[AN] I'm going to start actually using real dates now. Also, this chapter switches from Kathryn 3rd person POV to Marcus 3rd person POV.
[September 8th, 2013]
"Fire!" Kathryn said to the line of recruits she was standing behind.
All five recruits fired their hunting rifles simultaneously. As they had been trained, all the recuts ejected the empty rounds from the chambers of their weapons, pushed the bolt action back up to chamber the next round, and took aim at the targets down the improvised firing range.
"Ready... Fire!" Kathryn said again, and the cycle repeated itself.
After 3 more salvos went off, Kathryn heard Marcus contact her via walkie talkie, "Kathryn, I need you to come to HQ. It's important."
"I'll be right over." She said. She turned to the five recruits she had just been training, "That's It for today, you can head on back to the others." They left the firing range smiling.
Kathryn walked towards the HQ, centered in the house they first ate in when they decided to make a settlement here in Murphy. Who would have thought that I would be giving firearms training to a group of rebels called fireflies. She chuckled at that thought. When Marcus told her the proposed name for the group a few weeks ago, she almost laughed. Then she remembered what happened while Marcus was burying his father, and when she talked to him about starting this uprising the day afterwards.
She sighed, Well, for better or for worse, here we are. Hopefully some good will come from what we do. she thought to herself. She looked around at the people they had recruited, some on guard duty on the walls they had constructed around Murphy, others with their families, and she smiled. At least I know we have done something right. At least half of the people here, probably more, have been rescued from bandits or infected. The simple fact that they get to live is worth all of this.
She was approaching the house and saw Tony waiting outside. "We were waiting for you, come on in."
Marcus smiled as he saw Kathryn walk into their makeshift HQ. He stopped talking to his guest and spoke to Kathryn, "Kathryn, I'd like you to meet our guest, Staff Sergeant Zachary Greco from the QZ."
"A pleasure to meet you, Kathryn." He offered his hand. Kathryn shook it.
"A pleasure to meet you too." Kathryn responded.
Marcus looked around, making sure everyone in his staff was there. He saw Tony, Anna, Marlene, Austin, Kathryn, and said "Now that we're all hear, lets get to business." Marcus and his staff sat down at the long table they had placed in the spacious living room. Zachary, along with the two sergeants that took orders from him, sat down on the other side.
Zachary spoke first. "This is quite the place you have here. The fact that you guys have managed to run a town outside of the QZ is impressive, to say the least. How do you manage to get food?"
"We'll, we have started growing some crops, and we have some gardens set up, but to be honest, we got lucky. There were around 5 houses in this area that used to be owned by the type of people who stockpiled food in case something exactly like this happened. Luckily for us, they moved into the QZ, and couldn't bring most of the food with them." Marcus told him.
"Speaking of food, that's why I'm here." Zachary said. "Simply put, we can't grow food in the city. We need to keep distributing rations to the city, otherwise, we'll starve." He paused for a moment, unsure of what to make of the amused look on Marcus's face. "We're willing to trade you medical supplies, ammo, or whatever you need, in exchange for food. You'd be doing a lot of good for a lot of people."
Marcus smiled. "An interesting offer." He hesitated for a moment before saying, "I need to talk to you alone for a minute. Follow me." He walked up stairs, with a confused Zachary following him.
They went up to the top floor of the house. There was a small table with two seats next to it. Marcus took a seat, Zachary followed his example.
"Zachary, I have a present for you. " Marcus said, smiling. He pulled out two cans of beer and asked, "I've been saving these for important occasions? Have you had one of these in the past couple of months?"
"No, but I sure would love to have one. Thanks." Zachary took one of the beers from Marcus. Marcus made a toast, "To the land of the free, and the home of the brave." He glanced at the floor and somberly added "If America can still be called that anymore." He lifted up his glass with a somber expression on his face.
