Revolutionary Love (The Revolution Series Book 1) (21 page)

I could not sit here and watch so many murders. Watching and doing nothing was just as bad as being willing and participating. It was not these people's fault that they were the way they were. They did not know any difference. Since they were born, there had always been no justice. No freedom. They saw death on a daily basis. They were used to it. Numb to it. This was their daily lives.

It needed to change. Somebody had to do something and I was going to be that person to do it. I took a deep breath to steady myself. We were in a rebellion town. There had to be rebels somewhere in this mass of people. Blending in and looking like a supporter of Stephan.

"Just breathe." I whispered to myself, fighting back my panic.

Before I had time to think about what I was doing, I reached towards Seth and pulled the handgun out from his holster. Seth's eyes lit with surprise. As fast as I could, I turned and pressed the barrel of the gun into Stephan's temple. Unlike Seth, he did not seem surprised. He barely even tensed.

Through the commotion, nobody realized what I was doing.

"Stand." I ordered him.

Stephan rose to his feet with the grace of a panther.

I didn't turn around to look at Seth when I spoke to him. I kept my eyes on Stephan. "Seth unarm him. If you make any funny moves, I'll kill him."

"You do not know what you are doing. This is above you." Seth told me with anger as he unarmed Stephan.

By now people were turning and looked at us. Some of their mouths were gaping open while others seemed excited by the possibility of more bloodshed.

"What now?" Stephan asked me.

He thought I didn't have a plan. I could tell by his dry tone of voice.

"Walk." I demanded him. I moved the gun to the back of his head and held onto his shoulder with my left hand.

I was leading him to the stage in front of all of his followers. Soldiers started yelling when they saw us. All of them turned away from the chained people and aimed their guns at me. They were yelling at me to let him go before they shoot. I knew they wouldn't dare shoot me. They were not willing to take the risk of their leader dying.

What then? If Stephan were to go down, what would happen? Would it be chaotic? Would the rebels take over? Would another corrupt person end up leading the country?

"Stand down." Stephan barked when a soldier moved to close.

The soldier instantly stepped back, but he did not lower his weapon. I sensed that Stephan was curious. He wanted to see what I would do next. The people out in the crowd were yelling and shouting. They were going to storm the platform. Soldiers had to keep them back by shooting at the ground by their feet. Some were throwing things onto the platform. Others were yelling profanities. It was barbaric. Everything about this situation was barbaric.

When Stephan and I reached the platform, I shoved him to the middle of it. All eyes were on us. People were quieting down. In a few moments, it got so quiet I could finally hear myself breathing. I was breathing a little fast.

I kept the gun pressed firmly against the back of Stephan's skull as I looked out into the crowd. This was it. This was my moment to make a difference. To reach out. To show that things did not need to be this way anymore. Maybe I would fail, but something inside me relaxed. I was trying. I wasn't being a sheep following the crowd. I was attempting to make a difference inside this corrupted world.

There would be no more following where the rebellion takes me, there would be no more sitting quietly at Stephan's side and keeping my mouth shut. I was done letting my fear overrule my humanity.

This place was full of death, disaster, shame, pain, and lies. This was my chance to make a difference and I wanted to start it off with the truth.

"My name is Brianna." I shouted out into the crowd.

Snickers broke out into the crowd. They did not know me as Brianna. Every single one of them thought they were looking at Evelyn. Now they seemed amused like this was some kind of joke.

"I am not Evelyn," I shouted into the crowd. My voice carried far over this massive parking lot. I swallowed a few times. "I am not from here. I do not know exactly where I am from. I do know I am not from this time frame. I come from a place with freedom."

Stephan went completely rigid. "How hard did you hit your head?" He whispered, furiously to me.

I ignored him. "Do you want to know what freedom is? Freedom is being able to say what you want without fear of being executed or punished. Freedom is being able to carry a loaded weapon with you in order to protect yourself from dangers. Freedom is being able to make your own money without any sort of government, Anarchy, or Monarchy taking your money from you. Freedom is safe. Freedom protects you. Freedom is a human right!" I shouted.

By now I could tell the difference between Stephan's followers and the rebellion in the crowd. His followers looked amused or lost and the rebellion looked intrigued. Interested. Supportive.

