Thanks for the reviews guys, plz keep 'em coming, they are like air to me...
DISCLAIMER: I don't own DA, Alec or anything of the like. They belong to people who don't appreciate them.
MY EMAIL: vokal_angel_@hotmail.com
WEB ADDRESS: http:/destined.to/prodigy
CHAPTER ELEVEN - THE WAR
Mole had said that a war was coming. He was wrong - the war was already here.
It was all around them - seeping from the protesters camped out the front of Terminal City, flaring from the weapons of soldiers and police and circulating across the nation like an insidious plague, spreading fear, inciting hatred.
Fewer and fewer transgenics were arriving at TC each day - fewer were surviving the perilous journey.
Alec's people had become the hunted.
Alec himself longed to escape Terminal City - he hated it. He hated the atmosphere of imminent danger, and often when he closed his eyes for a moments peace, perched high on top of HQ, his other senses - not his genetically engineered super senses, but that feeling, that intuitive awareness kicked in, and he would almost swear he could pick up the scent of death in the still night air.
It was as if it was searching him out specifically - warning him, haunting him.
He knew that if they stayed here much longer, they would die.
"Whatchya thinkin' about?"
Max approached Alec slowly on the roof of HQ. So much like Ben, she thought almost offhandedly, always searching out the high place.
"Nothing" Alec grunted his response.
Max sat on her hands beside him.
"Just that you were looking particularly broody..." Max shrugged.
"I'm alright..." Alec half smiled.
"Of course." Max nodded knowingly.
They stared out silently at the fires lit in perimeter around the nuclear wasteland, both listening absently to the static transmissions of the guards' communicators.
"We have got to get all these people out of here." Alec voiced his fears.
"I know. But the question is, how? And then what? We just live our lives constantly on the run?"
"Anything is better than this. This isn't living."
"Then what is it?" Max turned to look at him.
Alec sighed and closed his eyes, shrugging as if trying to shift a huge weight from his shoulders. "Waiting to die."
Turning back to watch the guards, Max sighed.
************************************************************
Alec woke screaming and Joshua almost jumped from his bunk and ran to his side.
"What's wrong Alec? Another bad dream?"
Alec wiped his face, his hands wet from a cold sweat and tears he didn't remember shedding.
Their cries of pain still reverberated inside his skull as he shook the last remnants of the dream from his being.
"Yeah buddy I'm fine, go back to bed."
"Alec doesn't look fine."
"I'm alright." Alec's words were slightly more forceful, but not harsh as he spoke to his part-canine comrade.
"Alec likes to think he's alright when he's not."
Joshua stood slowly and climbed back onto the top bunk, his huge limbs hanging unseemly over the side, and waited for Alec to confide in him.
After a short pause, Joshua smiled as Alec spoke.
"If we can't find a way out of here, most of us will die."
"Max said stay put. Stand our ground."
"This isn't 'our' ground, Josh. This is some biologically unsafe hell-hole we're all kept prisoner in."
"We're safe here."
"Not for long, Josh, not for long. Sooner or later some overeager sector cop is gonna try something, or the army'll come in, bullets flying, a huge commotion, chaos..."
Alec trailed off, a realization suddenly crossing his mind.
He had
possibly just come up with a plan - an insane, dangerous plan with a high
probability of failure - but a plan nonetheless, to get all the transgenics out
of Terminal City.
************************************************************
"That's insane"
Max put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips exaggeratedly.
"But it might just work..." Mole grunted, rolling a cigar through his fingers thoughtfully.
Alec, his eyes bright while the rest of the gang rubbed their tired eyes wearily, paced the room excitedly.
"I mean think about it Max. We were trained to do it - lower our body temperature, slow our heart rate, cease breathing..."
Max ran tired hand through her hair.
"But Alec, we'd actually have to let guards in here, soldiers will actually shoot people..." She pouted again.
"We can wear Kevlar vests, dodge bullets, play dead... No one will be guarding dead transgenics..."
"They don't even have to be real soldiers..." Mole rubbed his hands together conspiratorially, his cigar bobbing up and down as he spoke.
"That's brilliant Mole..." Gemma spoke up, her hands moving quickly as she spoke equally as fast. "We can get most of the X's disguised as soldiers..."
"In all the chaos no-one will notice the switch. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that norm soldiers are disorganized, erratic. We can use this to our advantage."
"You know..." A sly smile began to creep over Max's petite face. "This might actually work..."
The team grinned stupidly for a few seconds, for a moment all thought of failure had escaped their minds, and for the first time in a long time, a glimmer of hope and penetrated the thick blanket of fear that hung over Terminal city.
