The White Rose

Chapter 13 - Train tracks, battle plans and broken radios.

"That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind" – William Wordsworth.

"We've been putting it off for long enough," I said, as we sat down at the table where Ivy, Emilie and I had been eating only days before. "We have to start planning the battle that will end this."

Ivy and Christian's faces were grave.

"So," I continued, "Does anyone have any ideas?"

"Well," Christian began. "I mentioned before that there were rebel groups hiding out all over. They live in abandoned railway tunnels and underground shelters which were built during world wars. If we could contact them and get them to join us, we'd have our army."

"That's brilliant."

"There's just one problem. How are we going to contact them all?" Ivy pointed out.

I didn't have an answer for that, and neither did they, so we sat in silence for several minutes to think.

“I think I’ve got it,” Christian said, smiling faintly. “You know when I had to integrate myself with some of the groups? Well the majority of those groups had radios, and they used them to communicate with others from all over. If we could find just one group, then we could contact them all. Then we get them to join us and we lure Aria to wherever we want.”

“How are we going to find our group?”

“When I was ordered to go and find the ones hiding out in the tunnels, there was this one group that I couldn't tell Aria about. They did so much for me and there was a girl there...”

“A girl?” Ivy asked, glancing over at me.

“She's... She's dying. She has cancer. I didn't want to make her suffer any more. Aria probably would've left her in the dark to die from her disease with the bodies of her friends lying at her feet.” He shuddered.

I felt sick at the thought, but it was nothing new. It was Aria. "I'm sorry," I whispered, intertwining my fingers so I wouldn’t reach across the table to touch him.

"Are you ready?" Ivy called from the living room.

I was in the kitchen, stuffing food, bottles of water, and medicine into a bag for the rebels. "Almost!" I shouted.

In the corner of my eye, I could still see the blood stained wall. I tried my best not to look, but it was hard. A small voice in the back of my mind said ‘You have to keep moving forward. Stop thinking about the past.’ It was Emilie's voice.

"Easier said than done," I muttered, before slinging the bag over my shoulder and walking out. I didn't think I'd ever see Emilie's house again, so I bid it, and her, a silent farewell before we headed out.

Christian gave us a few pointers while we started walking down a familiar country road.

"Be very wary when you enter the tunnel. They do have weapons. Spread your wings, state your names, and state your reason for intruding. And try not to stare."

"Why would we stare?" Ivy asked.

"They haven't seen the sun in a while, or a decent meal, and you can see it on their faces and bodies. They're living like rats."

"It's disgusting," Ivy said. "I can't believe that some angels would actually do this sort of thing. We come from humans."

"I know," I said. "It doesn't matter to Aria though. We are more highly evolved. The humans descended from apes, but they don't treat them like equals."