CHAPTER 36: Kayleigh
I took Jason's advice and made my way around the large hill the entrance had been built into. Following the tree line I came upon a large river bank just as the sun was starting to rise over the mountain. I could see from across the short distance of the beginning of the river, two large pipes billowing out the side of a small rocky cliff, water pouring from them. As I grew closer, trying to scope a way across and somewhere into them I caught sight of a body lying on the river bank. I ran over and turned the man over on his back.
"Miles!" I yelled, trying to shake him awake.
"What...What the hell are you doing here" he said when he started to come around, "I thought told you to stay at the chopper!"
"Since when do I listen?" I replied, smiling down at him. I grabbed his arm and helped him up, cringing in pain as my stitches tore open.
"Dammit..." I said looking down and seeing the blood stained shirt. Miles grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into a hug,
"And that," he said, "Is why I told you to hang back. Thanks for never listening"
"Anytime" I said wrapping my arms around him. Suddenly he went flying to the ground as someone tackled him and made me fall as well.
It was Monroe.
And he looked as pissed as ever.
I held up my gun to him and aimed it between his eyes,
"Get off him" I said as he froze his hand before throwing another punch.
"You're not going to kill me...It's not in you" he said to me as he slowly moved off Miles. Miles crawled away from him, lying back in pain as Monroe stood up and slowly waked towards me.
"You're not going to kill me Kayleigh" he said softly, "I'm your father"
"You're nothing to me" I replied, my finger on the trigger as he grew closer.
"Don't do something you're going to regret"
"Kayleigh" I heard Miles say my name from behind me.
I wanted to do it...I wanted to do it so bad but something was stopping me as I looked at him...His blue eyes were staring back at me, watching me as I shifted nervously...As I looked at him all I could think about was the day he gave me the locket...His smile as he put it around my neck...
"Sarah-" he started to say, but before he could finish a shot came from off in the distance, just missing my feet as it hit the sand between me and Monroe. Miles grabbed me and carried me off behind some fallen trees along side the river bank as more shots kept coming. Monroe ran in the same direction, taking cover behind another fallen trunk. Miles put me as far back behind the tree as possible then sat in front of me as we got low to the ground.
"Hold your fire!" Monroe yelled, "I'm General Monroe"
He came slightly out of his spot near us, his hands in the air. But the militia soldier who was standing about a hundred yards away atop a small hill took another shot at him as Monroe came into his view once more. Miles looked back at him, a confused look on both their faces since a militia soldier had just purposely shot at him. The soldier ran away, disappearing over the hill back towards where militia had camped out in front of The Tower. Miles put his arm around me in support as we ran away from the river bank and Monroe...
"MILES!" he yelled from behind us, but we kept pushing on as we tried to get away. We were walking through a clearing of cut down pines, heading back towards the Tower's entrance when Monroe came out of nowhere again and pulled Miles back to the ground causing me to fall forward on my hands and knees. They tussled for a bit, I let Miles throw several punches at him before I pulled him back.
"Miles, stop!" I yelled gripping his jacket. I got in front of Miles and pushed him back away from Monroe who was still laying on the ground.
"He's not worth the energy, not now!"
I pulled Miles away as we continued to walk towards The Tower, leaving Monroe to pick himself up.
"Where are you going!" he said as we walked away from him.
"Got more important things to do Bass" Miles said looking down at me, "Rachel and Charlie are in trouble"
"Turn around and fight me!" he replied getting onto his feet.
"So we can keep kicking each other's asses and for what!?" Miles yelled, turning around to look back at him, "Got your own problems pal, your own men are shooting at ya"
Miles grabbed my arm, a little too hard from his anger and pulled me back around to continue walking. I slightly glanced back at Monroe...in pity more than anything which caught even me by surprise...
"Don't you walk away from me! You're the one that tried to kill me!"
Miles stopped walking again, then looked sheepishly down at me...I looked away from his gaze and back at Monroe again.
"You're the one that started all of this!" he said violently waving his hands around, "You kept my own daughter from me...Now you're walking away...You know I never saw it coming. I woke up that night, you were just standing there. I was about to ask if you were okay, that's funny right?"
He was slightly laughing. As he talked he slowly walked towards us...Miles tried not to meet his gaze, but couldn't help it...
