“Where are you guys?” he called out.

  “Back by the vault, oh fearless leader.” Bill’s voice, solid and reassuring. All was well here, so far. Theo walked in the direction of the voice, his hands held out in front to ward off any unseen obstacles. The interior of the bank’s main room was not very large, and he made it to the wall containing the huge vault with ease. As he walked, his eyes adjusted to the limited light. He could see the guard, unconscious on the floor. The rebels stood around the entrance.

  “Did you see me fly onto this poor dumbass?” asked Bill, beaming with pride.

  Theo laughed. “Not gonna lie, it was awesome.”

  “Yeah, that’s my guy!” said Jamie. “I got in one kick though!”

  “You were all great,” Theo said. “Have we had any luck at finding a way into the vault?”

  “Would you believe it’s unlocked?” asked Ryan. “Tiberius might not be a ‘hide in plain sight’ guy, be he was a little overconfident.”

  “That, or our friend and host, Mr. Guard, got a little curious about what he was guarding and forgot to lock up after,” said Joseph.

  “You’re probably right, Joseph,” said Theo. “Have you guys looked inside yet?”

  “We wanted you to do the honors,” said Bill.

  “I appreciate that,” said Theo. “Okay, people, this is the moment that we’ve been waiting for.” He stepped forward. Up close, he could see that the heavy vault door was open a few inches. He reached in with both hands and pulled, guiding the slow sweep of the door’s opening.

  Inside the vault, some kind of dim, battery-powered lighting filled the room with a haunting blue glow. The vault had been carefully retrofitted from its previous life as storage for money and valuables. Very little of that had any purpose in Atlantic Island. What had replaced the money, however, would serve Theo’s purposes just fine.

  “My God,” said Andrew. “No wonder there isn’t any crime on the island. They must have taken every weapon.”

  The walls of the vault were filled with guns of all shapes and sizes. Tables erected down the middle of the room held more guns and boxes upon boxes of ammo. These were not the officially issued weapons of any police department that had existed here before the Event. This was a motley collection of arms taken from the people.

  Theo was amazed by the varied weaponry the people of Atlantic Island had possessed, not to mention those who had not survived the Event. He saw handguns, knives, machine guns, rifles, a giant thing he had to assume was a bazooka, even a bow with a quiver full of arrows.

  “Wow, a box of grenades!” said Bill in awe. “This is so cool!” Jamie elbowed him in the ribs. “Ow! Okay, cool, but also very important and serious. Happy?”

  Theo turned to his band of rebels. “This is exactly what we needed. Okay, Jamie, this is the part I promised you could play. Run back to the safe house and tell Kylee to mobilize the team she and I discussed. We need some more people or it could take us a week to clear this place out. We need this done tonight, quickly and quietly.”

  She gave Bill a kiss and sprinted to the exit. “What about the rest of us?” Bill asked. “Can I take the bazooka?”

  “Joseph and Andrew, you guys grab what you can from here and take it back to the safe house. Listen, I understand if you don’t want to be running yourselves ragged through the night. You don’t have to come back.”

  “Please, we aren’t so very old!” said Joseph. “We can almost keep pace with those ladies Jamie is going to bring back. You’ll see us later, do not worry!”

  Theo smiled. “Okay, okay. Bill, Ry, you guys need to deal with the guard. No reason to beat him up any more but I think a trip to the beach would do him well, if you get me.”

  “Gotcha, boss!” laughed Bill. Theo knew that Bill couldn’t be happier to be taking action after having been mistreated left and right since the Event. Truth be told, he felt the same way. He knew Tiberius was going to be furious when he heard about the raid, and that gave him a tremendous amount of pleasure.

  Theo watched all his friends leave. He was going to need to remain to guard the vault. It was eerie being by himself in the pale, cold blue of the room. It might be wise to get a gun. He was looking around for which ammunition matched which type of weapon when he heard Bill’s voice.

