Mid Draft: The Revolution Scene

[This is a scene I wrote in between the first and second drafts.   It would have replaced the revolution scene that took place in Chapter 33 of the original draft, but also takes place in a slightly different story that's much more closer to the vision I had for the second draft.
At that time I was thinking I needed to re-write much of the first draft, but hadn't decided how to do it yet.  So I started out by just re-writing scenes.
Shortly after writing this, I decided to just re-write the whole first draft from the beginning.  
This scene still more-or-less lines up with the vision I had for the second draft, but I never did get around to setting all the pieces in place that would have built up to it.  So at the moment it's floating around as an orphan scene.  But the second draft, if I had stuck with it, would have eventually built up to a scene which was more or less similar to this.]

Zeus’ foot kicked up mud in a distracted way as he waited. He spit on the ground impatiently. “Come on, let’s do this quickly,” he growled.

Christopher and Matthew worked to loop the rope around the cannons. The ground was wet from the night’s rain, and their FJC boots squeaked in the mud. Christopher briefly regretted all the work he had put into polishing his boots the previous day, but tried not to think too much about it. That was the nature of the FJC. Always cleaning his boots, always getting them dirty again.

“Loop the rope around again,” Zeus barked. “I don’t want it slipping in the rain.” Christopher and Matthew stopped and looked at each other. Each one was seeming to ask, “Are you going to do it, or am I?”

Zeus lost his patience with the small delay. “Hurry! We want to finish this before morning!” Already the sun was beginning to peak over the hill in back of them. Matthew and Christopher stumbled over each other as both tried to grab the rope at once, and Zeus cursed their incompetence in a voice just loud enough that they could hear him. Christopher’s face flushed red as he grabbed the rope from Matthew, and doubled it around the cannon again.

In spite of all his flaws, Christopher really is a good kid, Zeus thought to himself. He’s clumsy, he’s nervous, and he handled that situation [at the hall] terribly, but his leadership shows a lot of potential. Of course it was Zeus’ style to never let on when he was pleased with a cadet. Praise makes them soft. Hark work, discipline, and harsh words would make them strong.

Like now for instance. Of course horses would usually be used to drag cannons through the mud like this. But it would be good for his cadets to move them manually. Hard work, but good for them.

The important thing was just to get this done before the rest of the University woke up. But at quarter to five in the morning, there was little danger of that. He smiled to himself. University students. They were so predictable. If you wanted to defeat them, you just got up earlier than them. It was as simple as that.
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Leda hadn’t been sleeping well all night. This whole week in fact. It had been a bad idea to come to the campus. The students here, even though many of them had grown up with Joshua, didn’t understand him. And the University police and the chaplains hated Joshua. Why did he always insist on going where he was hated?

She looked over at him and noticed how soundly he was sleeping. I guess after the week he had, he deserved to be sleeping soundly. And yet, that calm peaceful expression on his face…

She crawled across the floor and brushed his face with her hand. He didn’t wake up of course. She held her own face above Joshua’s and looked down and studied him. How could he be so calm, even in sleep? Didn’t he realize the danger he was in now? After all, it had only been six days earlier that this very University had been the sight off…

There was the sound outside of a twig snapping, and Leda froze. She kept her eyes focused down on Joshua, but her ear was listening to what was happening outside. Just when she was beginning to think the sound had been nothing more than her imagination, she heard many more footsteps outside. They were very clear now. There was no mistaking it.

So this is what the cowards had decided to do. When they decided to come at last, they had decided to do it under the cover of night, while the rest of the University slept.

She was almost paralyzed with fear. She didn’t move the whole time. Even her eves were still locked on their gaze on Joshua. She knew that she had to wake him up, but she wished that just once he would wake up on his own. He would open his eyes suddenly, and he would know just what to do and everything would be alright. But he didn’t open his eyes. She had to shake him awake. “Joshua, wake up!” she said. “They’re here. Joshua, wake up!”

