American Assassins

Chapter 11: Kimberley

                “Lies!”  Ronnie cries out.  “My father never loved us! He lied to us!  I shall never trust him again.”

                “That aside,” I make a swiping gesture with my hand pretending to move something to one side, “he killed our mom, threatened to kill us and is a Union!  So yes all lies.  But, of course, the press would believe the letter, it’s the only evidence they have of our where a-bouts.”

                “Right.” Ronnie agrees. “But what about our aunts and uncles on our mom’s side of the family?  What are they going to do when they call our dad?”  Haven’t thought of that.  What will our family think of this murder and disappearance?  Mostly what will happen when they can’t reach our dad?

                “He probably won’t answer.”  Carson says loading a gun with bullets.  I flinch and get behind Logan.  She sees this and sighs, “Relax it’s just in case we have some unwanted visitors. Which occasionally,” she looks around, cautiously, “happens. Many have made it up to North Dakota, trying to invade Canada.”

                “Don’t we hate them too?”  Ronnie asks.                                                                            

                “Who?”  Carson asks.

                “The Mexicans.”

                “No, they’re just stubborn bastards.”  Jason puts in.

                “Jason,” Carson hisses, “no swearing.”

                “Well, why can’t we join the Mexicans and try to stop the Unions?”  I ask curiously.  It makes sense.  Two against one, why couldn’t it work?

                “We can’t because the country is in a deep depression.  They fight with the country who can give them the most benefits, or money for that matter.  Right now that’s the Unions.”  Carson states. 

                “We hate the Unions because they started this whole mess in the first place by bombing the white house years ago.”  Logan says.  “We are pretty calm right now though, no major battles have happened for a few years.  But I’m afraid that’s about to change.”

                “The Unions are getting stronger,” Carson points out putting the gun back in its holder.  “Americans always thought that the country, Canada, was like Switzerland, in the middle, but now that the Union has taken over, Canada is a whole new country.  They are developing machinery and battle tactics to take over North America.  We fight back, but Unions have the upper advantage because so many countries have started to follow them.”

                “Why don’t we have the upper advantage?”  I ask confused on this whole thing.  

                Carson looks down at me, “Because almost all Americans have given up hope.  Almost everyone is done fighting, done with everything, with this . . . God damn war!  Americans have no hope, besides those who do fight.”  She pauses and looks around at all of us then at her brother, Logan.  “And we Outcasts have all the hope in the world.  We may not be as advanced or as strong as the real US military army but we are trying.  That’s all we can do.”  She spins around and walks to the front door of the house which has already been unlocked.

                I walk up to Ronnie and take her hand.  She doesn’t pull away.  We walk up to the house together and are the first ones in besides Carson.  The house looks just like it did when we left it on Thursday.  The kitchen was a mess, broken plates, utensils and shards of glass littered the floor.  I catch a knife lying on the ground with dry blood on the blade.  My heart stops, it’s the knife I used to stab my dad.  He’s still alive. I realize Ronnie isn’t beside me anymore and panic looking around for her.