"Just one
problem..." It was Joshua who raised the question. "How will we get the soldiers
to attack?"
************************************************************
Alec ran his hands lovingly over the blueprints to their freedom and smiled. It had taken 4 full weeks to plan, and the co-operation of every transgenic in Terminal City, but they had made it work - theoretically at least.
Tomorrow they would put their plan into practice. Tomorrow would be the first day of the war.
"You nervous?" Max stood framed by the doorway.
Alec grinned wickedly. "Me? Never."
"If we pull this off, it won't be over..." Max folded her arms characteristically across her chest.
"I know, but at least we'll have a chance. It won't just be a shooting gallery - all of us rounded up in the same place. We can fight back, organize, succeed."
The transgenics had agreed on a system of government similar to the one the employed whilst living in TC - Max and Alec were unanimously voted as leaders, supported by a group of elected transgenics, not surprisingly these included Joshua, Gemma and Mole, who would govern collectively from a location that would change regularly.
Each individual transgenic had been assigned to a cell - a unit - an almost autonomous group that would travel and operate together in their efforts to undermine the system and improve the living conditions of transgenics worldwide.
These cells would be led by a Cell Commander, who would answer to The United Transgenic Government - Max, Alec and the others, and who would be the only one in that cell to know of the government's location. Only the government would know the location of each cell.
It was an almost flawless system - Joshua had designed it as such, and every transgenic had approved of his design.
It would ensure the safety of the transgenics - if one cell was located, the other would remain safe. The only area capable of error was the government, in whose hands the lives of all transgenics rested. But they trusted their leaders - hell they voted for them, and they knew that without them their people had little chance of survival.
Alec knew that it would be hard, that many transgenics would die, but he knew it was a risk they had to take, for the sake of their entire people - for freedom.
Max moved toward Alec and leaned her head against his chest. His arms lifted automatically to encircle her and his head dipped to rest in her hair.
"At least we'll be together, you, me, Josh. We'll be alright."
He breathed her in as they stood for a long moment.
Max didn't know why, but she had a strange feeling, an ominous sensation that this would be the last time he would ever hold her in his arms again.
A tear slipped unnoticed down her cheek.
"Don't ever leave me Alec..." Her voice was only just above a whisper.
"I'm not going anywhere..." Alec held her tighter. "I won't leave you." He tried to reinforce the conviction in his voice, but it faltered. He couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't leave her - although he knew he didn't want to. But he couldn't guarantee anything. There were no guarantees. The only thing he was certain of was that after tomorrow nothing would ever be the same. Ever.
************************************************************
Alec had no way of knowing what was to happen.
He had planned everything, made allowances for anything, and stopped at nothing.
But he couldn't have predicted the fate that would befall his people.
They stood in line - all of them, weapons in hand, wearing their war faces - the faces Manticore had painted what seemed like such a long time ago.
Alec breathed in deeply. He could sense Max trembling beside him.
"We'll be fine." He tried to smile, but his body was frozen in fear. No amount of training could have prepared them for this.
"Yeah, of course we will be..." Max nodded, her hand reaching slowly over to grip Alec's. She squeezed his hand, fighting back the tears.
They watched the sky for the signal. Thousands of Transgenics gazed upward.
The army had been observing the activates in TC for a week, they had seen the barricades assembled, witnessed lines and lines of transgenics flow forth brandishing weapons.
In turn, they had mobilized almost three times as many troops, their presence surrounding Terminal City like a cloud of manufactured camouflage.
They were poised, alert, waiting to pounce.
That morning the air was heavy and crisp, and the smoke burning from Mole's cigar trailed upward like a snake cutting through the water's surface.
Over the barricades Reverend Terry Caldwell stood atop an overturned car, his hands raised high in exacerbated praise.
"And you are doing God's work today!" His voice, thick with a self-righteous drawl, carried to the transgenic frontlines.
"You brave soldiers who God has sent to cleanse the Earth of these abominations!" He flicked his hands out toward the US soldiers as if his violent movements would rouse God from his omniscient yet detached perch and ignite his wrath on the world.
"You are not killers, for these things are not alive! You are not vengeful, but merciful! You are not warriors, for you are just. And today..." He paused as his beady eyes scanned the soldiers' faces, the sweat running down his face staining a perfect white collar.
"...and today you are no longer men, but hero's!"
The soldiers roared their approval as Max swallowed nervously.
Terry Caldwell stepped down from his street alter and eager men shook his hands.
Alec looked up and his heart skipped a beat.
Gemma's plane careened over Terminal City, a fine spray of red gas billowing out behind it.
And so it had begun.
