Chapter 7
I don't feel anything. I don't know how long I've been out. I played dead so long that my brain tricked my body into thinking I was. My side hurts. It feels like a million deaths. I drag myself up off the ground, my battered body straining to look around. The crash site was tragic. So sick that I shuffle over the debris and throw up a few times.
It takes almost an hour for me to get myself together.
Overhead there are planes.
On a dead soldier, I can pull a Ruck off. In it, I find some electronics and batteries. Just like the bullets for a soldier's gun, a soldier's electronics need ammo in the form of batteries. Between optics, flashlights, night vision devices, GPS (DAGR), and radio and the lack of interchangeable batteries on many of these devices, 16 pounds of batteries had to be carried—or the equivalent of an unloaded SAW machine gun.
I manage to stuff in a few T-shirts, whatever toiletries I can find, socks, underwear for good measure.
I needed to find help and I needed to find it now.
I turn both ways. I wasn't close to the base. We were low enough where I was able to survive a crash landing, but what about my friends?
Had they survived?
That's when I turn to the city. New Jerusalem. I could get back to the city and call for some help. Let them know the base was attacked.
~
"Hey! HEY!"
"HANDS UP!"
I see the convoy on 45th street. It's a Rainbow Convoy. My people. My heart is racing. I've walked 10 miles. 10 fucking miles before I saw someone. It was like the city was abandoned. All you heard around you were gunshots. All you heard was shooting. All you heard was planes.
Not too long ago this city was a metropolis.
What the FUCK was happening?
"He's ours!" another soldier states.
I come upon the soldiers. There have to be half a dozen of them. They have three hummer trucks and are dressed to the 9's with military gear. I recognize these guys are older than I am. They weren't draftees.
"Thank god," I state double down.
I almost want to cry when I see them. They look at me confused.
"Where the hell did you come from?" one of the guys ask, "That way is all abandoned."
He's in his mid-40s. The kind of guy that you would think would be in the military. Most of them were. I felt comforted when one of them hands me a canteen of water. I hold onto it as though it was life itself. The other older guys are just staring at me with this weird face. It's this clear face. This vivid face
"Fell out of the sky," I raise my hands for dramatic input, "No really I was on a plane. My entire squad. Got shot out the sky..."
"You survived?" a lesbian girl with a short butch hair cut, taped down breasts and a huge machine gun says.
"I don't know how..." I state.
Ther older man slaps me on the shoulder, "You're a lucky son. The RTLs attacked the Draftee event. Killed hundreds. Only a few were able to escape. Fuckin' RTLs. We have to worry about goddam other countries but we are getting attacked from our own the whole time."
Our own? He seemed to be ignorant to the RTL plight if he thought that was the case.
"I don't get into politics," I tell him, really just wanting to shut him up.
"Good. Because you're double lucky. This half of the city is a warzone. Everyone has moved into the inner quadrants near the Rainbow Palace. They've formed a Rainbow Wall. You'll be safe if you can get to the Rainbow Wall before nightfall."
I'm confused.
"What happens at nightfall?"
"All hell breaks loose. 4 countries are landing each of them fighting each other and fighting for control of the Rainbow Palace."
"It's like Capture the Flag...with nukes," one of the girls laughs.
They all break out into laughter as if the joke if the funniest thing they've ever heard in their lives. I have no idea what the fuck is so funny and I'm getting more nervous around these soldiers. They were way to relaxed. New Jerusalem was the battleground for World War fucking 3.
"Shouldn't we leave?" I ask.
"And your Squad? Don't you want to wait...someone might show up," the girl suggests?
She's about to make me feel bad but the guy quickly shuts it down, "This place isn't going to be habitable. If we don't leave now we won't get the kid to the Rainbow Wall and we can add our lists to the dead as well. We leave now..."
"But----" the lesbian soldier tries to argue the point.
"I outrank you Martinez...we pull out now...that's an order," he states, "Start packing and Martinez you make sure you give the kid some medical help.
The outranking soldier signals the other to start packing up the caravan. I think about it. I could leave now. I could leave and get out of here, but then what about my friends?
What if they were out there somewhere? Needing help?
Martinez starts treating me while the others are packing.
"Do you think it's possible someone else may have survived?" I ask.
