Welcome To The Resistance
The world used to be a peaceful place. There were separate nations spread throughout
the planet who worked together to keep their home safe. Freedom was a way of life, and in life
there was joy. Skies were clear and energy was plentifulevenly
distributed. There were forests
instead of the wastelands, there was wildlife, water, and non toxic oceans. The world of Sendina
was beautiful. Or at least that's
what they tell us.
Today, the world is a toxic deadland. Peace, freedom, and joy are all gone. Wildlife is
now a rare site? they’re all either, dead, mutated, or hiding. Independent nations are now slaves.
Hope, love, all seems lost. Lost in a storm, the storm that now shapes us all. This toxic storm is
all lead by the Gerent, the cruelest figure, the man who destroyed the world with unfilled
promises and beautiful lies all for the gain of power. A power so great it’s slowly killing us all. It
steals us all from our lives and forces us to become slaves of our own minds. This is why we the
people we
the ‘rebels’, are to rise up against the unjust keeper of our lives and take back this
dying world. Galliten 2b is the heart of this rebellion, lead by a group of 7: Olivia and Oliver
Blake the
brains, Christopher Colhanthe
muscle, Aiden Henderweapons
expert, Scout
Andersonmy
confidant and muse in all things, Tristan Parker my
symbiotic co leader, and me,
Jae Campton, the rebellion leader, elected by the the people.
Welcome to the resistance.
**
“Jae!”
I immediately glanced up hearing Scout’s approaching voice.
She squeezes in next to me into the circle Triston, Aiden, Chris and I were forming over a
map of the Fortress Caldeira. She bent down and caught her breath for a moment before
continuing.
“Olivia and Oliver are almost ready. We need to get to the lab.”
I glanced at Tristan and nodded.
Aiden clapped his hand on Tristan's shoulder. “We’ll meet you there. We’re gonna head
over to the armory. Jaxson should have the firearms ready to pack up in the Jeep.”
“Alright, Chris, Scout, you guys are with me. Let’s head out.”
“We’ll be there in 15,” Tristan said, looking at me.
I nodded and glanced at my watch to see that it was 4:49 pm. He stared for an extra
moment before he turned on his heel and walked away with Aiden, calm, focused, and with a
purpose in his stride. After a moment I turned my attention away from him receding in the
distance and shifted back towards Scout and Chris. Scout gave me a knowing look. I brushed it
off and started to walk. “Come on, we’re on a tight schedule.”
Within a few minutes we reached the lab. To anyone who wasn't aware of what lay
below, it would just look like an old ragged tent. All suggestions of rebellion obviously have to
be hidden, a science lab being a major one. The tent is merely a facade, an entrance to an
underground lab. We had one guard outside, again not looking like anything you would suspect.
The guard on duty, Danny, was the baby of the Gallitien. Each Gallitien is organized by age:
Children 1 16,
who are also grouped with the elders 60+? Young adults 1725?
and Adults
2659.
Each age group has multiple Gallitiens. We’re 2b because are age group is the second on
the list of ages hence the 2 and we’re the second Gallitien for our age group which is where the b
comes in. It seemed like a rather dangerous way to go about organizing things putting
the most
‘fit’ in one place, but we are under constant surveillance and anyone who opposes a threat is
‘removed’ as they like to call it. There are only a few blind spots from the surveillance: the lab,
the army, the garage, and our war room because those are all underground. There are a few
above ground blind spots though spread out around camp, one being where we had just come
from. Danny, being 17, is like everyone's kid brother. He helps out in anyway he can for the
twins which is a lot of running messages and sitting outside of the tent to warn them via radio if
someone was coming. He immediately jumped to his feet as he saw us approach.
“Reporting for duty sir,” he said, standing tall and mock saluting us.
I laughed and ruffled his hair. He smiled, shooing my hand away, and got out his radio.
We walked into the tent as he told the twins that we were here. Inside the tent was a tarp floor,
Chris pulled it back to reveal the hatch going down into the lab. The door only opens from the
inside so either whoever is on guard duty has to radio someone inside to open it or you have to
stomp a certain code on it. In this case, Danny had them open it. The door swung open to reveal
a 15 foot ladder leading into a short hallway opening up into one big open room. It was nothing
fancy but it was enough.
“Scout, Chris, Jae.” Oliver said nodding to each of us at the entrance. “Let me get you
guys caught up on our progress.”
