Chapter Fourteen: Lighting up the Morning Sky by Tina Semanas “Drew, wake up now! Get Up!” Prying his crusty eyes open, Drew noticed that Phen was leaning over him with a look of urgency. “Athan believes we have been compromised and he wants to leave as soon as possible... which means now!” “What? Right now? What time is it, I can barely open my eyes?” Drew sat up on his bunk looking over at a small table clock that read 4:34 am. “It is too early…” Phen placed his finger over his mouth indicating for Drew to stop asking questions. Drew got the message. Getting out of bed, he slipped on his shirt and pants, and while tying his shoes Phen whispered to him, “We need to bring with us these two heavy packs full of protein cubes, water and warmer clothes - Athan said we will be roughing it for awhile.” “Drew,” Phen said, “We must do whatever is necessary to stay alive - - if we are caught you have to know there will be no mercy shown to us. So keep quiet.” Athan peered his head into the small bunk room and said, “You ready? It is best we don’t wake any of the workers up. Jim doesn’t want to risk the possibility of anyone knowing of our whereabouts. He has a black Rover waiting out back, he loaded it last night with outdoor gear and supplies. Let’s go!” The three men headed through the bunker and then quietly lighted up the stairs leading to the back door of Kramers. Jim was waiting holding the door open making sure all was clear. “Athan, here is your new flat pad, I have transferred all the numbers on your old one so you can destroy it a few blocks out of here. I am sure if they have your personal number they will track you everywhere you go. On this new one you have direct connect to our satellite tracking system so you can also keep track of the State's movements and whereabouts. And if you need to contact me press 3244. Other than that, this pad is impossible to trace. Good luck.” Athan nodded, took the phone, and shook Jim’s hand as he left. “Hey man, I don't do handshakes.” Giving Athan a big grin, the large bear hugged each man on their way out the door. After waving goodbye, he slammed and locked the rusty steel door behind them. “We are on our own!” Athan said motioning for Phen and Drew to take seats in the Rover that was already silently running. Once inside, Athan typed in coordinates on a digital screen on the dash that was to take them two hours east through southern Ohio. “Where are we headed?” Phen asked. “Old highway 35 and other small country roads to the Devil’s Bathtub. But before we go there we need to ditch my old flat pad. I know just the place.” Heading back down Irving Avenue, to Main Street Athan turned left down Stewart and stopped on a bridge overpass where a brown swollen Miami River was rolling slowly underneath. Getting out and leaning over the railing Athan knew destroying this pad meant he would be cutting off all direct communications from Beck. She won't like it. Wondering to himself, “Was everything between us a lie or were there actual moments of love shared? I just can't be sure.” Throwing the pad out over the quiet river, Athan watched it drop into the flowing currents; then whispering to no one he said, “Beck, I am sure how I feel about you...and I’m not one for giving up easily.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5:00 am and Beck’s wake up alarm started buzzing, “I don't want to do this day.” Thinking back over the fiasco that was Vanity Eve, Beck was sure Station Sis 1 would never ask her back again. After the awkward interview with Tina & Nina, the day went from bad to worse. Not only did Beck laugh in the face of a 200 pound teenage drag queen after fumbling through a terrible juggling routine with three fuzzy white kittens, she argued numerous times with the skinny production manager after he wanted her to be more “serious and dignified” introducing the different plastics for the “Beast of the Year” award. “How can anyone take seriously a person who has teeth like a horse or a tail like a pig?” Beck asked the disgruntled eunuch after she sent one contestant running offstage crying when she raised her eyebrows in mockery after a deer-faced man tried showing off his new reindeer antler implants. “What will the sponsors think over your incredibly offensive manners?” The eunuch shouted in Beck’s face backstage. Giggling at his outrage Beck said, “I just can’t help it!” The final straw of Vanity Eve for Beck was when she added the word “Female” to the award for “Athlete of the Year” which caused her to instantly get pulled off the set. This slip of the tongue would cost her dearly. The Sisters not only began to exclude men from athletics because their male physiology gave them an unfair advantage; but they demanded that only women could be considered the true athletes. For only the female could truly say their success was fought for and earned. So the State demanded the term “athlete” was no longer permitted to have a qualifier because only women could be considered athletic. Secretly, Beck never bought into the State’s politically correct garbage, and somewhere throughout the course of the night her patience for playing this game of mindless subject of the State wore thin. Achieving cultural acceptance no longer mattered in the moment because her longing for Athan took top priority. Over the course of the Vanity Night holidays, being away from Athan, Beck realized that all her years of striving for wealth and independence mattered little if it meant she would lose the only person she ever really loved. “Love? Is that what this is?” Beck murmured to herself. For the first time in her life she was ready to put a person over ambition. Athan was all that mattered now. