Free Fury Rising by Jeyn Roberts Page B

wanted to agree with Michael. They’d been up the entire night plotting with Aries and Raj and she was beyond tired. They had nothing but time on their hands until the plan went into action. Technically, a few hours sleep would be perfect. A necessity too, considering they wanted to be alert for what came next. They couldn’t have picked a safer place either. No one would bother them. Baggers almost never went into the suburbs. Aside from the one house a few blocks away, the world could very well be devoid of all human life.  
    “I could use a few hours,” she said. “But not in the van. Too risky.”
    “How about there?” Michael pointed at the row of townhouses lining the street. “Shouldn’t be too hard to jimmy the patio doors and sneak in. No one will be the wiser. Still gives us a good view of the street and there’s a front and back exit. I can take first watch.”
    “Works for me,” she said. 
    They’d snuck out of camp last night around two and hadn’t stopped moving since. The journey back to downtown Vancouver had taken forever, they’d had to go the old fashioned way by foot. Although they kept kayaks down by the rocks for transportation, they’d all agreed that walking was better. Too many people kept count and a missing boat would be noticed. Being that the whole mission was top secret, they couldn’t take the chance in anyone discovering they were gone.
    Not that people wouldn’t notice. But Aries planned on telling anyone who asked that Clementine and Michael had gone to do some gardening.
    “I’ll keep it simple,” Aries said last night. “And if that doesn’t work, I’ll just tell them you’re off having sex.”
    The plan wasn’t a good one, but it was the best they could come up with. They’d kept it quiet for several reasons. With the ever-growing group of survivors, it was harder and harder keeping Aries in charge. In the beginning, Aries had suggested a democracy. Instead of one leader, they’d form a committee so that everyone could have a say. Teams would be formed to share responsibilities. Safety would be a top priority. Regular meetings would be held once a week and all the camp members could come together and discuss what they wanted to do. For the most part, things worked. Three adults: Marvin and Betsy, a husband and wife team from the Plaza of Nations, and a former police officer named Juan joined the leadership. Clementine liked them all, especially Juan who offered self-defense lessons a few times a week.
    In the beginning, everyone worked well together. They were all assigned tasks and jobs to do. Some people were on gardening duty, others on cooking and security. Almost everyone took their role seriously and worked hard. Thanks to a guy who used to work with BC Hydro, they even had water in the bathrooms.
                  Even though they’d built their safe haven, things still found a way to fall apart. Aries found it more difficult to keep things under control as time went on. People were scared and unable to deal with the slightest problems. Everyone had different opinions and ideas of what they should be doing. As of late, the group had split down the middle, half the people wanting to make a mad dash into the mountains, the other half wanting to stay and fight. Many of the adults felt that Aries, Clementine, Michael and the others were far too young to have a say in anything, even though they’d proven themselves over and over again. Having Martin, Betsy and Juan helped. No one dared criticize Juan when he spoke. They didn’t talk over him the way they did with Aries when she tried bringing up the problems with the lookout crew the other night.
    But no matter what they did, or how often they tried to protect everyone, it was never enough. Safety was still the number one issue. It wasn’t easy living with the reality in which the Baggers could show up any moment and destroy everything they’d built. Although it hadn’t been spoken out loud