“Alright,” Scout responded.
Oliver began to talk as we started walking, his boyish innocence showed as he bubbled
with excitement while he told what he and Olivia had accomplished.
“We’ve hacked into the Caldeira mainframe and have surveillance through their security
cameras, they shouldn’t be able to see our links on it unless they run a full hardware system scan
on their cameras. It took us awhile but we were able to get the parts for long distance walkie
talkies. There was only enough to make one set though.”
“That’s fine. One for the lab, one for us.” I responded.
“What about the explosives?” Chris asks.
“They're ready,” Oliva piped in as we reached the middle of the lab, “Small and easily
transportable. I promise it won't activate on you,” She grabbed a small bag, “Thanks to hacking
into the main frame, we have the Gerents daily Schedules. We know that he will be in the
ballroom, and this is guaranteed to open its doors.”
“You never fail to amaze me,” I said.“The combat training is still a go for today, right?”
“Yep, about 75% of his guards will be 7 miles away at their training grounds. That should
give you guys plenty of time to get out before they can get there. The second you step foot into
that ballroom they're gonna be alerted.”
“Hey, guys,” Camla, the other scientist said, “I got a link on the camps surveillance
cameras. I’ll be able to take them down long enough for your speech. It shouldn’t raise any
questions? these cameras go off all the time.”
“Good. Looks like we’re set,” Chris said.
We heard a faint honk from outside.
I checked my watch to see that it had been exactly 15 minutes. “And that would be
Tristan. Let's head out.”
Chris grabbed the the bag of explosives and Olivia grabbed one of the walkie talkies. We
made our way out, leaving Camla to stay behind to shut off the surveillance for the speech.
We got outside and the air was beginning to cool. I gazed up to see a cloud filled sky through all
the smog.
“Looks like it’s gonna rain, huh,” Tristan said hopping out of the Jeep. I looked past him
at the Jeep which currently had its top off.
“Not the most convenient thing,” I said, turning my attention back to him. “But we’ll
make do.”
“Come on, let’s load up,” he said, taking the explosives from Chris and getting back into
the driver's seat. We all loaded in and headed off to our war room. There was a mile long dirt
road running the length of the camp which that is mainly made up of blind spots to the cameras,
the underground buildings are designed to be accessed from that road, the war room being at the
end of it. An old storage container is placed over the entrance? again, nothing a guard would pay
much attention to.
The inside of the container honestly looked like it hasn't been touched since the world
was destroyed. It was littered with trash and it smelled terrible which Chris made apparent by
faking gagging every time he walked in. It was the perfect disguise for our most important room.
The only thing hiding the hatch was a balled up blanket that looked like it may once have been
white, it was all we needed though. Considering how many rags litter the camp, no one would
pay much attention to that either.
Aiden kicked back the blanket with the tip of his steeltoed
boot. He has never been one
for wanting to touch that blanket, something the boys found joy in teasing him over. The
entrance was practically the same as that of the lab: a ladder that drops down into a small
hallway. It didn't lead into a large room though? it was a rather small room with a table in the
middle and the whole wall in front of it covered by a blackboard which Tristin was scribbling a
summary of the plan on. Off to the side there was another small room that held files. All in all it
was a bit cramped and a little cliche, but it served its purpose.
The group all took their chairs and Tristin and I stood in front of the black board which
was currently covered in our plans.
“This is our last chance to go over the plan” Tristan said then looked over to me, “Do you
wanna start?”
“Okay, we’ll go over it piece by piece. Scout, you start.”
She sat up, “We take old highway 67 along the border of the wasteland up until a mile to
the fortress. We hide the jeep in the dense forest then make the the rest the journey on foot.”
“I’ll get the weapons unloaded quickly and we’ll get packed up and ready to go,” Aiden
continued.
Then Chris, “We will make our way to the first block of the west wing where there will
be one guard, easy to take out. We’re going in through this block specifically because past its
main room is a series of hallways. The right ones will get us to the back entrance of the
ballroom.”
“This is where the explosives come into play,” Olivia began, but then Oliver pitched in,
“You’ll place them on the steel door and activate them in the safety of the hallway. Once the
doors blow you’ll enter the room with your weapons hot.”
“Even though most of the guards are busy training, there of course will still be plenty of
bodyguards on him,” Olivia finished.
