James made his way to his designated room in the Wayward Pines Hotel. The majority of the state troopers and soldiers were also instructed to rest up before they reported for duty again in less than 7 hours.
Vincent Hassler was assigned the penthouse suite. His brother Timothy received the next nicest suite. They were basically treated like royalty in this tiny town.
"Wanna join me for a chat?" asked Vince. The two brothers e-mailed often but didn't physically see each other for weeks at a time even when they were both in the mountain base.
"Shouldn't you catch some z's?" asked Tim.
"Nah. My internal clock never lets me fall asleep before 3."
The two of them made their way to the top floor. Vincent turned on the television but neither of them were watching.
"This thing with you and your friends harassing my science people; it has to stop."
"Did Dad say that?" asked Tim.
"No. I'm not sure if Dad knows. This comes from me. It has to stop."
"We shouldn't be experimenting on the abbies," insisted Tim. "They're humans too. They have human rights."
"We're not experimenting on them. Melody is teaching them sign language for cryin' out loud."
"Just teaching them sign language? Then why all the security? They should be free to roam around just like the rest of us."
"The security is for their protection. So they aren't gawked at or worse by the various staffers at the mountain base. Come on, bro. You think I'd experiment on people."
"Yes. If you were of the mindset that they weren't people. Like if they were just deer or bears or something."
"I'm not experimenting on them," Vince repeated.
"Anyway, you should be here administering over Wayward Pines. You'd make a good mayor. I can tell. People look up to you."
"Nah. The mayor should be someone who has spent a good deal of time here. Anderson's the right choice."
"Anderson caves in to Jason's every whim."
"Yea, well, we'll need to change that."
"Dad's gonna put you in as mayor. I can feel it."
"Ha. I'm sure the townspeople will love having a 23 yr-old tell them what to do."
"They let a 20 yr old Jason tell them what to do!"
"Yea, but that's out of fear. A bunch of 12 year olds could rule out of fear if you gave them enough guns."
"You know what's the first thing I would do if I ran this town?"
"Go on."
"I'd turn all the televisions back on. Maybe even give the people Xboxes and Playstations or whatever. People need fun distractions! Remember that show we used to watch before we were all frozen in time. Game of Thrones? There was this one nobleman who was going to refuse to spend tons of money on a wedding or a festival or whatever and then a second noble woman points out that the commonfolk hunger for more than just food, they crave distraction. And if the rulers don't provide it, the commonfolk create their own! These insurgents wouldn't exist if we just made their lives more fun!" said Tim.
"Ha. I actually have thought of that briefly. The whole bread and circuses idea from the Roman times. There's some validity to it. Though, the biggest hurdle is their curiosity. It's only natural to wonder what's on the other side of the wall."
"Then just tell them."
"Yea, and they'll all just cause mayhem because they think there's nothing to lose. They're already facing the end of the world and all."
"You ever wonder whether Pilcher was lying about that happening to the first town?"
"I guess. But there have been documented occurrences throughout history. Especially when places get hit by serious natural disasters. Chaos ensues. Human nature, I guess."
"Ever wonder whether Dad should've just supported Pam Pilcher instead of avenging David's death?"
"Yea, that was a giant cluster-eff. I'm sure Dad had his reasons."
"The kids from the Ark scare me dude. They're all pretty much like Jason. Psychopaths, each and every one."
"Yea, I'm working on that."
"Well work faster dude!" said Tim.
"I go at my own pace!"
They both laughed.
"Anyway," said Vincent. "I'm going to go lay in bed, maybe catch a few hours of shut-eye."
"No prob, brother."
Tim made his way to the suite door.
"Tim, join me in the town council meeting tomorrow morning."
"Seriously?"
"Yea, I want you there."
"Sure. Good night, brother."
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Wayward Pines Town Hall.
"Major Hassler, it is an honor to host you as a special guest," said Mayor Anderson McCready. Part of Anderson thought about saluting the major, but he settled for shaking hands.
