Nano 2010: Part VIIII
Part VIIII
“You’re never going to believe it Matt! Get your uniform! Get your helmet! Those fucking rebel dogs are out in full force attacking the base! Hurry before they all get put down!” Gunnar had run into the room and was throwing things all around, trying to find his helmet and gun. “I can’t believe this shit!”
Mattias felt cold as he sat on his bed, just watching his friend. There was a knot in his stomach. This was completely unreal. Amandine had just warned him about this a few nights ago and here it was. He had to stop and literally catch his breath.
“What the fuck are you waiting for? One of those scumbags to break in and kill you before you have the chance?”
“Right,” Mattias slowly gathered his things. Nothing felt real as he made his way out to the fray, hearing gunshots just outside the base. “This is real,” he told himself quietly. “It’s fucking real.”
The world was spinning, he couldn’t believe he was actually seeing this. A real rebellion. It was close and personal; it was finally here. This was their opportunity. A moment of panic seized his heart as he lined up his scope and started taking aim at the very men who could save him from the Regime. At the last minute he pulled his gun up just high enough to shoot past them, every single one of them. Mattias couldn’t recall every actually hitting someone.
“Get it together Mattias!” Gunnar called over to his friend. Gunnar elbowed his friend in the side. “You’re going to get yourself killed man!”
Mattias shook his head and continued intentionally missing the rebels as they drew nearer and nearer; a hope growing and swelling in his chest. This could be it, this could be the day. He would lay down his arms and everything would be okay. It was almost a reality in his mind, he saw them getting closer, he saw the triumph in their eyes… then the devastation.
Several hidden bombs blew up as the rebels approached the Regime bunkers. Body parts and blood, fire and ash sparked the air, throwing everyone in the immediate area back. Mattias stared, dumbfounded, as the air cleared. He looked over at Gunnar who was cheering. “Fuckers never saw it coming!” Gunnar cheered.
Mattias nodded his head, feeling completely deflated. Of course things were going to carry on the way they always had. “Of course,” he said nodding. “Of course.”
“Come on, we’re sure the leaders are not in the front lines. We have to go find them. Bet those bastards are having heart attacks right now!”
“Catch them?” Mattias asked.
“Of course! We have to make them a public example for what happens when you question the Regime!”
“Of course,” Mattias said blandly. He felt like he was on a different planet. The world was moving so slowly but he was still moving. He was moving toward something he didn’t want, something he feared. He was crushing the only hope they had left.
Just as Gunnar had anticipated there were several groups of rebels left, some of them were clearly just the foot soldiers and they were simply executed in the street. Lined up, blind folded, and shot in the back of the head. There were others though who had that determined look, that history with the Regime as trouble makers, they were the ones who were herded up and brought back to the base where the secret jail cells had been made underground. There were many familiar faces among the boys, men, girls, and women who were being dragged out into the streets or driven to the underground prison. He hated the look they gave him, it was as if they knew his heart wasn’t in it. They were practically pleading for him to start shooting out his commanding officers and free them all. He fought the urge to pistol whip his friend and moved on, halfheartedly pulling the fleeing rebels into the street or pushing them down to their knees.
“Mattias! Mattias! We need you over here!” Gunnar called from down the street. He had a young boy by the arm, he looked not even eighteen years old now. The boy looked familiar, as if he knew the face well but it was still foreign to him in some ways.
Mattias approached with caution and shrugged. “He speaks French only, refuses to use the Language. We were told to watch out for this one too,” Gunnar said pushing the boy forward. “We need you to translate for us. What is he saying?”
The boy looked at Mattias defiantly and spoke in French, the same accent that Mattias knew well. “You may kill us now but you will not defeat the Resistance. There are many of us and we will never be put down. The evil of the Regime will know it’s end soon enough!”
Mattias turned to Gunnar, feeling a renewed sense of hope. He pulled his face into a blank stare. “Anti-Regime rubbish. We all know the truth though, right? Scum,” Mattias had gotten incredibly good at lying and didn’t mind doing it to those who were allied with the Regime.
