Rhodes walked out of Koenig’s eatery and stopped on the road to look around. Who should he go after first to convince that the battalion needed to escape from Stonebridge?

  He held out the most hope for Oakes and Coulter. Rhodes didn’t hold out any hope at all of convincing Fuentes. Rhodes didn’t want to convince Fuentes.

  Rhodes really secretly hoped he never laid eyes on Fuentes ever again. That would be for the best, but it wouldn’t happen. It was a pipe dream even more fantastical than this fake world Rhodes was living in right now.

  He set off toward Oakes’s house, but he bumped into Thackery first. She smiled at him and then her expression slipped when she saw Fisher at Rhodes’s side.

  Rhodes didn’t check to see what she saw on Fisher’s face that startled her so much. Rhodes didn’t want to know.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  “We’re going to break away from the Masks during the next battle and go over to the Legion,” Rhodes blurted out. “We’re Legion soldiers and the Masks captured us on the battlefield. They’ve been keeping us in The Grid, drugging us, and making us believe we’re living in this fantasy world so they can get us to cooperate with them and fight the Legion for them.”

  Her face drained of all remaining color. Her eyes darted toward Fisher again.

  “We need you with us, Alyssa,” Rhodes went on. “I need you to remember what happened at Coleridge Station and then everything that happened in the Masks’ lab. I need you to remember how they kept us in that freezing cold compartment and how they sent us to kill our own people in all these battles. We have to escape. We can’t stay here as prisoners any longer.”

  She gulped and glanced up and down the road. “Does Koenig know about this?” she croaked.

  “What does that have to do with anything? I’m talking about you. The SAMs will go along with us.”

  She shook her head. “You’re fooling yourself if you believe that. They think the Masks are their own people. The SAMs are as much our jailors as the Masks.”

  Rhodes’s jaw dropped. “Are you saying….Koenig…..”

  “I’m not naming any names. I’m just saying you have to be careful about the SAMs. They aren’t our friends the way you think they are.” She glanced at Fisher and looked away. “Sorry, but it had to be said.”

  Now it was Rhodes’s turn to glance at Fisher.

  What if Fisher thought the Masks were the battalion’s own people, too? Fisher was the one who originally said that.

  Rhodes shook that off. That was a long, long time ago. Fisher had done too many things to help Rhodes escape since then. Fisher was the one who did the most to help Rhodes escape. Rhodes couldn’t have done any of this without Fisher’s help.

  Rhodes cleared his throat with difficulty. “The important thing is that you remember and you’re ready to escape.”

  “I remember,” she replied. “I didn’t remember until that last battle when Lauer brought me back. I just….” She faltered. “I just don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay conscious. Anything could happen.”

  “At least you remember. That’s all that matters.”

  She opened her mouth to say something else, but she stopped herself when she saw Fisher standing there.

  Rhodes decided not to pursue the matter, and right then, Fuentes came out of his house down the road.

  He made eye contact with Rhodes, but Fuentes didn’t act like he and Rhodes ever had any conflict over anything.

  Fuentes went about his business as normal. Rhodes cringed when he realized the colossal task in front of him.

  He would have liked to talk to Fisher about what to do about Fuentes, but Rhodes couldn’t talk to this Fisher.

  The Fisher standing at Rhodes’s side didn’t indicate whether he believed Rhodes or not. Not even Thackery convinced Fisher.

  Rhodes discarded that idea when he spotted Oakes working on his barn. He walked around the building nailing loose boards back into place.

  Rhodes went over to him, and this time, Fisher split away and went off somewhere by himself.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Rhodes actually experienced a rush of relief not to have Fisher hanging around. Rhodes didn’t want to deal with anyone who didn’t believe and understand what was at stake here.

  He walked over to Oakes and stood aside while Oakes finished nailing on another board. “How’s it hanging, Captain?” Oakes asked over his shoulder.

  “We’re prisoners of the Masks,” Rhodes blurted out.

  Oakes spun around and stared at Rhodes. Oakes held three nails sticking out of his mouth. They made him look ridiculous, but Rhodes couldn’t take the joke.

  “Dash thinks the Masks are his people—which I guess in a way they are,” Rhodes went on. “He thinks we would be betraying the Masks if we returned to the Legion. What do you think of that?”

  Oakes blinked once, swallowed, and went back to hammering. “I don’t know about that.”

  “You must have some opinion on it. Do you remember any of the battles we’ve fought against the Legion—or anyone else?”

  Oakes didn’t turn around. He remained silent for a long time. He kept taking nails out of his mouth and hammering them in with a lot more energy than before.

  When he finally spoke, he’d used all the nails so he could speak clearly. “You really shouldn’t talk like that, Captain,” Oakes snapped without turning around.

  “Why are you calling me, ‘Captain’?” Rhodes asked. “All of you call me that. Why am I a captain if we’ve all been living in Stonebridge all our lives?”

  Oakes froze with his hammer poised in mid-air. He stood there without moving for way too long.

