Free RATH - Redemption by Jeff Olah Page B

girls were torn away from their mothers and fathers at gunpoint. His lack of compassion for the children proved just how far Emerson Boothe had traveled from his former self. One of the fathers was hit with a stun baton continually until his limbs went rigid and he lay face down in the sand, blood running from his left eye.
     
    The three girls trailed the boys toward the facility as Lauren finally lifted her head from the ground below. She recognized the whimper of her little girl and tracking the sound, laid eyes on her as she passed behind the last row of residents. Without asking for approval and unfazed as the men in black shouted for her to stop, Lauren ran to her little girl. “CHLOE!”
     
    The guards turned to Boothe for direction and he motioned for them to stand down. His patience wearing thin, he turned to the hushed crowd as they watched the mother and daughter reunite and began his tirade. “I’ll keep this short…as most of you know by now, the world is changing. I’m sure Vera has given you all the unpleasant details of why she assumes I left you behind, to perish in the mountain. I’ll give you the truth; it’s callous, although it’s also reality. The new home I’ve built wouldn’t sustain everyone for the length of time we’ll be locked away. We ran the numbers hundreds of times and one glaring fact stared back at us every single time. If we took with us, every single resident, we would have run through our supplies years too early. We never—”
     
    Out from the third row, Samuel moved to Vera’s side and in speaking, interrupted his former mentor. “Boothe, you’re lying to these people. Why don’t you tell them how you’ve also killed off most everyone living in the Districts over the last few months? How you’ve randomly chosen to murder husbands, wives, and their children, tearing down their homes and letting them fight for their lives among the wastelands. Emerson, you’ve slipped…you are not the man you once were; the person we praised is gone. Tell them what you’ve done, these people deserve it.”
     
    “Samuel, if you’re looking for the reason you and so many like you weren’t asked to join us, you’ve already answered your own question. You see…if people like you, people who question my every step, people who cause trouble, people who cannot follow simple orders were allowed to share my new home, how long would it be before chaos ruled our lives? How long before people were forced against one another, how long before something had to be done to gain back control?”
     
    Boothe continued, although focusing only on his former head of technology. “Samuel, the time you spent trying to lock me out of the network here today only made my job easier. While you and Tyler were working to keep me from getting my hands on that drone, you became too distracted to see that I was already controlling it through Archer. I also recorded every word of every conversation. I just wish you could see the look on your own face. Not on my bucket list, although still very satisfying.”
     
    Vera had heard enough and finally stepped forward; trembling as she began to speak. “Emerson, what has happened to you and why are you doing this? Why not give us all a chance to live? ”
     
    “Vera, you’ve always been loyal, loyal to a fault. The reality is that our new home will be locked at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean for twelve years. And for twelve years, there won’t be an option to open the back door and throw potential lawbreakers out. Once we’re locked in, that’s it.”
     
    “None of these people have ever given you anything to worry about. You need to rethink your decision; these people are your family.”
     
    “Family? None of you are my family; you’re just the people who I’ve taken care of for most of your lives. It was me…I built the facility that kept all of you from freezing to death. I was the one with the foresight to stockpile supplies and find a proper