“What is his name?”
“Comment t’appelle tu?” Mattias asked the boy.
“Guillaume Lefèvre. Proud son of the French!” he announce for all the world to hear. Mattias knew at once why the boy seemed so familiar. He was Amandine’s little brother.
“He needs to be brought into the prison,” Gunnar said shoving the boy further toward Mattias. Mattias, who wanted nothing to do with this entire situation, put hand cuffs on the boy and guided him toward a prisoner van. “How old are you?” Mattias asked still speaking French to the boy who refused to use the Language.”
“Seventeen,” he said proudly. “And always French, never Regime. I know your accent. The way you speak, you act as though you are not a son of the French. I know who you are though.”
Mattias looked around, he knew that the rebels had been able to read through his façade, fortunately for him no one in the Regime had caught on yet to his true feelings. “How?” he asked quietly.
“You’re clearly French, your accent is the same as mine even when you speak that ugly harsh language. And you have a softness about you that doesn’t make you look as cold and cruel as the Regime soldiers. I am sure you have heard this before from your other French brothers and sisters, but you are not one of them soldier, you never will be because you will always be French.”
Mattias sighed heavily and closed his eyes. What if he had been so true to his roots, what if he had been so convinced in his own beliefs. “I have never fought for anything I believed in,” he said simply. “I only fight to survive.”
“Survival is not the most important thing brother,” Guillaume said confidently. “There are greater things in this world than survival.”
Mattias only looked at the young boy, considering what he had said. “What will happen to your ideals when there is no one here to pass them on to the future generations. What will survive the Regime if you do not?”
“Quiet resistance will never win my friend. It takes a revolution.”
“What is he going on about?” Gunnar interrupted.
Mattias looked at him and then back at the boy. “Nothing,” Mattias said with a shrug. “Nothing at all.”
“You don’t have to listen to his hogwash and spittle. Toss him in the van and let’s get out of here. There are plenty more left to kill Mattias. We’ve got our work cut out for us,” he slapped Mattias’s back and ran off down the street to another line up of rebels.
“What will you do Mattias?” Guillaume asked him as he was being loaded into the van. “Will you kill them or will you stay true to who you are brother?”
Mattias looked at Guillaume in the back of the van. “I wish I had your courage Guillaume Lefèvre. I cannot raise my gun against you but I cannot stand alongside you either,” he said sadly.
“You are a fool of a man.”
“I know.”
“Some day when the Resistance rises up,” he said looking out into the distance. “You will be there to witness it, trust me. What will you do then?”
“Lay down my arms.”
“That is all your will do?”
“That is all I can do.”
“You have no idea the things you could do. Not one single clue my friend.”
Mattias sighed and looked toward the sky. “I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. For I am only Mattias and I can accomplish only little.”
“Someday you will see,” he said with a little smile. The van door was shut and Mattias took a step back. He had no idea how he was going to tell Amandine about this. He had the chance to save her brother, but he did not. He was letting him walk toward the path of destruction and he did not raise a finger to stop it. He felt useless. Useless and weak.
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He had bad news, bad news no one was supposed to hear until the next day but he couldn’t lie to her. She was sitting in the field, flowers in her hair, waiting for him patiently like always. When he approached she smiled but the look on his face quickly dispelled any feelings of joy. “What is it?” she asked as he settled in next to her.
“They’ve captured the Rebels,” he said quietly. “They’re going to execute all the captured in the public square tomorrow. Your…”
“My brother,” she nodded in understanding. “Is there nothing we can do?” She didn’t want to get her hopes up but there had to be something, anything.
“There is nothing. They are being kept in a secret cell. Most of them were killed in the surprise attack or just executed on the spot. Only the leaders were brought in to face public execution,” he explained.
Amandine’s heart swelled with pride. Her little brother… a Rebel leader. He couldn’t yet be eighteen but he had the passion to lead, the courage to give up everything for a shot at a better life. She smiled, fighting back tears. “He will die for a cause. I couldn’t be more proud.”