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Sorry Drew and Phen, we had to leave early because I am not sure how much longer that safe house will be able to protect you? After I received a phone call a few days ago from Ara your sister, I knew it was more than a mere coincidence. If there is one thing I have learned over the years, the Sister's and their fawning nation of loyal subjects know how to coerce obedience and pull-out information from even from the most unwilling. There may be a mole in the safe house or possibly their satellite surveillance system registered my voice talking to you across the streaming telecommunication traffic? Who knows? There are a million and one ways to track us down.” Athan kept checking the road for possible signs of roadblocks and traffic build ups knowing the patrols were set on high alert stopping any vehicles that seemed even remotely suspicious. Drew’s heart jumped when he heard Athan mention Ara’s name, realizing the danger they were in may have been because of his stupid decision to look for Ara -- that momentary call is probably what put everyone in jeopardy? Overhead two screaming F-55 jets came blazing across the sky. Heading in the direction of the safe house, Athan knew this was not a good sign. Dialing 3244 he decided to warn Jim to take cover. No answer. He tried again. Just then a giant boom and earthshaking tremor could be felt shaking the car. “Phen look,” Drew said pointing to two large explosions of orange light illuminating two white plumes of smoke circling up into fading horizon of the still dark morning sky. “Isn’t that exactly where we just came from?” No one said a word. Drew buried his head in his hands, “This is my fault! Athan I’m sorry, I did a search on one of the safe house computers for Ara...I made a call...Some lady answered...I quickly hung up. I didn’t know, I didn’t know?” Athan’s faced hardened while Phen placed his hand on Drew’s shoulder. There was nothing to say. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ After a long hot shower Beck was waiting for her make-up team to arrive at 6:00 a.m. to get her ready for the biggest day of the year. After yesterday she was sure the traffic on her vlog would be massive. As they say in the business, if you can create conflict and arouse anger people will tune in to watch the fire burn. And she knew there were a lot of angry watchers who wanted to have another reason to see the conceited Beck Paris' once stellar career come to its fateful end. With a large towel wrapped around her chest and torso, and sitting on her bed with damp hair, Beck looked impatiently at the clock. “15 more minutes of quiet until everything starts. I just want to get this day over with.” Reaching over to the remote Beck turned on the large projection unit that was mounted on the opposite wall to see if there was any backlash from yesterday's embarrassing events. Sure enough, a table of five opinionated female talking heads were all discussing the legal ramifications for Sis 1 and possible defamation charges from both Tina & Nina, Billy Bear the 200 pound drag queen and violation of speech codes that Beck could be facing from The Doyenne Council’s D.A. Beck rubbed both her temples with her hands knowing this may be her last vlogging day for quite awhile. Still talking on the screen was a stern looking women named Dr. Thorn discussing how Beck’s horrible faux pas using the word “Female” demands for immediate criminal charges. Other ladies on the panel argued that a good defense Vitup could possibly reduce this statement from a criminal offense to a civil infraction. As the debate ensued a breaking news announcement came on… “State sources have verified that a terrorist sleeper cell has been identified in Dayton, Ohio. It is believed that the two fugitives, Phen and Drew Dias, were finding sanctuary there. Two military jets have been ordered to release two conventional thermometric bombs that have successfully destoyed the last vestiges of the renegade hideout of the political group known as the 'Last Resistance'. More details will be released as they come in. Again, a sleeper cell has been successfully dismantled by our military and it is believed the two fugitives, Phen and Drew Dias, are part of the casualties associated with the bombing." Beck sat stunned. "Hopefully Athan wasn't caught up in this mess?" Beck picked up her flat pad and dialed Athan's number. A robotic voice came across the line, "We're sorry, This number is not in service, please try this number again later." Not in service?Not in service? She dialed again, "We're sorry..." A knock sounded on Beck's door and in walked a team of 10 make-up artists and hair dressers. "We're sorry Beck, hopefully you are awake enough for us to start our magic?" A small tear from Beck's face landed softly on the white shower towel she was wearing. "We're sorry" was all she could remember...
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