Marcus was trying to gauge Zachary. Ok. He seems to be in his mid 30's, has a wedding ring on. Most importantly, Marcus was trying to get information about Zachary from his response to the toast.
Zachary looked to the ground with a somber look on his face. "Let's hope so." He said, sadly. They touched cans and drank. Zachary could tell from the look in his grey eyes that he clearly thought it wasn't.
Good. I have something to work with here. Marcus thought to himself.
"So, why did you bring me up here?" Zachary asked.
"I'll get to that soon enough. First, lets get to know each other a bit." Marcus pointed to Zachary's ring and asked, "Married?" He asked.
"Yep. Been married to Jennifer for 7 years now. How long have you and Kathryn been together?"
"We've been married for about 2 years now. We met after I completed basic training in the Air Force."
" Wait a second, you're in the military? Why didn't you go to the Quarantine Zone then?"
"I'll get to that in a minute. Got any kids?."
"A six year old girl and a four year old boy." Zachary said proudly. "What about you Marcus?"
Marcus pulled out the photo of Kathryn, himself, Cory, and Jason that he always kept with him. "Cory is about a year old." He said with a smile, pointing to his son in the photo.
"He's adorable." Zachary pointed to the older man in the picture and asked, "That his grandpa right there?" He took a drink from his can.
"Yeah. That's my father." Marcus said sadly.
Zachary paused for a second, picking up on the tone of Marcus's voice. He tentatively asked, "What happened to him?"
"That's a long story. I'll get to it soon enough. You got your parents in the QZ?"
"Nope. They died a while back. They had me when they were kind of old, but they were great." "Without them, I'd be a mess right now."
"Same here." Marcus replied sadly, taking a sip of beer.
There was an awkward science before Marcus asked, "What's your opinion on Andrew Blendon?"
Another awkward science. Zachary looked around nervously. "Nothing I say leaves this room." Marcus nodded, Zachary continued, "I wouldn't trust that corrupt son of a bitch to water a plant, let alone run an entire quarantine zone."
Marcus was surprised, but pleased. This might be easier than I thought he thought to himself.
Zachary wasn't done yet. "Did you hear how he cut our initial rations in half?" Marcus nodded, that happened last month. "It's not because we're running short, although that is becoming a problem. It's because Blendon and the other higher ups are hoarding it." He paused. "He hasn't changed the rations of military families yet. It's to keep us in line, and he's doing a damned good job of it. Every time I sit down and eat, my conscious nags me that I'm getting more food than everyone else, but if I say anything about it, my children will be at risk."
Marcus was slightly surprised, and said, "That sounds like him. I haven't heard a single good thing about him."
"Trust me, there isn't one."
Marcus paused for a moment. Moment of truth, he thought to himself, if this doesn't work, I don't want to think what will happen.
"How would you like for your conscious to stop bothering you?" Marcus asked.
"What do you mean? There's nothing I can do." Zachary said somberly.
"I have something to tell you. It's about my father." Zachary was interested to hear what Marcus had to say, and sat up attentively.
"My father, myself, Kathryn, my son, Tony, Anna, and Marlene were headed to the quarantine zone on the day of the bandit attack. We got caught in the middle of it, and my father was killed." He took a swig of his beer.
Marcus was watching Zachary for any signs of hesitation or guilt. Zachary said, "I'm so sorry Marcus. At least those bandits are all dead now."
He doesn't know. Marcus thought to himself, very relieved.
"You passed the test." He said with a bittersweet smile.
"Wait, what are you talking about?"
"It wasn't a bandit attack."
"What do you mean?"
"I meant that we were shot at by the guards at the gate. They mowed down a bunch of the cars in front of us, and we barely managed to get out. My father got hit in the arm with a bullet, and lost too much blood." He took another sip of beer. "I buried him that night."
Zachary was stunned. "Either you're the worlds best lier, or your telling the truth." Was all he could manage to say. He was trying to see any bit of guilt on Marcus's face, but found none. He took a big sip of beer.
