The Resistance ~Chapter Two

Chapter two

I shake my head. “Resistance?”

“There is an underground operation to remove The Dukkha from power,” Brendon explains, a serious streak in his low voice. “We’re looking for recruits for the resistance team.”

I take a moment to process the information. “A...a rebellion? You’re going to rebel against The Dukkha? But how—“

“We’ve got hundreds of people on our side,” He explains in a low voice. “But we need more. We can make this rebellion a revolution.”

I swallow hard. His eyes are penetrating, and as he stares, I feel as though he wants me to say something. Without thinking, the word “Okay” Slips from my mouth.

“Okay what?”

“Okay, I’ll join you.”

Brendon stands up abruptly. “Really?”

“Yeah...yeah I will.” I whisper. I’ve never been the rebellious type, but I guess society has never forced me to be.

The familiar clicking sounds from the television. Broadcast time. We don’t even stand up; we remain on the couch, simply listening to the false words of The Dukkha’s representatives. Brendon eventually stands up and walks over to the small television. He mutters “The revolution starts here.” And presses the power button.

“Shit, Brendon. They’re going to see that this television wasn’t on during the broadcast, and it’s going to link back to me.” I panic, walking over to it and reaching to turn it back on.

“Ryan, calm down,” He says softly, covering the power switch before I can reach it. “I haven’t seen a broadcast in two and a half years, and I’m still kicking.”

I sigh and begin to pace. “So,” I begin. “Who else is part of the resistance?”

Brendon looks up. “I’m not prepared to divulge that kind of information yet. But I can take you somewhere where I can show you.”

I nod. “You might want some clothes though.” I look at him, standing half naked before me, the towel being the only thing keeping his dignity.

“I’ll grab my clothes and—“

“No,” I cut him off. “I’ll lend you some of my clean clothes. You can’t wear them old rags.” He looks at me carefully, eyes thankful.

~

Brendon fully clothed and both of us fed, I follow the man like a dog follows his master. He looks around dubiously, making sure that nobody is following us as we walk to what I assume will be the resistance central station. We reach a large, tan coloured slab in the middle of a street, camouflaged by the dusty ground surrounding it.

“Give me a hand.” Brendon gestures to the slab and I step forward, taking a corner and helping him lift it. It’s not too heavy, but it’s a lot easier with two people. Lifting the slab, we exhume a long staircase, which I can only assume leads down to the resistance base.

We descend the stone staircase, being swallowed by the darkness below. I whip a lighter out of my pocket and ignite it. The dark staircase is bathed in a sea of amber light. Brendon continues to lead me down the stairs and we reach a heavy wooden door.

The man before me clenches his fist and knocks twice, slowly and heavily, and then four times rapidly. Must be like a code knock or something. A slot in the door opens and two blue eyes glare through it.

“Who is that?” the eyes stare at me, and I shift my weight onto the other foot.

“He’s with me, he’s safe,” Brendon explains. “He wants to join us.”

The slot slams shut, and there is a rattling from behind the door. Within a few seconds the door is opened. The man has light brown hair which sticks out in different directions, and a slender structure, possibly from lack of food.

He takes a step backwards and allows us to enter, scrutinizing me, taking in every little detail. I feel slightly uncomfortable being examined like this, but try to shrug it off.

The base is more like a hollowed out cave than a command base. There are a few people milling around, doing nothing in particular. I follow the two men to another room, past another heavy door, in which a short man with spiky black hair and an even shorter man with curly brown hair are standing, discussing the contents of the file in the shorter man’s hands.

“Hey guys, we have a recruit.” The man who answered the door addresses the two men. They both look up from the folder, straight at me.

“Uh...hey, I’m Ryan,” I barely manage to verbalize anything intelligible, faced with the new people. “Ryan Ross.”

The shorter man clears his throat. “Crawford. Ian Crawford. Good to have you with us.” I smile and nod as the other man takes a few steps towards me.

“And I’m Pete Wentz,” He says gruffly, grasping my left hand tightly and shaking it almost brutally. “Welcome to the resistance.” He lets my hand go, and it falls limp at my side, throbbing from the release of pressure.

Brendon places a hand on my shoulder and says “And this is Spencer Smith, the guy who opened the door.” I turn to face Spencer, and his eyes are narrowed at me. I outstretch my right hand for a handshake but he ignores it and leans against the wall, arms crossed.

I flex my fingers, allowing the circulation to resume as I look around. “So Ryan,” Pete begins, looking at me carefully. “How did you meet Brendon?”

“Uh, well I was getting my rations, and on the way back I saw him in the street. He looks really unhealthy and stuff so I offered for him to come back to my apartment and get cleaned up. I made him some food and—“

“We don’t need your life story.” Spencer deadpans, and I feel my skin growing hot with embarrassment. I swallow hard and Brendon intervenes.

“He helped me. That’s all that matters.” He defends me. Spencer shakes his head and looks in a different direction. There’s a lot of atmosphere, and I clear my throat which, if I’m honest, doesn’t really assist the situation. Brendon walks over to me and places a light hand on my shoulder.

“I’ll show you around, introduce you to the team.”

~

Walking around the base, I see a variety of people, whom are all introduced to me individually.

“This is Patrick,” Brendon states, gesturing to a man sitting hunched over a laptop. “He’s our mole. He’s got access to Dukkha databases and he’s trusted on the inside.”

The man looks up, taking off his cap, ruffling his floppy, light brown-blonde hair and replacing it. “Nice to meet you...?” He extends his hand awaiting a reply.

“Ross. Ryan Ross.” I smile, accepting his handshake. He is a lot gentler than Pete was, and after the greeting, he resumes typing rapidly of the key pad, slumping over it and blocking out the rest of the world.

We walk to another few people. “Hey guys,” three men and a woman look up. “This is our new recruit, Ryan Ross.” There is a resounding, disinterested mumble of “Hey” from the group. “That guy,” He says pointing to a man in flip flops. “Is Jon Walker. A bit...quirky, but you’ll get used to it.” He then turns to a man with stubble and hair that seems to stick up as though it is static. “That’s Jeremy. And that guy next to him, that’s Taylor.” He points at the other man. “And the girl,” He gestures to a girl with hair that looks like flames. “That’s Hayley.” I observe the almost glowing girl and the other men carefully before following Brendon to two other men sitting in a corner, one of them writing in a folder containing a file and another on a laptop.

“Newbie.” A man with frizzy brown hair and glasses looks up from his laptop at me and Brendon. He is wearing a hoodie with the words "Down with The Dukkha" on it. Brave, I think to myself.

“This,” Brendon steps forward “Is Ryan Ross. He’s a new recruit. Ryan,” He turns to me “This is Andy and Joe.” He gestures to each man in turn, Andy being the one who spoke up initially, and Joe being the man writing in the file.

“Nice to meet you, Ryan.” Joe doesn’t look up from the file.

“Well,” Brendon begins, leading me away from the other people. “You know the team now. Shall we get started?”

“Started on what?” I raise an eyebrow, looking at Brendon inquisitively.

“Getting you rebellious.”

Chapter 1

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Woop all new characters!
Anyway, hope you like this :D
fun times.
~Angela