Day 29 continued

9:51 am

They all followed Rachel at a run, trusting that she knew where to go and that she finally understood the stakes. If Flynn turned the power on then cities all across the former United States would be completely destroyed. Bass was only a half a step behind the oldest Matheson woman, practically jumping down the stairs to reach level twelve. But Rachel stopped. The door leading out of the stairwell was locked by another electronic lock, though this one required key code access as well as a key card.

And neither of them had a card.

Rachel turned to run back up the stairs so that she could go find one but was held up by the rest of the group arriving at the bottom of the stairs. "What are you doing, Rachel? Open the door." Miles pointed at it wildly, clearly afraid that it might explode at any moment.

"I can't," she panted. "We need a key card."

Aaron finally arrived next to Miles, huffing and puffing like he'd just run the Boston Marathon. He waved his arms at Rachel in an attempt to get her attention, clearly unable to speak due to his lack of oxygen. His hands went from the pockets of his jeans to the ones in his jacket, when they eventually reached the chest pocket of his shirt Aaron pulled put a white card with a black stripe on the back. Rachel grabbed it with wide eyes, moving quickly to the door and swiping the card through the scanner.

"Where the hell did you get that?" Bass asked.

Aaron took a few deep breaths in through his nose and choked out. "All those guys with guns had one. Thought it might come in handy."

Jeremy grinned. "Dude, you're a genius. I could kiss you."

"Please don't." Though Aaron was smiling as he said it.

The lock clicked open after Rachel entered her key code. She yanked the door open and stepped aside so that Miles and Bass could take the lead. They went quickly and quietly, Rachel giving them silent directions with a nod of her head. As they moved further along the narrow hallways, they could hear angry voices up ahead.

Miles gave him one last nod before storming into an open area that was closed off on one side and opened up into a large room filled with computers on the other. The computer room was sealed off by large glass windows, a single glass door with a keypad standing between them and the man they were after. The door had been secured with an old tire iron from the inside. Randal Flynn was on the opposite side of the glass hunched over a black woman's shoulder. She was small, cowering under him as she typed away at the keyboard in front of her. Charlie nudged him with her elbow and nodded towards something in the corner. A man in a Georgian uniform was lying face down with a neat hole in his forehead and a pool of blood all around him.

"That's Dixon," she whispered. Bass nodded, turning to Rachel to see if she had any idea about what was going on, but she was watching Flynn and the woman with rapt attention.

"Do it now, Grace. Hurry."

"We can't do it," the woman told him desperately. "The consequences could be catastrophic. The entire world could burst into flames."

"I don't care," Flynn yelled, moving his arm so the gun he was holding was visible. "I said do it!" The woman, Grace, nodded her head shakily before continuing to type again.

Rachel stepped up to the glass and pulled on the door, yelling to the people inside as she did. "Grace, don't do it. Listen to me, if you do this hundreds of thousands of people are going to die."

Grace stopped typing and turned to look at Rachel with wide eyes, Flynn turning as well with an angry scowl. "You've already killed so many people, Rachel. What's a few more?"

"Randal stop, you can't do this," Rachel pleaded.

Flynn smiled creepily. "Watch me." He turned back to Grace with the gun. "Do it now!"

The woman gave him a fearful look, her eyes sliding sideways to Rachel. "I'm sorry, Rachel. I'm so sorry." She tapped two more keys on the keyboard and they all watched with a mixture of horror and awe as the screens around the room showed cityscapes from around the world lighting up. The Eiffel tower, the overturned London Eye, the taj mahal, the Golden Gate bridge.

Bass gave into the momentary shock, letting his eyes wander over the New York skyline lighting up again. His mind was brought roughly back to reality by a cool, clear, feminine voice radiating throughout the space. "Targets acquired. Missile launch confirmed. Time to launch: thirty seconds." His heart stopped, the fear and adrenalin pumping in his ears making everything else fade away. He raised his gun and fired at the glass, getting nothing in return but a few meager scratches.

"Twenty-five seconds to launch."

Rachel slammed her fists desperately against the glass. "Randal stop, please. You don't have to do this!"

Flynn shook his head at her sadly. "Yes, I do." Then he turned his gun on Grace and pulled the trigger. Blood sprayed all over the keyboard and the computer screen she'd been sitting in front of, blood matter dripping out of the hole in the back of her skull. Rachel screeched in shock, screaming and yelling every insult she'd ever heard.

"Twenty seconds to launch."

