Rules of Rebellion (Silencer)

Two

The bombing stopped in the night and with it came the cracking of twigs outside our little nook. Mica had been up awhile apparently, a gun leveled on the door. It seemed unnatural to see her without the crossbow. But then again, those only seemed practical when you need complete silence to kill someone or something.
"Mica," I whispered and shook her head. "No, pay attention."
A board creaked on the porch and I raised my gun in an angle I had one too many times before, letting the door open slowly before grabbing the perp by the neck.
Mica cussed, "let her go."
I blinked, it was Sam. "Sam? What are you doing here?"
"We heard you were out here. Gus and Red are out there."
"Hell, you could've gotten yourself shot," Mica breathed and crushed her with a hug. "We came to get you, what happened? Your head..."
She sat Mica down, forcing her head up by the stove light. "There's a convoy of Outsiders heading this direction too, attacking his father's supporters. I'll patch you up better once we're on the road. They've got a truck out on the road."
The bombing began again even louder as the more pressing enemy became known.
"Let's go Jay," Mica whispered to the right and grabbed my wrist, pulling me out the door.
She looked so much more at ease now, so calm with Sam and then fell against both sisters near tears.
Gus looked at me viciously, "you do..."
"She needs you all," I whispered and checked my gun.
"Take her far away, don't look back."
"Jay no... no don't."
Sam was gripping her tight looking at me. Red too, "jay?" She asked.
Mica was fighting it and I sighed going forward and kissed her forehead, "you mean the world to me Mica, you have for awhile but... but what I'm going to do, you can't follow. They need you much more, be there for them," I breathed.
"Don't... Don't do this, they'll kill you!" She yelled as Gus pulled her away with the rest of them. She'd be just fine with them and much better.

I on the other hand am going to fix some disasters I caused. Dad was gone... Clarke was gone, my sister... god my sister.
My feet picked up the pace as I let the thought run. What if mom went after her? God, after losing her husband and our baby brother. I don't think she'd... she'd handle it all that well at all, especially with two daughters at home.
Within another hour I found a car and started driving west, praying the entire time that their outpost was still standing.
It was but barely, the towers were empty and walls unguarded as I drove through the open gates. Their house was untouched as I knocked and Lydia cursed, pulling me inside.
"Jason, what the hell are you doing here?"
"I wasn't going to leave you here all alone, pack the girls, it's not..."
"The virus is spreading again, it's not safe for you here, go..."
"You're ok, the girls?"
"Fine, we're all fine Jay, but... where would we even?"
"I know where I'm taking you, pack your bags and meet me by the car, pack as much planting seeds and food as you can."
"Alright, um... thanks."
"No problem, I'm going to go to the supply depot, is?"
"It's gone, a bomb three days ago," she sighed and I nodded, fuming a bit. "We'll figure it out, but they need to be safe first."
She didn't disagree thank god and finally started getting the girls up and packed blankets and food into the car with us, seeds I knew she kept for the garden in the backyard.
"Where are you taking us?" She asked as Anna and Ella started to sleep in the backseat. Right, censoring things out to keep them calm. That's what this was about, fear and... panic. She's terrified.
"It's alright Lydia, you're safe now."
"Don't you remember what they did to Evan, what they did to you?"
"No, no I don't remember what happened to me specifically but you already knew that. I remember Evan got beat up a lot and you got dragged into it one night."
She sighed, "I don't know what happened either exactly, all I know is you were in the hospital two months. Partly because mom's boyfriend threw you through a glass table."
I shrugged, this was the last thing I wanted to talk about. "So you still get the nightmares huh? I thought you'd grow out of that."
"It's not your concern," I whispered and my fingers went white clenching the wheel.
I noticed the little orange ball of fur in a bag at Lydia's feet purring and my hands began to shake on the wheel. How long had it been since I saw her? Days? Hours? It was killing me, she had been sane, one of the last sane people alive today.
"Jay? What is it?"
I pulled over, sucking down a deep breath, my fist hitting the steering wheel's rim so hard she flinched.
"I left mica behind," I whispered, furious with myself.
"And? You..."
"She's with her friends but. She didn't want me to go, but I made her, I made her."
"So you liked that girl?" She asked, somewhat relieved.
"I did, I do... but I probably just burned that trail."
"To get me?"
"No, I'm going back into Kansas once you're safe."
Her eyes snapped up, "no... no you can't Jason, no... that's how you get killed."
The girls stirred behind us but I just shook my head, "you can't stop me. They'll come after her next. She's the last Bowman."
Silence fell over the car, enough that I put it back into gear and started toward the place I knew they'd be safe.
Riley blinked up from her bunker at me confused and then grinned, red hair swirling. "Jason?" She asked.
I nodded and got crushed with a hug, "ugh, it's been too long! Who's this?"
"This is Lydia, my older sister. She and her kids need a place safe."
"Because of the virus?" She asked
"Yes, do you mind. I don't have anywhere else safe enough. No one knows about you."
She smiled at Lydia, "I'd be happy to take them on."
"They brought you garden seeds, don't keep all the tea for yourself," I snickered and helped them settle down into the bunker. Riley slid her glasses up her nose downstairs quickly, tying her hair up.
"Bunks are through that door there, mess hall across. My rooms over there."
She gestured to the tech jungle as I had once called it. "I've got a garden down here too, I'll you kids that later," she said flicking Anna and Ella's nose.
"Thank you for doing this..."
"Reach out if you need help, I'll see."
"I know, sleep some kid," I said and scooped up my rifle and back, nodding to Lydia.
"Don't come after me," I whispered and settled the topic.
Ella gripped my leg as I went to the ladder and Anna grabbed the other one. "Don't leave us," they started to cry and I looked down ashamed. "Kiddos, I made mistakes, and now it's my responsibility to fix what I did."
"Jay, maybe..." Lydia began and I shook my head. "This isn't your fight anymore sis, I can't go back and change all the things they happened but I can try to keep from making the same mistakes twice."
She sighed in defeat, pulling her two crying kids away from me as I climbed up the ladder.
The car broke down thirty miles later, bad fuel finally taking its toll and I hiked up the hill to a old house. It hadn't been lived in for decades, long before the fall but it seemed nice enough with the sound of a thunderstorm moving in from the west. Rain dripped down from between the rafters constantly but my little nook by the front door seemed dry enough. Mica would be anywhere now, maybe she went back to the valley to start again. I kind of hopes she did, with summer coming, she'd need to get ready for the next winter. At least that's something she'd say, she'd never do something really for herself. Not for fun or... I can still hear the pages turning from upstairs. All those books she read and that must've been for fun. But she never sat idle. There was always work to be done in her head and I think in someways it kept her from going mad but... but there's more to life than survival.
Thunder boomed outside with another gust of heavy wind rattling the house inside and out. If I closed my eyes I could picture that attic, smell the old paper and hear those pages rattle with a constant breeze.
Mica would be yelling at me to take a bath, do my laundry, don't touch her things... bossy as ever. She always was and then those days of silence took over,l greedily. I did hate her at first, I hated the freedom she had and how she used it. She could've done something better with her time, and there she was chopping wood with muscles that I watched her complain about silently. She'd never say anything verbally disgruntled but I knew I annoyed the hall out her. For one reason... I was there and but messed up that schedule she thought she had to live on. I broke every rule she knew and a part of me knew now that she was better and worse off for it. She had killed people since our encounter, become a front of a Revolution and a face that would always be targeted by the leaders.
My eyes began to close, a gun within a few inches. I'd not need it probably, but security was a necessity in this world and you always had to be ready.