Chapter 7.3

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“ETA on the extraction is twenty minutes, Nick,” Addison called. “Get them out and covered, reinforcements for them will be hard but we don’t have the man power to protect three hundred unarmed civilians.”

“Copy,” Nick said. He removed his mask and motioned for me to follow him. We jumped off the train and began to walk along its length. “You did good, especially for your first combat action.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah, I puked,” Nick admitted. We walked to the last car on the train, stopping at the closed cargo side door. “So, I’m always shitty at opening these electronic locks. Do you mind?”

I pulled a few wires off my belt and hooked my wrist interface into the lock. With a few taps, the code came up and I tapped it into the lock. The door opened and I heard a few cries of surprise. Fifty people sat huddled on the ground, dressed in rags with dirt smeared on their faces. Men, women, and children sat in the car.

“Hello, we’re friends, we’re not going to hurt you,” Nick called. “My name’s Nick, this is Tawny. We’re members of the resistance. We’re here to take you back to our camp where you’ll be safe.”

A few people eyed Nick suspiciously. I repeated his message in Tzi, earning a few gasps. A young boy at the very front stood with his legs shaking. He looked down at me with questioning eyes. I reached up for him and smiled. “Jump, I’ll catch you,” I said.

He barely weighed a thing as he dropped into my outstretched arms. I lowered him to the ground and he looked up at me with the biggest smile, his eyes shining bright with hope behind the dirt and grime smeared on his face. He barely reached my waist.

“Thank you,” he said and wrapped his arms around my legs.

I embraced him back, feeling the tears welling up. “You’re welcome, you’re welcome.”

I saw Vicki come up and she smiled. “Will you go with my friend? We’re going to take you somewhere safe.”

He nodded and ran over to Vicki. Slowly, we unloaded the car, everything from the elderly to young children. Mothers and wives cried and begged if we had seen their children and husbands. They wandered among the freed prisoners and calling their families names. Every so often a happy cry would go up and I would look back to see a mother embracing a child or a wife a husband.

The next car was much of the same, only the cries were more frequent. Vicki herded the weakened prisoners away from the door and into the group up near the engine. Any injured or sickly prisoners were carried up and separated. A pregnant woman came out of the third car and Nick escorted her to the front, Addison taking his place as I helped a man out of the car. He ran after Nick, taking the woman’s other side.

“So, Tawny what?” Addison asked.

“Jameson,” I said. “You?”

An elderly woman came to the front of the car. I reached up to help and she shied away. “How do I know you aren’t a soldier?” she asked in Tzi.

“Because if I was a soldier, I wouldn’t be here,” I responded in Tzi.

Her eyes went wide.

“Please, silen, allow me to help you,” I said dipping my head and calling her mother. She dipped her head and took my hands as she stepped out of the car.

The man Addison helped took the woman by the hand and began to lead her away.

“Becker,” Addison said.

I looked over at her. “Like?”

“Yeah, my father’s a Dead Head,” she said. “How do you know him?”

“He investigated me after I got abducted by the resistance,” I said. “He thought I was a member.”

She laughed. “He got that wrong, didn’t he?”

“Just a little,” I said. We chatted a little back and forth as we emptied the last of the cars.

“Tawny, get the train moving again,” Nigel instructed as Addison and I helped another pregnant woman up to the front and sat her down next to the other.

“Yes, sir,” I muttered and climbed back into the engine. With a few taps, I set the auto pilot and the train began to crawl. I jumped off as it started to roll away. Every dead soldier lay in the cart they belonged. A pile of the cargo that went along with the train sat along the edge of the forest nearby. Soon, we were alone in the mountains. I sat on an embankment, the entire raid running through my head in super speed.

“Hey,” Vicki said sitting next to me. “Was this worth it?”

“Worth what?” I asked.

“The thirty-seven dead heads we killed,” she said.

I looked out over the crowd of people, embracing, receiving basic medical assistance and stretching their legs. I nodded and licked my lips. “Yeah, it was worth it. My parents were on one of these trains.”

“We can’t hit every train,” Vicki said. “The chances the resistance saved your parents are—”

I shook my head and raised a hand. “I’ve accepted my parents are dead,” I said. “The government took them away and they’re not coming back. They died alone and afraid and I don’t know how long ago.”

I looked down and sniffled. I rubbed my eyes to keep the tears from spilling down my cheeks. Vicki reached over and lifted my chin. She pressed her lips against mine. Her lips were soft and gentle and full and moist and everything I remembered from two years ago. I barely had time to react, caught completely off guard. My heart stopped for a moment and I reached up for her.  She pulled away quickly at the roar of an engine. Her cheeks flushed red.

A pair of four wheelers crested the nearby ridge followed by various ground cars, I think they’re called trucks, and a few other four wheelers. Two people rode on every four wheeler and the trucks were full of them, all geared up and carrying firearms.

Addison ran over to us and grabbed my wrist. “Come on, Vince wants to meet the woman who took his spot.”

I got to my feet and Vicki stood. Stones skittered out from underfoot, threatening to throw me onto the hard ground with a single misstep. I watched the men amazed as they wound their way through the political prisoners, picking out the weak and injured and helping them over to the trucks. Another group began to load the crates we’d removed from the train into a different set of trucks.

I saw a pair of men standing around, surveying the area. Both wore full body armor with a rifle slung over their shoulders. One of them looked in our general direction and a smile burst out over his face.

“Addison! Victoria!” he shouted, waving his arm to get our attention like we weren’t already headed in his direction.

“Vincent, we are so replacing you!” Addison shouted and picked up her pace. Vicki and I broke into a jog to keep up with her.

“What? The newbie that good?” he asked.

Vincent was a tall man maybe a few years older than myself and had the darkest skin I’d ever seen. When the Purge started, the first groups to go were the dark skinned and the homeless; the ones that couldn’t hide it from the government. They were collected and sent away to Praia, the only camp open at the time. Slowly but surely, the other camps had been built and dispersed but at the beginning everyone went to Praia. Vincent must have been a young boy when the Purge happened, so the resistance must have scooped him up quickly.

“She’s a hacker,” Addison said.

“So I get passed up for the newbie because she’s good with a computer?” Vincent asked. He turned to me and held his hand out. “Vincent Bennet, you can call me Vince, everyone does.”

I took his hand. “Tawny Jameson,” I said.

Vince twisted his grip and brought my knuckles to his lips. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Jameson,” he said.

My cheeks flushed pink and I pulled my hand back. “Please, just Tawny,” I muttered.

The man standing next to Vince had turned to speak with another man as we approach but broke off his conversation to whirl around to face us.

“Tawny?” he breathed.