The One Percent

The light was blinding as the door swung open. Pain shot from his skull down the spine as they jerked him to his feet by a handful of hair. As they dragged him down the hallway he knew today had to be the day. How long had He been there, how many years they been torturing him daily, has it only been months? If she was going to come for him, he would be free already. They must have her too. He had to tell them it was more than just a medallion. He had to convince them to pry it open and as it melted in front of them he could laugh and say that was it and then maybe just maybe they would end his suffering and question him no more.

As they threw him in the chair to tie him up the building seemed to shake. was it an earthquake? Red lights begin flashing in the hallway as he heard the faint sound of gunshots in the distance. Another rumble, it was bombs, she was coming. A slight smile crossed his face as one of the men That was dragging him knocked him unconscious.

he awoke to a pounding in his ribs, not the normal Pain from fists he was used to, he was being carried on a man's shoulder. “stop" he yelled to the man, “I have to go back, it's important, they have something of mine.”

“we have your medallion" the man replied never breaking stride. “we’ve gotta get outta here." he lost consciousness again as the man threw him in a jeep and sped away.

As he opened his eyes and tried to sit up a gentle voice greeted him from across the room. “Hey take it easy, your not in the best shape right now.”

“where are we" he said with a groan

“A rebellion outpost in the mountains, you are with friends. We lost a lot of good people getting you out of there today, I hope it was worth it.” She handed Cain a plate of food. He looked around the room and realized he was sectioned off in a large tent. The moans of wounded men and women coming through the curtains. What was so important that he had been imprisoned and tortured, then saved by these people? How long had it been?

“What's the date? “ he asked between bites of the first real food he had in forever.

“July 20th 2028, I know you have tons of questions but I must help the others. The commander will catch you up, he wants to see you as soon as possible. I will let him know you've come to. He will be here shortly. if you need help, just call out, someone will come.” Cain nodded his head and she walked through the curtain. He looked at his food and began to cry, she referred to the commander as him, it is obviously not his sister. If Krisy was here she would be in charge. Do they have her as well, is she still alive? His brain was spinning as he forced himself to eat, he must get his strength back. Almost two years in captivity had reduced him to a pale bag of bones.

Cain was still picking at his food when the curtain swung open and two large men in Camo walked in. Both had obviously seen combat and wore the scars of it proudly. He could not tell which one might be the commander. The slightly shorter man extended his hand “Henry" he said with authority, “commander of the southern Appalachian resistance, this is the captain" gesturing to the man beside him. The captain gave a firm handshake but offered no name. “We are anxious to know why the one percent thinks your so important" Henry said firmly.

“I have questions of my own first" Cain replied “starting with what the hell is going on, why is there a resistance, and who are the one percent you mentioned. Is that who has held me captive the last couple of years.”

Henry, pulled up some chairs. “I guess they’ve had you a long time, do you remember when you were taken" he said sitting down.

“It was August 13th of ‘26" Cain said trying to sit up.

“Lay back” the commander replied, “the world has changed since you last saw the sun.” Cain couldn't help but grin, his appearance made it obvious most of his last two years had been spent in the dark. “The one percent refers to the world's richest people that have been pulling the governments strings from the shadows. Gilliam Fence and Dillon Lusk, America's two richest men were the main ones behind the scenes here. The day after they took you, every faction of America's military was dispatched to the Eastern hemisphere. At the same time, the United nations military was brought to America. They didn’t want soldiers killing their own countrymen. All contact was cut off with our armed forces. They knew the heaviest resistance would come from Texas, before any fighting began, the one percent strategically dropped three nukes across the state. Houston and Dallas have been wiped from the map. ” Cain started to panic, then remembered Krisy was in Colorado visiting a friend when he was taken. “Since then people have been rounded up and contained in metropolitan areas. All who resist are put in camps. Marquees throughout the cities show how these ‘criminals' are punished. The only media people can access is telling them to do as they’re told and all will be well. Fence and Lusk are claiming they are creating a utopian society where all people will be treated equally and normal lifestyles will resume. For now all communication is monitored and any sort of travel is banned. Any unauthorized vehicles on roads are taken out by one of the thousands of drones patrolling our skies.”

“Why is it they have not just dropped bombs here, finishing off any sort of resistance?” Cain asked trying to soak all of this in.