Hopelessness enveloped Bass' heart, taking hold in a vice like grip that would never let go. He thought of Philly. The city he'd worked so hard to protect and care for, his home, decimated in less than twenty seconds. He turned to Charlie, wanting to hold her and feel her warmth, seeking comfort in her embrace. But she wasn't there. "Charlie?" His head snapped left and right in search of her familiar curls, then - BAM!

His eyes flew to the metal grate clattering to the floor in the middle of the computer room. Charlie appeared and dropped down into the room-

"Fifteen seconds to launch."

-a mere three feet from where Flynn was standing. He turned to her with an angry growl and his gun raised, but Charlie was smarter and faster, knocking the weapon easily from his hands. They grappled, his only advantage in height and reach.

"Ten seconds to launch."

She pulled her fist back and hit him square in the face.

"Nine seconds to launch."

Flynn tried to grab her by the hair, but she ducked down and threw her shoulder into his stomach, knocking him off his feet.

"Eight seconds to launch."

His head slammed into a desk and Flynn hit the ground. He didn't get up.

"Seven seconds to launch."

Rachel banged on the glass with a fist. "Charlie, the button. Hit the button!"

"Six seconds to launch."

Charlie's head swiveled around, taking in the many computers and infinite buttons surrounding her. "Which one?"

"Five seconds to launch."

"That one," Miles yelled, pointing to the desk where Grace's head was still dripping.

"Four seconds to launch."

Charlie ran over to it, looking confusedly at the buttons in front of her. "Which one is it?"

"Three seconds to launch."

Rachel was jumping up and down, the anxiety to much to contain, her arms flailing around her. "The red one. The big, red one!"

"Two seconds to launch."

They all watched Charlie's head swinging back and forth, knowing the moment she found it by the arch of her back as she lunged over the desk.

"One second to launch."

Her fist landed on the flashing red circle with an anticlimactic thud and they all held their breath. Waiting.

"Missile launch aborted. Missiles deactivated."

Another beat of silence and then Jeremy let out a loud whoop. "Yeah! Ninja Charlie saves the world!" They couldn't help it, everyone in the room burst into laughter, a few of them - though definitely not Bass - wiping away tears of joy and relief.

Charlie pulled the tire iron from the door and barreled out of the room straight into Miles' chest. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and laughed. "The fucking air duct. You're a genius, kid." Before anyone else had a chance for hugs and 'good jobs,' sparks started flying out of the computers lining the glass room. A small explosion further down the hall made the lights above their heads start flashing. "Come on, we need to get out of here." Miles grabbed her hand and started dragging her in the direction they had come. The others followed quickly behind them as more explosions came after the first.

As soon as the door to the stairwell closed behind them, a much bigger explosion went off, clouding the little window in the door with fire and smoke. Miles pulled Charlie harder, taking the steps two at a time while she struggled to keep up. Bass and Jeremy were just behind Rachel, mostly dragging Aaron between them. The climb towards the surface got increasingly more difficult as they all tired out. When they finally reached level one, Miles let them stop for half a second to breath before taking off again. He never once released his grip on Charlie's arm.

This far up, the explosions weren't as bad and with the exit in sight they let themselves slow to a jog. Rachel tapped a few keys on a keyboard near the door and they watched as it slowly creaked open. The glare of the sunlight steaming in had them all wandering back out of The Tower blindly. None of them had even considered that their victory inside would be offset by a loss outside.

Johnson lay on the ground at Tom Neville's feet, bound with rope and apparently unconscious. Jason had Andy bound and gagged on the ground in front of him with a gun pointed at his head. The remainder of the Militia was either backing up the Neville's with guns pointed at the President, or laying dead and bloody on the grass. Tom smiled that creepy smile of his. "I hate to break it to you Mr. President, but it seems there's been a shift in power."

The urge to scream and shout at Tom was almost as much as the urge to roll her eyes at him. So Charlie settled for sarcasm instead. "We can see that. Tell me, do you want us to call you Mr. President or would you rather we go straight for Supreme Ruler."

Tom pulled his gun from his belt and levelled it at her head. "Careful, bitch-"

"Hey," Bass jumped in front of her, shielding her from Neville's view. "Don't even think about it."

Miles joined him with his own gun pointed at Jason. "Come on, Tom. You're in way over your head and you know it."

Tom snorted loudly, pointing and laughing at Miles and Bass as of they were some sort of side show. "You two have no idea what's going on, do you?" Then his face turned serious. "All of you are going to die."

