From Within (25 page)

Will turned from the mirrored glass and stared down at the floor in defeat. Dominski began yelling at him again that he needed to start talking or he was going to kill Lea.

Will turned to Dominski. “We placed explos-”

He was cut off by an explosion. He felt everything shake. Dust fell from the ceiling. A ceiling tile dropped and hit Dominski on his head and shoulder. He let out a sound of disgust and brushed dust from his forehead. Blind rage engulfed his face again. He threw his chair away from him as he stood up. The chair slid across the floor as he bolted for the door. He threw the door open and ran off to the left out of sight. Alarms started to blare all over the underground bunker.

Will started working the knot that was tied to the chair up and down along the metal. He was hoping the metal chair would have a sharp enough edge to it that it could cut through the rope. He pulled and tugged with all of his might to try to get his hand out from the rope as well. Seconds were ticking by and he knew that the level below him would be quickly filling with water.

Will strained his neck to see behind him to his tied wrists. It appeared there was absolutely no progress made to the rope. He roared in anger as he pulled against the knot with all his strength. Nothing. He was probably only tightening the knot further by pulling against it. He wasn’t going to be able to break free. He would spend his last moments in life knowing that Lea would also die nearby. She would most likely suffer the same drowning death that he would once the millions of gallons of water filled this level. Not only that, he would know it was all because of the bomb he helped to place.

I hope we at least stopped them
, he thought.

“Lea, I’m sorry!” he cried out in the hope that she would be able to hear through the walls. “Lea?” he said puzzled.

Lea stood in the open doorway. He was still trying to come to terms with the fact that they were going to die today. How was she standing there?

“How did...” he was in too much awe that he couldn’t finish speaking.

“Luckily, I wasn’t tied up,” Lea said as a big smile formed on her face. “I had to fight the guard to get the keys to get out of the room.”

She went behind the chair and started working on the knot. Will had, indeed, tightened the knot with all of his straining. Lea reached into her pocket and pulled the set of keys she had fought the guard for. She had planned to use a key to pick into the knot. She was elated to find a small pocket knife attached to the keyring.

“How did you beat the guard,” Will asked as she began to cut.

“What? You don’t think I’m strong enough?” Lea asked in a sarcastic tone.

“That’s...not what I meant,” Will said.

“He and the other guard were scrambling at the door to unlock it,” she said. “I was pretty sure they were going to leave and close the door behind them and leave me locked in. I grabbed a chair and hit one of them over the head. The other guard had just opened the door and saw what happened. He slammed the door behind him. Almost got this knot,” she said with a grunt.” I found a set of keys on the guard and walked right out. Got it!”

Will’s hands became free and he quickly stood up. He moved the chair and pulled Lea in. He immediately kissed her and she pulled him in more tightly. He pulled away after a few moments.

“This can wait,” he said. “We better figure out if we can find a way out of here.”

“Was that the bomb that you and Marcus placed?” Lea asked.

“Yep,” Will said.

“How come this place didn’t collapse in on itself?” she asked. “How are we still alive?”

“We found out that this place could probably survive a nuclear bomb going off inside,” he said. “We joined up with Marcus’s group. A guy that used to work in here said we needed to blow the massive water tank and fill the place with water. Drown everyone inside. The explosion should automatically close the main blast door.”

Lea’s eyes shot wide open.

“I know how we can get out,” she said. “The guards were saying there’s an emergency airlock exit on the next floor up.”

“Let’s go,” Will said as he grabbed Lea’s hand.

They dashed to the open door and then stopped. They were startled by a rushing flow of water running into their feet. There was already a couple of inches and it seemed to be increasing at a rapid pace.

“Do you know where that exit is?” Will turned and asked Lea.

“Just the next floor up is all I heard them say,” she answered.

They turned out of the room to the left. Will subconsciously decided that the upstairs would be to the left since he remembered seeing Dominski run out of the room in this direction. They sprinted down the hallway. At least a couple of inches of water had filled the entire length of the hallway in the few seconds they paused at the doorway. Sprays of water flew up with each footfall. The lights began to flicker. They could see a stairwell just ahead.

