Fighting For Your Rights

Year 2152 The stench of burnt flesh, human waste and salt from tears were starting to acclimate to Robyn’s nasal passages from standing in the cell with a group of about fifty girls who had also turned eighteen. They were all taken from their homes all over North America due to the law of the eldest. The cell door opened and two men entered with weapons. "Alright, everyone line up,” one of the men called as he used the gun to motion the direction they needed to walk. One of the girls approached him, “There has been a mistake, I am not supposed to be here. My father…” The man hit her across the face with the butt of his gun, “No talking.” He looked down at her on the ground then looked up at the two girls standing closest, “You two, pick her up and bring her out.” The two girls just stood in terror shaking. The man fired his weapon into the floor letting bullet fragments ricochet and girls grabbing the part of their body that was hit. “MOVE!” The two girls rushed forward, one with blood running down her leg, and they picked up the unconscious objector from the floor. All quickly formed a line and Robyn chose a location in the middle, “How about getting some medical treatment?” she called. Stepping forward, the man scanned to figure out who spoke. When nothing more was said and no identification could be placed on Robyn’s request, he muttered, “You’ll get your medical treatment once you get your brand. And any other comments will result in punishment. You will learn to do as your told or suffer the consequences.” To prove his point the man grabbed the girl standing next to him by the throat, “And don’t believe you will be the only one who suffers.” The girl pulled at his hand to let go, but it only caused him to squeeze tighter. Robyn stepped forward, “I was the one who spoke.” The man rammed the girl’s body into the wall to knock her out, “That will not change the punishment.” As the girl dropped to the ground, one of the other men grabbed Robyn from behind. Out of reflex, Robyn swung her head back and got him in the nose. He quickly dropped her as the first man reached her and punched her in the stomach, “So, we have someone who needs to be broken? I can take care of that for the king.” He grabbed her by the throat and pushed her out of the cell. Robyn felt the fear permeate from every girl she was pushed past. She heard the sniffling and crying from the girls around her, but she pushed herself to remain calm and conserve her air. Her calm demeanor enraged the guard as they stepped out of the cell and into the branding room. Robyn had been examining the room from the cell door since she arrived. It was a small room with three doors: the cell door, the door the girls were shoved towards after branding, and one that the men came in and out of. All the room had in it was a large blacksmith fire stove and a rolling metal shelf filled with boxes of injection guns and tracking chips. She turned her attention to the two guards holding the branding iron and needle gun. The first man forced her towards them as he ripped the back of her shirt to expose the left shoulder while the guard with the needle gun grabbed her right hand. Robyn felt the heat of the iron and then she heard the sizzling of burnt flesh. She jerked her hand from the man with the needle gun and snatched it from his hand. She jammed the needle into the throat of the guy who held her own throat and pulled the trigger. The man yelled in shock and pain then loosened his grip enough for Robyn to gulp in some air. She backhanded the man who had held the needle with the butt of the needle gun and kicked back with her left leg to get the man with the branding iron. Robyn snatched up the branding iron before it fell to the ground and hit the first man across the face. She swung back to take out the man who had held it then returned her swing to finish the man who had held the needle. The man she had butted with her head emerged from the cell with blood pouring out of his nose and fire blazing in his eyes. Robyn retrieved the first man’s gun from the floor and shot him in the chest. As he crumpled to the ground, she rushed to his side to grab his gun. The other girls stood frozen in terror then started to scream in fear of what to do or what was going to happen. They started to retreat back into the cell. Robyn knew that there was nothing she would be able to do to convince them to leave, the fear and law had been to ingrained in them. Plus, she didn’t even know odds of survival for herself. She did know, however, that others would be coming soon. Rushing to the third door, Robyn cracked it open. She glanced around the hall it revealed and with no one in sight, she started running in the only direction possible. After making her first turn, she slammed to a stop at an intersection. Glancing behind her when she heard the sound of footsteps and radio chatter, Robyn took a deep breath and went right. She heard the numbers behind her lessen as the guards split in half when they reached the intersection she had left, but could still distinguish about five men behind her. Robyn pushed herself to move faster as she continued down the hallway only to screech to a halt when she rounded another corner and a wall stood in front of her. Her eyes darted around the dead end looking for anything to show an entrance. Giving up, she checked the stolen guns and scooted her back into a corner of the dead end. As soon as she was tight against the wall, she fell backwards with the wall opening to a secret room. The room had a table full of supplies for science experiments, a cupboard full of chemicals, a desk full of papers, and a drafting table in the center also full of papers and measuring instruments. A man sat at the drafting table and as he turned Robyn jumped to her feet with guns ready. She aimed a gun at his stomach and one under his chin and spoke, "Make a sound and I will kill you.'' Letting the pencil in his mouth fall to the floor, he spoke, "Then you will be stuck in here. They will eventually get to you.'' ''But you will still be dead.” "Good point.'' He looked down at her torn shirt and pulled her shoulder forward to see the brand, "Your eighteen.'' His fingers were rough from use, but his touch was gentle against her skin and her heart fluttered. All she could rationalize was the adrenaline making her heart do strange things as she jerked her arm away from him, ''Yes, I’m eighteen. Now show me out of here.'' "It won't do you any good,” the man said running his fingers through his short, black hair, “the transmitter will find you in no time." “It would if they had the chance to insert it in me." He looked at the weapons and at her weighing his options. He stepped around the drafting table then to the wall that was almost an entire cabinet of books except for a two-foot-wide section. The man slid his hand around a wall light and a latch popped. He pulled open the wall and stepped out of the way for her. ''You are coming with me," she spoke waving him on with one of the guns. ''Why?" "Insurance and, of course, I don't trust you to tell them how to get to me. So, after you.'' The man looked