Rebel Rising: A Dystopian Romance

"For the good of the population," I replied, the words feeling so different than they ever had before.

“You're out now, and we'll find a way to let the people inside the city know what's going on too," Coal reassured us.

Hunter had stopped by the big round table. He was pointing at something on a tablet and showing it to Alicia. I walked up and peered over her shoulder, standing on tiptoes so that I could see. It was a satellite image of what looked like a tiny concrete platform on the top of a hill, surrounded by thick forest on all sides.

"This is your target. It's the entrance to an underground military bunker from the old world. We think there's another entrance somewhere but it must be hidden in the trees as we can't locate it. This bunker is the home of a very advanced super computer.

“These bases were designed to have their own nuclear power source so as to keep the machinery running self sufficiently. We're confident that it's still running so, if we can gain access to it from here, we can hack the city databases."

"Erm that's a bit outside of our skill sets," Alicia said indicating Laurie, Coal and myself.

"Don't worry, I know your style is a bit more 'smash and grab'. All we need you to do is attach this-" he produced a small electronic device with a cable dangling from one end, "-to their computer, it will give our guys here full access and control."

“Why would a hundred year old computer be any help with hacking Harbour's technology?" I asked. "Surely it's completely outdated."

"It is in some ways, but the cities didn't progress their technologies for years when the disaster struck. They had to concentrate on surviving before anything else and then they used the old technology as a base.

“Also this is a really advanced computer for its time and, most importantly, they don't believe people out here are capable of using the old things so they never really changed their basic set up. It's an open book for anyone who has the key and luckily we have a hacker or two capable of being that key." Hunter gave me an excited smile. I couldn't help smiling back.

“What will you be able to do once we have access?" Laurie asked.

“Well for a start, we can get that list of the people we had working inside who have been captured so we don't give ourselves away by trying to contact people who have been caught. Hopefully we can get our hands on more than just that much, but at least we could get back to where we were five years ago."

"So why has no one gone before now?" I asked.

“We only found evidence of this compound a few days ago but even still, that area isn't somewhere most people would volunteer to go," Hunter said, avoiding the looks Coal and Alicia were shooting his way.

"Why don't you just order a unit to go?" Laurie asked him.

“Because out here we aren't in the business of forcing people to risk their lives for nothing more than being told to do so. We want people to volunteer," Hunter said firmly.

“Or make a deal they can't refuse." I looked guiltily at the others. "It's really me who made the deal, I should just go alone." But they were all shaking their heads before I even finished speaking. Coal actually laughed.

“No offence but you're new here, we have to be sure we can trust the people who go in or you could just smash the computer up or sabotage the mission in some other way," Hunter said.

“And you're nowhere near well enough trained," Alicia added.

"So why would no one volunteer to go?" I asked, deciding to ignore Alicia's snarky remark on my skill set.

“Because it's an area full of Creepers," Hunter said solemnly.

Everyone looked very serious at that but Laurie and I were confused.

“Okay, that's not an explanation to me," Laurie said finally.

Coal sighed behind me, louder than was strictly necessary.

“Well, as you know, when they interfered with the plants it resulted in changes in most of the animals that ate those plants or in the animals that ate those animals." I nodded as Hunter explained. "But obviously it didn't make much difference to most humans." He indicated all of us.

“Yes," I agreed.

"Then why do you think they went and hid behind those huge walls if there was no real threat to humans?"

“The contaminated?" I hazarded a guess based on what Coal had told me already and the knowledge we had been given in the city.

"Partly. But it was, at first, because they thought they were susceptible."

"Why? If no one ever presented any symptoms after the initial outbreak..." Laurie asked.