The gas spread over the wasteland and the soldiers surrounding it scattered. Their commanders yelled orders, and the first gunfire spewed out.
The gas provided a cover. As it hit the ground it created a thick black smoke, choking the humans who breathed in it's intoxicating fumes.
To Alec, everything happened in slow motion. He saw the faces of angry young men as they lunged at transgenics. He watched as one by one his transgenic comrades dropped to the ground.
The army closed in, leaving the fallen transgenics lying motionless behind them.
In waves the dead began to rise and escape. It was working just like Alec had predicted - as the army closed in on HQ they ignored the transgenics they thought they had killed.
Several cells of X-5's managed to walk out of Terminal City in stolen uniforms.
But Max and Alec continued to withdraw to the heart of their radioactive home.
They were the final front - the last line. The transgenics the nation most wanted dead.
But there were still many transgenics trapped within TC, and Alec knew that the last ones to leave would have the most difficulty.
"I can't 'em off much longer!" Max's face was streaked with blood and sweat.
"I know!" Alec's words came out breathlessly.
They ducked into HQ as an explosion shattered three of their companions.
"Alec!' Max's eyes were desperate.
He didn't know what he could do. There was no way out of HQ - the army had them surrounded.
"We're not gonna die her!" Alec screamed above the sound of gunfire and explosions.
"They need us!" Max yelled back as she reloaded a clip.
They could explosives and drills outside the blast doors, it was a matter of minutes before they would enter the building.
Alec looked up. "The roof!"
They jumped up, Alec slowly punching a hole in the roof.
"Hurry!" Max's voice was hoarse.
Alec lifted Max up and she squeezed through the small opening.
"It's clear!"
Alec followed.
From here they could see the extent of the destruction. The war had spilled out onto the streets as soldiers hunted fleeing transgenics and it seemed as if the whole city was aflame, the fire licking at Seattle's wounds, cauterizing, cleansing.
And they saw bodies. Hundreds of transgenics sprawled across the grounds of Terminal City, their blood seeping into the already impure earth.
"What have we started..." Alec voice was no more than a whisper.
Max's eyes were wide and her heart was breaking.
"There's no hope..." Her voice broke and tears slipped down her cheeks.
"Hey!" Alec lifted her chin gently, his fingers wiping her tears. "There is always hope. As long as we are living and breathing and fighting, there is always hope."
Max composed herself, checking her weapon determinedly. "Then let's fight!"
They spun round and fired as soldiers reached the roof, shrapnel echoing as it it hit the metal roof.
Max jumped from the roof and after getting out a few last shots, Alec followed.
They ran. Alec ran like he had never before.
In a deserted street not far from Terminal City he halted.
Once again his world was thrown into slow motion. he had lived this before. He knew it. Everything seemed so familar, every scent, every sight.
Max turned to him, her hair splaying out behind her like a halo. He could see her mouth moving, see her hands waving frantically in slow motion as she yelled at him to follow her, but all he could hear was the sickening thud of a bullet being launched from it's chamber.
He turned slowly to the source of the sound and his eyes grew wide.
Antigone stood behind him, her finger slowly releasing it's tight grip on the trigger, a thin trail of smoke escaping from her gun.
A soldier slumped to the ground in front of her, a gun held in dead fingers focused on Alec.
"How did you get here?" Alec breathed out his words.
A wide smile crossed Antigone's face and she shrugged. "I'm a lawyer."
"C'mon!" Max yelled from in front of them.
"You saved my life!" Alec stood dumbfounded.
Antigone shrugged again. "You owe me a big debt."
Alec smiled.
"Hurry up!" Max urged them on.
"Let's go!" Alec grabbed Antigone by the hand.
Behind them the smoke from Terminal City billowed high, and like an a dark shroud it reached out to Alec - it called him.
Alec paused once again. It didn't take much, just a slight step to the side, to step behind her, and the bullet tore through his heart.
Max leapt into action, returning fire. The soldier crumpled onto the ground.
"Alec?" Max didn't move. She was frozen. His body lay on the ground, and she could see his eyes roll back in his head.
Antigone raced to his side, holding him, cradling him to her.
"What did you do? What did you do?" Tears flowed uninhibitedly down her cheeks. "You're so stupid!"
A wry grin crossed his face for the last time. "Consider our debt, repaid."
"No!" She grabbed at him frantically. "Don't! Don't you dare leave me!"
Max looked on, a cold chill permeating her body.
Around them the war raged on, but Max couldn't hear it - the only sound she could hear was Alec's heartbeat as it slowly faded into nothing.
So this was it, she thought. This was the end.
to be continued...