The Uprising (The Julianna Rae Chronicles) (18 page)

‘I can’t do this by myself!’ Julianna stared down
at the door where Taris gave his final orders. The door was deliberating under the hand of the person edging out, moved back and forth while he talked.

‘You have no choice,’ he said. ‘Go on, Julianna. That’s an order.’

Caden’s force lifted and threw her against the wall in the direction of the stairwell, winding her. She stood, cringing at her breathlessness and when she glanced up the vent was closed. The door at the end of the hallway opened and Bas ran towards her. 

Follow down, left then right, then right again. Hurry now.

I’m going.
She said. Did he hear her, she had no idea. Her heart pounded loudly – and with Bas calling her name softly, she struggled to hear herself.

‘Julianna,’ Bas sung quietly.

She turned around. Bas was slowing his pace to an amble, with his hands behind his back.

‘Come on, Julianna. Don’t run, darlin’ we’re friends now, aren’t we?’

Her feet betrayed her. She looked down at the floor, trying to move their concrete weight, refusing to lift in their heaviness from the spell Bas had cast. Bas had her well within his watcher grasp.

He walked slowly, closing their space and smiling, with his hand reaching out. ‘That’s it,’ he beckone
d. ‘Just stay where you are. No one’s getting hurt today.’

She
felt the beat of his voice. Her feet staggered forward, one after the other, pigeon toed, unable to be controlled in his trance. His thoughts sunk into her own mind, taking over her free will. There wasn’t a thing she could do to escape his intensity. He drowned her out; blocked her mind and closed her down.

Caden, help me.

‘Hey now,’ Bas said in a soft voice. His hand brushed along her arm as his other fumbled with his handcuffs. ‘Now we can move along quietly. I’ll even find you a nice quiet room with a view.’

She held her hands
out for him. The cold metal brushed against her wrists in preparation for its grasp, when Bas became preoccupied with the ventilation unit. His face contorted. The empty hallway confused him. 

‘Me thinks we’re not alo
ne,’ he said in a kindly voice.

Run Julianna, run as fast as you can.

The cuffs dropped into the thick carpet. Caden balanced on his haunches when Bas spun around in his place. His grasp left her to escape.

‘Get out of here!’ Caden ducked the first punch.

Bas was thrown into the wall first before he pushed Caden into the one across from them. Taris swung the door open to the noise.

Julianna’s feet carried her through
the long hallway, turning the corners sharply, sprinting to the stairwell where the door was still ajar. She leaped down the stairs, two and three at a time, all the while with the constant weight of Taris laughing inside her mind.

She exploded through the door
and into the basement, bolting across the floor. The noise startled the teams into raising their sights from the explosives they were laying in the corner.

‘They have Caden!’ she yelled. ‘They’re ambushing the saf
e house in less than an hour!’ She looked over her shoulder. No one had followed.

‘Then go warn them. We’re almost done, we’ll follow,’ Daniel said.

‘What about Caden?’

They were closing in, she
sensed the urgency; she needed to leave the reach that Taris was grasping for.

‘Forget him, h
e’s my problem now. Just go, will you!’

Daniel finished tying the last fuse. The others were crowding around him in a wave of curiosity and panic.

‘Which way is he?’ he stood.

She pointed.

‘Right, now go.’

Julianna did. She ran along the basement, through the opening where the malfunctioning drone still buzzed in confusion, to the street, in the direction of the tunnels. Her lungs seared with the early morning air that she gulped in, but she didn’t stop until the slippery ground in the tunnels tripped her into a puddle.

She sat in the water, stunned.

Her chest heaved as her body caught up and her mind spun
in a daze to get its bearings on where she sat. Every wall looked the same. She’d run without taking notice. She looked at the stone walls surrounding her. Tears welled.

Caden.

Her mind begged for his answer. She called again, and again. Only the thickness of the water flowing into the nearby channels
, responded.

Caden, please, please, please, please, answer me. Please.

‘Please,’ she whispered through tears.

Please be okay.

A siren blared. She turned in its direction.

The
opening in the wall they had climbed through stared back at her, large and dark, beckoning at her, echoing the warning travelling from the safe house.

She was too late. The attack had already started.

6th May, 2018, 0930 hours.

The Safe House, Sector #3

The speaker blared, the alarm went off briefly again and everyone ran in slow motion around her, as she stood watching.

What the hell are they doing? They should be running with this
, she thought.

She moved into the upper hallways, pushing against the crowds. She yelled.
Everyone for the basement
,
get the intel and run
. Her voice boomed over the alarm, and it registered. The crowds thickened around her in the chaos, slamming her against a wall, as she made her way to the stairwell. She needed to reach the rooftop with the others.

The general was ahead of her on the first landing, barking orders and accepting the rifle being pushed into his hands. No one’s rank placed them above defending their stron
g hold. Everyone had their duty and the general was no exception. He gave her a nod to move along. She nodded back, she wasn’t an exception either.

