The Light Brigade - Chapter 13
Finding yourself trapped in a room by a malevolent scientist has a powerful way of sharpening your mind.
This is an installment of my new serialized middle grade novel - The Light Brigade. When new kid in town Will finds himself in the midst of a sea of brainwashed middle schoolers, he has to join the Light Brigade, an unlikely group of heroes, to save them. Can he trust the Man Upstairs who guides them with fortune cookie directions? Will he find his place in the Brigade? Will he be able to stop the shadowy New Moon Group from forcing his classmates to collect acorns for a cartoon squirrel until they all collapse? Subscribed? Get caught up here.
It’s been a minute since we last heard from The Light Brigade, so in case you forgot: Will was snooping in the Research & Development department of the paper mill, when he was discovered by a guard. After a dramatic chase, he was captured and put into a conference room under guard to wait for Dr. Stoneman the Vice President of R&D.
Finding yourself trapped in a room by a malevolent scientist has a powerful way of sharpening your mind. Unfortunately for Will, the only effect of this was to send his mind reeling in a hundred directions at once. He felt himself grasping at straws for any way that he might still be able to get out of here, all the while berating himself for having ended up in this mess in the first place. How stupid could I have been coming in here? The Man Upstairs obviously made a mistake in picking me for the Light Brigade, he mused over and over again. Regardless of his revolving wild plans and panicked prayers, he became more and more certain that he was really and truly stuck here.
Being so mired in thought, he nearly fainted from surprise when he heard a tapping at the window. Clutching his chest, he saw to his amazement Gabriella’s mass of curly black hair filling one of the windows. Despite being three stories in the air and hanging onto goodness knows what, she was calmly smiling and gesturing at him to open the window.
Will felt like he was in a dream as he quickly checked the door for any change with the guard and went to the window. His heart pounded in his chest. Was he really going to be able to escape after all? Looking at the window, it seemed unlikely: there was only a crank that would crack the window a few inches. Still, maybe Gabriella had some kind of plan.
The window swung open easily as Will cranked it, but it only opened far enough for him to stick his arm through. “How did you get up here?” he whispered.
“It was easy,” Gabriella whispered back, “I just climbed up that drainpipe over there and then climbed along the eaves until I found the right room. Piece of cake.”
An involuntary shiver ran down Will’s back at the very thought of that escapade. “How am I going to get out of here? I don’t think I can do that. Plus, the window won’t open any more,” he whispered back, glancing over his shoulder at the guard.
Gabriella shook her head. “I’m not here to get you out. I just have a message from the Man Upstairs.”
Will’s heart sank. Of course, no actual help. Just cryptic gibberish that only makes sense later. He felt a hot ball of anger, like an evil pearl, start to form in the pit of his stomach. He nearly started to yell at her, even though it would have gotten them both into even more trouble. Then, like a bolt from above, he remembered what his dad had said: be the kind of man who is in control of his emotions. With what felt like a super human effort, he took a few deep breaths, willing the ball to melt away. And it did...well mostly. He was still angry, he could feel it there, but it wasn’t running the show. Not this time.
With a shaky voice, Will whispered, “Why can’t you just help me escape? I think I’m in some serious danger here. You’ve got to get me out of here.”
Gabriella looked quite concerned, but stood firm. “I’m sorry, but I’m only supposed to give you a message. But don’t worry, it will help. I know that the Man Upstairs doesn’t always give us what we want, but he does always give us what we need. We just have to do our part and follow what he says.”
“Doesn’t that bother you? Just following orders from some faceless source?”
“Sure, it used to. I mean, who wouldn’t be bugged at least a little by it? We’re not robots after all...though that might be kinda cool. We’re the Light Brigade – ‘Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do or die.’”
“Yeah, Lily tried that line of the poem out on me earlier. I’m not buying it. I don’t do things without knowing why.”
Gabriella wrinkled her forehead in deep thought. “I think you’re confused because you are used to being told to do things by regular people. I don’t always listen to them either, but the Man Upstairs is different. He always knows what is best, even though we don’t, and his messages help us get to the best solution to the crises. Because of that, we can trust him and follow orders like he needs us to. He really does want to help the town, but he can’t do it without us. He can’t do it without you.”
Will was taken aback by the earnestness of her statement. It just seemed so incredible that the Man Upstairs could have such special knowledge and yet still need his help. And yet, hanging thirty feet in the air was a girl who had absolutely no way of knowing where he was, here to give him whatever help she could at great risk to herself. I might not like how the Man Upstairs operates, but there is no denying that these are good people. I need to put my trust in them, Will thought, taking a deep breath to prepare for this new challenge he must face.
“Ok, tell me the message,” he whispered.
“The message is: Where does Sydney’s mother work?” At the look on Will’s face, she said, “I know, I know! I said you wouldn’t like it, but that was all the message was. Also, Mr. Turner wanted me to remind you that we have to stay stealth. They can under no circumstances know that we are trying to stop them. And, when they let you go, come to the Queen Anne. We’re all going to be there to finalize the plans for tomorrow and enjoy some treats from the S’mores Scorpion.”
Will’s head was swimming. That wasn’t a message, it was a question! Plus, how could she think about sweets at a time like this? Fresh waves of frustration washed over the lump in Will’s stomach, making it glow red hot again. Another deep breath seemed to cool it like water over lava, but it still left a heavy weight, pulling him deeper into despair.
Before he could respond, he heard the guard’s radio crackling in the hallway. “Quick! Get out of here!” he gasped to Gabriella, as he dashed back to his chair. By the time that he regained his seat, the window once again showed the beautiful fall colors and glorious sunshine in mockery of his dark mood. He was alone.
Will stared at the window, starting to shake with anxiety. But the minutes passed without the guard so much as peering into the room. Will began to regret his jumpiness, and missed having someone here who was on his side, as limited as her help really was.
Boredom started to replace the more pressing emotions he had been feeling. In their absence, he was able to start thinking again about what he was going to do. He clearly couldn’t escape. He could just give up the Light Brigade and tell them everything, but thinking about the kindness of these virtual strangers made him dismiss that option flat out.
He could lie about what he was doing there, saying he was just lost and then got scared by the guard. This seemed like a pretty good idea, as it was half true, but the idea of lying didn’t sit right with him, even to people who were evil. Was there something he could say that was true but might still convince them to let him go?
He sat there wracking his brain for what felt like forever, trying to come up with something. At last, he heard the guard talking on the radio, acknowledging that Dr. Stoneman was on his way up. Will was about to start panicking, when it finally came to him.
He knew what he was going to say, so he sat back and waited.