“We won’t be able to get to him until we get through a good chunk of the guards, and in
the meantime he’ll be able to make an exit. So, I’ll have my main focus on him. My goal will be
to take him out,” I paused and noticed Tristin shift in his seat almost as if he was worried,
“Tristin will have my back on that.” I finished.
“Once we take out the tyrant, his troops will fall into disorganization with no one to lead
them. Some will fall away from their guard duties, while other will stay loyal to their king.
That’s where the people of the Gallitens come in. Together we will fight as a whole against the
loyal guards. Once they are defeated, Sedinia will once again be a planet of the people ” Tristin
finished.
“Don’t worry, Jae. We got it memorized. You’ve practically drilled it into our heads at
this point,” Aiden laughed.
I half heartedly smiled. I appreciated his humor, but in times like this there’s no room for
games. I checked the clock. 5:32 pm. It should be dark soon. I pushed down my nerves and
maintained my stoic expression.
“Any questions?” I ask.
They all shook their heads no. “Anything else you wanna add on?” I said to Tristin.
“I think we’re good, it’s about time to head out to the main square.”
“Alright, let’s go.”
We all then exited the room and piled back into the Jeep. Once we were about to pass
onto the main road, Oliva radioed Camla, “It’s time. Shut off the cameras.” A static filled
response was given. “Okay, we’re good to go.”
We drove onto the main road that goes straight through camp all the way to the back
where the main square is. We call it this because, well, for one it’s a big empty square, and two
at the back of the square are the remnants of the only building in this Gallietien. Well, at least
the only remnants that still form the shell of the building.
By the time we got to the main square, everyone was already gathered around, leaving a
path open for the Jeep to drive through. We parked to the side of the stage which really was just
the remaining stairs of the long since destroyed building. We got out of the Jeep. I looked to
Scout and Tristin for some moral support right before I step up on the stage. They smiled at me
and Scout urged me forward.
“The Cameras have been down for 4 minutes, you’ve got about 10 for your speech before
the dead cameras get suspicious.” Oliver said to me right before I started up the stage. I nodded
and finally made my way up.
I looked out at the jail cell we call home. The Galliten took the shape of a square and was
only a mile long in each direction. There really wasn't need for a fence considering the west side
boarded the wasteland and we were surrounded by miles and miles of barren land on all other
sides. The northside was mostly empty, it’s where the guards would come through on the main
road and no one wanted to be there when they entered. The west side was what we called our
market. It was really just a series of tents selling things like bread, clothing, and random finds,
using the currency of trading. Next to that was the food tent where you would go to get your food
and water rations for the week. The south side had some tents surrounding the main square. The
east side was lined with old empty storage containers that we used as homes. Behind those was
the dirt road that had access to the underground areas. More tents, huts built from junk, and a few
more storage containers filled in the rest of the camp all lining the main road.
I took a deep breath and refocused my attention back on the people standing before me.
“The world as we know it today is only a broken shell of what it once was. I still have
hope that we can break out it out of that shell so it can grow to its full potential. Our freedom
died along with the plant of Sednina all due to the Gerent, the man who stole this plant with
beautiful lies and then destroyed it with his power.” I paused to scan the crowd. There dirty faces
were focused on me nodding in agreement, their disheveled forms throwing their fists up. A
small act of rebellion.
“We can unite together, and with working together, The Gerent will fall.
With his fall will come the crumble of his kingdom mass
confusion in his troops, for
there will be no one to lead them. With his fall will come the true promise of independence,
happiness, and success! I am no Gerent, and I am no fool. There will be no lies, and no false
promises. Together, we can take back what is rightfully ours! For so long we have been
oppressed, starved of our basic human rights. If we refused to serve him we were herded into
these pins as if we were cattle. If we were to refused our pins, then we were forced to the
slaughter house. Today, that will be no more. I don’t know about you, but I am done biting my
tongue, I am done being a slave to his games, I am done letting our once beautiful planet be ruled
by such an evil man! “The crowed roared with agreement, their fists now wildly beating at the
air.
“ So this is why we the people must rise up against, against the unjust keeper of our lives.
He shall feel penitence for we are done living in reticence inside the boundaries of our Gallitens.
Marching hand in hand against the clash of arms. Ready for liberation! Ready for victory!”