"It's God's honest truth. The only explanation for it that I can think of is that the QZ reached max capacity. Rather then have a bunch of angry people wanting to get into the QZ come back with weapons, they took care of the problem before it became one." Marcus drank, "Sacrifice the few to save the many."
"Fuck that." Zachary angrily said.
"My thoughts exactly." Marcus hesitated for a moment. "I need you to promise me something. I'm going to make an offer to you. If you don't agree to it, that's fine. However, if you don't accept, I'd appreciate it if you never spoke about it to anyone. Ever."
"I swear that unless the lives or wellbeing of my wife and children are at risk because of this, I won't tell a soul."
"I can't ask you for anything more. I'll cut to the chase. We're starting a rebellion. You want in?"
Zachary was taken aback by this, or at least, that what Marcus thought. Marcus continued. "Do you want that corrupt son of a bitch to be responsible for the lives and well being of your children? Do you want them to grow up under martial law, or in the 'land of the free, and home of the brave'?"
Zachary was silent. Marcus decided it was time to tie everything together. "Blendon ordered the massacre of a bunch of families, sitting in their cars, who wanted nothing more than to be safe. He gave them death."
" Don't think I started this rebellion on a whim. I have Cory to look after. But he is the reason why I fight. I don't want him to live in a world where sacrificing the few to save the many is the new normal. I want him to have a chance of living a clean life."
"I'm fighting so that my son can have a future worth living in. What's the point in living if we give up everything that makes us human. Blendon has no value for human life. He treats you well because you're useful to him. What happens when you get too old to be in the military? Do you think you will still get those full rations? Or will you just be another person who has to deal with the same shit everyone else does."
Zachary's head was spinning. He had just been asked to join a rebellion. He hadn't seen that coming.
What would my parent's have done for me? He thought to himself. They would have fought. He realized.
"I'm with you. I swear on my parents' graves."
Marcus smiled and offered his hand, "Welcome to the fireflies."
Zachary laughed, and asked, "That's what you decided to call yourselves?"
"Long story." Marcus asked him, "The two men you brought down stairs. Will they come around?"
"If I know them, yes. They don't have any children to worry about." Zachary continued, "Most of the soldiers in my command grew up here in Idaho. Nobody here was happy to see Blendon take over. Lots of them were complaining about him, before his personal thugs were introduced to us." He said with a grimace.
Marcus stood up. "Well, lets head back downstairs. You have a lot of explaining to do to your men."
They walked back down the stairs.
As they were walking down the stairs, Kathryn looked at her husband, trying to figure out what he had spent his time doing upstairs with Zachary Greco. Marcus smiled at her. Whatever it was, she thought, at least it's not bad news.
Marcus whispered something to Zachary, who nodded, then told his men to follow him upstairs.
Marcus sat down next to Kathryn. She asked him quietly, "what was that all about?"
"You'll see."
Zachary and the other two soldiers came downstairs around 10 minuets later. Zachary was smiling.
"We're good to go Marcus." Zachary said.
"Well, everyone, sorry for making you wait this long. We have a couple of new recruits." Everyone in his staff was speechless.
Kathryn spoke first. "You really just tried to convert these guys to our cause, and you're telling us it worked?"
Zachary responded, "He told me about what really happened at the raider attack. I'm not going to take orders from Blendon. I didn't like him before, but now I know he wouldn't hesitate to kill me if it made him better off. I'm with you guys."
Tony seemed to trust him, and said, "Fine. So now you know about our rebellion. Now what are you going to do?"
"Well, that's what we're here to discuss now." Said Marcus. "I was thinking we agree to your offer. We give you food, you give us medical supplies, fuel, and generators."
"Ok, but we wouldn't be coming back here very often. It's possible we might not get back here at all. We need to know what our long term plans are right now."
Kathryn saw Marcus grin. "Then lets get started."
They discussed plans for the overthrow of Blendon for hours.