  “Hey, Theo, thought you might want this. Mr. Guard doesn’t need it anymore. Later, man.” The black semi-automatic, a staple of the Security Force, was on the floor by the front of the vault. Theo went over to the gun. He kneeled down next to it and touched it with a sense of caution and respect. His experience with guns did not go much beyond shooting BB’s from rifles at summer camp. Would a day come where he would have to fire this gun or one like it? He thought it very likely. He sighed, and sat on the floor, pulling the gun across his lap. What the hell kind of a world had this become? What kind of a twisted fantasy saw Theo Essex as the leader of a growing army of disenfranchised, angry rebels? Could he lead an uprising? How could he be expected to do all this and not crack to pieces under the pressure?

  He allowed his thoughts to turn to Kylee. Beautiful, strong, capable. She believed in him and he believed in her. In all his friends, really. Together they could do anything. He thought of Sam Lucas. A good man who had seen so much potential in him. A man who had tried to do the best he could in unimaginable circumstances for which there was no guidebook. Theo promised himself he would do the same. He calmed then, and was still sitting calmly, practically meditating, when the first of Kylee’s women arrived to collect the weapons.

  Chapter 24

  Under the cover of a moonless night, the rebels removed every piece of equipment from the bank vault. Every weapon and bit of ammo, from the largest, most elaborate guns to the quiver of arrows, was transported silently in an assembly line stretching from the bank to the safe house.

  Theo was thrilled with the efficiency of the operation. Every step, from Bill’s drop onto the guard to the very last handgun being liberated from the bank had gone exactly as he had hoped. They now had more than enough weapons to arm every man and woman in the safe house with more to spare for new recruits, should they be so fortunate as to acquire them.

  Of course, a little sacrifice had to be made. Having so much firepower in the house with children around was a disaster waiting to happen. Theo hated having to move people out of one of the upstairs bedrooms, as it meant more crowding in the others, but it had to be done. He set up a volunteer rotation to stand outside the door of the new rebel armory. He laughed every time he thought how they were storing that many weapons in a room with seashell wallpaper.

  There wouldn’t be much time to rest on the laurels of their great accomplishment. Theo knew the rebels would be looking to him for the next plan. Tiberius was proceeding with his changes to the very fabric of Atlantic Island. Between the ongoing demolitions in the heart of Ventnor to the fights to the death that were reportedly still happening, there was a great deal of ugly corrupting the heart of the island.

  He wasn’t sure what the next move should be. He had spent a good amount of time dwelling on the subject of the weapons stash. Now that they had cleaned out the one, he spent the next few days deciding how to proceed. Some of his “advisors” wanted to seek out the other stashes. True, there was a value in taking away Tiberius’s weapons, even if the rebels couldn’t possibly use that many guns. Still, there was far too much risk involved. Tiberius probably already knew about the raid. He would be increasing security at the other locations, which were likely far from the safe house. Theo just couldn’t see a scenario where he didn’t risk his people for relatively little gain.

  Two days following the raid, Theo sat down with Kylee. “You wanted to talk to me?” he said.

  “Well, I thought you should talk to someone. You don’t have to go through all this alone.”

  “I do talk to people. I met with Brian and Liz this morning to go over some ideas about how to better gather intelligence on the other side and—”

  “That’s not what I mean,” she said. “I know you talk about plans and strategies, and that’s important. But when you start looking to the people closest to you as allies, subordinates, advisors, whatever, you lose out on what you need most. Friends.”

  He smiled. “You’re a little more than just a friend to me, you know.”

  “Really? I had no idea. Seriously though, that’s why I’m the one who needs to talk to you. I don’t want you putting so much pressure on yourself.”

  “Kylee, last year I was struggling with my grades in school. Now I’m the head of a rebellion with my girlfriend as general of my army. How can I not feel pressured?”