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as I looked out at the crowed cheering in an
uproar of excitement.
I waited a minute for them to quiet down, “Now, Tristin, Scout, Aiden, Christopher, and I
are about to head off to Fortress Calderia to take out the Gerent. Once that is done, the plan turns
to you guys. Each Galliten has a copy of the plans. Together we will fight as a whole to take out
the guards and take back our world. Quickly now, return to your places. We have three minutes
until the Cameras come back on. Prepare yourselves, for today is the beginning of the war for
Sednina.”
They cheered once more and hurriedly got back to their stations.
I stepped off the stage. Scout immediately hugged me, “Dude, that was awesome. I’m
ready to go take the Gerent down!”
I laughed at her childishness and turned to the rest of the group. “Come on guys, we need
to be out of here before the Cameras turn back on.”
They headed to the Jeep. I was about to follow until Olivia put her hand on my shoulder.
“I have faith in you Jae, if there is anyone who can do this, it’s you.” She said.
I pushed down a surge of self doubt and smiled back. “There’s no way would could do
this without you.” I gave her another smile before jogging over to the Jeep which the group had
already loaded into. I got into the middle next to Chris while Aiden stood in the back with a
M240 machine gun mounted on top. Tristin and Scout looked back to us from the front seats,
“You guys ready,” Tristan asked.
The boys cheering answered and Scout slammed the gas speeding out of the north entrance of
camp with only seconds left till the cameras came back online.
**
It was already dark by the time we had parked the Jeep out of site in all the mangled
overgrowth the wasteland had to offer and it started to rain after we hiked the next mile to the
Fortress where we now stood at the back corner. Getting past the concrete fence that surrounded
the Fortress wasn't much trouble, we were able to scale it as the guards traded off. The entrance
we’re using to get inside shouldn't be much trouble either. It’s just a singular door on a rather
quiet section of the Fortress with only one guard stationed on it.
We were all crouched behind a slab of concrete extending out of the wall.
“This is it guys,” Tristan said, “Scout, radio the twins. Tell them to link the cameras. We
need eyes and ears to pull this off.”
“Cameras on.” Scout radioed.
Tristin unholstered his sig p226, the handgun we were all equipped with, then continued,
“Getting in will be easy. Aiden, you’ll take out the guard then when we get in the twins will lead
us through hallways until we get to the main corridor.”
He looked to me and I nodded. We all readied our weapons as Aiden took the guard out
with one of his three throwing knives. He sprinted to the door to be the look out hidden by the
darkness. He paused then waved Christopher through motinationing that it was safe. One by one
we each ran to the door. Once we were all there we entered.
“We’re in.” Scout radioed facing the surveillance camera on the other side of the room.
“We see you,” Oliver responds. “The last 10 minutes of surveillance is being played on
repeat for the guards surveillance room so you’re currently invisible to them.”
Oliver then proceeded to lead us through a series of small hallways until we entered a
long gray corridor. No doors, no guards, and one security camera positioned right where the
hallway turns. Tristan nodded at the camera about 200 meters away before we continued down it.
“This corridor turns into a small room with an entrance to the back of the ballroom. No
ones on guard there.” Oliver said.
The rain picked up and we were able to hear it pounding down on the roof and windows.
20 meters in, everything was going according to plan.
40 meters in the radio was dead silent.
60 meters in we hear Danny’s frantic voice over the radio, “The guards! The guards,
they’re here! They are roll
call I”
The connection begins to break up. “The guards th
know
gone!”
70 meters in roaring thunder begins cutting off our hearing.
80 meters in Oliva radios us “They cut the camera link! The guards, they know you're
gone. There was an unscheduled roll call!”
“We lost our eyes!” Scout alerts us shouting over the thunder.
Olivia continues “We’ve already been suspected of rebellion, there are guards heading
there now, you need to get out of ther”
90 meters in the radio loses connection.
“Ears are down.” Scout says, the confidence in her voice now beginning to fade, “We’re
on our own.”
100 meters in we pause.
“Jae, Scout’s right, we’re on our own. This place in going to be crawling with guards in
no time. If we’re gonna turn back, we need to do it now.” Chris said.
“I say if we go out, we go out fighting for the reason we came here, not because we’re
being chased out.” Aiden said.
“What do you think Tristan?” I asked.
Before he could responded the thunder quieted down for a moment and we could hear the
heavy stomping of boots coming from system of hallways behind us.
