Chapter Four: Rebels in Paradise
It had only been about a week and a half since they'd taken Jack, and it seemed like it was starting all over again. Max, the baby of our group, had been starting to have seizures more and more frequently. We were all afraid. But we knew...we knew that there was no way in hell that they would take her too.
I remember waking up that morning to the sound of a raven screeching. I freaked...inwardly of course, but I still freaked. It was then that I knew, we all knew. We weren't so sure that we'd be able to protect Maxie. We'd try of course...but just maybe...maybe that wouldn't be good enough. That's the kind of influence the raven had on us. Sounds crazy I know, but it never was to us. Not then...
We did all the normal things that day. Nothing unusual or weird happened. I almost convinced myself that the raven wasn't a bad omen...that it had just been a coincidence the last couple of times. It almost worked too. But I should have known...there's no such thing as coincidences.
That night Lydecker came into the barracks for inspection. I remember it struck me as seeming odd that Lydecker should be there since he usually wasn't the one to do that. One of the lower ranked norm soldiers was usually the one to do the inspection. But no one said anything...we had been trained not to. We had just assumed that he was going to make an announcement or something like that. Yeah right...I wished.
He stood there, and his gaze swept over each of us in turn, then turned to the two norm soldiers behind him... I'll never forget what he said. I should have seen it coming...I had seen it coming...I just couldn't quite grasp the fact that it was really happening. In those few seconds, while we had all been shocked, the two norm soldiers had crossed the room and had been getting ready to take Max away.
She was only six. Six years old. The memories of what Max had said about what they had done to Jack echoed in my mind. "Not her." I had thought. "Not our baby sister. She's so little." But I knew...I knew that for all the screaming in my mind, which would never help her, I would never actually do anything...I couldn't...I didn't have the guts. I didn't have the guts to step out of line and actually confront them...confront Lydecker. I had been too well trained...too well disciplined. We all had, even though it was killing us inside. All of us, except Eva.
She surprised us all that night. Before we knew what was happening, she had disarmed and shot the two norm soldiers. And just as quickly she had whipped around, gun trained steadily on Lydecker. She had guts. She had more guts than the rest of us...even Zack. We would never have had the courage to pull a gun on Lydecker and be so blatantly insubordinate. That's what got her killed in the end though. I've always wondered why she never shot Lydecker. She could have, God knows she was faster, and maybe she would still be alive know, along with many others. Was it because she lost her nerve? Or was it because our training went too deep? I'll never know. She took that secret with her to the grave.
Lydecker had pulled out his gun as soon as he figured out what the hell was going on. He had ordered her to stand down. But she didn't. She stood there, gun steadily pointed at his chest...his heart. The look in her eyes was so defiant. But I guess she wasn't defiant enough. She could have shot him before he so much as twitched. He would never have known what hit him. But she didn't...and watching her lifeless body fall to the ground, uniform stained with blood, Lydecker's gun still smoking, was the one of the most painful things I've ever had to do.
I had wanted to hate her...blame her for not having shot Lydecker first. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't. She'd had more guts then any of us. I hated Lydecker though. I hated him like nothing else in the world I'd ever hated or would ever hate. I had felt betrayed. Yes, betrayed. I know that seems weird since we had never really liked Lydecker...just tolerated him. But no matter how much I tried not to believe it...no matter how hard I tried to deny it...I had trusted him. We all had...or most of us anyways. I've never been sure about Zack. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. It doesn't really matter either way.
Within five minutes Lydecker had had all three bodies removed and the floors cleaned. After that, he'd told us it was lights out. I remember it had seemed as if he had wanted to say something else, but he had just turned and left instead. I think we were all in shock. Perfect soldiers trained to kill under any circumstances shocked over one death? Ironic wasn't it? But the thing is...if it had been someone else, someone not in our unit, not one of our siblings, we would never have cared. Their death would have been irrelevant to us. But it was Eva, the Brave One. The one who showed true courage when everyone else froze.
Max and Zack always blamed themselves after that. Max because she'd been the one having seizures, and Zack because...because he was our C.O....our leader...our big brother. He felt he should have protected her, but truth be told...well truth be told, he could have done something. Any of us could have. But we didn't...and Eva paid the price.
After Lydecker had left, and things in general had quieted down a bit, we got together. We planned. Eva's death was the last straw. We knew what we were going to do, and we'd have sooner died then have been stopped.