Her feet leapt over the steps, grabbing a scoped rifle from the supply room officer. He handed them out, to everyone passing
– repeating the action until he exhausted the weapons supply. She checked the rifle for rounds as she continued her bound up the stairs. Voices yelled around her, footsteps against the stairs echoed along the thin area, guns cocked, prepared, or were loaded, and more yelling of orders. The panic was loud. They’d had many drills for this occasion, everyone knew their role. The day for the organized weekly ritual had become brutal reality.

Julianna stopped at the closed rooftop door. Others waited and the general had disappeared.

He must be out there,
she thought.

She looked around all eyes were on her, waiting for
her
.
She sucked in a breath. The exposed roof line behind the door was an unknown situation.

She first cautiously
peered past the door, and then slammed it open. Everyone filed out – taking their positions. Julianna ran close to the open ground in the eerie silence. Everyone waited for their orders.

Hensley gave her a
come here
wave from his low position against the barrier. His rifle balanced on the edge of the small boundary wall, scoping everything within reach of the powerful lens, in the city below. He greeted her as she set herself down. It was him who signaled the alarm. The radio was still in his hand, with the frequency open, and the alarm was still squealing from inside the building, sending an awful hiss over the open channel.

Squad Leader Hensley nodded, his Irish accent rolled out thick. ‘Nice to see you again, J Rae,’

She set her rifle over the ledge, concealing herself against it. Looking through her scope, she watched the quiet street below.

The general slid down beside
them, mirroring her actions, hovering over his scope, searching the streets for threats.

‘You see them, General?’ Hensley asked.

The general nodded sullenly and thin lipped. ‘We’ve no way of warning headquarters about this.’

Julianna scanned through her scope.
             

‘With all due respect, go on foot. We can’t break these lines without support,’ Hensley said.

Julianna tracked their concern. Hover drones were establishing a strong formation along the west side of the building. She didn’t doubt the east side of the roof was the same. She leveled her rifle to look to the higher grounds. Movement caught her eye in the building across the road. 

‘We have snipers, everyone down!’ she yelled.

The building across the road, with boarded up windows, had rifles pointed in their direction from multiple levels. 

‘You’re the only one with Sector One access, General. We need support before they squeeze us in,’ Hensley said.

The general dropped his rifle to the ground and pulled his side arm instead. The magazine ejected for more rounds. ‘Where’s Madison, he’s lighter on his feet?’

Both Hensley and the General raised their heads to scan the roof line; searching for him. They thought the mission was successful. That these were the ramificatio
ns. It was acceptable thinking.

Acceptable losses,
justifiable losses.
How am I explaining this one?

Julianna shook her head.
He didn’t make it.
The tears stung her eyes.
Don’t you dare, Julianna! Hold it together!

‘Taris arrested hi
m. Daniel went back for him – I don’t know what’s in Sector One, but right now, it’s not the safest place.’

‘Nor is here.
You’re saying Madison’s captured?’ The general stated.

She wasn’t crying again. Not in front of everyone. She answered with a nod of the head and focused through the cross hairs of the scope to avoid their stares. The ground troops were doubling in numbers. The drones were starting their search on the first and second levels. The Jeeps rolled in to establish their perimeters.

‘Julianna, you’re coming with me,’ the general said firmly.

‘Like hell I am, I’m staying. I’m a better shot than most here.’

‘This isn’t the time for arguments. I owe your father a lot of favors.’

She glared at him. He glared back and she felt the anger rise quickly. Caden’s orders to protect the safe house were clear. He saved her ass so she could follow them.

‘Then piss off and let me fight,’ her tone sent the general reeling. His mouth opened with no response.

Hensley crouched further. ‘No time for a quarrel. You go, I’ll cover her back until your return.’

Maybe he’s allegiance was more to Caden, she wondered. She’d felt his pull, he
’d read her the moment she mentioned Taris; he was reading her now.

‘Fall back to the tunnels as soon as you can. Hopefully Madison will show.’ he looked at
Hensley. ‘Until then Hensley, you’re in charge.’

‘Fear not, General. I have no intentions of sticking around in this blood-bath to be. We’ll do as you ordered,’ Hensley said. ‘Good luck with it all.’

The general crouched. He double-checked his rounds in the gun clip before slamming it home. ‘You Irishmen put way too much weight in lady luck.’

Julianna watched the general run low to the stairwell doorway. The last she saw was his hand closing it.

Hensley stared at her, waiting for an explanation. She returned to her scope while he continued with his inquisitiveness.

‘Aiming high in the food chain aren’t you, love?’

She shrugged. The scope magnified a new row of hover drones completing a strong line below, waiting for their orders to attack. She moved it across, searching for other threats.

She caught a glance of an officer who sent shivers through her body. The outline was unmistakable; the markings on his hands confirmed it. Bas was down there, shouting orders to the soldiers surrounding him.

‘You’ve got to be joking,’ she whispered.

He obviously survived the fight with Caden.

Hensley heard her. He looked through his own scope before meeting her with a wide open stare.

‘Is that who I think it is, J Rae? Is that really Bas Madison down there?’