"Do you want to know what is not freedom? Being told you cannot get an education. Being told you cannot go outside by sundown. Being told you cannot be with someone because they are higher up in class than you. Freedom is not going hungry because your leader steals your land, takes your crops, and kicks you out of your home. Freedom is not getting your paycheck from work and having it taxed to the point that there is nothing left. Freedom is not having military officials bust down your doors and searching your homes. Freedom is not having military officials drop bombs on your homes, on your towns, and on your land."

I had everyone's undivided attention now. There was no movement out in the crowd. All eyes were on me. Even the soldiers around us had lowered their weapons a little bit and were listening. "Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live your life without fear? To not have to worry about some obtuse law you broke? To not have to worry about being executed or someone you love getting executed? Peace. Don't you guys want to feel peace? Stephan is a tyrant. A terrible leader. As long as he is making all the rules, there will always be hunger, wars, bloodshed, and executions."

I took a deep breath. "Have you ever wondered why history documentations are illegal? Punishable by death? The answer is simple. Hope. It would give you guys hope and something to fight for. Something to live for. We are in America. Do you want to know what America's reputation used to be? Land of the free. We stood together as one big family instead of attempting to tear each other apart-" My sentence got cut off by a huge explosion. Screams came from the crowd. A fire broke out across the far parking lot where all the SUVs were.

Stephan used my distraction and knocked the gun out of my hands. Before my brain had time to process what was happening, Stephan's hands were wrapped around my throat. "You stupid, blind fool. I have to kill you now."

I clawed at his ruthless fingers. This was it. This was the moment my life would end. I closed my eyes and prayed that my speech had gotten to the people. That I had made some kind of difference to someone out there in the crowd. Hopefully, my words weren't just heard but felt.

I felt dizziness overcome me. Gun shots were coming from all around me. Screaming. Yelling. Fighting. It sounded like war. Someone slammed into Stephan and I. The second his hands left my throat and I fell to the ground. I took in a deep gasp of air. When I opened my eyes, black dots danced around my vision.

"You are making a mistake," Stephan said.

I looked up. Seth stood in a protective stance in front of me. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Whose side was he really on?

"I can't let you kill her."

Pushing myself up onto shaky legs, I stumbled forward into Seth's back. What was he doing? He chose his side the moment he betrayed his friends and family.

Stephan looked at me with murderous eyes. "Do you realize what she has done?"

"Yes. She doesn't know any better." Seth defended me, reaching his hand out to keep me behind him.

"Everyone heard. The entire country heard what she had to say. It was being cast out onto a radio. Everyone." Stephan's voice shook with anger. He could not control it. He could not contain it. A man who was used to being in control of everything lost all his control at once. I felt satisfied knowing I was the one who stole the control from him.

I watched the facade on his face turn into blind anger. His nostrils were flaring. His hair that used to be in a neat ponytail on the back of his neck was now messy around his face. His once perfectly clean suit had dirt stains on it from falling to the floor.

He was no longer in control. I stole it from him. I had the power now. I did something. I made a difference. Everyone heard what I had to say. My part was done. I backed away to let them have their face off. When I went to turn and run, a hand gripped me by the back of my arm.

"You are not going anywhere." I recognized the voice. It was the soldier with the foul breath. I attempted to rip my arm from his grasp, but he was too strong. He forcefully spun me around and made me face him. "I don't think anyone will notice if you go missing for a few hours."

I glanced around us, looking for someone to help. Nobody would even hear me if I screamed at the top of my lungs. Everyone was fighting. Civilians were fighting with civilians. Soldiers were fighting with the rebels. Everywhere there was violence. The fire was rapidly spreading throughout the cars. Engines were blowing up. Heavy gray smoke filled the still, blue sky.

I had started a war when I was reaching for peace. What had I done? I made everything worse.

The soldier dragged me across the platform. I screamed and tried to tear my arm away from him. I couldn't let him take me away. I had to find Adam. My father. Someone that I knew. Someone familiar. As hard as I could, I kicked the soldier in the back of his leg. When he collapsed to the floor, I sprinted down the stairs as fast as I could.

I needed to find the semi. Running through the mass of people, I headed straight for the burning parking lot. There were too many cars. Too many people. I would never find them. When another hand wrapped around my arm, I turned to punch the offender in the face.

The person ducked and my fist smashed into a car. Groaning in pain, I jumped up and down and shook my hand.

"For someone with wise words, you are an idiot."

I never thought I would be excited to see Chantel, but happiness bloomed in my heart when I realized she was the one that grabbed my arm. She was standing there with her arms crossed and her hip cocked. Although she wasn't smiling, I could see amusement in her eyes.