It had only been about a week and a half since they'd taken Jack, and it seemed like it was starting all over again. Max, the baby of our group, had been starting to have seizures more and more frequently. We were all afraid. But we knew...we knew that there was no way in hell that they would take her too.
I remember waking up that morning to the sound of a raven screeching. I freaked...inwardly of course, but I still freaked. It was then that I knew, we all knew. We weren't so sure that we'd be able to protect Maxie. We'd try of course...but just maybe...maybe that wouldn't be good enough. That's the kind of influence the raven had on us. Sounds crazy I know, but it never was to us. Not then...
We did all the normal things that day. Nothing unusual or weird happened. I almost convinced myself that the raven wasn't a bad omen...that it had just been a coincidence the last couple of times. It almost worked too. But I should have known...there's no such thing as coincidences.
That night Lydecker came into the barracks for inspection. I remember it struck me as seeming odd that Lydecker should be there since he usually wasn't the one to do that. One of the lower ranked norm soldiers was usually the one to do the inspection. But no one said anything...we had been trained not to. We had just assumed that he was going to make an announcement or something like that. Yeah right...I wished.
He stood there, and his gaze swept over each of us in turn, then turned to the two norm soldiers behind him... I'll never forget what he said. I should have seen it coming...I had seen it coming...I just couldn't quite grasp the fact that it was really happening. In those few seconds, while we had all been shocked, the two norm soldiers had crossed the room and had been getting ready to take Max away.
She was only six. Six years old. The memories of what Max had said about what they had done to Jack echoed in my mind. "Not her." I had thought. "Not our baby sister. She's so little." But I knew...I knew that for all the screaming in my mind, which would never help her, I would never actually do anything...I couldn't...I didn't have the guts. I didn't have the guts to step out of line and actually confront them...confront Lydecker. I had been too well trained...too well disciplined. We all had, even though it was killing us inside. All of us, except Eva.
She surprised us all that night. Before we knew what was happening, she had disarmed and shot the two norm soldiers. And just as quickly she had whipped around, gun trained steadily on Lydecker. She had guts. She had more guts than the rest of us...even Zack. We would never have had the courage to pull a gun on Lydecker and be so blatantly insubordinate. That's what got her killed in the end though. I've always wondered why she never shot Lydecker. She could have, God knows she was faster, and maybe she would still be alive know, along with many others. Was it because she lost her nerve? Or was it because our training went too deep? I'll never know. She took that secret with her to the grave.
Lydecker had pulled out his gun as soon as he figured out what the hell was going on. He had ordered her to stand down. But she didn't. She stood there, gun steadily pointed at his chest...his heart. The look in her eyes was so defiant. But I guess she wasn't defiant enough. She could have shot him before he so much as twitched. He would never have known what hit him. But she didn't...and watching her lifeless body fall to the ground, uniform stained with blood, Lydecker's gun still smoking, was the one of the most painful things I've ever had to do.
I had wanted to hate her...blame her for not having shot Lydecker first. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't. She'd had more guts then any of us. I hated Lydecker though. I hated him like nothing else in the world I'd ever hated or would ever hate. I had felt betrayed. Yes, betrayed. I know that seems weird since we had never really liked Lydecker...just tolerated him. But no matter how much I tried not to believe it...no matter how hard I tried to deny it...I had trusted him. We all had...or most of us anyways. I've never been sure about Zack. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. It doesn't really matter either way.
Within five minutes Lydecker had had all three bodies removed and the floors cleaned. After that, he'd told us it was lights out. I remember it had seemed as if he had wanted to say something else, but he had just turned and left instead. I think we were all in shock. Perfect soldiers trained to kill under any circumstances shocked over one death? Ironic wasn't it? But the thing is...if it had been someone else, someone not in our unit, not one of our siblings, we would never have cared. Their death would have been irrelevant to us. But it was Eva, the Brave One. The one who showed true courage when everyone else froze.
Max and Zack always blamed themselves after that. Max because she'd been the one having seizures, and Zack because...because he was our C.O....our leader...our big brother. He felt he should have protected her, but truth be told...well truth be told, he could have done something. Any of us could have. But we didn't...and Eva paid the price.
After Lydecker had left, and things in general had quieted down a bit, we got together. We planned. Eva's death was the last straw. We knew what we were going to do, and we'd have sooner died then have been stopped.