***

Luis thought it appropriate that the man who had worked for the Coalition and betrayed his sister should be chained in the same building where his fellow coworkers used to live. And now with Nelson relaying the message from Sydney via the laptop Alex provided, Luis had all the reason he needed to end Alex’s pathetic existence, and this time there was nowhere for him to run and hide.

Luis had worked over every angle in his mind the ways he could make Alex hurt. But like most creatures that slithered in the shadows, this one was hard to pin down. Since his arrival, he’d been bombarded by community members begging for Alex’s release. Two individuals in particular were more adamant than the rest. One of which was a young boy who had also requested that he receive his laptop back after Nelson was done with it.

What added to Luis’s conundrum was the fact that almost everything from Alex’s story checked out. Nelson was able to confirm by hacking into the Coalition’s servers and finding the paper trail Gordon had left behind that corresponded with Alex’s indentured servitude.

“Luis,” Nelson said, “you have a call from the admiral.”

The fact that Nelson had the ability to hack into the Coalition’s servers and access information would give them a very powerful edge in the fight against Gordon, but the fact that Nelson hadn’t been able to locate Emma and Todd was cause for concern, and why Luis agreed to reach out to Sydney in the first place.

“Hello, Admiral,” Luis said, taking the satellite phone.

“What’s left of the Coalition seems to be making their last stands in Topeka and the coast of Texas at the refineries. What are the casualties so far on your end?” Frizen asked.

“Thirty dead, ninety wounded. Where are we at with the fisheries?”

“We’ve retaken most of the Louisiana and Mississippi coastlines, but Gordon isn’t giving up the refineries as easily as the fishing villages. He knows once we have the refineries back, it’s only a matter of time before we get to him in Topeka.”

“It’s hard to run a fascist state without any fuel.”

“That’s why I need you and your men there to help reinforce the efforts.”

It took Luis a few seconds for the admiral’s words to sink in. “Sir, we have the Coalition on the run. If they’re retreating back to Topeka, then that’s where my men should head,” Luis said.

“I understand that, Commander, but the sentries in Texas have sealed themselves in the refinery, and we can’t risk bombing any of the installations to bring them down. They’re too valuable for rebuilding efforts after the war. We need as many men down there as possible to begin infiltration.”

The only face and name running through Luis’s mind was his sister’s. All he could think about was breaking into Topeka, getting her out, and then killing Gordon with his bare hands. Each moment that wasn’t spent marching toward Topeka was another moment she was meant to suffer.

“Sir, my men and I are ready to handle Topeka. We can end this conflict within a few days, possibly sooner. If we just reallocate some of the men from Tex—”

“I know about your sister, Luis.”

Luis moved his lips, forming soundless words. The moment he discovered his sister was taken, he’d been driving his men like hounds on a dogsled toward Topeka, toward Alex, toward revenge. He was mixing his mission mandate with his personal one.

“I know how difficult this is for you,” Admiral Frizen said. “But we need to focus on ending this conflict as quickly as possible to minimize the total loss of life. Once we retake the refineries, all efforts will be coordinated to attack Gordon in Topeka with everything we have.”

Under all the emotions of hate and revenge and murder that surfaced from the deepest depths of Luis’s being, he knew the Admiral was right. He knew the first mission was to win this war and restore peace.

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you, Commander.”

“Admiral, there’s something you should know. Sydney Farnes is working on reconstructing Todd’s soil solution.”

“You’re telling me it hasn’t been completed yet?”

“Yes, sir, but I don’t know how much longer it’s going to stay that way.”

“Thank you for the information, Commander.”

When the call ended, his grip against the black plastic of the phone only whitened his knuckles. Flashes of his sister in the farm camp triggered spasms of pain to ripple throughout his body. He slowly handed Nelson the satellite phone back and looked over to Alex, which was the only pair of eyes in the room still watching him.

“I need the room,” Luis said.

The last soldier outside shut the bullet-riddled door behind him, leaving Luis and Alex alone. Sunlight from outside shone through the broken glass and bullet holes, casting the rays of light onto the floor in scattered patterns. 

The chains around Alex’s ankles and wrists scraped against the concrete as he shifted from the uncomfortable silence. Luis, however, hadn’t moved a muscle since he’d spoken. He stood there, like a statue made of solid granite, unwavering, unmovable, with no amount of force on earth that could break him.

“The members of your community will be transported to Wyoming to the safe zone until the conflict is over,” Luis said.

“Thank you.”

“But you will be staying with me. Despite the details and pleas of your community, you still acted in concert with a man who is now branded as a terrorist of the United States of America. You will be tried, and if there is any justice, you will be convicted.”

“I know you still want to kill me.”

Luis took his first few steps forward, his tree-trunk legs causing the very ground they conquered to quiver. He stopped at Alex’s feet and squatted to meet him at eye level. His voice sounded almost too soft for the giant frame it escaped from.

“I’ve wanted to kill you ever since I rode into Wyoming and found out my sister had been taken off to rot in some farm camp. There isn’t anything in this life that would bring me more pleasure than to rip you limb from limb right here, right now. But, unlike you, I have orders. And also, unlike you, I have to follow them, despite what I want to do. So you can sing whatever sad song you need to make yourself believe that what you did to my family was justified, but the reality is you did it to save yourself,” Luis said then rose and marched to the door. “We’ll be heading into some heavy combat zones. If you happen to die in one of our battles, then far be it from me to stop the hand of fate.”

Main Street was thick with a mixture of community members and Luis’s soldiers. He made his way through the crowd and found Ray and Nelson, still with the laptop, sitting in the shade of the tank parked by the community’s front entrance.

“How long will it take for you to find out where Emma and Todd are?” Luis asked.

“I don’t know,” Nelson answered. “If Gordon didn’t register them in the system under their real names, which I don’t think he did since I haven’t been able to locate them, it could be a while.”

“Shit.”

“You don’t like him.”

Ray smacked Nelson on the shoulder. “Of course he doesn’t like him. I don’t like him. You don’t like him. He’s a fucking coward.”

“I never said I didn’t like him,” Nelson said.

“You’re kidding, right?” Ray asked.

Nelson turned to Luis and closed the laptop. “What would you do for your sister?”

“Anything. And that goes for all of you. You know that.”

“Well, that’s how he felt about his community. The people here were his friends, his family. He wanted to protect them.”

“He wanted to protect himself,” Ray said.

“I’m not saying that you should be friends with him, I’m merely suggesting that you look at the situation from a different angle. That’s all,” Nelson said.

Luis had to look at a lot of things at a lot of different angles over the past few years. The ability to adapt to the situation at hand was important, but having the resolve to continue with your own values in the face of those adaptations was something Luis always believed to be even more important. He could never understand how an individual could forsake everything they believed in by the whim of someone they didn’t know or respect.

People lost the ability and belief that they held their own destiny in their hands. They’d forgotten they controlled what happened to them. They weren’t lost and drifting in some pointless chaos. All they had to do was act, but not everyone responded the way Luis did when someone put a gun to his head.