CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: NOVEMBER – NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER
Sarah Bellum sat alone in what could be best described as a makeshift prison cell. Sarah had gone from indentured servant to accused terrorist to bargaining chip over the last seventeen months. At least with her sitting in this cell, Sarah could no longer feel guilty over the Viisk and Jason Saxon’s victories. At least any of them after Sarah had spiked the napicin sulfite back in July. The nightmares continued for Sarah as she now laid upon a bed in her cell, not knowing in full what her fate will be. Will she be kept until whoever gives Jason Saxon this “Project Looking Glass”? Will she be finally executed as part of Jason Saxon’s promise to punish those responsible for the Vegreville Bombings? Or will she simply be left to rot in this cell, left with the guilt and memories of those butchered by the Viisk? Time would tell as Sarah simply sighed in exhaustion, unsure of what her fate would be.
On the outside of the building where Doctor Sarah Bellum was being kept prisoner, two Initiative soldiers stood guard. They quietly chattered amongst themselves until an unknown person walked towards them. The two guards saw the person, wearing a brown trench coat and a black ski mask.
“Remembrance Day!” the person said, the voice sounding gruff yet feminine. The two guards looked confused until the person whipped out what appeared to be a giant modified shotgun.
“No!” both guards screamed as the person fired upon the two of them. One shot, two shot. Both guards fell down dead as the person chuckled slightly and removed the mask to reveal Willow Brody-Toroshenko. She flipped her reddish-brown hair as she made her way to the gate. Securing a pass card from the two dead guards, Willow swiped one of them through a lock to open the gate. “Now, here’s hoping for some more fun.” Willow said as she made her way towards the main entrance of the building,
Dozens of blue coats marched in a hurry to the briefing room. Among them were Donnie Bellum and Ariel Brody-Toroshenko, both whom had been chomping at the bit waiting for a precise time of attack. From all indications, it appeared that they would be finally seeing an offensive mission. Everyone sat down and waited as Jericho and Kevin Brody made their way into the room and stood in front of everyone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a major attack. This will be a support mission.” Jericho said and continued on, “We recently learned that an unknown operative had initiated their own rescue mission of Doctor Sarah Bellum. That person is projected to succeed, but will be met with severe resistance on her way out. We had originally planned for ourselves to go in, but this recent act changed those plans slightly.”
“So we go and rescue Sarah and protect this unknown person?” Donnie asked.
“Sounds more like a trap to me.” Ariel pointed out.
“For what it’s worth, we have scoped out the situation. There appears to be nothing indicating it to be a trap.” Jericho said.
“And I will be accompanying you all on this mission,” Kevin said. “Like someone told me, time for me to quit feeling sorry for myself and take a stand,” he said looking directly at Ariel.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Jericho asked Kevin aside.
“More than anything,” Kevin replied. “Also it’ll cause some confusion among those of Saxon’s people who think I’ve been dead all this time.”
“Okay then,” Jericho said aside and then went back to address everyone else in the room. “All right, Kevin will be in command for this mission. Follow his orders as if they were coming from me. Once again, this is a support and rescue mission. The moment Doctor Bellum is safely in your possession, get out of there. Understood?”
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and dispersed from the room. Donnie and Ariel both approached Kevin with the intent of confronting him.
“You’re not planning on playing hero with your current condition, are you?” Ariel asked with concern.
“I am going there solely as a support role. I intend for you two to lead the charge.” Kevin said to Ariel. “I am also going to make sure one of my major albatrosses gets removed,” he said looking at Donnie.
Donnie looked at Kevin and threatened him with “You better hope we get her out alive and in one piece, otherwise you will wish you didn’t come along at all.”
“I intend to do so, one way or another,” Kevin quietly snapped back.
Willow Brody-Toroshenko made her way through the hallways of the abandoned warehouse, keeping an eye open for any potential attackers. So far it was all quiet on all fronts. A little too quiet. Perhaps she should have kept one of the guards alive so they could take her to the exact spot where Sarah was being held. Too late now to dwell on that mistake. Again, Willow was a little suspicious of the lack of guards, until she came across another pair of Initiative guards standing in front of a door. Willow ducked behind a corner and removed a small incendiary device from her pocket. She discreetly threw it in the direction of the doorway where the guards stood. The guards looked on in confusion as the device went off and blew the guards up, along with the door. Sarah, who was asleep in that very room woke up and noticed the door was now missing and scorch marks were on the wall across the way. Confused, Sarah got up to look around and then found herself face-to-face with Willow, who she had met back in June.
“Let’s roll, doc!” Willow told Sarah.
“Why should I trust you?” Sarah asked with distrust. “Last time we met, you gave me that substance that caused more death than I can handle.”
