CHAPTER TWO 

A few hours after the sentry left, Jacob and Emily devoted more of their time to the metal box, the letter, and the handgun. The pistol was intimidating, but Jacob managed to summon the courage to fire a round into the ground. He had been aiming for a mole, but the shot missed. The sound that blasted forth from the pistol startled them both. They weren't eager to try it again.

With the day drawing to an end, Jacob and Emily crawled into bed and honed in on the letter. They contemplated the meaning of the word “counterrevolution,” since it was a word they weren't familiar with. They knew what a revolution was. The State school used it to describe how the Earth, or Gaia, had rebelled against mankind. Destroying towns, cities, and nations through powerful acts of nature, Gaia forced humanity out of its toxic cities to punish it for its destructive lifestyle.

After some discussion, Jacob thought he knew why the term had been used. 

“We’re in this spot in history because of a revolution,” Jacob explained to Emily. “To undo this insanity, we’d have to have a counter-revolution… we’d have to push back against the status-quo.”

Emily, who was lying on her side beside Jacob with Godiva resting warmly at her feet, suddenly flashed her husband a cautious look. 

“What do you mean ‘we,’ Jacob?” 

Jacob didn’t bother to respond. Instead, he shook his head dismissively and continued. 

“Whoever put this gun in this case was around long enough to know what was coming. They saw the path that lay ahead and they did something about it. They knew someday someone like me would need this gun.”

Emily closed her eyes. Her thoughts involuntarily rushed ahead to a point in time where her husband was in danger because of the weapon he had found. Perhaps, he would fight someone with it. Perhaps, he would defend himself with it. Either way, she didn’t like what she saw. Sighing softly, Emily opened her eyes. Her gaze returned to Jacob. His own eyes were staring intently at the metallic box resting on his stomach. She could tell by the way he looked at it that its presence was changing him. She could see something strong and unbreakable solidifying behind the black pupils of his eyes... and it unnerved her. 

After several minutes of silence, Jacob pushed the top lid of the case open as far back as it would go. To his surprise, he noticed there was writing on the roof of the box.  Written in pain-staking detail was what appeared to be a map. Shooting upright in bed, Jacob pulled the case closer to his eyes. The map showed two rows of numbers in the top left corner. Jacob figured they were either a combination to something or coordinates to a location. If it was the latter, Jacob knew it would be next impossible to find the location because the technology needed to do so was no longer available in these parts. In fact, it hadn’t been available in years.

Jacob directed his attention to the remainder of the map. There was a drawing of a river, some roads, and a series of bridges. Jacob knew where the river was, for it was no more than an hour’s journey from his farm. He also knew the roads. He had been on them before. As for the bridges, most of them were crumbling and impassable, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was how on the map there was one particular bridge with an X by it, and next to that X was a message.

“Gather here,” Jacob read.

Jacob’s mouth dropped open in amazement. His hand drew to his chest and grabbed at his heart. A strange sense of delight and hope suddenly burst into his body.

“Gather here,” he read again with a grin. 

Emily pressed her lips into a thin frown. Whatever it was they had dug out of the ground today, she knew she had better start preparing herself for the chain of events it had unleashed. Instinctively, her hand moved to her pregnant belly. Again, she sighed.

The following morning, Jacob resolved himself to find what was hidden at the X. It was a temptation he couldn't resist or delay. So he set out on foot for the river just after dawn. Before leaving, he and Emily each fired a round into a tree. Emily was the better aim. So the pistol stayed with her. With the sentry still at liberty to visit them any time he chose, Jacob felt better knowing the weapon was with her.

Trekking through the foliage of the forest, Jacob reached the river’s edge in time for the morning’s fog to be burned off by the sun. Having located the river identified by the map, Jacob set out for the road that ran alongside its borders. He didn’t need the map with him, now. His memory was good enough to know where to go. After all, this was a simple affair: find the river, find the road, find the bridge.

The trees above Jacob’s head were sprouting new leaves. Spring was here, and Jacob was thankful for the change in seasons. Winter was never easy in the city. Most everyone had a cold or the flu, and both spread like a wildfire through the crowded innards of the municipality. 

After about half an hour, Jacob spotted the road through a break in the trees. 

“Riverside Drive,” he said to himself.

Once on the road, Jacob continued his journey in a casual but quickened gait. Before long, he spotted the bridge. It was broken in half and parts of its remains poked out of the rushing waters of the river like the ribcage of a dead animal. 

Jacob broke into a light jog. 

Gather here, he thought to himself with a smile. 

At last, he stepped onto the bridge. 

A single rusty steel beam was all that connected the two ends of the bridge together. Jacob could see the waters racing below him. The snow upstream was melting and the river was fuller than normal. Sweeping his gaze from one end of the tributary to the other, Jacob searched for something to catch his eye but he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Undaunted, he persisted in his efforts by digging deeper into the backdrop of his surroundings.  After all, this was a covert process. Counter-revolutions didn’t occur in the open. They happened in secret behind closed doors with cloaks and daggers.

Jacob stepped off the bridge and proceeded down the embankment to the water’s edge. Stepping over slippery, moss-cover boulders and gnarled patches of tree limbs, he made it far enough under the bridge to get a good look at its darkened underbelly. Unfortunately, there was nothing under the bridge except rust and spider webs. 

Jacob sighed softly with frustration. He took another look at his surroundings. The only other item of interest to be seen was an old spillway that opened on the other side of the river. It poked out of the embankment in a rectangular concrete tube. From the looks of it, it appeared rather spacious. Jacob would have no trouble standing up inside its confines. There was just one problem: the river. Jacob couldn’t tell how deep it was. He knew the water was ice cold, and by the looks of the current it was strong enough to drag him down stream if he didn’t watch his step.

Jacob cast his gaze one last time to the forest around him. There were no other options left to explore except the spillway. So, this was it. This was his first trial by fire. Someone told him once: freedom isn’t free. At least, he thought he had heard that before. He wasn’t sure. But it sounded true, and it certainly fit this situation. Jacob wanted freedom, and if the alter of Liberty wanted blood—his blood—then he was willing to give it.

Option 1: cross the river by going through the water.

Option 2: cross the river by using the steel beam over the river.