Highway To Armageddon (36 page)

           
The guard grabs the gate door and swings it open. Boom Boom shoves him through
and we follow after him.

           
The four of us hurry past dark warehouses where the prisoners are forced to
work. One of the warehouses appears to be used to build windmills and solar
panels. Another one is a flying car assembly plant.

           
We head over to the prison in the center of the camp. There’s one guard in a
booth watching TV. When he sees us he runs out and flashes a gun. Arrow hits
him in the neck with one of his poisoned arrows.

           
We rush past the dead guard and enter the prison’s front door. There’s another
guard sitting behind a desk. Arrow shoots this guy in the chest. Boom Boom
grumbles under her breath, but she doesn’t seem as upset about Arrow killing
Neo-Nazis as she did before they killed those prisoners.

           
We huddle behind the desk and pull up a holographic map of the prison. The
faces of the prisoners pop up. We quickly find Machete’s cell, way up on the
third floor.

           
Arrow leads us to an elevator at the end of the hall. We cram inside, including
the guard, and shoot up to the third floor.

           
When the elevator door slides open, we come across another guard. Arrow’s about
to shoot this one like he did the others, but Boom Boom says, “I got this.”

           
Boom Boom charges toward the guard as he fumbles with his gun. She delivers a
dropkick into his chest and sends him flying into the solid steel bars of a
jail cell. She then delivers two stiff kicks to his head, knocking him out
cold.

           
“Showoff,” Arrow says.

           
“I can’t let you have all the fun.” Boom Boom grabs the unconscious guard’s gun
and places it in her utility belt. We can never have enough weapons.

           
I glance inside several of the cells as we walk down the aisle, and I’m
appalled at what I see. There are all kinds of non-Aryan prisoners, including
Hispanics, Muslims, African Americans, Native Americans, Jews (with their
yellow stars on their shirts), homosexuals (they have pink triangles), gypsies,
and other dark-skinned races. The Neo-Nazis have spared no one. There are men,
women, and children. Each cell has nothing but a concrete bed sticking out of
the wall, a bucket to use as a toilet, and a water spigot that hangs over a
drain.

           
Arrow points at a shaggy man in one of the cells. “Why do you have Russians?”

           
At first I wonder how Arrow even knows the guy is Russian, but then I see the
Purple Dragon tattoo on his arm.

           
The guard stares at Arrow like he just asked the dumbest question in the world.

           
“Because Russia inflicted heavy casualties against the Nazis during World War
2,” he replies. ‘We hate Russians more than almost any other race or ethnicity,
save for maybe the Jews.”

           
“Unbelievable,” Boom Boom grumbles. “You Neo-Nazis are so consumed by hate that
you continue carrying out vendettas against enemies you had over
200
years ago. Un-freaking-believable.”

           
I’m not a big history buff, so none of this makes much sense to me. I follow
Arrow to the last cell. Inside we find Machete.

           
“Mom!” Arrow calls out.

           
Machete looks up from her concrete bed and gasps. Her face looks a little
bruised, and there are a few cuts running up and down her cheeks, but it
doesn’t look like the Neo-Nazis roughed her up too badly.

           
I expected her to be over-joyed we came to bust her out, so I’m a little
surprised when she snarls, “You fools, why did you come for me? Go after
Mikhail!”

           
“Nice to see you, too, Mom,” Arrow grumbles.

           
I shove the guard and demand, “Open the cell.”

           
The guard hesitates, but after Boom Boom flashes her blade he presses his palm
against a sensor near the cell door. There’s a series of beeps, and then the
cell door swings open. Machete walks out and punches the guard in the gut. He
groans and falls to his knees.

           
Machete squats in front of him and wags her finger in his face. “You’re lucky I
didn’t use a knife.”

           
“Angry much?” I say.

           
Machete scowls. “Just getting some retribution.”

           
“Alright, let’s get out of here,” Arrow says, rushing toward the door. Machete
grabs the guard by his hair and drags him behind her.

            I notice
Boom Boom staring longingly at the prisoners. By now most of them are wide
awake and peering at us through their bars. The sight of the frightened
children reaching out to me breaks my heart.

           
“I feel the same way you do, but what are we supposed to do? We can’t bring
them with us.”

           
Boom Boom ponders for a moment, then says, “Well, there is that car factory.
Everyone can steal a car and go their separate ways.”

           
I grin at the thought of all the prisoners escaping in cars they helped build.

           
“What are you two waiting for?” Machete hollers. “Let’s move!”

           
I turn to find an adorable African American girl looking up at me through her
bars. Her big brown eyes are filled with tears.

           
“Mister, have you seen my brother?” she asks in a trembling voice. “The guards
took him away just a little while ago. They didn’t hurt him, did they?”

           
Boom Boom cries out and covers her mouth. I feel like I’m about to puke. The
girl’s brother was the young teen boy we watched get executed.

           
I shake my head. “You’re right, Boom Boom. This is all wrong. It was wrong to
watch those three people get lynched, and it would be wrong to leave all these
people behind. Let’s bust them out.”

           
Boom Boom beams.

           
“C’mon, you idiots!” Machete hollers. “You’re holding us up!”

           
Boom Boom marches up to Machete and jabs her in the chest. Machete looks as
shocked as I am.

           
“First off, why don’t you show a little gratitude? You ditched us in the middle
of the Canadian wilderness and we
still
risked our lives to save you.”

           
Machete does something that stuns me to no end. She actually apologizes!

            “You’re
right,” she grumbles, looking down at the ground. “We shouldn’t have ditched
you. I was just tired of that cyborg and those ninjas coming after us.”