All of a sudden, they heard someone emerge from the water and heavy strained breathing. They turned back towards the stairwell behind them that led down to the first floor. In the flickering light, they could see two bodies crawling away from the stairs. Water was rushing up around them. They hacked and coughed as their lungs fought for air. Will’s first instinct was that these were CMA employees coming after them. He paused for just a moment longer. Lea, not caring to find out, tried to tug Will along. He thought in one of the dim flashes of light that he saw Marcus. He let go of Lea’s hand.

“Marcus!” Will yelled. He was almost positive that it was him.

He ran back towards the men and back towards the deluge of water filling the hallway. In what seemed like only thirty seconds, the water was now up to his knees. He could see the two men push themselves up from their crawling position to keep their faces out of the water. Another dim flash of light brought relief as he saw it was Marcus.

He helped Marcus up and then turned to the other man that stood.

“I found Jackson,” Marcus said through deep breaths. “He’s been my boss for the last decade and my friend for the last thirty years.”

Will shot an eyebrow up. “Explain later. We need to find an emergency exit up the next floor.”

“I’ll get us there,” that man Marcus called Jackson said.

They waded as quick as they could through now waste-deep water. The water was reaching that depth where they couldn’t decide whether it would be easier to keep walking or start swimming. They had decided on wading and reached Lea who stood on the first step of the stairwell.

Their shoes squeaked and squished as they ran through the third-floor hallways. The lights on this level flickered some but not as much as the floor below had been. Marcus had explained who Kenneth was as they left the stairwell. Kenneth, in turn, explained that the CMA hadn’t been using this floor for much other than storage so they shouldn’t run into anyone.

“Marek and the guards that were with us came this way,” Will said.

Kenneth cursed. “I guess we better be on the lookout then. They probably went to the same exit we are heading for.”

Kenneth opened a door to an empty room. He rushed across the room to what looked like a closet door. He threw that open. The emergency airlock exit was hidden behind the door. It was wide open.

“Marek must have escaped,” Kenneth said. “We have to stop him if we can. He can probably still send the command to continue the bombings. He has all kinds of safe hiding places being as rich as he is.”

They slowly stepped out, checking all directions. They started down the trail when Kenneth abruptly stopped everyone.

“There,” he whispered.

Kenneth pointed down the winding trail to a group of four men and one woman. It was Dominski, Ava, and three armed guards accompanying them.

“We need to get them,” Marcus said angrily.

“We don’t have weapons,” Kenneth said holding Marcus back from charging down the mountain. He thought for a moment. “Here’s the plan. You three need to cut through the trees down the mountain.” He pointed further to the right of where Dominski and his group were on the trail. “I’m going to catch up with them. They still don’t know that I’m not really on their side. Once we approach you on the trail, we’ll jump the guards and capture Marek.”

The others agreed to the plan and headed down the mountain. Kenneth ran down the trail towards Dominski. He waved his arms and yelled out Ava’s and Marek’s name as he neared them from behind. The three guards turned quickly and trained their pistols on him. Dominski had them lower their guns as he realized it was Kenneth. He joined them and they began a quick pace down the trail. Dominski said he had a helicopter waiting about a mile ahead.

“I’m glad you got out, sir,” Kenneth said to Dominski. “You too, Ava.”

Ava returned the comment and gave Kenneth a hug.

“I looked all over for you,” Kenneth lied. “There’s water filling the entire bunker. What happened?”

Kenneth was trying to be obnoxiously loud so Marcus, Will, and Lea could hear them approach easily. He was relaying his made up harrowing story of escape from the mountain with excruciatingly too much detail. However, he was still beginning to worry. He thought they had walked too far and should have come across them by now. He was running out of material for his fake story. He wasn’t as good on his feet as Marcus was with story telling.

“What was that?” Dominski said.

“What was what?” Kenneth answered quickly. “I didn’t hear anything.” He had heard something too but was trying to get them to keep moving. He was fairly certain they were in the bushes off to the right.

“Check in there,” Dominski said as he pointed to the bush.