Someone from behind them tackled Jeremy to the ground, another person grabbing Charlie as well. She tried to fight her way out, but soon another person joined them. For a moment, she saw Bass struggling with three of his own men before one hit him over the head with the butt of a rifle. She screamed out in anguish, throwing her head back into her attacker's face. The only thing it earned her was a crack on the head and darkness.

4:37 pm

Too many bumps on the head over too short an amount of time. The headache the most recent blow had caused was nothing short of skull splitting. Charlie tried to blink herself back into consciousness, but the light filtering through the tent was blindingly bright to her sensitive eyes.

"Charlie, are you awake?" The familiar voice was somewhere to her left, close by, but not enough to touch. "Charlie, wake up. Wake up." She willed away the headache and opened her eyes, she tried to wipe away the gooey sleep but couldn't due to the fact that her hands were tied behind her back.

Struggling against her bonds, Charlie asked Bass, "what's going on? Why are we tied up?" She looked around the small tent that they were in, finding Aaron and Jeremy tied together, back to back, in front of her. Miles was chained with real handcuffs to the center support pole on her left, Bass was chained to an old tire on her right along with Andy and an unconscious Johnson, her mother also lay unconscious on the ground near Bass with her arms tied behind her back. Everyone else was awake and looking at her with mild concern. "Guys, tell me what's happening."

"We don't know yet," Miles answered. "We've been chained up for hours and haven't seen a single person. There's nothing we can do but wait."

Great, if there was one thing Charlie hated, it was waiting.

Luckily they didn't have to wait long. Jason came in shortly after, probably having heard them talking, with a bucket of water and an old washcloth. He approached Charlie and sat down in front of her, wetting the washcloth, and attempting to clean her face. She flinched away from his outstretched hand. "Don't touch me," she growled.

Jason backed off a little with disappointment on his face. "I'm not going to hurt you, Charlie. I would never do that."

She snorted, giving him her best glare. "Tell that to my brother."

Jason's eye twitched, something flashing in his dark eyes that sent a shiver down Charlie's spine. "I had orders."

"Orders? Who ordered you to kill my little brother?" She shouted angrily. "Why, what did we ever do to you?" Desperation filled her voice. "Why are you doing this to me? Can't you just... just let me go?"

Something in Jason's eyes flashed again, giving him an odd, glazed over sort of look. "Don't you see?" He asked gently, leaning forward and using the cloth to wipe what appeared to be dried blood from her face. "That's why I'm here. We'll get you cleaned up and then you can come with me. You'll be safe. They said that as long as you behave, you can stay with me."

Something was definitely wrong. He sounded... off. He'd been acting weird ever since she'd met back up with him in Georgia, but it wasn't until that moment that she realized just how much.

"Of course," he added as he rinsed out the rag, "they won't let us stay together until after the ceremony."

Everyone else in the tent had remained silent up until then, letting Charlie deal with her friend, but Bass couldn't hold back any longer. "What ceremony? What the hell are you talking about?"

Jason continued on washing her face calmly, as if her couldn't really understand the anger in Bass' voice. "The wedding of course." He stopped his cleaning and smiled at her, the blankness in his eyes scaring her more than Flynn or his bombs ever had.

"Jason," she said gently. "What wedding?"

"Our wedding." He cupped her cheek and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. "Don't worry, when this is all over, we can finally be together." He got up then, taking his red washcloth and dirty water with him.

They all stared at the place where he'd just disappeared, Jeremy voicing what they were all thinking. "I think he may have gotten whacked on the head one too many times."

"Definitely," Miles added.

"We've got to get the fuck out of here," Bass said as he started pulling at the chains around his wrists.

"I hate to admit it," Rachel said as she sat up, "but I actually agree with you."

"How long have you been awake?" Miles asked her.

Rachel shrugged. "Long enough to know that Jason's not going to help us escape." She rolled over and sat up, realizing that she was tethered to a stake in the ground. "Shit."

That just left Charlie as the only one who was mobile. Bass could move too, but the tire was definitely going to make it difficult. Charlie rolled onto her knees and started scooting her way towards Jeremy and Aaron. If she could get them untied, they could work together on getting the chains off of Bass and Miles. But just like everything else lately, the odds weren't in her favor. Tom came striding into the tent with a scowl on his face.

"It seems that my boy is determined to 'save' you, so unfortunately, I won't be killing you," he sneered. "Today. But I have other, more important things, to deal with right now. The first of which is Mr. Flynn." He addressed the group as a whole and asked politely, "where is he?"