He opened his eyes, but he was still dizzy with sleep. He always woke up slow. Even now he was waking up slowly. “They’re here. Don’t you understand? They’ve finally come.” She was beginning to loose her self-control and she knew it. She was still whispering but her voice was quavering now.

“What? Who’s here? Leda what’s wrong?” Joshua looked at her with calm blue eyes, not seeming to understand. And then the door banged open.
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Christopher and Matthew grabbed one end of the rope with their hands, Ajax and Hector grabbed the other end. “Okay, I’m going to count to three,” Christopher said, “and then we pull.” Zeus watched approvingly. Christopher was really doing a good job of handling his authority. Ajax was clearly resentful of the fact that Christopher had been promoted above him, but Christopher never let that bother him. He wasn’t vindictive towards Ajax, but he didn’t let Ajax’s hostility unnerve him either. That was the mark of a true leader.

In fact, as Zeus watched, there was only one thing about the way Christopher was handling this that he disapproved of, but he decided to stay silent, at least for now.
Cadets learned best by experience.

“One, two, thr-ee!” The first two numbers were yelled out in a clear voice. The “three” was just barely grunted out. Christopher had actually started pulling early after “two”. The others, not to be outdone, launched in strongly next. A good leader is always first and leads by example, Zeus thought approvingly.

All four of them strained against the rope. The cannon slid slightly in the mud, but the wheels didn’t turn. After dragging the cannon a few feet through the mud, the four of them stopped exhausted, looking at the cannon in a confused way.

Zeus had hoped to let them figure it out on their own, but the sunlight was beginning to stream over the hill now, and he wanted to be absolutely sure that they finished this before the campus woke up. “The brake’s still on,” he said flatly.

Christopher’s face again flushed red, but he said nothing as he quickly went over to the cannon’s wheels to release the stopper. Ajax chuckled to himself, but Christopher ignored it.

“Right,” Christopher said, face red as ever but trying to maintain the same authorative tone in his voice, “on three again. One, two, three.”

The cannon creaked slowly forward this time, but it was still a visible effort for the four of them. Christopher leaned back against the rope, but the ground was muddy and unforgiving, and Christopher had trusted it too much to gain a foothold. His boots slipped out from under him, and Christopher crashed to the ground. The other three immediately stopped. Ajax’s first impulse was to laugh, but then they all noticed that instead of leaping up and trying to pretend nothing had happened, Christopher remained on the ground staring straight ahead of him. They followed his gaze up the hill.

At the top of the hill was Rosa. Christopher almost had to squint to see her because the sun was coming up directly behind her. The sun’s rays seemed to fall all around her, illuminating her figure in a dazzling display of brightness. She was wearing a red dress, or at least it looked red in the sun. Her hair blew slightly in the wind. And Christopher noticed she was holding a rifle at her side.
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As the men poured into the room, Joshua realized at last what was happening. “There he is,” Alexander said, pointing to Joshua.

And at last he was wide-awake. But he didn’t appear to be panicking. He looked calmly at Alexander. “You know me,” he said. “I preach in the streets everyday. Why have you come to seize me at night?”

But they didn’t answer as they rushed forward to grab him. Leda was initially thrown aside as they seized Joshua, but then Alexander seemed to think better of it, and pointed the police in her direction. “Get her too. She’ll warn the others.”

Leda, who was still lying on the floor, screamed and kicked at the first officer who approached. He backed of slightly. She scrambled to her feet and ran for the door. There were a couple more clumsy attempts to grab her, but all the attention had been focused on Joshua and they had left the door unguarded. She ran out. It was still dark out, although the sun was beginning to come up. “Somebody help!” she screamed. “They’ve taken him! They’ve taken him!”
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“Don’t pay any attention to her,” Zeus ordered. “Just get that cannon out of here quickly.”

Zeus quickly directed the Cadets standing around to the remaining cannons. “You four take that one. You four, that one. Hurry now, we don’t have any time.” As the men clumsily wrapped the rope around the remaining cannons, Zeus shouted over the commotion, “and don’t forget the goddamn break.”