"I was worried about you!" he yelled, "And you pulled that gun, you never gave me an explanation"
"It was a lot of things" Miles replied.
"Like what!"
"What you did to those rebel kids, for one..."
I turned to look at Miles, not knowing what he was referring too and hoping for an explanation...
"I...I did that for you" Monroe replied, he was choking back tears. His face plastered with a hurt felt gaze as he glared at Miles.
"Everything I have ever done was for you! You care so much about the republic, I don't care...The only thing I ever cared about was watching your back and..." Monroe paused to look at me then turned his gaze back to Miles, "It's the only reason why I followed you into any of this...And you tried to kill me for it"
He had tears in his eyes as he looked at Miles, he did his best to avoid looking at me but when he did I held his gaze...Tears starting to stream from my own face.
I didn't know what to do or say...or think for that matter...
A chopper rose into the sky behind him and drove forward over the hill and right for us. Miles pulled my arm as we ran away, Monroe going off, running along side us but not close. The soldiers in the chopper started sending off bullets right behind him. Monroe started to run in the opposite direction trying to take cover in the trees as me and Miles continued to run away from both the choppers and him. Soon the sound of the chopper's propellers disappeared. We stopped running, looking around we could no longer see it or Monroe.
"Come on...Let's go back to the chopper and get some weapons" Miles said letting go of my arm continuing on. I looked back to where Monroe had disappeared...Knowing they must have gotten to him...Mixed feelings started to overwhelm me, but the sight of Miles disappearing into the trees brought me back as I ran to catch up to him. We made it to the chopper, sitting me back on the ground Miles quickly restitched my wound.
"Listen," I said looking up at him, "I'm not staying here. If Charlie's in trouble, if they're all in trouble I want to help. She's like a sister to me Miles, and Dean's in there and Nora too, so i'm not going to sit around here and do nothing"
"I know...You'll probably just follow me anyway. So you can come...on one condition"
"What's that?"
"You get rid of the militia uniform...It doesn't suit you"
I smiled up at him,
"Good enough for me" I replied.
We grabbed weapons, stocking our pockets with ammo as we prepared to head back towards The Tower.
"How are we going to get in again?" I said as we hid amongst the trees, watching the militia soldiers camped out at the entrance.
"Look, they're gonna try to blow it open"
"You think that'll work?"
"It might..."
"Miles..." I said grabbing his arm and pointing across the camp. We watched as they dragged Monroe into one of the tents. Soon after, Neville walked in...
"Figures that Neville's behind it" he whispered.
"I guess it worked then..."
"What worked?" Miles said looking strangely at me. I ignored his question,
"Miles..."
"I know what you're gonna say-"
"How many times have you had the opportunity to kill him and you didn't?" I said, "I asked you remember, If he could be saved and you told me no...Did you really believe that or is that what you thought I wanted to hear? Look I have to be honest in that the only reason I even came here with you was to kill him myself but...I couldn't do, you saw that. I can't do it...And neither can you"
Miles stared at the Tower's entrance...Then looked back at the tent Monroe was in...
"Dammit..." he muttered under his breath then looked over at me,
"All right, let's go save his sorry ass"
We waited until they blew the hole underneath the door, we watched as Jason and Neville led militia soldiers inside The Tower. Five guards stayed outside the entrance...Leaving Monroe's tent only guarded by one man with a gun. After letting them get inside, and giving them time to get farther in, me and Miles slowly made our way down into camp making sure to stay out of site. Miles silently took out the soldier guarding the tent, slashing his throat with a knife we walked in. Monroe was kneeling on the ground, his hands tied back to a post behind him. He looked up at Miles as he came over to him, knife still out...Miles put the knife near his neck...hesitating slightly before cutting his hands free.
"You asked me why I tried to kill you" Miles said looking down at his baffled expression, "You're asking the wrong question Bass; ask me why I couldn't. We're still brothers, and as much as I hate that and let me tell you I do, that's never going to change"
Miles turned away like he was heading out the tent, Monroe stood up and stared at him in silence.
"Run Bass" Miles said turning back around.
"What..." Monroe said softly.
"MONROE'S ESCAPING!" Miles suddenly screamed out of the tent then turned back to Monroe again,
"I said Run!"
Monroe looked to me,
"I'm sorry...For everything" he said sincerely, "I wish..." but he didn't finish that sentence...He looked me over one last time before running out the back.