  “I get it. I had a normal life too, you know. Friends, family. There are many people I miss, and I’m a girl who had a few months of training now trying to lead a team of mostly women to do I don’t know what. It’s stressful. But somehow these are the jobs we ended up with, whether we wanted them or not. We have an obligation to our people, and to all the people of this island. Tiberius has to go, Theo. And it’s up to us to remove him.”

  Theo thought in silence. Finally he looked up at her. “You’re right, babe. You always are. And you’ve given me an idea.”

  “Well thank you. What’s your idea?”

  “You said you’re dealing with an army of mostly women. Well, that’s because their husbands are locked up. That’s the rest of our army right there. The ‘political prisoners’ Tiberius took away because they didn’t agree with him.”

  Kylee brushed back her hair. “You want to stage a prison break? Do we even know where the men are being kept?”

  He shook his head. “Not specifically, no. Though I think most of the prison is filled with dissidents. I think the real criminals whose weapons ended up in our safe house weren’t so lucky.”

  “How do we break into a prison? It’s got to be heavily guarded.”

  “Well, who says we have to break in? Maybe we can somehow help the prisoners break out. Start the uprising from within.”

  She kissed him. “You see? You can’t doubt yourself, Theo. I keep telling you, you’re in this position for a reason. Why don’t you meet with all the inner circle tomorrow?”

  “Sounds good. What do I do today?”

  She smiled. “Leave that to me.” She kissed him again.

  “We have so much to be proud of right now,” Theo said to his friends. “The bank mission has provided us with a fighting chance. It’s now time to talk about what comes next.”

  “Does it involve some kind of espionage?” asked Brian. “I’m dying to get out there and get involved.”

  “Then this might be your lucky day, my friend.”

  “What’s your plan, Theo?” asked Jamie.

  “My plan is to bring the fight to Tiberius. It’s time for war. How we get there… well, I have a few key parts of my strategy. Please feel free to contradict me and give me your opinions.” He smiled. “It’s only the fate of all of our lives that we are discussing here. You know, NBD.”

  The laughter that greeted this statement inspired him. His people were united by common goals and beliefs. Tiberius united only by fear. That was going to be his downfall. Theo was going to show Atlantic Island that there was nothing to fear from Paul Tiberius and his Security Force.

  Theo opened his mouth to continue, but caught himself as he saw the expressions on the faces of everyone in the room. They were all looking to the doorway. One of Kylee’s recruits was standing by the entrance to the safe house with a gun raised to the head of another woman. It was Michelle.

  “Found this girl wandering around. She was asking about all of you. I thought I’d better bring her in.”

  “It’s okay,” said Theo. “She’s our friend.”

  The woman scowled as if to question the company Theo chose to keep. She lowered her weapon and backed off. Michelle relaxed and walked into the room. Jamie and Kylee jumped up and hugged her.

  “Where have you been?” Kylee asked.

  “Living in the city,” said Michelle. “The Security Force thinks I’m a Tiberius loyalist.”

  “And you’re not?” asked Ryan. He looked furious.

  “No, Ryan! I’m so sorry for everything. I was wrong to run out on you guys. It took me a long time to find you. What is this? You have security?”

  “We’ve been through a hell of a lot since you decided to wander off,” Ryan said.

  “Come on, man,” said Bill, “go easy on her.”

  “No!” said Ryan. “She left us. Left me! Ran away because we dared think that we didn’t have to accept a life under a dictator. Well guess what, Michelle? We damn near got killed by your beloved dictator. We’ve been hiding here. Sleeping on the floor. Trying to survive and mount a counterattack.”

  “A counterattack?” Michelle asked.

  “Yes,” said Theo. “Why don’t you join us, Michelle?” We were about to discuss some strategy.”

  “I’m sorry, Theo,” said Andrew, “but how do we know we can trust her? How do we know she’s not a spy for Tiberius?”

  “We don’t. We can’t. But I’m not going to deny safety to someone who needs it and I can’t have any of us not trusting each other. I want her to stay.”