She looks up at me, "You're worried. About your squad."
I turn away. If I had survived there was a chance that the others were alive. Tanaka, Maggot, Varney, Lisa, and hell even Osiris. They were all on that goddamn plane and I'd like to think they'd wonder about me if they woke up in a plane crash.
"Can we stay and wait..."
"Officer Baker is right," Private Martinez tells me, "We are just soldiers. We should follow the rules. We were told to make our last stand behind the Rainbow Wall. RTLs have taken over half the city. The good thing is that they will fight off the invading countries. The bad news is when they are done they'll want to take the country for themselves."
My father would love that. He'd loved it enough to fucking betray me...
"What if we had a reason to stay."
"Your friends aren't reasons enough," she states, spraying my wound with an ointment that stings as though she was trying to emphasize her point, "Sorry but it's a tough world. In war, soldiers are just pawns."
"I'm not talking about a pawn. What if I'm talking about a more important piece..."
She blinks.
Baker seems to overhear our conversation. He stops what he's doing midway. I've got his attention. And right now I have a choice. I can leave and run to safety while I still had a chance or I can give them a reason to stay.
I could give hope to my friends.
"What Piece?" Officer Baker asks, "Rook?"
"No..."
"A knight? A bishop?"
"A king," I finally answer, "Titus Castle was on my plane. If I survived...he could survive..."
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Officer Baker's face gets taut.
He whispers at this moment sharply.
It's Private Martinez who shrugs at her Officer and states, "I believe him, sir. Supposedly Titus was on a plane that got shot down. That's when Druscilla Castle, Dominik Castle, and Caesar Castle, who is the keeper of Faison Castle's unconscious body, all put in claims on the presidency."
Baker leans in close at that moment, "You may be right. Let me...tell the others...I don't want anyone panicking and doing something crazy."
I'm confused, "Why would someone do something crazy?"
I didn't like his tone. The way his lips get real tight at that moment is all fucking weird. He's neither happy nor sad at the news that Titus Castle may be alive. He was tense. Real tense. I watch how he looks at Martinez. He doesn't look in her eyes though. He looks at her hands. Her weapons. I look over at Martinez and she doesn't realize this but I do.
I get this weird flutter in my stomach.
Something's not right.
I can feel it in my bones.
"RTLs have spies in our ranks," he explains, "If the wrong person knew about this they'd want us dead. Do you know? They'd want you dead. They'd want to make sure they found Titus Castle and kill him."
The heaviness in the way he says it is just odd. Something is just off. Maybe it's my nerves but I don't feel safe. I don't feel safe when Martinez puts on this fake ass smile and nods to the man.
"Yeah gotta watch the RTLs..."
"Let's keep this between us right now," he explains, "I'll go back to the truck. You know. I'll make sure I make something up for them? Is that cool?"
I look from one soldier to the other.
"You asking me?" I ask.
Why the fuck was he asking me?
"Yeah. Wait here OK?" he asks.
He looks at me and starts backing off at that moment. He has this smile on his face and immediately I know something is wrong. As soon as he is out of earshot I look over at Private Martinez.
"How well do you know that guy?" I ask.
I'm backing up. Not just away from her. I'm backing up away from him. He is making his way to the truck right now. I hear him talking to the other guys. They gather around. I see him looking for something while he's talking to them. I feel the tension in his muscles. The tension in his movement.
"What's wrong with you?" she asks.
"My dad...my dad would get tense like that," I state, "I don't trust this guy man."
"Relax it's just----"
By now I'm turning around and moving faster. That's when I hear it. GUNSHOTS! Bang! BANG! BANG! BANG! I feel my heart drop as Martinez drops to the ground. By now I'm running towards an alley but I turn and see what's happening.
It's fucking Baker! He's gotten himself to a semi-automated weapon and is clearing out his MEN! I see the Rainbow soldiers falling around the caravan like broken eggs.
I think about taking off but then turn and see Martinez...
"Fuck."
I head back. I don't know why. For some reason, I've been doing a lot of stupid shit. And before I know it I have an arm over my shoulder with her weight squarely up against my hips. I'm helping her to her feet. We take off running.
It's when we get to the alley that we hear the gunshot aimed inches away from our heads.
