Resurrection

Chapter 3

     Marcus was awakened from his deep sleep by a loud gunshot.  He instantly jumped from his sleep and grabbed his shotgun while running out to the common area.  Upon reaching the source of the gun shot, Marcus saw his neighbor, Rodrigo Vargas, on the ground dead in a pool of blood.  The murderer was Jerry Shirken.  Marcus looked in horror as he saw his family's closest friend dead on the ground.  Rodrigo had been his father's best friend ever since they were little boys.  Rodrigo was in his early 40s, around five foot nine inches, had a trimmed beard, and black slicked back hair.  His wife, Maria, was just a year younger than him and they had three kids.  Their oldest daughter, Victoria, had been friends with Marcus since they were little.  As they got older, they were teased they were going to end up getting married someday which frustrated them both because neither of them was interested in the other.  They slowly grew apart until they barely talked. 

     Jerry was arrested by two security guards in power armor.  Marcus was always impressed by the size of the armor.  Each suit of power armor stood at eight feet tall, was a metallic gray, doubled a man's strength, and completely protected him from any kind of bullets.  Forest Town only had two suits of power armor available to the guards.  Elder Alexander had a suit that was passed down from elder to elder, and each of the leading families had a suit of power armor.  When Jerry was arrested, he was not able to put up much of a fight and was carried outside where he was immediately executed.  Murder and rape always were punished with execution.  According to Rodrigo's family, Jerry accused Rodrigo of stealing something and then pulled out a gun with which he shot Rodrigo.  Violence among citizens of Forest Town had been happening much more frequently as the underground compound had been running out of room.  The leading families scheduled a meeting for all of the leading members of the town to be there.  Forest Town had over fifty citizens but could house forty people comfortably.

     Marcus's chore for the day was to clean the entrance to the compound.  This was his least favorite chore to do, there was always so much dirt and grime that came in from outside while the doors were open.  While he was cleaning, Marcus kept wondering what all the men at the meeting would discuss.  Marcus wanted to be there so desperately, but men of the town still deemed him to young to help make decisions for the town.  Many of the people of Forest Town said he was to eager to grow up and that he needed to wait patiently.  If Marcus was anything, it was not being patient.  He could never understand why all of the adults wanted to hold him back from being an adult himself; he had passed the tests and done everything required to make himself an adult in the community, yet the adults around him still did not want to acknowledge it.  Marcus waited eagerly for the day when he would finally be acknowledged as a man by the people around him.

     Robert, Marcus's father, had been summoned to the meeting that night.  Since Marcus was still young, he was not invited but his father would tell him all about it.  Robert believed that Marcus should know about what was going on in the town now that he was an adult.  When Robert returend from the meeting, he pulled Marcus aside into another room. 

     "Marcus, the Elder and everyone at the meeting has voted for us to send out a scouting party to find a location to begin a new town to start farming and set up as a trading outpost.  This compound was not meant to hold this many people.  Once the party finds a suitable location, we'll begin sending people out to start the town," Robert told Marcus summarizing the meeting.  Robert knew this would catch Marcus's interest.

     "How many men are they sending?" Marcus asked with great enthusiasm and curiosity.

     "I don't know son.  The Elder will decide on the size, he hasn't led us wrong yet," Robert said looking Marcus in the eyes.  Robert knew that he could not stop Marcus from joining the scouting party if he wanted to go.  Marcus was an adult and was proving that he is quite capable of handling himself if he needs to.

     "Get some sleep son.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring," Robert suggested to Marcus as he left the room.

     I hope they'll let me join the scouting party, I can take care of myself just as well as any of the other men.  Marcus thought as he began getting ready for bed.  He laid down on his broken down bed and looked up at the ceiling unable to go to sleep.  Marcus's mind was racing with all of the places he could see and people he could meet out past his town's borders.  They should let me go.  I already have dealt with those barbarians out there and I have no problem eliminating them, Marcus reasoned in his mind.  That alone should be enough of a reason for me to go! Marcus exclaimed to himself.  Eventually, Marcus drifted off to sleep dreaming of all he would accomplish out in the wastes.

     That night while everyone was sleeping, Robert crept out of bed and silently made his way to the family's common area and entered the closet.  Inside the closet, Robert pressed in on a panel on the back wall at the bottom of the closet.  Instantly, a number pad slid out from the panel.  Robert entered the code and waited for the panel to slide up.  Once open, Robert slid through the small space and closed it behind him.  Several hours later, Robert reopened the small passage, closed it back up and moved some things in front of it so no one would find it.  Robert silently made his way back to bed without his wife even knowing he had gotten out of bed.