Christopher, still sitting on the ground, began to notice that there were actually 3 people on the hill. Standing behind Rosa on her left side was Bernadine. Behind and on her right was Angela. They were all just close enough that Christopher could hear Rosa tell them, “Get all the others. And tell them to bring their guns.” Even though these words were directed behind her to Angela and Bernadine, Rosa stayed looking forward the whole time. Angela and Bernadine immediately left. Rosa began walking down the hill.
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Simon, sleeping nearby, was awakened by Leda’s cries. He rushed outside. Leda had been coming towards him, and as he went out the door, he practically collided with her. He grabbed her arms. “Leda, what’s wrong? Leda, calm down. What’s wrong?”

“Joshua! The priests! They’ve taken him. They’re after me now.”

[Simon supposed to be guarding—Fell asleep. Go back and change later]

She was sobbing now. Simon tightened his grip on her arms. Maybe a firm touch will help her keep presence of mind, he thought. “Are they still in the cabin?”

She nodded and stopped crying briefly. “I think so.”

“Okay, Leda, listen to me very carefully. Find Rosa and tell her what’s happened. Can you do that?”

Leda nodded, a little calmer now. The idea of a task at hand seemed to take her mind off of her worries. Don’t think about what’s happening, she told herself. Just think about finding Rosa.

“Go quickly,” Simon said. “Tell her everything that’s happened. Rosa will know what to do. It’s going to be okay.”

A sudden impulse caused Simon to lean down and kiss Leda on the cheek. “For good luck,” he explained. Already he was running off. “And bravery,” he called out over his shoulder.

“The cabin is the other way,” Leda said.

“I know. I’ve got to go get something first. Go get Rosa. Everything will be alright.”
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Zeus was beginning to lose his patience with Christopher, who was still sitting in the mud. “Stand up,” he barked.

Christopher, who had a rather confused look on his face, snapped to attention at the sound of Zeus’ command and stood up immediately. He faced Zeus stiffly and awaited instructions.

Zeus leaned in close to Christopher and spoke in a low growl. “I don’t know how she got that rifle,” he said. “But she’s not coming down here with it.” Christopher was awaiting further instructions, but Zeus stopped there and returned his head to an upright position. And then Christopher understood that he was to figure out what to do on his own.

“Rosa, stop,” he called out. She didn’t. “Rosa, drop your rifle.” Rosa continued advancing steadily. In the background, Christopher could hear the shrill cries of Angela and Bernadine, awakening everyone else. “Rosa, I mean it. Don’t come down here with that rifle.” Christopher grimaced at the sound of his own voice. It sounded like he was almost pleading with her.

Another figure was suddenly at the top of the hill. Unlike Rosa’s calm, steady advance, this second figure was in a full sprint. She had run up to the top of the hill, and now she was running down the hill to catch up with Rosa. She was also carrying a rifle, and there were two revolvers visibly tucked away in her belt. It was Emma.

It was understandable Christopher would be nervous in this situation, Zeus thought. He’s only a Cadet after all. This is his first time. But Zeus knew what needed to be done. “Alright, forget the cannons,” he yelled to the two teams of four still struggling with the second and third cannons. “Everyone grab their rifles.” Zeus was used to having his commands obeyed quickly. The ropes on the cannons fell to the ground where they were. Everyone immediately rushed to their rifles. Even Christopher started in to grab his rifle, but Zeus’ hand came out in front of him. “Not you Christopher,” he said. “You give the command.”
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Alexander’s hand flew out and smacked Joshua across the face. Joshua stumbled backwards, but one of the Campus police grabbed him roughly from behind by the shirt and thrust him back into place. Alexander hit him again, this time with his other hand. Joshua’s cheeks swelled red with the marks from Alexander’s hands.