The group remained silent, Charlie finally deciding to play along with his little game. "He's dead."

That surprised him. "Dead? When, how?"

Charlie couldn't help but smile smugly. "I killed him." Tom's face hardened, if possible, even more. His nostrils flared and he fled the tent in a hurry without another word. They didn't even have time to wonder what was going on before he was back with an older woman at his side. She was slim with a plain face and long gray hair, dressed in simple black plants and a white blouse. Charlie looked the old lady up and down. Something about her was eerily familiar.

"Maddie?" Miles asked incredulously. "What the hell are you doing here?"

It was Madelyn. Without her no-nonsese bun, plain gray dress, or white apron, she was barely recognizable.

The woman that Charlie had come to think of as maternal figure turned her nose up a Miles' question and turned to her. "Major Neville has informed me that you claim to have killed Randal Flynn." Her voice took on a strangely authoritative tone. "Explain yourself."

But Charlie couldn't. Not even if she'd wanted too. There were too many surprises coming at her from every direction and her damaged skull couldn't handle it. Bass seemed to notice that she wasn't capable of putting words together at the moment and answered for her. "Flynn was going to hurt a lot of people Madelyn. Charlie didn't have a choice." He looked up at the woman uncertainly. "Maddie, what's going on?"

She laughed derisively, sounding nothing like the caring, motherly, overbearing woman she'd come to know. "Since when do you care if people get hurt? It's never bothered you before." She turned to Charlie with anger in her eyes. "Mr. Flynn was a good man. You should have left it well enough alone."

"What are you talking about, what is going on?" Bass asked angrily. Madelyn's smile was sad and creepy, making Charlie think that they had all seriously misjudged this woman.

"We had a plan," she said quietly. "And it was going so well. Until she showed up." Her head flicked annoyingly in Charlie's direction, but then she focused back on Bass. "We were going to end you."

Bass blinked at her, the confusion obvious on his face. "What? Why? You've lived with me for over ten years, why now?"

"Because you murdered my husband and my grandchildren. Burned them to the ground and spit on the ashes. Then you killed my son. You even made me clean up the mess," she snapped.

Now everyone was confused. Even Rachel was looking at the older woman with mild curiosity. "What are you talking about?" Bass asked.

Madelyn turned away from them, the tense line of her shoulders practically shaking with rage. "I'd been out picking berries," she said softly, a far off quality to her voice. "My husband and my son were back at our camp with the children. I'd wandered a little farther than usual and, it being right after the blackout, I hurried back to a safer distance. But as I got closer I saw the smoke.

"There were men everywhere. People were screaming, crying. The tents, the fence, even the clotheslines were on fire. I saw you running around with a gun in your hand, watched you shoot a woman on sight. She was alone, defenseless. And you shot her like a dog in the street." Madelyn turned to look at Bass with disgust on her face. Charlie turned as well, finding his eyes strangely distant.

"I thought that they were all dead and wandered around the edges of the camp for hours until my son finally appeared from the woods. He'd gone looking for me when the fighting started, left the kids with his father. They were all dead except for the two of us and we had nothing. Not even a blanket to share. So we took shelter in the woods and later that night we were approached by a man."

"It was Flynn," Charlie supplied for her.

"Yes, Mr. Flynn was very kind. He gave us food and water. And then he gave us something even better, a purpose. He said that if we wanted justice for the deaths of our family that all we had to do was get close to you, get you to trust us, then one day he would come and we would get our revenge. So we went to your camp and tried to blend in. And lucky for me it was so easy, you'd just lost your wife and child, and you needed someone to care for you. Who better than a sweet old lady, right?" She smiled wickedly down at Bass and then sighed tiredly.

"Twelve years. I spent twelve years cleaning up after you and babying you. The plan was going so well. And then you came." She turned to Charlie angrily. "And you wormed your way in, causing problems for me and my son."

"Maddie," Miles interrupted. "I didn't even know you had a son."

"Well of course not you idiot!" She snapped at him, then quickly regained her composure. "Randal warned us that there may come a time when our loyalties would come into question, so we couldn't afford for you to know that we were related. I've been using my maiden name since the day we met."

Bass looked up at her confusedly. "Then who is your son?"

Charlie saw the evil gleam in Madelyn's eyes and suddenly knew who her son had been. A man that had worn the exact same evil expression for the entire eight days that she'd known him. "Nevins," she said quietly. "Your son was Private Nevins."

Tears formed in Madelyn's eyes as she nodded her head. "My baby boy. He was such a good boy, and you killed him."

