The Sleeper Cells: A Terrorism Story

Chapter 20: Risks

I can't stop myself from launching down the hill. Mika, Owen, and Kris all try to hold me back, but it doesn't stop my legs from kicking and trying to connect with the ground to get to her.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

"Stop it. You can't do that and you know it!" Kennedy yells at me.

"I don't care if they take me. It's my mom! I need her!"

Owen grabs onto my shoulders, "listen to Kennedy. We're going to do something. But, you can't run out there. You won't see your mom if you do. And neither will we. You run out there and we're all dead. You see those sleepers all over that camp like freckles. There's more than you think, Vince. Come on, man... Think this one through," Owen says.

"I respect you wanted to go after your mom. But... wait." Kennedy says.

"I have a plan," Kris says.

Mika pulls my bag off my shoulders and lays it next to a tree. "Listen to your uncle. He knows best."

I take a breath and loosen my body out of Kris' arms and slide to the ground. "I'm sorry. I'm not thinking."

"It's okay. It really is," Kris nods his head and looks deep in my eyes with sincerity and compassion. His eyebrows dancing above his eyes. "It's my family, too. I want to run out there just as much as you do. We've got this."

"How do I get to her?" I put my hand below my eye waiting for a tear.

Owen stretches his neck out over the edge of the hill. "I mean, it looks like they're on lunch. I know at the camp I was at, most of the sleepers ate lunch before the prisoners. So there's gonna be all kinds of eyes on them while they eat. For me, I noticed a corner that was a weak spot. They didn't look over there much at all. It's during a work shift, where we cooked and made things for the sleepers, that's when I was able to slip to the side and work on digging the hole. Work is right after lunch...we should go then."

"Okay, what do we need to do so he can talk to her?" Mika asks.

"He needs to wait 'till the lunch is over. Then slowly—I mean slowly—walk over to the closest right corner and stand there. Do not draw attention. It's possible that your mom may not even see you or be near the corner, but it's worth a shot. Do not make any noise. At all."

Kris speaks up, "be careful, Vince. They can shoot you or your mom if they see anything. One slip..."

Kennedy looks to Mika with tear filled eyes. Mika says what Kennedy can't, "are you sure you want to do this?"

"I'm sure," I nod.

Kennedy wipes her escaping tear from her face and hugs me. "Stay alive. Go talk to her while you can."

"Try to get any info if you can, too," Owen tells me.

We all sit on the edge of the hill at the end of the woods. I watch the people in the sleeper camp for their every move, patiently waiting for my opportunity to swoop down to my mother.

A bell rings, and the prisoners, my mother included, stand up and throw their food trays away. They line up and are shuffled into the side of one of the concrete buildings; the sleeper camp slips into silence. Kris pats my back, giving me a green light, go.

I jump to my feet and try to support myself with my shaking legs and twitching knees. I clench a fist, not out of anger, but trying to occupy my freezing, pulsating hand. I can feel my heartbeat bouncing in my veins. My wrist pulsating with the shakes of my muscles. I'm alone in a wasteland trying to gracefully, silently, creep down this hillside to a camp filled with people waiting to pull the trigger.

A group of people exit the concrete building and start walking around to different work stations. I settle close to the barbed wire fence... I assume it's electrified. A lanky girl walks towards the table closest to me. She drops her supplies on the wooden table, ready to make whatever she has to.

The girl stops in front of me at her station, staying with her things and not looking up for a moment. She doesn't even see me on the other side of the fence.

I want to scream. I want to say something. Look at me. Can't you see me? I bite my lip to give my mouth something to do besides speak. I look back up at the hill for Owen, Kris, Mika, and Kennedy. They're all hiding just behind the trees. I can't see them, but I know they're watching.

I turn around back to camp and see the girl staring me dead in the face. It's Rosemary. She looks down and quietly chuckles. She's not fearful like she was before. Still a diva, though. I know what she's thinking. They're still up to this act. He's still alive? Or maybe she's regretting that decision. Maybe she is laughing to hide her embarrassment.

Rose leaves the table and taps a woman on the shoulder. My mom turns to Rose. She shoots her finger at me from her side. My mom gasps. She covers her mouth with her hand, and I do the same. With tears in my eyes making everything blurry, she creeps past the tables and ignores the other prisoners staring at her. So much for not drawing attention, but that's the last thing on my mind.

"Get back to work," Rose tells the interested onlookers.

My mom, everything I missed about her, is just on the other side of the barbwire. Her curly blond hair still the same way I remember it. Curled with energy and life.

She covers her heart and starts to cry, "just in case this is the last second we get, I love you."

"I love you too, Mom. Are you okay?"

"I'm alive, and so are you. Thank our God above. My boy is alive."

I reach out to her. I don't care if the fence has a billion bolts of lightning hiding in the metal.

"Don't touch the fence." My mom stops me. "It's not going to kill you, but the guns will. It's motion detected. If it's touched, the alarm goes off."

I take my hand back to my side.

"I listen to their conversations as much as I can. Apparently, some man escaped under a fence at another camp, so they increased security."

"Owen is his name. He's with us."

"You've been through a lot haven't you?" my mother asks as she wipes away another silent tear.

"Where's dad?" I ask, ignoring her question.

"I have no idea. I was hoping he was with you. How are you surviving? I worry about you every day, every second."

"Uncle Kris has led a group of us through it all. Mom, I've seen people die. I saw Titus get taken away from us like he was a speck of dust just getting brushed away."

"It's not easy. It's not. I need you to keep going. Keep fighting. Get out of this mess, please."

"Mom, I killed someone."

She takes a moment, "I would kill if it meant your life, too."

"Alissa!" Rose whispers from behind us. My mom turns around. Rose flips her hair, "you're getting some attention. They're looking over here. I think some are walking this way," she whispers out of the side of her mouth.

My mom ignores her and turns to me, "listen, baby. I need you to keep going for your dad. Tell Kris I said thank you. Please, for me, for your dad, for yourself, survive and get out," she hurries.

"I love you," we say at the same exact time, with the same emotional tone, the same grasping pitch. We turn from each other, and I bolt up the hill.