(18) The Message

The capital had been attacked? I thought incredulously. That is where the governors live: John's parents. I looked up at his hardened face and squeezed his hand comfortingly. He didn't look down. He didn't react. He stared at the soldier and gave a curt nod before leaving the storage room with me in tow. After passing through a series of winding tunnels lit only by green, electromagnetic pulsing lights we reached the "war room" as it were. The officers were gathered around a table fitted with a holographic map. They all looked quite intimidating standing around the table which cast a blue light up at them. A general with a large, bushy grey mustache looked at me with a furrowed brow. His eyes flicked up to John's. A short nod of the general's head told me that John's powerful position made it okay for him to bring me here without much of a power struggle. John brought me right up to the table and drew up a chair for me beside his, but he didn't sit down.

"What happened?" He demanded in a tone I was unaccustomed to. I had never been privy to see him working as a leader in the rebel forces. He was so...cold and professional. The John I knew was playful and warm. John looked down at the hologram and saw that a small blue light was blinking in front of him. He stretched out a firm hand and, after a moment's hesitation, he drew up a holographic projection of his father, Governor Richardson. I looked at the image in great anxiety as the video playback of the Governor revealed that the city had been taken except for the capital building, but they only had enough supplies to stay alive for a week with the few refugees who had escaped the annihilation of the city.

John's features were hard as stone through the whole recording. When it ended, the image of his father collapsed back into the table. John looked up at the officers in the room and asked, "What should our response be?" I was puzzled, it seemed that getting to help those trapped in the capitol building should be the response. I held my tongue. I was allowed in here to be near John, that was my only capacity. I was not a military general. I was merely the orphaned daughter of two rebel spies. My parents ran covert operations within the government and protected the governor and the cabinet till they were killed in action at the start of this bloody war. That was where I first met John. We had played together as kids, I had been sent away to school, and when I came back to work as a secretary one holiday John and I had reconnected and fallen in love. My parents had always approved of John and were pleased to see us together. He was there for me when they died and he's been there for me ever since.

The general with the grey mustache spoke up after an uncomfortable silence. "The capital is as good as lost. There is no way we can mobilize a force large enough to break the Beasts' perimeter before the survivors die."

I let out a small gasp that was ignored. That man had just condemned John's parents and the rest of the people in the capital to death. I looked at John's face, tears welling up in my eyes and was shocked. "You're right." John said, with no hint of emotion in his voice. "But let's not tell them that. They don't need to know they are condemned. Let them hope. It will be all they have, in the end."

The officers were grave. Their faces betrayed some hints of pity on John. I was angry, I wanted to scream at the men. How could they be so heartless! I would have spoken my mind, but for the fact that John had agreed with them. If he was on their side, who was I to speak against them?

John's voice broke the silence. "Do you need anything else from me? I've given you my most recent attack plan and the new intel we've gathered on the Beasts' movements." The men all shook their heads and John bowed slightly before taking my hand and leading me out of the room. John led me through more winding tunnels until we reached a locked door. John took a small, brass key out of his pocket and let us into the room. It was his quarters. He sat my down in his chair and locked the door. I stood up and wrapped him in my arms.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered with a tremble in my voice. John held me tightly and I felt his lips bury through my hair and find my neck. He kissed it and after a long moment he pulled out of my curly locks and looked in my eyes. He gave me an odd smile, then he went over to his closet and pulled out a black, leather bag with a long strap meant to go across one's body. He turned back to me and said,

"I'm not going to let anything happen to my parents. I'm going to rescue them, and I need your help."