The commander sighed heavily, “as this began, I was contacted by a lifelong friend that was a general in the military. He couldn't go along with what was happening and knowing that it would cost him his life, he sent me a dozen new age, classified emp devices and told me I had to start a rebellion.”

Cain could not contain himself, he tried to sit up as he interrupted Henry, “you have a dozen E-95's!” he laid back as pain shot through his deteriorated body.

The captain spoke his up, “how is it you know about highly classified military weapons? Especially weapons that were not in the governments possession long enough to fully test their capabilities!”

Still squirming with the pain of trying to sit up, Cain managed to reply “my father designed the E95's, I didn't know that any had actually been built. We haven't spoke in over five years. He disappeared shortly after telling me about them."

“Holy shit! Your Lynn’s son!” proclaimed the captain standing up. Cain and Henry both gave him an inquisitive glare. “Your father was in the desert with us shortly after 911. We had a seal team behind enemy lines that needed air support. Brass wouldn't call it in so Lynn pulled out his laptop, hacked three Russian satellites and doing the math in head, brought them down on three tanks allowing our team to escape. Your father was a genius man! It's an honor to meet you! If I would've known who you were, I might have went awol sooner all I knew was someone important was in there.”

“I’m just glad you acted when you did, I was ready to give up the day you came for me.” Cain turned his focus to the commander, “you said this was the southern resistance, I’m guessing not all twelve e95s are here.”

“We have three on mountain tops around the base, they can disable any electronic device within a mile in a straight line. So accurate, we could disable a phone on a plane and not disturb the laptop next to it. These weapons leave us vulnerable to nothing less than a ground attack, I could defend this valley against 100,000 soldiers with a few hundred armed civilians. We had to bring one to help rescue you, it was destroyed in our retreat. I sent four to my brother up north and he has a base in the mountains. a year after the bombs dropped on Texas, we intercepted reports of a resistance in Denver. The one percent didn't want to destroy the city so they were sending platoons of soldiers all meeting the same fate. We hijacked a military transport on i40 to try and get the last four e95s there to help. still unsure if they made it. If so, the resistance there would have relocated to the mountains but there has been no chatter on the communications we can monitor. Shortly after we sent the weapons, Fence and Lusk gave up and bombed the city. Our messengers have to travel on foot, none from the transport ever returned. ones we have sent since should be back soon if they survived.”

Cain was speechless as he absorbed all this, was it his sister leading the resistance in Denver, who else could wipe out platoons of soldiers with a few civilians? Was she still alive? He tried to clear his head and asked “were there more than twelve e95s? Does the one percent still have some”

The captain answered “those were the only e95s, but there was satellites. The week before the bombs dropped, four were launched across the globe. They were codenamed the Lynnders after your father. How far they could reach was undetermined but before the launch they tested them on a military communications satellite that was twelve hundred miles away. Lynn disabled a control module for the thrusters without affecting any other functions. He did this from an underground bunker through over forty feet of concrete, dirt and rocks. He could program these satellite emp's to disrupt the electrical signals in a human brain killing them instantly. The launches went smooth, and the satellites began their orbit as planned the entire planet was within their range. On August 12 ’26, they went dark, and your father blew up a forty thousand square foot underground lab while he was still in it. ”

“they took me the next day" Cain said starting into space with tears streaming down his face.

“and now we know why" replied the commander as reached into his pocket and pulled out a golden heart on a chain. “they obviously believe you and maybe this medallion might have some answers.”

Cain reached out and took it with a slight tear stained smile as he gazed upon Krisys face etched on one side. He looked at the commander, “it's not a medallion, it's made of the same metal my father discovered and used to create the emp devices. This is half of a locket. When paired with my sisters half it can be opened. I believe each half contains partial coordinates to a secret lab my father went to on his time off. We must find her, together we may be able to take control of the satellites and end this.” He clutched the locket to his chest and sobbed.

The commander and captain locked eyes. Henry took a deep breath and nodded his head. The captain tried to contain his excitement. He would have sacrificed ten thousand soldiers to gain the commanders trust and get this information. Fence and Lusk would forever be in his debt. He would soon be part of the one percent. The urge to put the commander down and take the locket now was hard to resist. He must be patient, not a virtue he coveted but one he was good at. The time would come.