The Sleeper Cells: A Terrorism Story

Chapter 7: Traitor?

Lindsey tightly grasps my arm. We turn for the glass door and run into the cabin. She hurtles for her room; I run straight for Kris. Titus is in the living room watching out the window. His watch duty is about to become a lot more interesting. I blurt what I saw to Titus and run down the hallway. I sling open Kris' bedroom door. To my surprise, he's already awake.

"What's wrong? I heard you running."

"There's a man coming through the woods to our cabin," I tell Kris, and within a second, he bounced to the dresser and put his clothes on, "he may have others; I have no idea," I tell him.

"Get Kennedy and Titus, get guns and go to the balcony. Tell Lindsey and Rose to go to the bedroom and lock the door."

Kris waits for everyone to follow the plan and get into their places. Rose and Lindsey do just as instructed, but I gave them a knife just in case.

Kennedy, Titus, and I have Kris' back. We watch down the barrel of our guns as Kris runs out to meet this new intruder. Kris told us to shoot if he whistled...but shoot at what? It's too hard to see behind the foliage. The darkness could send a bullet anywhere. We don't want to shoot Kris. So even though we're up in the balcony with these guns, I don't think it means anything. I don't think any of us are willing to put Kris into danger.

Locked and loaded, Kennedy, Titus, and I do not say a word to each other. If we hear the whistle, we are to first shoot into the air. My uncle called it 'fear of an unknown presence'. Thankfully, we never have to use it.

Kris steps into the light with the man. Kris has full control over him. The man's arm is twisted out of his control, and Kris is carrying a new backpack. "Come to the living room!" he shouts at us.

In the living room, Kris demands us to aim our guns at him. Rose and Lindsey are still locked in their bedroom. Kris throws the man into a corner, away from all of the doors and windows. The man is crawling deeper into the corner pleading for us to stop.

"Who are you?" Kris spits.

"My name is Owen Proctor! Please, no! I haven't done anything. I can maybe even help you! I'll do anything, just let me live."

"Kris, he thinks we are one of them!" I tell him. I lower my gun and place it into the back of my blue jeans. I reach out and lower Kennedy's gun. Kris stares blankly into the Owen's eyes, thinking about what I said.

"Titus, keep your gun at him. Kennedy, Vince, guard the exits," Kris tells us. He drills Owen with questions. "Do you have others?" he gives Owen what our answer would be, "we do. And we're armed and ready."

"No! I'm alone... Are you not Sleepers?"

"What? Sleepers?"

"The terrorists that attacked everyone and started all this? The Sleepers," Owen tells him. He starts to loosen his body in the corner, as he notices we are actually on the same team.

"What happened to you? What's going on?" Kris asks Owen.

"You might want to sit down."

Kris tells us to get Lindsey and Rose and rally in the cold living room. Maybe it's not cold. I think I'm just nervous, so it feels cold. It seems like Owen Proctor has been outside for some time now and has valuable information we need.

"They have a lot of territory..." Owen begins, but Kris cuts him off.

"Start from the beginning. Who are they? These... Sleepers?"

"Okay. As you know, Kakos was destroyed and became The Vista years ago. There was a rather large, secret group of terrorists who believed in the way Kakos was governed. They obviously have been going behind everyone's back...They planned an attack to kill citizens and take the country back. It was planned perfectly and it worked. We had no idea. We weren't prepared... It's called a sleeper cell. A 'Sleeper' is one of the terrorists."

"We ran into some. Barely made it out," I add.

"Oh, they're everywhere. You're in their territory now. I came from a sleeper camp. They initially took out people. They just ran around killing them! Word quickly got around and people started turning themselves in or were waiting on them with their hands up. They took them to camps... Sleeper Camps. That's where I came from. I escaped. I worked on digging a hole in the unguarded corner of the fence. Tonight, once it was deep enough, I took off as fast as I could. I don't know how long I've been running. Until I was ambushed by..." Owen points at my uncle and laughs. "Ironic. He may have saved my life."

Rose speaks up, "So these camps... were they nice? Like could you live there?"

"They were not nice... but they met your needs for the time being. Food was given once a day and water was given in buckets all throughout the day. It's not pleasant. Sometimes, they kill people too. They're just sheep in there. Some surrendered, some were captured," Owen answers.

"What else do you know?" Titus asks.

"They have a certain area under their rule. It's called the Sleeper Zone. The Vista military won't drop a bomb or anything because there are so many people in the Sleeper Zone. The Sleeper Zone, as of now, is from Jacobsville to Kinsworth. That's all I know."

"Oh. Wow," Lindsey says.

"Jacobsville to Kinsworth...I know Kinsworth isn't anywhere close. They must have a huge area," Titus sighed, looking at Kris.

Kennedy goes to the kitchen and brings Owen a bottle of water. "It looks like you need this."

"Thank you so much," Owen takes a gulp of water, "I...I don't have anywhere to go. I don't have anything. I am out of options. Can I..."

"Stay here?" I say.

"Please," Owen sputtered.

Everyone agrees at once. Kris knows we need another person to help around to gather things. And I have a feeling Rose has a crush on Owen already. He has blonde hair and blue eyes, but his eyebrows are brown. He's tall and fit, and probably in his early twenties. He's wearing a black denim jacket with fabric sleeves, a blue shirt, and muddy khaki pants. His cheeks are chubby but fit the shape of his lean face.

"You can room with me. We need someone like you, Owen," Kris tells him.

__________

As the night progresses, everyone heads to bed. It's my turn to guard the cabin. I walk around the cabin with a gun, from the balcony to the bedrooms. It's silent in the cabin. Occasionally, you can hear someone flush a toilet or a night owl hoot.

Sitting on the steps to the second floor, I hear something in the kitchen. Of course, it makes me jump and my adrenaline pump. I can feel my face blush red as my blood pumps through me. I go to check it out, gun at my side. I peek around to see, thankfully, Kennedy getting a glass of water.

"Can't sleep?" I ask her.

"I can. I'm just thirsty." She rubs her hand over the counter.

"Yeah. I think this is a good place. You know, Owen is a good thing. I'm glad he stumbled up on us."

"Me too. He seems like he knows what he's doing. He's dealt with what's out there... and had information we didn't."

"With so much death going on out there, I'm glad I have you guys," I say.

Kennedy sets her glass in the sink and hugs me; I can feel her smile against my chest. Something feels right about it even when I know it's wrong. It's just an innocent hug, but where it goes wrong is... I would prefer her to hug me than Lindsey.

Kennedy lets me go and turns the light to the kitchen off, just as we overhear Rose and Lindsey in their room. The sound of Rosemary's voice makes us both freeze in our tracks.

"I'm done dealing with these people, Lindsey. How do you deal with them?" Rose snarls to Lindsey.

"I don't know. And half the time, Vince isn't even trying for me. I almost don't even care at this point. But I stay with them because they're keeping me alive, for now," Lindsey says.

"From what that guy Owen said, it sounds like you can make it if you turn yourself in. Honestly, I'm ready to surrender. I'll turn myself in. I'd rather jump off a sinking ship than go down with it. I don't know if I'll be here in the morning," Rose tells Lindsey.