  Theo could tell that some of his group did not agree with his decision. He hated having to pull rank. It was not his style of leadership. In this case, it was the only thing he could think to do. Michelle was one of Kylee and Jamie’s best friends. She deserved a chance to apologize and return to the fold. He knew that Ryan would likely not forgive her, and maybe that was okay. Ry would be keeping an eye out, and that was good enough for Theo.

  “So as I was starting to say,” Theo continued, “the time is coming to go to war with the leadership. We don’t have to launch the plan until we are good and ready, but once it starts I’m afraid it’s all going to happen at once. We are going to build our army from the men Tiberius has unfairly thrown in prison. We’ll do that by starting the fighting from within.”

  He looked at Kylee. “I wish there was time for you to train them, but this isn’t going to be like the raid on the bank. There’s no way to get all those people back across the island to hide out here and learn to fight. The prison breakout has to be the first major part of the battle. From there, we don’t stop. We will make sure to get word in advance to Officer Menendez. With any luck he has a few recruits who can help us. It’s going to be a difficult, progressive struggle. We will need to disarm Security Force soldiers as we defeat them, in order to properly arm our men.”

  “What’s the end game?” asked Bill.

  “The end game is our army storming the Palace. We take out Tiberius, dead or alive. Personally, I’d prefer alive. He has a lot to answer for and I’d love to see that happen in a real, honest court of law.”

  He paused, waiting for dissent. There didn’t seem to be any. Michelle was clearly holding her peace so as not to incite another round of animosity in her direction. Theo doubted she had totally relinquished her concerns about challenging Tiberius.

  “I don’t say any of this lightly,” he continued. “Many of us in this room and in this house may not survive the battle to come.” He saw his friends starting to interject. “I don’t want to hear anything about me staying back. This is for all the marbles, as they say. I’m there with you every step of the way. Who is with me?”

  Hands went up. Before long, every hand was raised but Michelle’s. Theo saw her look around. She reluctantly raised hers as well.

  “I’d follow you to the gates of Hell itself, Theo,” said Joseph. “And if I die, it will be fighting. A good death, yes?”

  “Thank you, Joseph,” Theo said. “I am… honored, touched, beyond words to have your support. To know each and every one of you.” He spoke for the next five minutes praising them for the challenge they had accepted.

  A week later, he stood in front of the safe house, addressing his entire army, Kylee and Bill at his sides.

  “The world outside this island, it would seem, fell victim a long time ago to a dictator and his ruthless ways. The same thing has happened now, on Atlantic Island. With your help, with your sacrifice, this comes to an end. Tiberius comes to an end. And in his place, we will bring about a better, brighter future. We will find safe, reasonable ways to provide opportunity and basic necessities for every citizen of this nation. I promise you that I will do everything imaginable to ensure that what you do very soon will be remembered in the history books to come, and never, ever forgotten. Be ready, my friends. I will call on you soon to fight for your freedom. Will you stand with me?”

  The crowd cheered. “Good thing Tiberius’s men are far away,” said Bill. “Enjoy it, bro. They love you.”

  Theo did enjoy it. As much as he feared what was to come, he felt empowered by the support of all these people. More than that, he knew that as crazy as this whole situation was, he had found what he had always been meant to do. Sam Lucas saw it in him right away. He was meant to lead people to better, happier lives.

  It was a bizarre concurrence of emotions. On the one hand, he felt fully realized for the first time in his life. Here on a bizarre island he had “found himself.” Still, that self-discovery had come in the middle of death and loss, with more surely to come. How many of the cheering people in front of him now would not survive the coming conflict? How many of those children sheltered in the safe house would lose one parent? How many would lose both? These thoughts floated through his brain, round and round, as he took time to greet his supporters like the politicians he had seen on television.

  Chapter 25

  Theo spent the next few days in meetings with his inner circle. The plan for the uprising was becoming more defined with each session. Theo knew well the sayings about the best plans for war going out the window once the battle began, but he believed that the broad outlines of the strategy would hold no matter what. In many ways they had to hold for the endeavor to be successful.