           
I decide to add my two cents. “The fact is, you don’t like us, and we don’t
exactly enjoy your company, either. But we need to count on each other if we’re
to have any hope of nabbing Mikhail. No more backstabbing, no more ditching. We
got a deal?”

           
Machete sighs. “Yes! Now can we please go?”

           
“Not so fast,” Boom Boom says. “Arrow, I want access to our database. What did
you change the password to?”

           
Arrow rubs the back of his head and sheepishly says, “Arrow ‘hearts’ Red.”

           
Boom Boom tries to keep a straight face, but her quivering lips give away the
fact she’s struggling to suppress a smirk.

           
“Wow, Arrow, that’s almost sweet.”

           
“No, it’s stupid,” I say.

           
Boom Boom ignores me and logs onto our database through her goggles. A few
seconds later she says, “All done. I changed the password back to the old one,
with one notable exception. Now there’s an undecipherable series of 20 numbers,
letters, and symbols behind it.”

           
Arrow lowers his shoulders in dejection. “I sure will miss looking over all
those files.”

           
“I’m glad we were all able to kiss and make up,” Machete says, tapping her foot
impatiently. “Now can we please go?”

           
“One last thing,” Boom Boom says, gesturing to the dozens of prisoners. “We’re
freeing all the slaves.”

           
Machete’s face turns fiery red. “Excuse me?”

           
“You heard me,” Boom Boom says, puffing out her chest. She’s so cute when she
acts tough. “We’re not going to leave all these people to be brutally
murdered.”

           
The prisoners murmur excitedly. We’re not exactly being quiet, so they can hear
us plotting their escape.

           
“Please take us with you!” a gypsy woman shouts, clutching her bars.

           
“Yes, please don’t forsake us!” begs one of the men wearing the pink triangles.

           
The hallway soon becomes flooded with the pleas of desperate prisoners. Even
someone as cold-hearted as Machete can’t stay stone-faced in the face of such
an emotional appeal for mercy. She finally throws up her hands in defeat.

           
“Oh alright. But how do we get them out of Dresden?”

           
“We already got that figured out,” Boom Boom says excitedly. I have to admit,
I’m kind of excited about sticking it to the Nazis, too.

           
The guard shakes his head. “Absolutely not! I refuse to release all these
prisoners! They will tear me limb from limb!”

           
“Maybe,” Machete says, grabbing the guard by his neck and slamming him up
against the wall. “But if you don’t do what we say, I’ll
definitely
tear
you apart.”

           
“I’ll make sure none of the prisoners hurt you,” Boom Boom says. “But don’t open
the cells yet. I need to talk to everyone first.”

           
Boom Boom makes her way to the center of the prison floor and shouts, “Can I
have everyone’s attention, please?”

           
All the chatter dies down.

           
“We’re going to let everyone out, but in order for this to work everyone needs
to keep quiet.” Boom Boom points to Arrow. “Follow the guy with the bow, he’ll
lead you outside. My friends and I are going to go free the prisoners on the
other floors. Once everyone is out, we’re going to the car factory. All you
adults need to make sure you take some of the kids with you. I don’t want
anyone left behind. There are two sanctuaries within a 500-mile radius of this
camp, Sanctuary 17 and 19. Use the GPS systems on your cars to go to one of
those two sanctuaries. You won’t be able to go inside since I doubt any of you
have much money, but you can easily sell your cars and use those funds to eke
out a living in the surrounding slums. It won’t be an easy life, but it’ll be a
hell of a lot better than living here. Everyone understand?”

           
All the prisoners nod their heads.

           
“Good.” Boom Boom pulls out her gun and aims it at the guard. “Open the cells,
now
.”

           
The guard gulps and places his palm on the main sensor. After a series of beeps
all the cell doors swing open. The prisoners rush out and glance at each other
in disbelief. I’m sure most of them think it’s a dream.

           
The young black girl comes up to me and asks, “My brother, have you seen him?”

           
The question is like a kick to my gut. I open my mouth to talk, but nothing
comes out. My tongue is so dry it feels like sandpaper. How do I tell a young
girl her beloved older brother was murdered because of the color of his skin?

           
A young Hispanic woman rushes over and gives the girl a hug. The girl starts to
tear up. I think she knows her brother is gone.

           
The woman glances at me and says, “They took my sister, too.”

           
I nod. Her sister was the Hispanic woman who was killed along with the boy and
the Jewish man. I see the resemblance in her face.

           
“I will take care of the girl. I will treat her as if she’s my own daughter,”
the woman says, scooping the girl into her arms.

           
“Thank you,” I say. It’s as if a heavy weight has been lifted from my
shoulders. I’d hate for the girl to have to fend for herself.

           
Boom Boom grabs the guard by his shirt and shoves him through the crowd of
prisoners. He trembles as the prisoners close in on him.

           
“Keep your emotions in check, guys,” Boom Boom says. ‘I know this scumbag put
you all through hell, but we need him to free the others.”

           
The prisoners reluctantly step back and allow the guard to pass through
unscathed. The have more willpower than I do.

           
Arrow leads all the prisoners outside while Boom Boom, Machete, the guard and I
go free the prisoners on the second and first floor. We then head outside and
run over to the factory. On our way I see cars already taking off into the
night sky. By the time we reach Arrow, most of the prisoners from the first
floor are gone.

           
As we wait for the other prisoners to escape, I glance around the darkened
camp. Next to the renewable energy factory is an armory full of weapons and
explosives. If we have time we can scrounge around for weapons.