“It’s bad enough you mock us in the streets,” Alexander bristled, “but did you honestly think you could get away with coming to the University? Did you think we would just sit back and watch you poison the minds of the young people here?” Alexander waited for a response, and then screamed out, “Answer me!” He hit Joshua again. Joshua still did not say anything. Alexander looked at the police officer holding Joshua. Alexander didn’t say anything, but his eyes seemed to voice a request, and the police officer understood what he wanted. The officer, still holding Joshua by the back of his shirt, threw him against the wall. Joshua crashed into the wall and fell down, but he had barely hit the ground before he was pulled up again. A fist from one of the police officers hit Joshua’s face, but he couldn’t tell which one had hit him. Then another police officer struck him. Joshua, although still being held from behind, allowed his body to go limp. Initially he was dropped, but then he was pulled back up again. One of the police officers pulled his arm back to hit Joshua again, but then there was a loud explosion, and a bullet suddenly lodged itself into the officer’s arm.

In the confusion, no one had seen Simon come in, but now he stood in front of everyone, his hand outstretched, shaking slightly because of nervousness, but ready to fire the revolver again.
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The Cadets had grabbed their rifles and they all pointed them at Rosa and Emma. The two stopped walking forward, but by this time they had advanced far enough that they now stood in between the Cadets and the cannons. Unlike the cadets, neither Rosa nor Emma had their rifles raised aggressively, although Emma, while holding her rifle at her side with her right hand, fingered on of the revolvers with her right.

“Drop your rifles,” Christopher repeated again. Neither Rosa nor Emma budged. Realizing they weren’t going to obey him, Christopher desperately tried to find something that they would do. “Move away from the cannons.”

“These are our cannons Chris,” Rosa said. Christopher could not help but notice how calm her voice sounded in comparison with his own.

Students were suddenly beginning to flood in from every direction. There came Ares running over the hill. Varro suddenly appeared by Rosa’s side. Christopher wasn’t even sure where Varro had come from, but there he was. And there was Julius, and David, and Philip, and Icarus, and Dionysius, and Helen, and even Angela and Bernadine were returning now.

“This is your last chance,” Zeus’s voice roared out. “Drop your weapons and leave. These cannons do not belong to you.

Some of those assembled had weapons, but many did not. Many more people were appearing now. Phobos and Clodius and many people Christopher didn’t even know. There were more students than there were Cadets.

“Give the order,” Zeus commanded.

Emma had withdrawn one of her revolvers with her left hand. Her right hand was still holding the rifle. Neither weapon was aimed up, but instead of gripping the rifle by the bridge, she now held it by the handle, with her finger on the trigger. “Don’t do it Christopher,” Rosa said. “You’ve known us since we were little kids together. Don’t do it.” [Research Louise’ Speech.]

“Ready your rifles,” Christopher called out to the Cadets.
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The police holding Joshua slowly backed away as Simon waved his gun. One of them held his wounded arm awkwardly by his side. They let go of Joshua, and he collapsed on the floor.

It had taken Simon only a few minutes extra to run and grab his revolver, but when he saw Joshua’s face, he wished he could have come sooner.

There were eight of them, five police officers and three priests. Some of the police officers had clubs with them, but no one else had any guns. Although nervous, Simon did his best to project a show of strength. “Everyone up against the wall,” he said, trying to stop his voice from shaking.

“Simon, no,” Joshua said feebly. “Pleas Simon, no violence. Let them do what they came to do.”

Simon could hardly believe what he was hearing. Maybe Joshua didn’t understand what was happening. “But they’re going to kill you,” Simon said.

“Simon,” Joshua spoke in short gasps, still trying to catch his breath from all the punches. “We’ve been preaching about peace for too long to resort to violence even now.”

Simon threw the gun down on the floor. He stood trembling for a moment, unsure of what to do. He could see the police and the priests eyeing the gun, but none of them made any moves. Then Simon turned and ran out the door.
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Ares was beginning to fidget nervously, but he kept his eyes on Rosa, waiting to see what she would do.

“Take aim,” Christopher said.

“Emma was unsure as to whether to aim her guns at the Cadets, or keep them pointed down. As the Cadets aimed at her it took all her self-control to keep her own guns lowered.

Rosa stared straight ahead at Christopher, here eyes unblinking.

