a/n: It all comes down to this chapter right here. I'm so grateful for all of you for sticking with me even during long pauses. There will be one, maybe two chapters after his one (22-23 in all) and I am planning on doing a sequel still so I'll let you know with the epilogue.
TWENTY-ONE
Monroe and Miles had found the reprograming center with ease. There had been a major change to this once bustling city. The buildings had been leveled and cleared away. The rubble had been moved to the outskirts surrounding the town or used to make the wall that now surrounded the center. There were parts of it that were made of wire, all of which hummed with electricity as they neared it. This place had been built to contain whatever lie inside of it and keep those on the outside right where they were. Intruders would be easily swayed from trying to break into this place and it was easy to tell from the construction that it had been built a long time ago. The Nano had been setting up here since they had been activated and that made the older men cautious. Monroe marveled at the fortitude of this place and wondered if his empire hadn't come crashing down around him, how long it would have taken the Nano to march in on him. He didn't even have to dwell on the outcome of that battle long; he knew he would have lost.
"There's no way we're going to find her unless we're inside the fence," Monroe said as they met at their rendezvous point.
"Are you planning on knocking and ask to be let in?"
"No," Monroe snapped, looking at Miles as if he had gone crazy. "Obviously not."
"I'm willing to bet they have a great security system on top of all this electric fence. There has to be a weak spot."
"And if there's not?"
"Then I'm open to suggestion, but I don't hear anything of that nature coming from you. All I'm hearing is doubt about the plans I keep proposing." Monroe shook his head at Miles. "So if you have some great idea I haven't thought of yet, please, enlighten me."
Miles opened his mouth to say something, but then thought better of it. Instead, he took a deep breath and stared at the fortress before them. "Sorry," he muttered. "I don't have any grand schemes to get in there and it's frustrating." He raked a hand through his hair. "We're so close."
"We can stare at this thing all day and worry about her, but we need to find that weak spot and quickly. It won't be long before we are spotted and the center goes on alert. All we need is for them to ramp up their guard against the two of us."
Miles nodded and then remembered something he had seen on his scouting walk. "There was a post on the other side. It was part of the electric fence, but a guard was posted there. It didn't seem odd at the time, but it might be our way in. If it wasn't faulty there wouldn't need to be a guard there."
"I like your thinking."
Silently they made their way over there, keeping themselves hidden as much as possible. When they arrived at a good place to keep watch they stared at it for a moment, watching the guard pace back and forth over a small patch in the fence. "Do we want to bum rush it or wait for nightfall?"
"Attacking a place rich in technology with lots of electricity at night or go now while we can still see what the hell is going on...? Hmm, tough choice Miles."
"Hey, you said to give you plans, so there you go."
"Let's make a move somewhere in between. Not quite night, but not right now."
Miles nodded and settled into a niche in one of the buildings that hadn't been cleared out. "Where are you going?" he asked as Monroe began to walk away.
"Seeing what I can find for weapons. We can't storm this place empty handed."
"So you're leaving me here to go stir crazy."
"Would you rather have me sit still and do nothing?"
Miles thought about it and shook his head. He was sore anyway. They might be the same age, but Monroe was holding his battle weariness better than he was. He shrugged and waved him away. "As long as you can scrounge up something to eat on your way back."
"Whatever you say, Dad."
Miles glared at him. "That was definitely not funny."
"Oh it was," Monroe said as he turned to take his leave. The smile vanished from his face as he took a glance towards the post. "The guard is gone."
Miles got to his feet and gave Monroe that look that they commonly shared when they both knew battle was in their near future. "Now is a good a time as any," he stated.
They made their way as carefully as they could, trying their best to keep themselves from drawing any attention. It seemed to have worked as they approached the fence with no other guards in sight and no alarms raised. However, as they crossed the threshold they realized that their luck had run out and they were too late.
Charlie stood before them, but it wasn't her. It was only a shell. And it had a gun in each hand, one trained on each of them.
Rachel couldn't sleep. She could feel that something was wrong. She always got that feeling from time to time when something was happening to one of her children. Even though she couldn't see it, she knew it was still going on. The worst part about these feelings was that there was nothing she could do about it.
For the last day and a half the trio had been moving towards Salem in the same route they hoped Miles and Monroe had traveled. Their pace was slower than Rachel would have liked, but she knew that if she wanted Aaron and Priscilla to remain with her, she had to stay at their pace. She knew they picked up on her irritation, but they played along nicely and let her be for the most part. As long as they got to wherever they were going in one piece, they didn't seem to mind.
No one spoke of Bradbury.
The only reminder of that city was the memories and the computer that Aaron had managed to find. The battery had long since died and there was no way to recharge it, but he had grabbed it anyway and intended to carry it with him. Priscilla nagged him a lot about it, wondering why he carried that extra weight around in case something went wrong and they had to flee. Aaron's only defense was that he couldn't help it. He wondered if it was Nano telling him to make sure he had it as he didn't think he could have truly left the city without it.
On the second night, they finally approached a small village, one that reminded Aaron of the one he had spent his days in with Charlie as a child. It brought a smile to his face as he relived fond memories. Some bad had happened there, but most of the time he had had there was good and he refused to let the bad spoil it. "We should see if they'll let us take shelter."
