Chapter 12

 Life with Dee was different than what had I expected.   I guess I didn't know what to expect.  Someone who communicated with bees? I didn't know what to think of that.  She was nice and I could see right way by her jeans and t-shirt, that she didn't care much for the new rules enforced by our Leader.  

Her hair was raven black, and she had her nose pierced, her lip pierced and small gauges in her ears, and a cuff on one her upper ears.  She had a lot of tattoos, and instinctively rubbed at the hated tattoo that my called husband had put on my arm.  I only wore long sleeved button down shirt, so no one ever saw it, but I knew it was there.  Her tattoos were cool.  I wish I could get one to cover it up.  

The living space was cozy, and it wasn't too crowded.  She seemed nice, didn't push for information, which I was glad about.  I wondered how she knew from the bees I needed help.  I wondered what else they had told her.  

She had dried herbs hanging on the kitchen area, and although we ate simply, it was enough, and the food was good.  James would trade the honey with the locals for some foods like flour or rice and Angie had chickens, so we had plenty of fresh eggs, plus lots of vegetables.  Dee had showed me the area where she kept root vegetables, like potatoes and rutabegas and sweet potatoes, and when she roasted those in the oven, with some herbs, they were delicious.   A lot of times we only had rice and beans, but they were flavorful, even though simple.  Dee told me it was important to have enough protein.

She taught me tasks around the house and showed how to check perimeter alerts for intruders.  There were hidden trail cameras which we could check, and she had a solar powered lamp and phone charger that she plugged her laptop into to upload the camera data, and also encouraged me to write, so I started writing my story.  It was a lot easier to write about than talk about and it was cathartic in a way.  I felt like I wasn't having to carry all this weight inside me.  

I felt alot safer with Dee than I had in a long time.   I didn't have to worry about guards leering at me or one of the guys I worked with finding out and turning me in.  I no longer had to hide my pregnancy, and wasn't terrified all the time.  I didn't think the bounty hunters would find me here, but Dee told me that behind the living area, there was a whole network of caves and caverns that went underground for quite a ways.  She cautioned me never to explore them alone, however, because one could very well get lost .  But she said that there was a map of the caverns, and if we had to flee, that would be our way out.   She also kept a 2 "go bags" by the door to the caverns, just in case, filled with a hatchet, a hunting knife,  a can opener, emergency sleeping bags, rations, matches, a compass, a tourniquet, bandages, and some herbal remedies, candles, a small emergency stove, a change of clothes, warm socks and gloves, and thermals.  Each was divided for weight equally, but I wondered uneasily about a the baby, because then we'd need to carry more stuff.  

I hoped it would never come to that; I liked it here. 

Dee didn't just know about bees; she knew quite a bit about herbs, and herbal medicine as well, and also made candles and soaps, which James sold for her at the Farmer's market.  Since women weren't allowed to do business, James had to do it.   Dee raged about how hyprocritical it all was; that it was ridiculous that women could make things to sell, but couldn't sell them.    She called the Leader a lot of names that could get her thrown in jail if the wrong person heard it, but she was able to talk freely here, in our hideaway.   She told me that in less than a year, all the YEARS of hard work that women had fought -- and died for, had been destroyed by this odious man.  

She taught me how to identify and harvest herbs and which ones were helpful for ailments, and how to make poultices and salves.    We made jams with the berries she was growing, and I helped her can the tomatoes, corn, beans, and peas she had grown.  She also canned salsas and Spaghetti sauce as well, and what we didn't keep for ourselves, James sold for us.  We were able to dry lots of beans, which Dee said would be great for the coming winter.  

The days kept us quite busy, but often in the evening, Dee would grab a book and sometimes I'd read too, but most nights, I worked on my story.      We didn't have internet, and even if we did, it was highly censored, and the only way to send such information was to connect to a secure website somehow without being detected and then, send an email before it was intercepted.  