Two of the guards immediately walked to both sides of the bush with pistols drawn. Kenneth was wondering what happened to their plan. What were they doing? The guards pulled Lea from behind the bush. Now Kenneth was really confused and beginning to panic. Would he have to figure out a way to stop Dominski on his own? Maybe he would have to crash the helicopter they were heading to. He would be willing to sacrifice himself to stop this madman.

Lea had tears filling her eyes as they brought her to Dominski.

“I don’t know how you got out and how you got down here but I don’t care at this point,” Dominski said. “Shoot her.”

Marcus and Will lunged from the other side of the trail. They held small boulders and brought them down on the heads of the two guards that held Lea’s arms. The third guard fumbled to get his pistol from his holster. Kenneth thrust a fist at the man. He struck him square in his temple, sending him falling to the ground. Dominski dove for the guard’s pistol. Ava screamed and tripped backward onto the ground.

Kenneth struggled with Dominski to get the pistol. Will and Marcus secured the pistols from the two guards they had brought down. Kenneth landed a punch squarely into Dominski’s jaw. He was temporarily stunned long enough for Kenneth to grab the pistol. A shot rang out, piercing everyone’s ears.

Silence ensued. Marcus stumbled back, clutching the hole in his upper chest. He dropped to his knees. Lea noticed and screamed. Blood rushed out of the opening and he dropped all the way to the ground. They all looked over and saw Ava holding a small pistol. She must have had it hidden on her. Lea, who stood to the side of Ava, jumped at her. Lea had picked up a rock. She swung the rock at Ava and bashed it across her forehead. Ava flew back. The pistol dropped to the ground. Will trained the pistol he retrieved from the guard on Dominski who now was laying on the ground.

Kenneth rushed to his lifelong friend. Marcus’s face was turning a ghostly white.

“Hang on, Marcus,” Kenneth said frantically. He lifted Marcus’s top half above the ground, letting him rest against him. He placed his hand over the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

“Thank you, my friend,” Marcus struggled as he spoke. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly. “We stopped him.” His eyes shut and he let out a long breath as he slumped against Kenneth.

WWNL Evening Broadcast

May 2037

“Hello everyone and thank you for joining me. I’m Marcus Braden. It was reported last month, by this network, that I had died in a tragic accident. A plane crash. The truth is that the Central Management Authority had made an attempt to kill me. I was, indeed, in a plane crash. However, as you can see now, I survived.”

Marcus had sweat forming on his forehead. It wasn’t from nervousness. He was still recovering from his wounds. His professionally tailored pin-striped suit hid the bandages that covered his bullet wound. His chest was still wrapped, now done by a doctor, as his cracked ribs were still healing. Kenneth stood beside the camera that was aimed at Marcus. He was worried for his friend. Marcus, however, was stubborn and wanted to be the one to tell the nation the story. Kenneth had eventually given in to the stubbornness.

Marcus relayed the story of the CMA and Marek Dominski and their long time planning and then the ultimate speedy takeover of the nation. He told of Mr. Dominski’s capture and now of the life-long imprisonment he faces. He concluded with a ‘Moment with Marcus.’

“My fellow citizens, our future is now in all of our hands. We will now have to decide how we will move forward. Are we to be like the end of the ancient Roman empire? Will we divide into smaller countries? Will our states become reunited? Whatever we decide as a people, we must always remember what we went through over this past year. We should also take into account the history of our world. More centralized and more powerful governments will always attract people like Marek Dominski. Those are the people that are bound and determined to rise to the top and will do it at whatever cost it may bring. As we all know, Mr. Dominski did it at the cost of millions of American lives. What about the rest of us? Why aren’t we bound and determined to protect our freedom and liberty? Will we rebuild this country under the thumb of a powerful and overbearing government? Or, will we rebuild this country under the power of the people? A free people. I challenge everyone to consider these things. I also challenge everyone to take up your shovels and hammers and work together to clear the destruction. Take up your tools to work together to rebuild this country. We should all claim our part in rebuilding this land. Will we create a system of governance like our founders? Will we limit their powers and empower the people? How will we prevent what happened over the last decade from happening again? This is now our challenge. These are the tasks we must complete. I’m Marcus Braden with the Worldwide News Link and this has been ‘A Moment With Marcus.’”