She nodded. She had a clean, direct shot to his head. Judging from the markings on his uniform he was a Commanding officer, but it was the last shot she would take
if her life and others depended on it.

‘He’s Militia. He must have told them about the safe house. We have to assume the tunnels are compromised.’ Hensley said.

‘No one’s to fire unless ordered,’ she stated.

Julianna had their undivided attention. Everyone stared at her; disregarding the drones rising along each level.

Down below, an arriving car caught Julianna’s and Hensley’s attention. Taris poked his head out and opened the rear door for Bas.

‘Take the shot, J Rae,’ Hensley said.

Her finger twitched on the trigger. The scope showed a smiling Taris looking knowingly in her direction.

‘Christ, girl! Take the bloody shot or he’ll blow us
all to kingdom come, one way or another.’

Her finger twitched again, Taris smiled more.

But he can’t see me.

‘I can’t,’ she whispered.

How can he see me up here?

‘Take the shot!’ Hensley ordered.

Her finger curled away from the trigger. Taris still stared in her direction. The rifle move against her will to the ground. She couldn’t do it. The door closed and the car rolled away. Her chance was gone.

The drones raised another level.

Hensley’s low glare from beneath his unmanageable mop of curls and thick dark eyebrows, cut through her. For Julianna, the relief came in a wave, washing over her quickly. This wasn’t a fight she wanted, least one against a friend who had saved her. 

Not
worth the risk of hitting Bas.

Face it, Taris stopped me.

Taris isn’t that powerful.

Oh yes he fucking is.

Fuck!

‘Not sure what happened there, love, but we need to fall out, now rather than later.’

She heard him whisper under his breath that he wished he’d stayed in Ireland.

‘I didn’t have a clean shot,’ she wasn’t believed. ‘I didn’t want Bastiaan hurt.’

He saved my fucking life.

‘Seems you didn’t want anything to h
appen to his Commanding officer, either.’

The hover drones rose in unison, scanning through the third level of windows for potential threats, taking readings and sending them to Central Command, for computing. Everyone inside the building needed to hurry. The drones were about to strike.

‘We should head for the tunnels. We can’t defend this any longer.’

She agreed. ‘The
tunnels are our only chance, but what if they’re already taken?’

Hensley yelled the order for half of his crew to fall back. The other half leaned over the ledge and waited for his command to fire on every fourth drone, hopin
g to take out their formations.

It’s too risky
, Julianna thought, one moment too late.

The first shots fired. Half the drones collapsed and fell into a Jeep below, engulfing it in a fireball. They’d taken the first shot and as Julianna aimed her rifle to the sniper aiming for her, more drones followed and rose in retaliation. They fired again. More fell, angering the ones left. They rose rapidly with their lasers set to kill.

But the snipers across—

A bullet rang past her cheek, she felt the burn of its speed as it implanted itself into a soldier coming through the door. He stumbled forward, first in shock with the bullet in his chest. A second one flew past, missing Hensley
when he ducked to lift his sidearm from its holster. He looked in time to see the soldier fall face first into the ground, bloodied with half his jaw missing. The gaping hole of his gnashing teeth as the final breath left him, smiled back at her, and she had to turn away.

‘Fall out! Fall out! Fall
out!’ Hensley yelled. ‘Snipers! Fall out!’

Julianna aimed at the offending sniper leering his rifle between the cracks of a bo
arded window. His shadow cast, and in her mind she envisaged his outline clear enough to take the shot. Her mind silenced itself. She focused on her breathing – her heart slowed and the tunnel vision she had experienced frequently behind the sniper this week reappeared as her finger curled around the trigger. Everything else around her blurred.

She pulled the trigger. The shadow behind the boards fell, leaving the rifle awkwardly caught where the barrel had pushed through. She aimed again, oblivious to the clear instructions from Hensley
– and everyone running for the door. Oblivious to her name being shouted—

‘Watch out!’

Brick work shattered where she crouched, throwing her across the ground towards the exit. She aimed again, and fired. The drone taking a second aim in her direction swirled down into those below. Another drone rose, and another, all focused on the sniper taking out their support, hell bent on achieving their objectives.

‘J Rae!’ She looked over her shoulder. Hensley shouted her name over the loud ring of gunfire. ‘Come on, love! You need to save yourself now.’ He held the door open for everyone’s escape.

No one hesitated with his orders as the drones flew at their combaters for a face off. The snipers across the road took free shots at everyone running.

Julianna screamed at Hensley
to duck. The first laser beam from a drone at the flank, hit between his shoulders. A second shot fired, into the wall. The bricks airborne became as deadly as the weapons aimed. Julianna ran through the debris, to his side, pulling him into the building.

His burning flesh seared through her nose. She heard a man scream behind her, howling like a wolf to the moon. She watched him fall from the doorway. His charred remains hung with loose skin, burning from one side, black and melted. It exposed another grinning skull to return her gape. The day of the skulls, the living dead, and the thought made her press her own teeth together for her tongue to count they were all still
in place.