"And Mr. Hassler, it is nice to meet you," said the Mayor as he addressed Tim. They also shook hands.
"Mayor McCready, I was wondering whether you had an extra spot on your council for a new council member."
McCready smiled.
"Of course, we would love to add you to our council."
The council was really just three people: the mayor, the town's comptroller, and the sheriff. Although the mayor was legally the leader of the town, Jason held the most sway as a matter of reality.
"Actually, I would like to place my brother in as a junior councilmember."
McCready looked confused for a second but then smiled and nodded.
"Of course," he said.
"This is simply a request. It is not an order. And the request comes from me, not my father."
"We welcome your brother's contributions to the council," said McCready.
"Tim, tell the mayor and the comptroller what you think about the tvs."
Tim hesitated for a second, but then explained his idea to set up a broadcast station in town. He hoped to also perhaps bring in video game consoles and eventually get them connected somehow so that the townspeople could play against each other in some type of intranet. They'd shy away from games that were too violent. They'd also stay away from broadcasting any tv shows that were excessively violent.
"What a marvelous idea," said McCready with a wide grin.
Vincent Hassler was glad that McCready seemed happy, but he also had the sense that McCready simply indulged anyone who asserted themselves.
"How about we give Tim the title 'Minister of Culture'?" said McCready. "He could also be in charge of other aspects of raising morale among the people."
"I think I'll be fine with just council member," said Tim.
"We'll go with that," said Vincent. "Now, I understand that there are three issues you would like to discuss with me, Mr. Mayor. Town security, food delivery, and the electric grid. Is this correct?"
"Yes, Major, it is."
"Go ahead, Mr. Mayor."
The mayor requested that one of Vincent's rifle platoons remain in town until the insurgent situation was resolved. Vincent reassured the mayor that this would be the case. There was some concern that some of the recent dairy products included sour milk. There was also some concern about the electric grid as two times in the past month, there were brownouts. They only lasted a few seconds, but the residents were concerned. Vincent promised to look into both the food and the electric grid issue.
The next thing Vincent wanted to discuss was whether the town was adequately absorbing the new residents. In particular, he wanted to know if the cryo-stasis division should decrease the frequency with which they sent new residents to Wayward Pines. Before he got a response, he was interrupted by one of his sergeants.
"Major, sir, we have a situation at the sheriff's station."
Major Hassler grabbed his camouflaged baseball cap off of the conference table and rushed outside.
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Wayward Pines Sheriff station
"They need to be reckoned!" screamed Jason with a shotgun in his hand. He had somehow made it out of the hospital and was flanked by his two deputies.
"Stand back!" yelled Sergeant Rodgers. He was flanked by five of his state troopers.
James and his men had found and arrested Ben Burke and a couple of others. The prisoners were being held for questioning.
It was unclear who shot first, but a gunfight ensued. Everyone took cover and continued firing. Fortunately, they were all relatively horrible shots. After a minute, they all held position and held fire, waiting for someone from the other side to make a move.
After another couple minutes of near silence, two hummvees arrived at the scene and screeched to a halt.
"Everyone lay down their weapons this instant!" demanded Major Hassler.
James and his state troopers did as they were told, but Jason defied the order. Hassler had two of his soldiers shoot tear gas canisters into the general area where Jason and his people were.
Jason came out of the smokey haze, coughing and barely able to breath. Jason, his deputy undersheriff Jessica, and Jason's "class one" friend Paul were immediately taken into custody.
"You must be out of your goddamn mind," yelled Major Hassler about two inches from Jason's face.
"Detain them," ordered Hassler. "Have Lieutenant Rose come into town, pick them up, and then transport them to base."
"Aye, sir."
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Will Major Hassler root out the insurgents?
What was Ben Burke's role in the bombings?
What will Hassler do with Ben?
What is Project Prometheus?
What is Hassler going to do with Jason?
Stay tuned and find out!