outside the entrance and then around the room. He grabbed a hat and jacket from a coat rack, "You better put these on." Robyn looked at the items then at him hesitantly for his assistance. Reluctantly, she slid one of the guns into her belt then slid the jacket on making sure not to take her aim off of him. She looked at the hat and then tried to pull her hair up and hold it while sliding the hat on with one hand. “Give me that,” he said taking the fedora from her then leaned into her so her face was almost pressed into his chest. He took a hold of her long, wavy hair and twisted it enough to pull it on top of her head and slide the hat on. He stepped back slightly and started to button up the jacket. When his fingers brushed the butt of the gun, Robyn snapped out of the moment of being close to a man and back into reality. “What do you think your doing?” she demanded shoving him back. “Your clothes are filthy. You’ll stand out.” “Keep your distance from the weapon.” Hoping to change the mood, he gave a small smile while turning to the opening, "I discovered this one day when I was looking at the light fixture." ''Well, the White House was well known for its secret tunnels.” "The ‘what’ house?" "Don't you know your history?'' "I went to school for science, not history.” As the man began his trek through the tunnel, he finished, “Besides you shouldn't know anything about anything." Robyn followed him, "I had a Grandma who didn't think so." ''Grandma? What would she know?" “She was one of the women dragged out of college by King Roham." "Oh,” he muttered. When they reached another dead end, he saw her eyes widen at his possible entrapment. He smiled and pushed a button on the wall. A panel was revealed and Owen entered a code. A door opened and Robyn squinted slightly at the bright sunlight. ''Well, it has been nice knowing you,” the man smiled with a quick salute as he stepped aside for her to leave. “Go ahead and keep the jacket and hat. I will get another set." "Very funny. We keep moving," she spoke sliding the gun into her pocket and ramming it into his side. “The shot will come out with the basic law of motion.” “Just go.” Nodding with a sigh of reluctance, the man stepped outside as she looked around quickly. “Where are we going?” “Just a few blocks and then I will let you go.” Washington, D.C. took on the appearance of the colonies stepped back to medieval England then collided with the future. The homes and buildings that had stood the test of weather, age, and battles since America had been discovered were left: the tall columns, large front porches, turrets, and strong brickwork. The buildings were fixed by those who were not familiar with any type of repair and soon just started to stack stones and find some way to attach them together. Some neighborhoods helped and others fended for themselves. It was for that reason when Wyatt Roham stepped forward to show people a semblance of leadership, it was what people thought was a new hope, but it turned out to be a return to the tyranny they experienced when Great Britain had America under their control. There were still those who clung to creating new technologies and did not always have the resources to do so. As time passed, access to the technologies came and went and then came again. Most of the old buildings that were still stable became the shells for buildings that involved the technologies that were able to be created for the populace. The building that was once called the “White House” was surrounded by a large thick wall that was a mixture of stone, steel, and cement. To think they were such simple materials for the current era was what the king wanted. Most weapons that were now created could easily destroy those materials, but the center of the wall was reinforced with a material that was created to absorb the energy of any ammunition that was launched at the wall. As soon as the palace and walls were out of sight, Robyn pulled him to an alley. “All right, you’re free to go,” she stated as she began to take off the hat and jacket. The man quickly pulled her into his arms and kissed her while covering her shoulder with his hand. Robyn started to pull away then heard the footsteps walking toward them. The men passed coming out of the alley, making catcalls and whistling. “Can I have her when you’re done?” one of them called, but the man ignored them by trying to deepen the kiss. They both heard the sudden stop of footsteps. The man’s eyes searched for options of defense. Robyn just listened as she heard the sound of three sets of footsteps approaching. She pushed her hostage aside kicking her foot out catching the first man with her heal in his stomach. He fell back into the other two men and Robyn turned to the man, “Your free to go.” The two other men brushed man number one aside. With a backspin, Robyn kicked the man on her left with enough force to push him into the third man. Man number one pulled a knife from his pocket and popped out the blade. The hostage moved forward to help, but was too slow. Robyn kicked with the top of her right foot just right for him to loosen the grip on the blade. It flew upwards and made man number one look up without thinking. Continuing her balance, she hit him across the face with the ball of her foot breaking several teeth and a small snap of the neck, causing unconsciousness as he fell to the ground. She caught the knife then threw it to bury into the wall behind the men. Man two and three got to their feet and the hostage took advantage by grabbing man three and slammed him against the far wall. Robyn dropped to the ground and swept number two’s legs out from under him. As soon as he was on the ground, Robyn swung her leg around breaking his nose and whipping his head back smacking it on the stone. As the hostage looked at the three men lying on the ground, Robyn slowly stood and asked, “Why did you do that?” “I thought you needed help.” “Not that part,” she stated trying to pull the jacket off again. He stepped towards her and pulled the jacket back on over her shoulders. “You better keep this. You can send it to me later if you want, but…” “Why didn’t you let them catch me?” she demanded looking into his eyes. “You didn’t have to k-k…” “I never liked the law of the eldest,” he interrupted noticing the embarrassment of the word. “I would have helped you without the gun.” He looked back at the men on the ground, “Although, I don’t think it would have mattered one way or another.” “You aren’t just a scientist, are you?” “My name is Owen Dored…” “Owen Dored?” “Yes.” “Nephew to the king of Europe. Kidnapped by the king of North America, your cousin….” “My uncle didn’t think I was worth the ransom, so I joined Roham’s forces since I didn’t have many other options.” “You are trained in weapons, chemical warfare, hand-to-hand combat…” Placing his hand over her mouth, he stated, “I have a good idea of who I am.” Looking around the corner of the alley, he motioned, “You better go before someone else comes along.” Robyn stuck out her hand, “Thank you. I appreciated the kiss… help,” she corrected then ran off before he could say anything about her verbal stumble.