Page 72 of Her Reborn Mate
Chapter 31: Alexis
A surprise ringer candidate, who had only entered the mayoral campaign at the last leg of the mayoral campaign, had won. Her name was Maria Straub, and from what I could gather from her acceptance speech on the stage, she was the daughter of a wharfman. She had put herself through college by working two jobs, earning a scholarship, and taking care of her father’s business all at the same time. She had managed to do all that while staying in Fiddler’s Green.
Amidst the fireworks, the cheers of the crowd, and the music blaring from the stage, I had forgotten for a few seconds that I had potentially just stopped. The electricity running through the crowd induced me to become a part of it, if only for a few seconds. I knew the girl, Maria. She and I had been in college together. Maria was my senior back then and was one of the only few people in the college to ever be kind to me. Once, I asked her to tutor me in economics, and she obliged. I’d gotten a B on that exam. She was a good person, one of the few pure souls that this town had.
She was giving a speech on the stage now. I could listen to it for a few seconds. I’d just disabled the antenna. I deserved a reprieve for a while.
“I was a part of this town growing up, and I grew up in the shadow of poverty, crime, and depravity. What could have been a flourishing seaside metropolis was turned into a den of drugs, disease, and debauchery. I am part of the new generation, the generation that wishes that things would be different. Now, we’re going to enact the things that we always wanted to see!”
And with this, the crowd erupted into a tirade of loud cheers that rang in my ears. Apart from a penchant for alliteration, Maria was a good orator. I expected that without any further ado, she would do what she said instead of making false promises like Maurice.
But that was the extent of the window of attention I could give to her. I had surmised that the crowd loved her, that she was honest and passionate, and that she would be a good change for Fiddler’s Green.
Now I had to save Fiddler’s Green so there would be a town left for her to be mayor of.
Someone tapped me on my shoulder from behind. Thinking it was Vincent, I wheeled around only to find Maliha standing there. “I couldn’t just run, not while I knew you were in danger.”
“Good of you to come back, but I disabled the antenna,” I said, racing past the crowd as Maliha struggled to keep up with me. There was hardly any time.
“I’m sorry. You know I get afraid easily,” Maliha said.
“Right now is not about you, Maliha. I need to be able to escort the bombs away,” I said. “Somehow, we have to take the bombs and send them out into the sea. Better a few fish dead than thousands of people, right?”
“Can I do anything to help?” Maliha asked.
I stopped pacing and stood there, staring at her. It just so happened that I did have something for her to do.
“When I sail out into the sea, you can go back and turn the generator back on. Make sure the antenna comes back online. If not, there will be a new kind of riot where people will go into a frenzy if they can’t get their cell signals,” I said. Truth was, it was not something that needed to be done immediately; it was just busy work to make Maliha feel like she was contributing. I needed her away from me and the bomb I was carrying. This was for her safety.
“I got you,” she said, then turned around and headed to the generator. She looked back over her shoulder a bit morosely, then waved at me as if she thought that this was our final goodbye.
“Don’t be like this. We’ll see each other again,” I said, waving back at her.
When she finally turned around for good, I headed to the docks, where I could see the pack members assembled. From the looks on their faces, I could tell that they were still holding on to the bombs.
There were plenty of ships moored at the docks, most of them with motors and engines, but I couldn’t use any of them. They belonged to other people, and most importantly, I didn’t know how to operate them. The only ship that I knew how to operate was Will’s, and it was moored at the far end of the dock. I even knew where he hid the key.
“Follow me!” I waved at the pack members. I took out the bomb from my jacket and looked at the timer. The bomb was going to explode in fifteen minutes. The pack members ran after me as I headed down the docks, away from the crowd. At this time of night, there was no one at the docks apart from the pack.
“What’s the plan, Lexie?” Vince asked, running to keep up with me. He was holding three bombs in his hands, barely able to keep them balanced.
“Will’s ship. We’re getting all the bombs on it, and then we’ll turn it on and send it out to sail in the sea. Hopefully, after fifteen minutes, the bombs will be far away into the sea, and they won’t be able to hurt anyone.”
“Lexie, I don’t know if you know this, but that’s not how things work. That stuff only happens in the movies,” Vince said.
“I don’t have a lot of stuff to draw from, do I? This is a fucked up situation,” I said, hopping into Will’s ship.
One by one, the pack members began throwing the bricks of bombs onto the ship’s deck. They stepped away and ran as far back as they could to the other end of the docks as if they were expecting the bombs to blow up any second. I looked at the timer on the bomb I had in my hand—still, thirteen minutes to go.
I took the key out of the tiny potted plant he’d hung by the wheel. I put it in the ignition and turned it. The ship’s engine roared to life. Will had shown me how to operate the ship time and time again, and I hoped that I remembered what he had taught me.
I looked at the settings on the big board by the wheel. None of them had any autopilot stickers next to them.
I went back outside and looked at Vince. He could already read from my facial expressions what I was about to say.
“There’s no autopilot option,” I said.
“I know,” Vince nodded gravely.