“Yeah, I know,” Willow replied back. “I got the same amount of blood on my hands from that incident that you had. That’s why I’m here. I don’t want their deaths to be a complete waste. Plus, I’m offering you a sure way out,” Willow said as she reached into another pocket and pulled out a Chronometer, which she tossed over to Sarah. Sarah took the device with reservation and put it on her wrist.
“Great, now do you trust me?” Willow asked.
“If it means getting out of here, I’d probably go with the devil himself.” Sarah said as she walked out into the hallway.
“Close enough,” Willow said as she followed suit.
Willow and Sarah quietly made their way down the hall. Suddenly, Willow heard a series of footsteps coming from behind. Willow forced Sarah down a conveniently placed hallway and motioned for her to get down. Willow joined shortly after and in time as they noticed a legion of Viisks, marching down the hall in double file. Willow and Sarah remained motionless so as not attract the attention of the marching Viisks. When the last two were gone, Willow motioned all things were clear as she and Sarah continued their journey out of the warehouse, only to find out where the Viisk were heading – right into a combat situation with the Cleaners.
Willow and Sarah watched from a distance as the bluecoats and combined Viisk/Initiative troops exchanged gun and pulse blasts. “Huh, too bad we have to miss out on the fun,” Willow stated as she and Sarah tried to make their way undetected. Then two Viisks phased in front of the two ladies. Willow took one of the Viisks down with a roundhouse kick and was able to grab its pulse rifle, firing it at the other Viisk. Willow then shot the one she had taken down earlier and tossed the rifle to Sarah. “Hope you know how to fight, doc, because looks like we just got drafted,” Willow said
“I’m more of a pacifist”, Sarah said looking at the rifle and then at the ensuing battle on the main level. She looked at one of bluecoats, recognizing him as her husband Donnie. Feeling elated and overcome with joy, Sarah erroneously shouted out “Donnie!”
Donnie looked around, thinking he had heard his name. Then he noticed Sarah, standing on another floor. Donnie quickly looked for a way up there and saw a set of stairs that was heavily covered by Initiative troops. Like a man possessed, Donnie stormed towards the steps and fired away towards the Initiative troops.
“Donnie, get back here!” Ariel yelled out, which allow a Viisk to blindside her with an elbow to Ariel’s head. With Ariel dazed, the Viisk moved in for the kill, only to be shot in the back by Kevin, who hobbled over quickly as possible to ensure Ariel was alright.
“Took my eyes off the prize huh? Maybe I wasn’t ready after all,” Ariel said, groaning in pain.
“You’ve held out pretty well so far.” Kevin said as he looked into the direction Donnie was headed to. “I guess sometimes love makes us do foolish things, like hold back the ones we love, and running off to be a hero.”
Donnie made his way to the top where Willow and Sarah were standing. Sarah looked and saw Donnie standing at the top of the staircase. She quickly ran over and with tears in her eyes, leapt and embraced a man she thought she would never see again. The two of them kissed and held back tears, savoring in the moment they were together again.
“Let’s get out of here,” Sarah said, doing her best to not totally burst into tears.
“What about her?” Donnie asked, looking over at Willow.
“Ehh, I’ll be okay. You two lovebirds go on with and get it on,” Willow said as she took out a rifle and went to take a sniper’s position.
“Very well,” Donnie said. “Kevin? I got Sarah. Pull everyone out now!” Donnie said into a communication device as he and Sarah then phased out of the warehouse. The rest of the bluecoats followed suit, except for Kevin and Ariel, who did not get the complete message. One of the surviving Viisks snuck up from behind Kevin and Ariel and drew out a knife from its combat belt. Willow witnessed this from above and fired at the oncoming Viisk. Both Ariel and Kevin looked on in confusion, then realized they were all alone in the room. Ariel hit her Chronometer to phase out. Kevin would have done the same had someone not struck him from behind. Dazed and fading out, Kevin fell back, looked up and saw Jason Saxon and Sloane, clutching a shovel, standing over him.
“Why couldn’t you be a good little boy and stay dead?” Sloane asked and motioned with the shovel to further knock out Kevin. From above, Willow witnessed this all go down, but knew for once she was not to meddle in this part of the plan. After all, prematurely breaking out Sarah was enough damage for one day.
Back in the badlands, a joyous reunion occurred as Sarah was greeting with hugs and congratulations of enduring the past year and a half in the clutches of Jason Saxon. It was a bittersweet victory for all. Ariel did not partake in the celebrations, knowing Kevin did not make it out, even though from what he had told her in confidence it was part of a larger plan that was going ahead. It didn’t seem fair to her, from Ariel’s point of view, that she would lose Kevin so they could regain Sarah. Hopefully this plan that Kevin seems to have complete faith works out Ariel thought to herself, fighting back tears. Because I don’t feel like waiting twenty years to kick his ass for making me feel this way!
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