I didn't know how to hack into computers but Dee just happened to be an expert in cyber security, before she lost her job when the Leader had done mass firings of Cyber Security experts, saying it was a waste of taxpayer dollars.   Dee said when my story was finished, she'd know exactly what Tech firm she was going to hack into, it would be Obsidian, the firm that bragged that they were impenetrable.   Obsidian just happened to be the firm that ran cyber security for the Nation and owned by the Leader's appointed head of cyber security.  She also planned to leave a small "f*ck you" in the code, so that should the experts try to trace her, they would open up a virus.  

"That's if you get in," I said, looking at her wide eyed.   "They'll probably have the SS agents at the door before you can even log off.  

"You wound me," she said, with mock hurt.  "If was their mistake for firing me.  I was better qualified than most of the men there, but with the Leader's stupid insistence that women only were able to get jobs with DEI, which he eliminated, I lost that job to more incompetent co-workers.   I know their work, and I also had to go in and fix their cock ups half the time," she said   "And while they fired me they also knew I was a liability, so they told me I was under investigation for "stealing proprietary information", and that it would be in my "best interest" to cooperate.   Well, I knew enough to know that was definitely not in my best interest, because it was obvious I was being framed.  But their mistake was firing me in an email, and not arresting me when I showed up to work.  I knew what the new owner of Obsidan was like; I figured they'd be coming for me, so I hid in an old hunting cabin in the woods, where I could lay low.

When they raided my house, I was already gone.  Thankfully, I already kept my bees out here, because James let me use the land because the bees helped his crops.  

"Yeah," I said,  "I think it would have been pretty hard to be on the run with the bee boxes.  I wondered how you had taken them with you.  James had said that you got run off your property"

"They destroyed my home," she said, quietly.   "Burnt it to the ground.  Thankfully I took what was important to me.  But if they had destroyed the hives..." She shook her head.  "Things can be replaced, lives cannot," she said.  

"But then, I heard that other coworkers who had been "fired" were dead," she said shakily.  "Car accidents, "suicides", "accidental house fires"," she shuddered.  "I realized that they were just taking anyone out who they deemed a threat or who knew too much about the security of their system."  

"I knew James and Angie for years, and we were friends; I knew I could trust them," Dee said.   "Not everyone was that lucky." she said, sadly.   "But James showed me this place, and said He'd discovered it about a year after buying his place.   He's checked topographical maps of the area, and there's no indication of a cavern system here, so it's pretty safe that it's not on the maps.  It's not on the property documents which means that the current government is unaware of it," she added.  

"So how do we hack into a secure government network from here?" I ask, uncertain.  

 "I won't do it from here," she reassured me.  

"There's  a way to do it, but it will be dangerous, because there is always the risk of being caught, or traced back to this area, even though I can have it ping off multiple locations before it reaches, to ensure its harder to trace..  We may only have one shot.  So when we do send it, we need to have enough information for there to be clear evidence of crimes against humanity.   I haven't read it, yet, so I'm not sure what you've said.  Do you think what you've written so far will do that?" she asked.    

"yeah," I said, shuddering involuntarily.   "You - you can read it if you would like," I said.  " let me know if you think I should say more," I said, wondering if I should have gone more into detail about the abuse I endured at the hands of my "husband" but I already had enough nightmares, I didn't want to think about it to much, to be honest.

"Thank you," she said simply.  "It's not time yet, we have to make sure that you can defend yourself, if you need to, and you need to know ways to contact other members of the Resistance if something happens to me, or James or Angie."

"Don't say that," I whispered, my heart contracting painfully.  Dee was starting to become a friend and James and Angie would stop and visit once in a while, when James would pick up honey or some of the canned goods.  It almost felt like a family.  

 "I have to say it," said Dee gently.  "None of us wants it, but we have to be prepared to keep on going even if we are alone.   You've already had heartache; I don't say this to be cruel, but to remind you that this is dangerous, and we know the risks.  We are willing to make those sacrifices if it means bringing down our Oppressors. But it makes it even more important that you have the information and preparation to get to safety and get the word out, so that if we do die, it won't be in vain."

"I know," I said, swallowing the lump in my throat.  I hated how many lives the Leader had destroyed, and how many more would be lost to fight to help save others.  But I knew how they felt, because now that I realized there was a Resistance, I knew I was going to do everything in my power to get my brother and my mom out .