Guns started going off as he escaped, leaving the entrance unguarded as me and Miles ran towards it, slipping in through the gapping hole beneath the metal doors. I followed Miles through the expansive underground...thing...I didn't know how to describe it, I had never...Never seen anything like this before in my entire life and as much of an eye opener as it was, I ignored my instinctive curiosity and followed Miles in our search for the others.
We heard gun shots, coming from down the hall. Miles sprinted in that direction, coming into a room we found a rather large...extremely large man towering over Dean and choking him. Miles grabbed his knife and brought his arm around and stabbed the man in the throat. Throwing him off Dean and onto the floor Miles went over to a dazed Charlie who shook her head and pointed behind him to Nora whose side was in terrible condition. I ran to Dean, helping him sit up as he tried to catch his breath.
"What the hell...Are you doing here" he said putting his hand to my shoulder as he tried to gather himself.
"I wasn't going to sit around and let you guys have all the fun"
He pulled me in and hugged me, his arms wrapping around me tightly and mine around him. When I pulled away he was looking up at me sternly,
"I'm still mad at you for leaving the chopper"
"I know" I smiled at him.
I looked back at Nora, her guts practically spilling out of her side as her own hand tried to hold it all in.
"Where's Rachel and Aaron?" Miles said looking frantically around the room.
"She...Went down to level twelve" Nora said, her face grimacing as she tried to ignore the pain, "militia's everywhere...you gotta go help her...listen to me..."
"We need to get her somewhere so Kayleigh can fix her up" Miles said looking to Charlie.
"There's an infirmary but it's locked" Charlie replied.
"Listen to me..."
"Then we'll blast it open"
"Listen to me!" Nora yelled at Miles, "go...go get the power on"
"No," Miles said shaking his head, "I'm not leaving you"
"You have too...Miles...Rachel needs you"
"I'm not leaving you" Miles said more firmly. Miles picked her up and carried her as Charlie led us towards the infirmary.
"How much further?" Miles asked Charlie impatiently.
"It's just up ahead"
"Miles stop..." I said, seeing Nora's head tilt back and her body go still.
"What!?" he yelled angrily at me.
"Miles..."
I moved my eyes to Nora, letting him see what I meant...without having to say it. He looked down and saw her hanging limply,
"No...No! NO!" he knelt to the floor and placed her gently on the ground, "Nora...No, Nora!"
Tears filled his eyes when she didn't move...he leaned in and kissed her cheek, holding her in his arms as he cried over her body. I looked away, throwing myself into Dean's arms and crying. I pulled away and looked to Charlie who's face was stained with tears as well. I moved away from Dean, grabbing her hand I pulled her in and hugged her tightly. When we pulled away from each other we looked to Miles, now standing once more as his face building in anger.
"Where's level twelve?" he asked as he grabbed his gun from Dean. We followed Charlie as she led us to the stair well. We all ran as fast as we could trying to make it to level twelve before militia did. When we ran through the door marked twelve and down the long hallway, just through the end of it we could already see militia soldiers. Raising his gun Miles shot them and soon enough we were in a stand off. All taking cover where we could as we fired at the soldiers. As we held them back, Rachel and Aaron came running through the door way. Rachel led us down one of the other halls and towards a shiny, grey metal door. Swiping a small card through a machine beside it, she pushed it opened then ushered us through.
"Nora?" Rachel asked softly after slamming it shut.
"She's dead" Charlie said to her harshly, then turned away and started walking down another long hallway towards large glass windows that looked into a room full of buttons, screens and blinking lights. Dean took my hand and gently pulled me with him as we followed Charlie down the hall. They soon followed, as Aaron and Rachel pulled ahead of us and turned a corner they went straight into a small room, filled with more strange screens which turned on when Aaron pressed a button. He controlled what showed on the screen as he pressed smaller buttons on a rectangular keypad in front of him. Strange coding, letters, numbers and symbols flashed in a green, bold font across a small black screen as he continued to type ferociously.
"Get to route access" Rachel told him, standing beside him as he worked.
"Get to command line..." she said then nodded, "run the shut down script"
"Almost got it..." Aaron said after several minutes of his fingers dancing over the keyboard.
"What if Grace is right..." Aaron said looking up at Rachel when his fingers slowed down as he finished,
"What if we end the world"
"We won't Aaron" Rachel replied softly, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Do it..."