"We should see if they remember Miles passing through here," Rachel said as if she were correcting him.
Before it could turn into a debate, a small group of adults came out to greet them. They were mildly armed and approached them cautiously. Rachel wasn't getting a bad vibe from them, just a protective one. "It's been a long time since we've seen any passerby's," one of the men said, eyeing the three of them.
Rachel's heart sank at that. If it had been awhile, that meant the likelihood of them having seen Monroe or Miles was not good. "We've been lingering on the outskirts of Bradbury for awhile. Some of our group split off to find a missing person, but they haven't returned yet. It got a little dangerous over there so we decided to move in their direction," she explained.
The woman smiled kindly at her and nodded as if she understood in a way. The three of them turned to look at each other then and communicated silently. "Well, we don't have much, but we can offer you temporary shelter."
"That would be lovely, thank you," Priscilla said.
As they began to follow the trio into the village, Rachel noticed the twinkling green of the Nano from the corner of her eye. "I'll catch up," she said and made he way towards the glow. When she reached the shelter of the tree line, she did a double take at the sight of Danny shimmering before her.
"We came to deliver a message."
"And that would be?" It was strange to hear his voice so cold and devoid of emotion. She found it hard to resist the urge to move forward and throw her arms around him.
"The Chosen One is about to fullfill her destiny. When that has happened, we will lead her and the others to this very spot. You have been patient and we ask you to only be patient for just a little longer. You will be reunited with your loved ones soon. As someone who helped create us, we owe you this one favor."
Rachel sighed with relief and took a deep breath as she fought off tears. "Thank you," was all she said before she turned and followed Aaron and Priscilla into the small village to wait until Miles, Monroe, and Charlie found their way back to her.
Charlie registered the look of surprise on their faces once they realized it was her standing before them, aiming her guns on them. Her fingers were hovering over the triggers. Her body was taught with the urge to pull as per the command from Anita and her activated reprograming, but Charlie was still fighting it with her mind. She just hoped she would be able to fight it off all the way. "I told you not to come here," she said, the words were hard to get out, almost as if she had to squeeze them out.
Miles was trying to be calm about it, but Charlie could see the pain and agony on Monroe's face and it made her inner turmoil even worse. "Charlie..." Miles said, his voice pleading. "Put the guns down."
"I can't," the words stuck in her throat and the distress brought tears to her eyes. It was getting to be harder and harder to fight the order she was being forced to complete.
"Yes you can, Charlie." Miles' voice was stern and she noticed him take a step towards her.
"Stop!" she shouted. "It worked, Miles. The reprograming worked. Come any closer and I'll pull the trigger." She let out a breath and shook her head. "Don't make the pull the trigger," she added, her voice barely above a whisper.
She could tell by the way their eyes wandered behind her that reinforcements were coming. She wondered if this was how Jason had felt. Knowing that he was attacking her and couldn't stop until she was dead, but knowing that it was her he was trying to kill. All she knew was that killing him had been horrible, but it had stopped the hold over him.
And then it clicked.
Everything the good Nano had told her before she woke up under the command of the bad Nano made complete sense. She knew exactly what had to be done. The challenge would be getting the others to go along with her and getting one of them to actually do it would be the hardest thing of all.
In that moment she felt as though she were in control and dropped the guns. However, that control was short lived because as soon as they both began to approach her, the reprograming kicked in and she lashed out.
First she sent Miles flying into the side of a building, the force of which kept him down for a moment. Leaving him to fight the approaching soldiers, Charlie turned her attention on Monore. The reprograming took over and she launched herself at him. At first he didn't seem to be fighting back, but his instincts took over and he began to defend himself. "Charlie, I know you're in there," he said as he ducked her punch to the face. "I don't want to hurt you."
Every blow she delivered made it harder and harder for her to stay in control. She was losing herself and there was nothing she could do about it. "Bass-" The sound of his name on her lips made his body tense and he could do nothing as she reached for the knife at his side and stuck it into his ribs.
Miles was trying his best to fight off the two guards that had rushed over to him, but he was too busy watching the interraction between Monroe and Charlie. She was on the constant attack and he while he wasn't about to hurt her, he couldn't see his friend staying modest for long. His heart sunk as he watched Monroe sink to his knees, the handle of the knife surrounded by blood.
Panic coursed through Charlie for a split second and she dropped to her knees before him. Their eyes met and she could see his emotions switch off as the reprograming took over and she reached for the knife again. He knocked her off course by lunging forward and then pulled the knife out of his side. He ignored the painful ache in his side as she tackled him to the ground. "Charlie, stop!" he hissed.
"I can't." She shook her head as they grappled for the knife. Their arms stung with fire as she tried to push down while he tried to prevent another stab wound. "I have to end this." As if saying that aloud made it so, Charlie felt her will returning to her. She stared down into Monroe's eyes and urged him to see that this was the only way. She urged him to forgive her for what she was about to do. "I love you," she said before using her hands to angle the knife upwards and then let go.
The bliss she felt as the blade sank into her heart was nothing like she had ever experienced before and not something she was likely to repeat. All she could do was close her eyes and enjoy the sensation as she succumbed to the darkness that enveloped her.