"COME BACK HERE!" Baker states, "That's an order."
I don't think by now I need to explain to Martinez that the gut feeling I had about Baker is right. At this point, the senior soldier is following me as we run down the alley after alley. Luckily we got a head start. Luckily.
But that's when I see Martinez stopping. She is pulling out weapons out of her bag. I watch her grab a few grenades.
"Here..."
"What the fuck is this for?"
"You private. Put them in your rucksack. You need to get to Titus Castle. You hear me. That's your mission. Here take this..."
She hands me the M4 carbine gun. It was the common gun for the military I think. I'm not even sure. I'd just seen a bunch of soldiers with it when we were first taken. Feeling the weight of the gun in my hand I am shocked. I had no idea these things were so fucking heavy.
"I don't know how to fucking use this," I remind her, "I haven't even gone to Bootcamp."
There are gunshots in the air. Maybe a block or so away. Far enough where it's not urgent enough for us to shoot back and reveal our location but close enough where we realize that Officer Baker was going to find us.
"Figure it the fuck out," Private Martinez states.
That's when she takes off.
"Where are you going?"
I'm so confused when I hear gunshots down the block that she went down. It's like a whole war going on down that block. It can't just be Baker and Martinez. Maybe some more of Baker's men had survived and come back for revenge. Or maybe Baker had some real help. I look down at the guns that Martinez gave me.
I wasn't going to try to rescue her a second time.
~
Gunshots. I hear gunshots too but I'm not sure which direction they are coming from. I realize though that I'm walking without reason or purpose. I needed to get to the middle of the city but the night was falling and it was falling quick and suddenly I understand I'm about to be in the middle of a warzone.
I find myself ducking down a street when I hear trucks. MILITARY trucks.
There is a big Russian flag on one of the trucks.
Russians were here.
Fuck.
That's when I run across the street, gun in hand. My heart racing until I get inside the doors. The store is abandoned. Someone had been here and tried to clear this place out before me. Maybe a few people by how ran through its looks. Things through the store are everywhere. New Jerusalem is a unique city. Everything was clean. Everything was elevated and I'm not talking about the platform neighborhoods and the floating city.
I manage to find a map and luckily it's next to some snacks because I'm starving. I stuff my sack with as many snacks as I can leaning over the counter trying to figure out the fucking city. I smell like shit. I'm sweaty and Martinez didn't get to finish cleaning up my wounds.
Outside there's an explosion.
I turn at that moment and that's when I see it. In the distance. Several miles away at the most I watch in shock as a fucking tower starts swaying. It's going down. The entire fucking tower is leaning and collapsing!
"Crazy isn't it?" a voice states.
That's when I turn. I try to raise my gun but someone beats me to it. Some Italian guy. He's young and honestly kind of attractive. He was this Italian guy that is possibly around my age. He has this heavy Italian accent.
"You an RTL?"
"I ain't no goddam RTL...ain't on no one's side..." he states.
Thank god for that at least. I take a deep breath.
"What's your name?" I ask, "Handsome..."
He gives me a harsh look, "Don't try to fucking flirt with me. Get out of here. This is my place. You gotta find your fucking own."
"I can't go back there," I tell him, "It's almost night time. I won't make it to the Rainbow wall. There are soldiers out there. The fighting has started."
He clears his throat.
"No shit."
He puts down his gun through. Somehow that was enough to get him to cool down a little bit. He walks up to me, cautiously however and extends his hand to me. Why the fuck was he in the city. Surely at least this part of the city was already evacuated. So what the hell was he doing here.
I shake his hand, "Cair Queeney..."
He shakes my hand, "Rich..." he looks down at my gun, "You know how to use that thing?"
"Of course."
"Really because you're holding it wrong..."
My face blushes red. Real red. I looked like a soldier. They at least had Silk Valdez, my stylist make me look the part, but I was far from a soldier. FAR from one.
"I can use some help..."
He points over there..."You sleep there...we'll gather supplies keep our head down. They can't keep the fighting going forever..."
~
I stay in that shop with him for almost 3 nights. Rich isn't much of talker but he's good to look at. I'll give him that...especially night three. At this point, Rich has spent a lot of time trying to teach me to shoot. We'd tried to leave the store once, but that didn't work and we ended up getting chased down by soldiers who were shooting at us. I had no idea who the soldiers were even. They could have been our people at this point. That's how crazy this war had become.
