Chapter Twenty-Four
Murphy
I stepped inside the camp, Warner and Sasha trailing behind me, as well as a handful of guards leading us. I had used every ounce of persuasion I had to convince the guards of what was happening around them. And I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t even need to show them the files detailing the information, I had a way of charming the people around me.
“You’re a genius, has anyone ever told you that?” I murmured to Sasha.
She had been the one to suggest splitting up. If we had walked up to the gate seven strong, they never would have given us the opportunity to speak. But when the numbers were evened out, when the guards assumed they had a chance, it was a different story.
“Not enough lately,” Sasha responded, and I chuckled.
My chest was light as we strolled into the camp, something I never thought would be possible. I hadn’t experienced the horror inside these walls the others had. But even just the thought of what had happened to Alessia had my blood boiling.
I knew why. I was madly in love with the woman. Her pain was my pain. If only I had the guts to tell her. But I swore to myself that after this was all over, after we were headed toward the safety of the bunkers, it would be the first thing out of my mouth.
The guards led us to the large building, settling the others outside, before unlocking the door. I braced myself to step inside, not prepared for the mess, but they had been as busy as us the past few weeks.
There were no signs of the dispute that had happened inside. The bodies were moved, the desks cleaned, and everyone back to work.
Immediately, two men stood from their post, their guns raised.
“Hold your hand,” the man in front of me barked and immediately they listened.
A slender woman, around middle age and with a sleek brown ponytail, stepped into our line of sight. “What is this about? There are no civilians allowed inside.”
I presumed she was Vex’s replacement based on her sharp stare and stern posture. I opened my mouth to deliver my spiel once again, but the guard beat me to eat.
“Cut the shit. When were you going to leave?”
“Why would I leave?” She asked, jutting her chin higher into the air.
The guard clambered over to her, shrouding her size, but I had to give it to her, she never cowered.
“To get on the train and head to the fancy bunkers.”
The poised woman stuttered over her response. “What are you talking about?”
The man glared at her and she tried again. “How in the world do you know?”
If my words hadn’t convinced the man, hers sure as shit did. Anger painted his face red, his chest puffing, the weapon in his hand raising. “You’re going to show this man where the radio is. And then you’re going to step aside.”
I could tell the woman wanted to argue. She glanced to the men and women at the computers, people that obviously knew the truth, trying to find backup. But there was none to be found. Apparently, not everyone was okay with mass murder.
I mean, sure, they weren’t actively killing these people. But they were complicit in allowing their deaths when there was another option.
The woman finally gave in to defeat, her shoulders slouching, and her head bending in remorse. “Follow me.”
Warner and Sasha at my back, we followed the woman upstairs and toward a locked room. We had passed it the last time we were inside, but it wasn’t a priority to break inside. There was too much going on.
She unlocked the door and I stepped into what could only be described as a computer nerd's dream. Screens upon screens dotted the walls, surveillance of the entire camp. I noticed the video from the front of the camp and I sighed in relief when I saw the others walking through, unharmed. Fuck, we had really done it.
There were also monitors coming through of coded memos and in the corner, the radio we had been desperate enough to reach.
The woman waved a hand at the setup. “I have no clue how to use it. I wasn’t exactly prepared for this position.”
Because it had been Vex’s. I didn’t know exactly what happened to him. We had all heard the gunshot. And when I asked Alessia, she simply said, “he can never hurt me again.”
Smiling widely at the woman, my chest lifted with pride. “That’s alright, I know exactly what to do.”
Sliding into a chair, I sat before the radio, beginning to fiddle with the controls, only one thought on my mind. Mom, I hope you still listen to the radio every single day.
“What happened to ‘I know exactly what to do’,” Sasha mocked at least ten minutes later.
I was still fiddling with the controls. I had figured out how to receive messages, but I was still struggling with how to send one.
Throwing a glare over my shoulder, I said, “It’s not as easy as it seems.”
Sasha leaned over my shoulder, eyeing the different buttons and screens, pointing to the small microphone. “Seems pretty easy. Press the buttons, speak your little heart out into the microphone, send it to the world.”
“I agree with her. Pretty straightforward,” Warner added and I let out a heavy breath, trying to keep my patience.
Why couldn’t I have been with the other group? Instead, I was stuck with the two sarcastic assholes.
“Maybe you could give me some space?” I suggested, and they shared a conspiring smile, neither of them backing up.
“Or not,” I muttered, trying to regain focus.
I closed my eyes, remembering all the tinkering Mom and I had done in the evenings. Every radio had a transmitter and the receiver. The transmitter allowed messages to be sent while the receiver, well, received the messages.
Mom had taught me mostly about receivers, considering that was her main job. The electromagnetic waves were sent to an antenna, which then received the message and sent it to the receivers.
As Warner and Sasha reminded me, the process was pretty straightforward, as long as you could figure out how to manipulate the waves and send them properly. There was no purpose to this if I couldn’t get the message to every radio in the world.
Pressing more buttons and turning more controls, a red light finally popped on beneath the microphone. One step down. Typing into the controls, I read through the code, selecting the correct line, and then I knew I was in.
Once I pressed this button, anyone who was listening would hear my voice. But I knew that wasn’t good enough. Who truly was sitting beside a radio? And if there were more camps?
No, I knew I needed to do more. Swiveling in the chair, I stood up, scanning the screens before me. There were too many codes, too many things I couldn’t decipher.
Thankfully, the woman was still inside the room. “Do you have access to the other camps?”
I was taking a gamble that other camps existed, and that she would discuss them with me. Stepping toward the main computer, she typed in a password, pulling up a software and then there it was.
My eyes widened at the sheer number of camps around the continent. There were at least thirty thousand. How the hell did they plan this so quickly?
Next to each camp was a coordinate as well as a radio frequency. Jackpot. The frequencies were numerical, which made my job much easier.
Falling back into the chair, I typed into the radio, setting the frequency to each number. Reading the code before me, I hacked over the entries, making sure that my message would be broadcasted, whether the person on the other end wanted it to be or not.
Once everything was in place, my finger hovered over the red button, mentally preparing what to say. How did you tell an entire population that the world was ending?
Sasha was still at my side, and she noticed my struggle, shedding the sarcasm. “Speak from your heart. People will listen.”
Nodding, I took one more deep breath, pressing the button, and when my voice sounded, I pretended I was solely speaking to my mom.