[Alternate version: Zeus gives the order and Christopher breaks ranks to contradict him. Closer to history]

Christopher met Rosa’s eyes. He looked away, looked back and met her eyes again, and then closed his own eyes briefly in a movement that seemed like a long blink. “Turn your rifles,” Christopher ordered. [More professional sounding term]. The Cadets raised their rifle butts in the air.

Hector, realizing what was happening, dropped his rifle and ran. Teucer followed him. Ajax hesitated. The only Cadet who had not raised his rifle, Ajax kept the barrel aimed at Rosa.

Ares leapt forward from his place and struck Ajax across the face. There was a brief struggle for control of the rifle, which fired harmlessly into the air. Ajax left the rifle with Ares and fled with his friends.

Rosa pointed at Zeus using her rifle. “Arrest him,” she ordered.

Zeus, who was holding no weapons of his own, did not resist as the Cadets crowded around him. He was too shocked to act.

“Tie him up,” Rosa said, picking up one of the ropes that had been left by the cannons and throwing it to the Cadets.

Matthew grabbed the rope. Philip came forward and joined the ranks of the Cadets as he helped Matthew bind Zeus.

Zeus towered over everyone like a giant. In his presence the 21 and 22 year old students forgot they were full-grown adults and seemed to revert to the children they had been just a few years earlier. Despite his great strength, Zeus did not resist as his huge arms were pulled behind his back. He kept his eyes fixed on all the rifles, most of them his rifles, pointed straight at him. But as Philip and Matthew began to bind his arms with his own rope, Zeus seemed to recover from his shock and realize what was happening. He started to laugh in a low, deep, chuckle. “You’ve really done it now,” he said, looking over his own Cadets and straight at the Young Clodians. His laughter increased, and a smile spread over his whole face. “Oh, you’ve really done it now.”

“Shut him up!” Emma screamed, walking towards Zeus with her revolver aimed at his face.

“Let him speak,” Rosa shouted over Emma. “He can’t do any harm now.”

It was at that time that Leda burst into the crowd. Everyone could tell just by looking at her that something was terribly wrong. Her eyes were red, her hair was scattered, and she was out of breath.

Her eyes searched the crowd rapidly, as if she was looking for who was in control. Rosa stepped forward. “What is it?” she asked.

“They’ve taken Joshua,” Leda said. “Simon told me that you would—“

Rosa didn’t even let her finish the sentence. “Chris!” she called out shrilly. Christopher snapped to attention. “We need to block out all entrances and exits to the University now. I want the doors closed and sealed and guarded. No one,” she repeated herself loudly, “No one is to come in or go out”

Rosa turned to Leda, who was already feeling very relieved at the way Rosa was handling this. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be all right. Who took Joshua? Was it the priests?”

“There were 3 ministers with them,” Leda answered.

“And did you see where they were going?” Rosa asked.

Leda shook her head. “No, they were still in the cabin when I left.”

“Was Alexander with them?” Varro asked.

“Alexander?” Leda knitted her eyebrows.

“Alexander, the campus chaplain,” Varro continued. “Tall, bald, a small beard.”

“Yes! Yes, he was there,” Leda answered excitedly [Might have to change this part if Leda meets Alexander earlier on].

Varro turned to Rosa and said in a low voice, “They’re going to the chapel.”

During the time Rosa and Varro had been talking to Leda, many of the others had begun talking among themselves. Rosa snapped her fingers impatiently for quiet, and then began barking out orders. “Ares, you go with Chris. Make sure no one leaves, especially the ministers.”

Rosa pointed at Zeus, using her rifle as an indicator. “Nothing is to happen to him. He’s our most valuable hostage. Take him into one of the buildings and make sure he’s under guard, but do not harm him.” Rosa began pointing her finger at people and calling out names. “David, Sophia, Julius, and Clodius, come with me,” she yelled. “And if you don’t have a weapon, make sure you grab one.”

David, the only unarmed one in the group, quickly borrowed a rifle from Emma, and they ran off after Rosa.

Christopher took slightly longer with his men, dividing them into 3 groups to block the 3 University doors, and then running off with Ares and the largest group to shut down the main entrance.