  He finally lowered his arm and turned around with a completely different expression on his face. His eyes darted around town exactly the way Thackery’s and Dietz’s did.

  “Why are you telling me this?” Oakes growled under his breath.

  “Because we need to escape from here. We need to coordinate our efforts for the next time we go out into battle against the Legion—which Dietz says will be soon.”

  Oakes’s eyebrows shot up. “So you’re listening to Dietz now?”

  “He’s the one who has remembered everything the longest. From what I can tell, he never lost his memory at all. He’s seen through this whole charade from the beginning. No one else can say that except Wild—so yeah, I listen to Dietz now.”

  Rhodes opened his mouth to say something else. He wanted to remind Oakes of Dietz’s remarks about all the drugs he’d taken in his life, but Rhodes decided against it.

  “Look, I’m not asking you to do anything here,” Rhodes went on. “I just need you to do your best to remember the next time we go into battle. We’ll see if we can break away, but we need all of us working together.”

  “We won’t have all of us working together—not ever,” Oakes snapped and started to turn away. “You better be careful who you talk to around here.”

  “Who do you mean?” Rhodes asked. “Are you talking about Fuentes….or Dash?”

  Oakes froze again. Rhodes didn’t like to think what might have been going on between Oakes and Dash.

  Rhodes had just been thinking how terrible it must be not to be able to trust your own SAM. So Dietz wasn’t the only one.

  That left Coulter and Murphy. Rhodes didn’t see Murphy around, but Rhodes did see Coulter. He stood out in one of the nearby fields tending his herd of milk goats. He just stood there leaning on a stick at the moment.

  Rhodes left Oakes to keep nailing on boards and went out to meet up with Coulter. “Howdy,” Coulter greeted him.

  “Howdy. How you doing?”

  Coulter nodded. “I’m good. How are you? I didn’t think you’d be up and around so soon after getting hurt.”

  “How did I get hurt?” Rhodes asked.

  “You fell off the roof while you were replacing shingles. Don’t you remember?”

  Rhodes looked away. Of course the Masks would replace what really happened with some other memory that fit Stonebridge better.

  “What do you remember about what happened before you came to Stonebridge?” Rhodes asked.

  “Nothing happened before I came to Stonebridge,” Coulter returned. “I’ve lived here all my life. We all have.”

  “Do you remember ever going into battle to defend this place against invasion? Do you remember the Inviria invasion?”

  Coulter snorted. “Did you just make up that word off the top of your head?”

  Rhodes cringed again. Damn it.

  He was just trying to decide what to say next when Murphy himself strode out of town. He headed up the road toward a flock of sheep in the distance.

  A shaggy dog trotted at Murphy’s heels. It was the first dog Rhodes had ever seen in Stonebridge.

  Murphy met up with Rhodes and Coulter and looked back and forth between the two of them. Rhodes couldn’t read anything in Murphy’s expression.

  “What’s going on?” Murphy asked.

  “The captain hit his head when he fell off the roof,” Coulter replied. “He thinks we’ve been at war with the Inviria and had a life outside Stonebridge.”

  Murphy’s eyes skipped back to Rhodes. “Interesting.”

  “What do you think?” Rhodes asked. “Do you know what the Inviria are?”

  Murphy looked away. “I never heard of it before.”

  “You see?” Coulter slapped Rhodes on the shoulder. “Go back to bed for another week until you’re fully recovered.”

  Rhodes played his last card. “Why did you call me, ‘captain’ just now?”

  Coulter opened his mouth and started to laugh. Then he stopped, shut his mouth, and he looked away, too. “I don’t know,” he mumbled. “That’s what everyone calls you.”

  Rhodes left it at that. He was starting to understand why Wild said Rhodes wouldn’t be able to convince anyone.

  Oakes and Thackery definitely got the message. That made five. Oakes. Thackery. Wild. Dietz. Van. That wasn’t nearly enough.

  The problems on the other side vastly outweighed Rhodes’s assets. Dash. Fuentes. Zen. Rhodes didn’t know where to put Murphy, Coulter, Fisher, or Koenig.

  Rhodes left Coulter standing there looking stunned. Murphy kept heading out to pasture to deal with his sheep.

  Rhodes headed back into town and spotted Lauer cutting a piece of wood with a hand saw. Rhodes didn’t know what to do about Lauer, either.

  Rhodes sure hoped Rhinehart would still be on board, but Rhodes didn’t see him anywhere. Rocky was also a completely unknown quantity.

  Rhodes got halfway back up the road heading into town when he spotted Ora coming out of the house—the house she supposedly shared with Rhodes.

  He remembered the feeling of kissing her in their house. That memory revolted Rhodes now.

  He walked straight past the house and headed for Koenig’s eatery instead. It sure looked like Rhodes would be sleeping in the barn for the duration of his stay in Stonebridge this time around.

  End of Chapter 30.

  ? 2024 by Theo Mann

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