I heat up some beans. We'd have to eat it with some Jerky tonight for protein. That's dinner. We were doing only what we could to survive at this point. I never thought I'd be so over junk food as I am right now.
It's taking him a while so I go check on him. He's in the back. That's when I see him. He's naked...completely.
He was bathing using a bucket, water, and a cloth. He's completely naked in the bathroom though rubbing soap all over his body. I should turn around but then I see him reaching down and letting out this deep sexy moan.
It's one of the sexiest moans I'd ever heard.
"Fuck..." he moans.
He's stroking his dick. I watch in shock as I see him slowly reach down, grab the shaft of his dick and let through a long hard pull. I had to admit it's the sexiest thing I've seen. Rich has a hairy body and for some reason, I found this sexy even though that wasn't my usual type. He carried the body right. Leaning up bending over, showing off his puckering hairy hole a little bit without me knowing.
Or so I thought.
"You can come in if you want..." he states out of nowhere.
I step forward. He turns to me, facing me. Showing off his rather impressive Italian sausage and a handsome, toned body.
"How long did you know I was standing there?" he asks.
He shrugs, taking a step forward. I look down at his hands. They were pretty rough for a civilian. There was something to this guy being here and I needed to find out tonight.
"Long enough," he says with a smirk. He has a beautiful smile, "I was hoping that you'd come in..."
He licks his lips.
"You're very handsome Rich."
"You are too. Maybe we can find a way to get our mind off our troubles," he states, "We been helping each other so far..."
I hadn't assumed he thought I was helping him. Sure he was using some of my supplies and sure he seemed to be more comfortable with the weapons that I had, but at the end of the day, he was the one showing me how to use them. I gained a lot more from being around then he did around me.
I have to admit I find it sexy. I find it sexy how he grabs my thigh lifting it and wrapping it around his waist. I love how he presses me up against a wall. His breath is warm. It hits my lips as he slowly breathes in slowly allowing the moment here to marinade.
"I can't..."
He rolls his eyes and sighs, "I should have expected it. A handsome guy just literally right onto me. Should have known you were taken.'
I shrug, "Not taken, just complicated."
I hadn't been able to get my mind off of Varney. I missed all of my friends. I hoped all of them were OK but a part of me felt like me and Varney had unfinished business.
He wraps a towel around him, taking time to hide that long thick penis. It takes everything for me not to jump his bones. We were both sexually frustrated. Beyond frustrated. The way he looks at me makes me know he only wants me too. He barely has the towel tied. It could drop at any point and he teases me even further by walking up to my face.
"Well until we can leave this place you're my boyfriend. So is dinner ready-----baby?"
He licks his lips when he says it. The guy was naturally sexy. He wasn't a Jacob Varney but then again there weren't a lot of guys who were as handsome and perfect as Jacob Varney. His face was cute enough. His body toned enough. He was sexy enough to make something happen----if I wanted. That's the issue. I have to get past the threshold and here is this muscular, sexy Italian blocking the threshold. As I walk past him I have to touch him. Our bodies rub against each other.
He stops me.
"What?"
"I asked you a question baby...' he states leaning forward and attempting to kiss me.
I pull away, "I told you."
"Quite honestly."
He tries again. This time I push him. I push him hard and duck to get away from him, "I SAID NO!"
He gives me a look, "Fuck you. You're out of here."
"What?"
"You hear me," he states, "You're out of here."
All of a sudden I'm in panic mode. I watch as he gets to the rucksack and starts physically packing my stuff. I think about grabbing one of the guns, but I wouldn't be able to use it. Not as well as him. So I don't. I stand there and I feel a little defeated in away.
"Please," I beg him," I can...I'll give you a handjob...I'lll..."
I'm desperate to stay. He knows that. I can see when I see a little smirk form on his face. He doesn't look at me but I can see a reflection in the doorknob of the store. It gives away his secret. Rich is a dickhead and he's enjoying every moment of this.
"Ass..." he states..."Or you leave."
"You're serious..."
"I can't get to the Rainbow wall," he tells me, "They won't let me. See I'm friends with Io Castle..."