Soon, Zeus was left with just Emma and a small group of students. He started laughing again. “What are you going to do now? You know Flash will never tolerate this.” After having discovered earlier that he had the ability to unnerve Emma, Zeus was hoping to upset her with this remark, but Emma didn’t even look at him. She was busy emptying all of the bullets from her revolver into her hand. She turned the bullets over in her palm, examining them, and then slowly loaded them one by one back into the revolver. She moved slowly the whole time, as if distracted by another thought.

“What are you going to do with that?” Zeus called out to her in a sneering way, trying again to disrupt her. Emma didn’t even seem to hear him. She loaded the last bullet into the revolver, and only then did her mind appear to rejoin the world around her. She straightened up and walked over to Zeus. [Zeus kneeling? Maybe go back and change].

She pointed the revolver directly at his face. “Emma, what are you doing?” Bernadine asked nervously.

“Don’t worry,” Zeus said to Bernadine. “She’s not going to do anything. She knows I’m the only thing that all of you have going for you. If she kills me, you have nothing.” Zeus was speaking to Bernadine, but he kept his face fixed on Emma, and there was a twinkle in his eyes as if to say, “isn’t that true?”

There were a couple beats of silence, as Emma waited to see if Zeus had more to say. When Zeus just smirked back, she spoke. “Stephen was my brother.”

Emma’s voice was steady, but her hand was quivering. As her shaking fingers struggled to pull the trigger, Zeus realized what was about to happen to him. The smile vanished from his face.

And then there was the loud sound of the gun firing. Bernadine’s mouth dropped open in surprise and disbelief. Some of the others ran forward, but it was too late. Emma’s face still looked calm, even as her shaking hand was splattered with Zeus’ blood. The giant’s face fell down in the mud.

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Joshua’s hands were bound in front of him, and a rope leading from his hands was being pulled by one of the police. The 3 ministers led the way, and they were all a little nervous after the encounter with Simon. How many more of Joshua’s followers were around, and how many more of them were armed?

Alexander led the way and frequently called behind him for the others to hurry up. Joshua, after the beating he had received, was not very steady on his own feet and was not walking as fast as the police wanted him to. They used several ways to hurry him up. They would hit him across the head when they thought he was moving too slow. Or they would push him from behind. Or they would just jerk the rope forward pulling Joshua along with it. By the time they reached the chapel, Joshua wasn’t walking so much as he was simply being dragged through the mud.

Alexander fumbled through his clothes for the keys to the door. If he didn’t have so many other things on his mind, perhaps he might have noticed that several of the windows on the side of the building had already been smashed in.

Alexander and another priest pulled open the chapel doors, and everyone went inside. One of the policemen was now carrying Simon’s revolver, but otherwise no one was armed.

It was morning now, and from the East the sunrays were spilling into the chapel through the stained glassed windows. Some of the windows at the ground level had been shattered, and the sun danced off the shards of glass, sending fragments of light in all directions. At first one of these rays hit Alexander’s eyes, but as he brought his hand up to shade himself, he saw Rosa standing in the center of the Chapel.

Rosa herself was unarmed, but to her left and right stood Sophia, David, Clodius, and Julius, all with rifles aimed.

The police officer with Simon’s revolver instinctively raised his weapon. Clodius immediately fired his rifle and knocked the man to the ground. The revolver fell out of his hand.

Rosa walked forward, unopposed, and picked up the revolver. The police officer, who had been struck in the chest, was gasping for breath.

As Rosa stood up, Alexander seemed to temporarily forget the four rifles pointed in his direction, and exploded in rage. “What are you doing here?” he demanded. “You have no right. This is the house of God.”

“This is now the headquarters of the Revolutionary Council,” Rosa said. She turned away from Alexander and walked towards the students. “Untie Joshua, and then tie up Alexander with the same rope. Arrest and disarm all of them.” She looked around the chapel. “After that, clear all the pews out of here and use them to help barricade the University doors.” She hesitated for a moment before adding, almost as an afterthought, “and then smash all the religious pictures and icons in this room.”