"I thought you were a soldier." I mumbled, embarrassed about my terrible punch.

She nodded. "We need to go. Like right now." Chantel grabbed onto my arm and led me through the maze of fighting people. We were heading away from the smoke and the violence.

Once we reached the street, I gasped. In the neighborhood, people were fighting too. Snipers were on top of roofs shooting at anyone who left their house.

"What is happening?" I asked when she shoved me behind a car.

"Whenever a riot breaks out the city goes on lockdown. If anyone leaves their homes, they get shot on sight." She explained, pulling a map out from her jacket pocket and looking at it.

"Why?" I pressed my back further against the van. I did not want to get shot.

Chantel put the map away. "It helps contain the people."

Her curls bounced around her face when she went up on her tippy toes to look through the van window. "Watch my back." She placed her gun in my hand and smashed the car window with a rock.

I looked around to make sure nobody heard. Nobody did, though. The noise coming from the parking lot overpowered everything else. She unlocked the van door and bent down towards the gas pedals. I raised the gun and looked around. Nobody was coming or paying us any attention.

"Get in and stay down. When I start the van up, everyone will be shooting at us." Chantel instructed. She gave me a stern look when I did not move. I didn't need any more prompting. I hopped into the van and went into the back. I laid down on the floor and covered my head with my hands.

"Are you ready?" She looked back at me.

I gave a short nod. Chantel started the van and took off down the street. She was right. I could hear the bullets flying into the car. One broke through the metal and went out the other side. Chantel had no problem driving crazy and swerving through the cluster of people fighting in the roads.

I had to shout in order to be heard. "Where are we going?"

"To the safe house. It's an underground community. It's where we go when all hell breaks loose." Chantel took a sharp right turn.

I slid across the van floor. "What if we get followed?"

"We are being followed. I am going to lose them, then we will go by foot. We have to make it to the woods."

She drove like a mad woman. I clenched my eyes shut, not wanting to see how many times she would almost crash. I had never seen anyone ever drive like that. What would happen when we got there? What would I say? They probably didn't know Seth was on the other side of the war. He saved my life, but I would never forgive him. All of this happened because of him. He was going to sit there and watch as his friends, family, and innocent people died.

I peeked my eyes open and looked at Chantel's determined face through the review mirror. She would be even more heartbroken. First she thinks her boyfriend died, then he breaks up with her, and now she is going to know he actually was Stephan's second man. I felt bad for her. Although she hated me and made it known at every moment, I could tell she was actually a genuine and good person. She didn't deserve all of this.

The van came to a halt. "Run!" She shouted, jumping out of the van.

I hopped into the driver seat and ran out after her. She ran through the woods like she knew it from the back of her hand. She easily dodged every tree branch and tree stump. I tripped many times, trying my best to keep up with her.

I was breathing heavily and slowing down. I realized we were going in circles when I saw the indent in the mud where I had tripped not too long ago.

"What are you doing? We are going in circles?" I barely got the words out through my panting.

"I am losing them," Chantel said with ease.

I was just about to give up when Chantel came to a stop. We were at the edge of the woods. I looked out into the distance. The buildings over here were broken down and falling apart. Nobody was outside. I peered up onto the roofs looking for snipers. Nothing. It was like we were in a ghost town.

Chantel placed her hand on my arm. "I need you to listen to me and listen closely."

I looked into her intent brown eyes and nodded my head in agreement.

"This is what is going to happen. You are going to follow directly behind me. Now I need you to place your hands on the back of your head and no matter what do not move them."

I furrowed my eyes brows. "Why?"

"We are going into a sacred place. David will not be arriving for a while. It's full of high up people in the rebellion. Seekers, enforcers, and men David trusts."

Men like Seth? I clamped my mouth shut and nodded my head. Placing my hands on the back of my head, I followed Chantel out into the street. I expected bullets to fly out at us, but nothing happened. The broken gravel crunched under our feet.

Chantel led us into a rundown building. Part of the roof had crashed to the floor. Inside was covered with overturned shelves. My skin crawled when I heard rats scurrying around on the floor. We went out the back door and into an alley.

Chantel looked all around us. When she was satisfied that nobody was watching, she shoved the dumpster over. I lifted my eyebrows when I saw wood covering the floor. It was a secret passageway. One much like the one that Stephan had at his estate.