“Well, I guess that answers your question.” Tristan responded. He came off as calm and
collected though I noticed the sheen of sweat on his forehead. He was nervous, and really, I
found that to be the scariest part of this situation.
“We sprint to the ballroom doors. We can bust them open before the guards reach us.”
Scout said.
I looked at each of them, took a deep breath, and regained my composure. “Let’s win our
world back.” And with that we took off down the corridor quickly reaching the corner.
“Scout, Chris, stay on watch!” Tristan said. They c***ed their guns and kept look out.
“Aiden, help me set this up,” I said taking the explosives out of the bag.
“They’re coming!” Scout shouts as the first few guards turn into the corridor. They begin
to open fire on each other.
“Get back, there's no hiding in corridor now!” Tristan shouts and we all press to the back
wall. Aiden blows the doors. We burst through the opening before the rubble and dust settle.
Tristin facing the front, me facing the left, Aiden facing the right, Scout and Chris facing the
back.
The ballroom has about 20 or so guards in it and the ones from the corridor began to pile
in. We were majorly out numbered but we also worked very well together. We split up into two
groups: Aiden and Tristan who covered the left side, then Scout, Chris, and I who were covering
the right side.
There was so much shouting accompanied by the loud combat and heavy rain hitting the
glass ceiling ...why hadn't they retracted the hard ceiling yet?
My head was spinning. I pushed back all thoughts and searched for the Gerent.
I soon fell into a cycle? c*** my gun, take out the surrounding guards, reload, look for the
Gerent, repeat.
“Jae! The Gerent is in the back right corner!” Scout had to yell even though she was right
next to me.
I looked to see him standing in the back smirking at what was going on before him. He
caught my eyes then raised his gun. He lifted it past me though. He aimed it at the ceiling. I soon
then heard the gut wrenching sound of glass shattering. The ballroom then became a storm of
glass and heavy rain. We dived under the tables for protection. The already pandemonic scene
turned to absolute chaos. The second the glass stopped raining down on us, we got back up and
continued fire.
“Ahh!” Scout stumbled back. A bullet had grazed her arm. “It’s just a flesh wound, I’m
fine.” She said as I turned to her. “Go take out the Gerent, I’ll cover you.”
I nodded, now soaked to the bone from rain. I didn’t dare to wait a second longer before
the thought that that may be the last time I see her crossed my mind. I sprinted to where the
Gerent was standing, taking out every guard in my way. He just stood there with that same
vicious smirk on his face as if he was humored by my efforts.
He casually discarded his firearm and motioned me towards him obviously preferring
hand to hand combat. Pausing for a moment, I considered whether or not this was a trap. To hell
with it I thought knowing I still had my hunting knife tucked in my boot. I threw my gun to the
side and put my fists up.
He took the first swing, a right hook to my jaw. I blocked it and palm striked his chest
pushing him back. He threw another punch that I dodged shifting to the right but he then
followed up with an elbow crossing my face. I quickly recover wiping the blood from my mouth.
I successfully roundhouse kicked him following up with two punches. He ducked my second
kick and landed a blow to my stomach. Before I could recover, he drew his sword and plunged it
into my gut. I didn’t register Tristan's feral cry as everything seemed to go silent when I looked
down to my stomach. In a state of shock, I glanced up to see him staring at me with a sick
twisted smile.
“Did you really think you could defeat me?” He laughed.
With the last of my strength, I let a primal scream and grabbed onto his hand pulling him
towards me. His confident look faltered and I drew my knife stabbing him through his back. His
weight fell onto me, my mouth now right next to his ear.
“Yeah ...I’m pretty ...sure ..I just did,” I grunted out between shallow forced breathes.
We then both collapsed to the floor.
I always thought you’d see everything in the last moment of your life but in reality it’s all
a blur accompanied the cacophony of sound? I missed everything in a span of three seconds. I
missed Tristan's body drenched in rain and blood that covered the salty tears running down his
face as he cradled my head in his lap and the pain filled screams that ripped through chest. I
missed the bullet that buried itself into my bestfriends back. I missed Aiden trying to pull Tristin
away from me knowing they had to get out and I was already gone. I missed the throwing knife
in Christopher's chest as he saved Aiden . I missed Tristin tell me he loved me as I took my last
breath.