"Prince Io?"
He nods, "Childhood friends. I sent my family to get a flight out of here when the war broke out. We were on a list. A list of people who aren't allowed to travel. My entire family was taken to the Grey Rooms. The last thing I remember is being late for my ride to the airport. You know what happens in the Grey Rooms?"
I swallow my spit.
"No."
"People don't come back. I'll never see my family again," he states, "So I'm alone in this world and if you aren't with me get the fuck out."
That's when he opens the door. I'm shocked that he opens the door at that moment and kicking me out.
"You wouldn't do this-----"
"Go!"
He walks me to the door at gunpoint. I raise my hands, taking steps back until I'm almost the street. That's when Rich throws me his rucksack. At this point, it's the middle of the night. I'd noticed there was no difference when the gunshots started and they stopped.
And I realize I'm alone.
I'm alone in this world as well...
"Please don't do this..." I beg him.
"Get...out..."
"If I go out there...I die..."
He looks me in the eyes. For a moment I think there is some humanity in there. When New Jerusalem was announced they talked about it as being a place where gay people looked out for each other. This was gay heaven. This was a haven. The country took in the most broken, segregated and hated individuals in the world.
Gay people were the most hated people in the world. Think about it. Where else in the world could you go anywhere and be killed almost immediately just for who you love?
We needed this. We needed goodness...
That's not what New Jerusalem was...
"You're on your own," he tells me.
~
I think the world is ending when I walk out of the front door. The thunder is shattering the sky. But it's not thunder. It bombs. There is a firefight overhead. At least half a dozen jet flyers doing aerial maneuvers overhead. No human should be witnessing what I'm seeing right now. Not once. Not ever.
My feet hit the pavement. The streets that once thronged with life stood empty. I head to the center. Miles. Gunshots ring out on every corner. It is clear now that it seems like Americans are fighting Russians. That's how I feel until I make it to Rhinestone Alley.
Rhinestone Alley was one of the most popular areas in New Jerusalem. Gone were the food vendors and the women in their bright clothes selling handmade goods from carts and baskets. Gone were the children who played amongst the crowds with their games and laughter. Gone were the stores with their windows of fine clothing or delicacies. Now even at midday, all that you would find would be the dusty street with only the wind for company. There were cracked sidewalks, empty gun shells, and broken storefronts laid waste by desperate looters. Once in a while there was the occasional harried person, moving quickly with tense purpose, no-one left their house unless it was necessary and the children were rarely seen.
And that's when I see it...a caravan. One hitting the streets. I duck behind a car. My heart racing. I clutch onto my gun. I barely know how to use it. Sweat beating down my head.
What if it was an RTL?
What if it was a Russian or an American? Or one of the other countries trying to input regime change. I had a 1/8 chance of this not ending up badly.
But that's when I see it. A rainbow. A glorious fucking rainbow. I never in my life have been so happy to see a fucking rainbow.
I start running. My feet hitting the pavement but that's when I hear it. It's coming from somewhere not too far from the truck I'm hiding in. I notice someone is in the backseat, slumped over...
"Help..."
I look back at the convoy. I had one chance. I can make a mad dash to the convoy. It would take everything in me and I wouldn't catch up to it for maybe two blocks but it was possible.
Or I could stay.
I could find out who needs help.
And at that moment I realize that I didn't have an option. Not really. In war, life was probably the most precious thing. Seeing so much death made me just want to see a little bit of life. So I turn. I get to the truck and open the door.
And that's when I hear the voice call out again.
"Help me...and I'll make you a hero..."
It's Titus Castle.
And Lisa, you know how this was just the beginning. I thought that day was a blessing. I mean in the beginning, it seemed like it. Two hours of walking I manage to get saved by a convoy. Perfect right? Lisa is there. She's alive. My whole team is alive. They'd been looking for me for days. Everyone had given up except for Joseph Varney. He was still out there and supposedly had gone AWOL to go look for me.
That part wasn't so good but who cares right? It was sweet. He cared that much about me. It's a win. Right? I should be happy.
I had no idea what was coming back then.
I had no idea when Titus Castle pulls me in front of a camera and announces to the world that he would have died if it weren't for me. And that's how I become a war hero in New Jerusalem. And that's when everything begins to change...
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