We watched as Aaron pressed one last key that was labeled 'Execute'...A map of the United States popped up on the screen, strange lines and lights starting popping up all over it.
"It worked..." he said, giving a big sigh of relief.
"I'm sorry about Nora..." Rachel said softly to Charlie. Charlie turned away from her, leaving the room I followed her out.
"Charlie..."
Before I got a chance to talk to her we heard a single gun shot. Running back down the hall, we found a man standing on the other side of the large windows in the room with all the blinking lights and buttons. Now the large screen inside was all powered up too. On it was also a large view of the United States. The man stuck a key like object into one of the panels of buttons,
"Randall?" Rachel said when she saw his face.
"Thank you so much for doing that" he said smirking, "You know me and computers...All thumbs"
"Funny Rachel, I thought for sure it would be you or Grace to help me cross the finish line. But your portly friend came through quite nicely"
"What are you talking about?" Rachel yelled through the glass.
"Why do you think I wanted to get down to level twelve? It's what I needed...And you...you did it!"
Miles started slamming the butt of his gun up against the glass, trying to break through.
"You...you want the power on for everyone?" Rachel asked confused as everyone else by his true motives.
"No, not for everyone" he said, "For this..."
He turned back towards the panel of buttons, and started to press something...But I couldn't tell what, Rachel must have known because she started to panic.
"Randall, no wait! Don't! Just...Just stop! We can talk about this! Randall!"
"When you burn down the old...New things grow..." he said.
I grew terrified from not knowing what was going on. The look on Rachel's face and the evil smirk on Randall's didn't reassure me at all as I grabbed Dean's hand held it tightly.
"Stand back!" Miles yelled at us as he lifted and pointed his gun at the glass. Dean pulled me back and shielded me as I buried my face in his shirt. Miles sent off several bullets at the glass but it did nothing, only causing tiny blemishes in it's structure. Randall lifted his hand and brought it down on a large, bright red button.
"No!" Rachel screamed going back towards the glass, "Randall what are you doing"
"Launching ICBM's at Atlanta and Philadelphia" he replied. Pulling his own gun out he shot the panel of buttons, "There, now there's no turning back"
I looked at the screen of the United States, red arrows moved slowly across it showing the path of the bombs as they inched closer and closer to their destinations...
"You think I gave two craps about Monroe?" he said angrily to Rachel, "I just wanted Monroe to wipe out Georgia then I'd wipe out Monroe. After that the east coast is wide open! After all, our great nation must be united. A house divided against itself cannot stand..."
"Randall what are you saying" Rachel asked softly.
"I'm a patriot Rachel," he replied smugly.
Then lifting his gun he put it to his head...
"No!" Rachel screamed. I looked away, but I could hear the shot and his body hit the floor anyway.
"There's gotta be a way to get in there" Miles said frantically, "Rachel how do we get in!"
Rachel stared in silence as the red arrows grew closer to Georgia and Philly.
"Rachel!"
"We have to turn it off" Rachel said, "Aaron we have to turn it off!"
They both ran back into the small room with the computer and Aaron once again sat down in front of the screen and started typing rapidly.
"Turn the power back off!?" Charlie said as she ran after them.
"We have too, it's the only way to dismantle the ICBM's"
Miles started yelling the countdown, once the ICBM's were initiated a countdown of two minutes started along with it.
"ONE MINUTE TWENTY THREE"
"Miles stop it! You're not helping!" Charlie yelled with tears running down her face.
Dean pulled me away from them and into the hall near where we first came in. His hands moved to my cheeks as he lifted my face to look up at him.
"No matter what happens...We're going to get through this"
"Dean-"
"No just listen to me" he said firmly, his hands still caressing my cheeks, "I love you. I love you Kayleigh Marie Evans more than anything...You. In all your stubbornness, selflessness, courage, passion...even your god damn sarcasm"
I laughed with tears still flowing from my eyes,
"I love you" I told him.
"FIFTEEN"
I turned to look back down the hall, Dean pulled me back to face him,
"Don't think about it" he said as the tears ran faster down my face. I shut my eyes tightly and pressed my forehead gently against his.
"FIVE...FOUR..." Miles continued to yell. As it drew closer and closer I felt myself tightening my grip on Dean and he did the same with me.
"THREE!"
"TWO!"
"ONE!"