"He was going to rape Charlie! There's no way I was gonna let that happen," Bass argued.

"Enough!" Madelyn shouted, as if she couldn't bear to hear that her son would do such a thing.

"I completely agree, Madelyn. I've heard plenty." Tom came back into the tent with a tense looking Jason. "Did we get what we needed?" He asked the older woman.

"No, I haven't gotten there yet."

Tom rolled his eyes. "Enough with the theatrics." He turned to Rachel and stared her down. "The power was on, but only for a few seconds. Can you turn it on again?"

Rachel raised a single eyebrow and stared at him with her icy blue eyes. "Bite me." Tom smacked her across the face, making Miles shout, but she merely smiled up at him. "The power is gone. You won't ever get it back now."

Tom growled at her, but instead of hitting her again he stomped towards the exit. He stopped long enough to tell Jason, "kill them all, they're useless now."

Jason's eyes flashed. "What about Charlie?"

Tom growled again, moving to stand in front of his son he pulled down Jason's eyelid and read aloud, "4-2-4-7-4."

Jason snapped to attention and saluted him. "Yes, sir."

"Dispose of these traitors. I'm going to take Madelyn to the rendezvous. When you're finished meet me there, but I'll only wait until sundown, we need to get back and report."

"Yes, sir."

Tom patted Jason on the shoulder and took Madelyn by the elbow to lead her from the tent. He stopped just at the entrance and smiled. "God bless America." Then he was gone.

Jason turned back towards them, his movements careful and calculated. Something in his face made him seem far away.

"Jason?" Charlie asked quietly, as if she were afraid loud noises might startle him. His eyes landed on her and he strode towards her, moving quickly with deliberate movements and an empty gleam in his eyes. "Jason, what are you doing?" He lunged the last few steps with his arms outstretched as if to grab her throat. Charlie yelped and rolled onto her side, narrowly avoiding his grasp. On her back again, she watched Jason get back to his feet as if nothing had happened. Miles was shaking the tent in an attempt to free himself from the pole, and Bass was dragging Andy and the still unconscious Johnson by their joined chains to try and help her.

"Jason, please. This isn't you," she choked out. She rolled over again onto her stomach just as Jason came up behind her and grabbed her by the hair, yanking her to her feet. His large forearm wrapped around her neck, pressing tightly to her throat. Charlie tried to suck in a breath, the air burning in her lungs as black spots started appearing in her vision, blood pounding in her ears. She clawed at his hands around her neck but it was no use, it was like he couldn't even hear her pleas. She managed to get out one last choked 'please' before she gave in. She was going to die. Right there, in front of Bass and Miles, Aaron, Jeremy. It was all over.

And then it wasn't. Jason's arms were gone, fresh oxygen filling her lungs. Charlie staggered sideways trying to get her bearings, only just noticing the loud barking coming from behind her. Xbox had Jason on the ground and was clawing at his face, biting his hands and wrists whenever he tried to push him away. The shock of the dog's appearance held her steady for a moment, just long enough for Jason to swing out and send the animal flying. Xbox landed in the corner whimpering and Charlie knew that this was it, her one and only chance.

Jason's head snapped back to her, the blood on his face making him look like a gory nightmare. He lunged again, but this time Charlie acted. When he tackled her to the ground there was a moment where his eyes changed, they went from blank fury to confusion, then they just went blank. The warm gush of blood on Charlie's fingers told her that it was over, she'd won. She pushed Jason off of her and he landed on his back, Bass' grandfather's lucky knife sticking out of his ribcage.

What seemed like several hours passed, Charlie simply sitting next to Jason's dead body. The blood drying on her hands. Miles finally broke the silence. "Kid, are you alright?"

She nodded.

"Ok, good," he said gently, as if he thought she might shatter. "Then I need you to get up and untie Jeremy for me, ok? Right now, Charlie."

She nodded numbly, getting shakily to her feet and spending an eternity trying to undo the knots. She could have used the knife, but that would have meant pulling it out of Jason and she didn't think she could handle that right now. Jeremy stood up quickly and wrenched the knife from his body, moving quickly to free the others. When Miles and Bass were finally freed, they simply looked at each other, nodded, and then made their way to the tent flap.

Charlie dug deep in order to find her voice. "Where are you going?"

Miles answered for them both. "To get the Republic back."

A/N Thank you so much for reading! Leave me a comment it you have a minute. Two more chapters left I think... Possibly three, but it depends on how much I drag it out.